Issue - meetings

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1^st January 2023 to 31^st March 2023 (report of the Assistant Director – Corporate enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate which provided an update on how the Council was performing for the period 1^st January 2023 to 31^st March 2023.

The report was introduced by the Assistant Director – Strategic Growth and Development on behalf of the Business Intelligence and Change Manager which provided an overview of how the Council was performing against its key performance indicators. Full details were provided at Appendix A to the report.

The key points of the report were outlined:

• Improvements in performance had been seen since Q3, particularly for Food Health and Safety, but further progress was required in the following areas which were below target:
  • Customer Contact;
  • Leisure - number of gym and swimming pool visitors; and
  • Homelessness.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members were concerned about the worrying trend in the declining number of gym and swimming pool visitors.
• Members had a continuing concern about the homelessness performance and stressed a need for the authority to think outside of the box in terms of new initiatives to help prevent this issue.
  • The Portfolio Holder for Communities and Operational Housing commented that the figures from Q4 showed that the homelessness team were moving into a stronger position. There had already been a few changes implemented by the Homelessness Reduction Manager to ways of working. The Portfolio Holder was confident that the team were moving in the right direction and would be in a much better position in the next quarter.
• Members requested that more details be provided on how many homelessness cases were currently open and where these cases were located within the district.
  • The Portfolio Holder for Communities and Operational Housing responded to say that there was now a strong homelessness team in place and the project workers were very capable and knowledgeable when helping and giving advice to those engaging with the service. She noted that there may be an increase in homelessness cases due to the cost of living crisis but that the team were working hard to improve procedures going forward. She hoped that the statistics for this performance indicator would improve in due course.
• Members requested information on the proportion of homeless people the team were working with that were not native to South Holland. This would help members to understand the bigger picture of the homelessness issue.
  • The Portfolio Holder for Communities and Operational Housing responded that these figures could be asked for and sourced for members.
• Members queried whether homelessness officers engaged with the voluntary sector to aid their work.
  • The Portfolio Holder for Communities and Operational Housing confirmed that the team did engage with the voluntary sector to help people to regain stability. The team were also looking to engage with the Council’s Domestic Abuse Officers to better support people coming from those situations.
• Members asked if the performance figures for homelessness at Boston Borough Council and East Lindsey District Council were similar to South Holland’s and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11