Agenda and minutes

To sign as a correct record the minutes of the following meetings:

Members noted a discrepancy with the attendance for the Performance Monitoring Panel meeting held on 23 January 2024

AGREED:

a)    That the minutes of the 23 January 2024 Performance Monitoring Panel meeting be signed by the Chairman as a correct record, with amended attendance.

b)    That the minutes of the 25 January 2024 Joint Performance Monitoring Panel and Policy Development Panel meeting be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

An update on actions which arose at the 23 January 2024 Performance Monitoring Panel meeting and the tracking of outstanding actions (enclosed).

Consideration was given to the actions which arose at the 23 January 2024 Performance Monitoring Panel meeting, and the tracking of outstanding actions.

• Members referred to action 54. 23/24 in respect of the Primary Health Care Provision item and expressed disappointment that responses to a number of member queries, which arose at the 23 January 2024 meeting, had not been received.
  • The Assistant Director – Strategic Growth and Development would follow up the issue with the Lincolnshire Integrated Health Board representatives.

AGREED:

That the responses to actions be noted.

Where a Councillor has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest the Councillor must declare the interest to the meeting and leave the room without participating in any discussion or making a statement on the item, except where a councillor is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of dispensation.

There were none.

There were none.

There were none.

There were none.

Consideration was given to the Key Decision Plan dated 8 March 2024.

AGREED:

That the Key Decision Plan be noted.

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1^st October 2023 to 31^st December 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 October 2023 to 31 December 2023.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager introduced the report and highlighted the following areas where performance challenges had been identified:

• Homelessness at prevention stage:
  • A decrease in performance in this area was attributed to a surge in cases during quarter 3 which had impacted the capacity to open cases at prevention stage; in total 120 cases had been recorded, of which 37 were at prevention;
  • Work was taking place with partners, such the Citizens Advice Bureau, to increase engagement around prevention; and
  • A detailed communication plan around homelessness prevention was being put together which would be shared with the Committee when available.
• Customer Contact:
  • Performance remained stable and was either on or slightly below target in most cases;
  • A Customer Contact Board, akin to a working group, had been established to scrutinise data and performance in detail. Membership of the board included: the Business Intelligence and Change Manager, the Head of Customer Contact, the Assistant Director – Corporate, the Head of PSPS, the Head of ICT, the Communications Manager, and the three responsible Portfolio Holders at each Council. The following key areas of focus had been identified:
    • A review of the council website which aimed to improve the customer digital experience and reduce the volume of calls;
    • A communication piece was required to improve the signposting of specific queries to partners as appropriate, such as Lincolnshire County Council for street lighting, in order to reduce unnecessary calls to SHDC;
    • The implementation of online forms would be accelerated for high traffic areas; and
    • A Housing Repairs self-serve tool was currently in a test phase and was planned to be launched during April 2024.
• Governance:
  • Whilst both ‘Freedom of Information requests responded to within statutory deadlines’ and ‘responses to Corporate Complaints within corporately set timescales’ were below target for the quarter, a Section 113 arrangement from December 2023 had led to improvements, with 100 per cent response rates.
• Planning and Strategic Infrastructure:
  • The clearance of older cases had led to an increase in the percentage of all Planning Decisions that were subject to extensions of time (EOT). A strategy to implement a stricter approach to application delays was indicated within the report.
• Financial Indicators:
  • An underperformance of Car Parking income received against budget for quarter 3 had prompted plans to install new parking machines by the end of March 2024. In addition, a new car parking fee structure from 8 April 2024 would include a ‘Commuter and Shopper pass’ with an aim to boost revenue generation.
• Industrial Units:
  • Two Industrial Units had become vacant during quarter 3. Both had been advertised and one had received interest, however, at the current time, the market for office space was not deemed to be strong. All other units across the district were let.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager stated that positive performance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.

To receive an update on the implementation of the actions agreed following the Council’s LGA Peer Challenge (a presentation will be provided to the Panel at the meeting).

Consideration was given to the Peer Review Action Tracker Update which provided members with an action plan progress update in respect of the South Holland District Council Peer Review.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager relayed the update to members at the meeting by way of a presentation (which was to be appended to the minutes), and a verbal update which highlighted the following points:

• All recommendations from the SHDC Peer Review were listed on the tracker, and colour-coded according to their status, as follows: completed (grey), not started (not applicable), on plan (green), off plan but mitigation in place to get back on plan (amber), or off plan with no mitigation (red);
• A number of recommendations had been completed (grey) or were progressing according to the plan (green). The following amber recommendations with mitigations were discussed:
  • ‘Review SHDC’s Constitution to consider greater delegations, and where appropriate, consistency with other SELCP authorities’:  progress had been made and this recommendation would be brought back on track in July 2024 when it was to be considered at the Full Council meeting;
  • ‘Launch Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Training for members and officers’: training would be launched in April 2025;
  • ‘Develop and deliver a Place Strategy for the Partnership and sub-region and communicate the vision to stakeholders and communities’: adoption had been re-scheduled for quarter 2 2024/2025; and
  • ‘Develop and deliver an Economic Strategy and Inward Investment Plan for the sub-region’: consideration by Cabinet had been rescheduled for quarter 1 2024/2025.
• A performance update would be presented to the Performance Monitoring Panel on a six-monthly basis

Members welcomed the update and did not raise any questions.

AGREED:

That the Peer Review Action Tracker Update be noted by the Panel.

To set out the Work Programme of the Performance Monitoring Panel (report of the Assistant Director – Governance enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Governance which set out the Work Programme of the Performance Monitoring Panel.

The Democratic Services Officer introduced the report and highlighted the following main points:

• Scheduled meetings of the Panel and expected items would be populated at Appendix A upon confirmation of SHDC’s schedule of meetings for 2024/2025;
• A Special meeting regarding the South Holland Centre had been scheduled for 18 April 2024; and
• Appendix B detailed the Task Groups of the Panel.

AGREED:

That the Work Programme be noted by the Panel.

There were none.