Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance (copy enclosed).

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Strategy and Resources that required the Committee to undertake a quarterly review of the Thematic Strategies performance, as assurance that performance was being managed effectively to achieve the corporate outcomes as set out in the Council’s Corporate Plan 2021 - 2023. Appendix 1 to the report provided an overview of performance as at the end of Quarter 4 (Q4) (January 2023 - March 2023).

The Chairman introduced the report and deferred to the PPG Manager to present the detail. She took the Committee through the report starting at section 3.1 that provided   a high level summary view for each of the strategy themes. Three outcomes had been marked at risk within the Place Strategy: - Reduce Impacts of waste disposal and pollution on the environment; Deliver the housing the district needs’ and Work with partners to maintain and improve the district’s resilience to the effects of climate change. Work was underway to mitigate the risk. Within the Prosperity Strategy work continued to progress but had been severely impacted by the pandemic which had significantly delayed progress on strategic objectives. However actions had been put in place to bring these back on track. Overall work was on track in the Community Strategy. Section 3.2 provided further detail and Appendix 1 to the report detailed the full suite of Key Performance Indicators relating to Corporate Performance.

It was reported that a new Corporate Plan for the Council was adopted on 22 February 2023, and a piece of work was currently in progress to revise the corporate performance reporting and map it to the revised Corporate plan, therefore this was the last report in this format. A Member Workshop on the new reporting mechanism was scheduled to take place for all Committee Members on 20 June 2023 to introduce them to the new process.

The Chairperson then moved the recommendations which were duly seconded and opened the discussion. In response to issues raised Officers provided the following information:-

·        That a management plan for Riverside Park was now included on the work plan.

·        That should it be possible a mechanism for reporting costs of fly-tipping, that include costs related to investigation and enforcement, be scoped, and the outcome circulated to Members outside of the meeting.

·        That Social Media engagement varied from quarter to quarter with peak activity during the summer (Q1).

·        That engagement with schools also varied across the year as certain periods were not appropriate for this activity e.g. during exam time. It was noted that targets were well on track for this activity.

·        That by the end of the year all relevant staff would have completed ‘make every contact count’ training. It was noted that this was over and above core staff customer service training as this related to staff signposting customers to health and wellbeing support such as smoking cessation.

·        That full explanations around dips and increases in performance across the year be provided on the next iteration of corporate performance reporting.

·        That stretch targets and target levels would form part of the Member Workshop session on 20 June 2023. The new model for reporting would then come back to Performance, Governance and Audit Committee (PGA) for approval.

Following the discussion around the management of the Splash Park, the Chairperson, on behalf of Councillor K M H Lagan, an ‘in attendance’ member, proposed that this issue be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (O&S) for review. This was seconded and agreed by assent. Councillor Stamp then proposed that, as referenced by Officers, the business model and costs of the Splash Park be referred to Strategy and Resources Committee (S&R) for review. The Chairperson put Councillor Stamp’s proposal to the Committee, it was seconded and agreed by assent.

There being no further discussion the Chairperson then put all recommendations to the Committee and they were agreed by assent.

RESOLVED

(i)              That Members reviewed the information as set out in this report and appendix 1 with priority focus given to the Strategic Outcome level performance.

(ii)             That Members confirmed they were assured through this review that corporate performance was being managed effectively.

(iii)           That the management process of the Splash Park be referred to Overview and Scrutiny for review.

(iv)           That the Business Model and costs of the Splash Park be mapped out/ reviewed and reported back to a future meeting of Strategy & Resources Committee for Member decision on the way forward.

Councillor K M H Lagan, an in attendance Member, left the meeting following this item of business.