Report No. 37/2016

(Circulated under separate cover)

Report No. 37/2016 from the Chief Executive was received.

The purpose of the report was to report to Cabinet on the Council’s performance for the third quarter of 2015/16.

During consideration the following points were noted:

i)             That it would be a fairer reflection on the Places Directorate if the Freedom of Information requests relating to Land Charges were recorded separately. (Paragraph 3.3 of Report No. 37/2016.)

ii)            That the figures relating to recycling rates and household waste figures needed to looked at cumulatively over the year.  That household waste should read ‘residual’ and that no reason had been given for the drop in waste collected. (Paragraph 3.9 of Report No. 37/2016.)

iii)           Comments from the Resources Scrutiny Panel included Customer Services abandoned call rate and levels of service, re-emphasis was to be given to the need to give direct dial numbers and an updated number list was to be reissued to Members; the location of the Govmetric screen; and further information on Call-back and return rate was to be taken to the next Panel as the service had only been in place for a few weeks.

iv)           That the Direction of Travel - PI’s worsening, need to improve.  Further investigation into the figures was required. (Paragraph 3.2 of Report No. 37/2016.)

v)            That there were 3 high priority actions overdue for implementation from the Audit recommendations.  (Paragraph 3.13 of Report No. 37/2016.) One of these had now been resolved and Agresso was subject of a separate report to Cabinet (Report No. 52/2016).

vi)           PI047 – People killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents:  there had been a number of fatalities towards the end of 2015.  The Local Transport Plan 4 would be looking closely at fatalities on the county’s roads.

vii)         Adult safeguarding – trend was in the right direction and further work was to be undertaken.

viii)        This report had only been taken to one panel so far.  The Chairman requested any significant comments from Panels be brought to future Cabinet meetings.

DECISION

1)    Cabinet NOTED the overall position in relation to performance for the third quarter of 2015/16 and the actions being taken to address areas of underperformance.

Reasons for the Decision

i)             94% of indicators measured during Quarter 3 were on or above target, with measures in place to improve performance where targets are not currently being met.  Main areas of concern have been highlighted in the report and the remedial action being undertaken to improve performance has been identified.  Performance will be monitored during Quarter 4 and direction of travel will be reported to show where improvements have been made.

ii)            Overall performance based on activity in the third quarter is satisfactory.

To receive Report No. 37/2016 from the Chief Executive.

(Report to Follow)

Report No. 37/2016, which was previously circulated under separate cover, was received from the Chief Executive. 

During discussion the following points were noted:

a.    Customer Services had not met their targets but work was ongoing to improve the service.

b.    8% of calls were abandoned and although this is the target, some Members felt that this was too high. A review was being carried out to determine what is preventing the targets being met and to assess whether we have the right performance measures in place.

c.    Council staff should use the standard email signature when contacting customers as this would notify people of the staff member’s direct phone number so reducing the need for people to contact Customer Services.  The Director informed the Panel that she would remind staff about this.

d.    The Govmetric screen in the main foyer was possibly in the wrong location as it was being used as a toy by children.

e.    Key contact details were distributed to all Councillors in the Members’ Handbook 2015 and had been published on the Intranet.

f.     Officers are currently looking at website providers and reported that the demonstrations seen so far were vastly better than what we have at the moment and presented a huge opportunity for the Council.  Councillors would receive training in respect of the new website at the appropriate time.

AGREED:

1)    That the Director would send all Councillors the link to the ‘Key Contact’ details on the Council’s intranet.

2)    That the Director would notify the panel of the ‘success criteria’ for the Governance Team briefings at the People Directorate’s team meetings.

3)    That the previous year’s quarterly sickness figures should be included in future reports for comparison.

4)    That the Panel NOTED the contents of the Report