Issue - meetings

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1st April 2025 to 30th June 2025 (report of the Assistant Director – Corporate enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate which provided the Cabinet with an update on how the Council performed for the period 1^st April 2025 to 30^th June 2025.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance introduced the report on behalf of the Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Environmental Services raised the following points:

• The report updated Cabinet on progress against KPIs.
• 83% of KPIs were on or above target, 7% were slightly below target and 7% were significantly under target.
• Strong areas of performance included:
  • Planning applications, both major and minor, which were well above government and internal targets
  • Homelessness prevention was performing well despite previous underperformance
  • Council housing stock had high compliance with statutory safety checks
  • First contact resolution rates in customer contact had improved over the last 12 months.
• Areas that required improvement included:
  • Recycling and Waste – both the percentage of household waste collected for recycling/composting and the percentage of contaminated recycling were well below target.
  • Corporate complaints and Subject Access Requests response rates within the statutory timescale were both below target.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members queried why there was no figure for household waste collected for recycling for Quarter 1.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that these figures were provided by LCC and were a quarter in arrears.
    • Members requested that this be made clearer in the report.
• Members queried why the Q1 figure for subject access requests responded to within the statutory timeline was the same as the figure for Q4.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager confirmed that these figures were correct and each related to three subject access requests received in each quarter.
• Members questioned why the rate for household waste collected for recycling had reduced so significantly and what the Council was doing to encourage residents to recycle.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that the service had given a response at Performance Monitoring Panel which related to the current waste collection model allowing for the presentation of unlimited waste which didn’t incentivise the separation or reduction of waste. The new collection model would better support this.
  • In terms of engagement on social media, the Council’s posts generally reached a wide audience but specific posts around recycling did not get the most engagement, typically below 1%. This would be fed back to the service.
  • The Leader commented that the figures seemed to be anomaly and expressed concern that LCC’s figures could be incorrect.
• Members commented that the commentary regarding the proportion of homes that did not meet the Decent Homes Standard had been cut off in the report.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager would circulate this to members outside of the meeting.
• Members asked what action was being taken to fill market pitches.
  • The Leader responded that the Markets Manager now had a successful Facebook page with lots of interest and the recent good weather had increased the number of occupied market pitches.
  • He added that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1st April 2025 to 30th June 2025 (report of the Assistant Director – Corporate enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate which provided members with an update on how the Council was performing for the period 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2025.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager introduced the report and highlighted the following main points:

• Refuse and recycling performance remained under target, though improvements were noted;
• A Corporate Complaints Clinic was supporting services, with teams using AI tools;
• Homelessness prevention cases were improving despite challenges; and
• 83% of metrics were in a positive position.

Members considered the report and made the following comments.

·         Members queried whether the 10% target for Planning appeals was realistic and asked for the cost of appeals in real terms.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that the target was set by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and costs would be investigated.

·         Members asked why recycling and composting rates were low and whether improvements were expected.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that improvements were anticipated with the new service model and data from Lincolnshire County Council would be circulated once available.

·         Members queried the contamination rate and suggested public education to aid improvements.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that the current processes did not support improvements, but the upcoming changes to the model would help.

·         Members noted missing commentary and requested clarification on abbreviations.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager agreed to elaborate on abbreviations in future reports.

·         Members queried how the housing recovery rate could exceed 100%.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager explained that some cases remained open into the next quarter and were included the figures for that period.

·         Members requested more specific data on fly-tipping.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager agreed to provide this.

·         Members queried low performance on Corporate Complaints and Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs).

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager explained that DSARs were complex and time-consuming. The data reflected that two out of six had missed deadlines.

·         Members queried the average number of days to fix damp and mould issues.

o   The Housing Property and Repairs Manager responded that the team had performed within the target of 56 days set under the current policy. The impending implementation of and adherence to Awaab’s Law would see the timeframe targets reduce to 5 days for surveys and 10-/15-day commencement time for repairs.

·         Members requested volume data alongside percentages.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager agreed to include this where available.

·         Members queried when a trend became an indicator.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that this was reviewed annually and that services were encouraged to set targets where appropriate.

·         Members queried the drop in swim numbers.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that this had been caused by a pump failure and would seek confirmation as to whether a repair had been completed.

·         Members queried the drop in Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs).

o   The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40