Agenda item

Performance Monitoring Report

The Committee is asked to consider the Performance Monitoring Report 2020/21 Quarter 2 (July – September 2020).

 

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, and the Business Support Officer (Policy) have been invited to attend for this item.

Minutes:

The Leader introduced the report which set out the quarterly performance management report for second quarter 2020/21 (July – September 2020).  He explained that the first quarter report was cancelled due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Authority’s resources, but the data was fed-in to keep a running assessment.

 

He highlighted paragraph 1.2 on page 74 of the report which detailed that 76% of all performance indicators were green, 10% were amber and 14% were red.  The Leader drew attention to Chart 1 on page 75 which charted the gradual decline in red throughout the period.

 

Referring to the 20 corporate indicators, measured monthly at paragraph 2.8 on page 76, the Leader said that some of the indicators in red were Covid-linked such as increase in waste collection enquiries to Customer Services and reduction in response times for Planning Enforcement complaints due to childcare issues during lockdown.

 

The Leader drew attention to Table 3 on page 79 and said it was no surprise that there had been an increase in the number of households living in temporary accommodation.

 

A Member raised an issue with how Planning Enforcement complaints were logged. He said that the reference number recorded in the Mid-Kent planning administration team in Maidstone did not correspond with reference numbers kept by the Swale Planning Enforcement team and he feared that 76.7% was an underestimate.  The Business Support Officer (Policy) agreed to look into this.

 

In response to a Member’s comments around bin collections, the Leader said the Council were moving towards a new contract.  The Head of Commissioning, Environment and Leisure added that many of the issues were historic and there had been increased interaction with the new management team at the contractor, however there were still Covid-19 related issues and missed bins was an area of focus to be improved upon.

 

The Chairman referred to the percentage of calls to the customer contact centre answered in 20 seconds and reminded Members there had also been a number of network issues.  He asked whether there was a requirement of minimum Wi-Fi broadband strength for staff to work from home?  The Head of Commissioning, Environment and Leisure said there was no minimum requirement in the terms and conditions, and that ICT Services were working well with staff with poor broadband.  He added that Swale House had been made Covid-19 secure in order to facilitate staff that had poor broadband.  A Member commented that resilience variance was an issue as even strong Wi-Fi sometimes dropped.

 

Drawing attention to the information on the sticker campaign for bins as highlighted on page 78 of the report, the Chairman suggested there needed to be more publicity to make public aware.  The Head of Commissioning, Environment and Leisure said there would be a social media campaign and stickers would be put on all bins.  A Member said that putting waste in the wrong bins was a major issue.  In response, the Head of Commissioning, Environment and Leisure said there was a longer-term impact of residents working from home, and there would be a focus on correct food waste disposal.

 

A Member praised the efforts of staff for achieving 98.5% of abandoned vehicles investigated within 24 hours as shown in Table 2 on page 78 of the report.

 

In response to a Member’s question on the reduction of enquiries to the business support services, the Leader explained that this related to grant enquiries and he expected the figure to increase significantly again.

 

A Member sought clarification on the estimated visits to Council-owned or supported leisure centres.  The Head of Commissioning Environment and Leisure said that the figures for all three leisure centres were estimated as they had opened and closed regularly during the pandemic and the actual figure would be known by the end of the year.  He said that swimming lessons had not been run at The Swallows, and the works to fix the roof was expected to be completed by Christmas 2020.

 

Referring to Table 3 on page 79, of the report, Member asked whether the % of fly-tipping incidents attended was by SBC staff?  The Head of Commissioning, Environment and Leisure confirmed it was.  The same Member also queried the low number of Visitor Economy Businesses support by ECS. The Business Support Officer (Policy) agreed to find out.  (POST MEETING NOTE response:  Demand for support was driven by grants availability at any given time.  By the summer, all grants had been paid so demand for ECS support dropped.  Additionally, a lot of work had been done to encourage business to sign up for the Economic Development E-bulletin, which should reduce the numbers of enquiries).

 

The Chairman asked questions about long term sick absence of staff, whether any were Covid-19 related and whether self-isolation was recorded as sick leave?  The Head of Commissioning, Environment and Leisure said that records of staff isolating and working, as well as those isolating and not working were kept but were not recorded in the sickness figures.

 

Several Members praised Planning staff for meeting the targets in determining planning applications and maintaining performance during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The Chairman added that all SBC staff had gone above and beyond and should be applauded.  The Leader said all staff had been fantastic and reminded Members that staff had also been without a Chief Executive.

 

A Member referred to the table on page 83 of the report and said that the % of beach huts occupied had a low target and a low outcome.  In response, the Head of Commissioning, Environment and Leisure said that 90% occupation was high as the aim was to retain some huts for rental for local people.  He said that whilst it was not currently a focus, the uptake remained above the target and further offers to those on the waiting list had recently been made.  The Business Support Officer (Policy) added that 75% was the target, and 87% had been achieved.

 

In response to a Member’s question on litter, the Head of Commissioning, Environment and Leisure said that litter was expected items such as packets or cans and detritus was a build up of smaller items such as cigarette butts or dust/leaves, etc.

 

The Chairman thanked officers for their attendance.

 

Resolved:

 

(1)  That the report be noted.

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