Agenda item

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1st July 2022 to 30th September 2022 (report of the Assistant Director – Corporate enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate to provide an update on how the Council was performing for the period 1 July 2022 to 30 September 2022.

The report was introduced by the Business Intelligence and Change Manager who highlighted the following areas:

• the layout had reverted to the previous format following feedback received at the 19 October 2022 Performance Monitoring Panel meeting;
• performance was now monitored using a business intelligence system which had been implemented across the Partnership;

Key areas of performance were outlined in Appendix A and the following points were highlighted:

• the time taken to process Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support claims (changes and new) was above the threshold target agreed between South Holland District Council and PSPS, and was within the national target set by the Department for Work and Pensions;
• regarding Customer Contact performance:
  • this was still below the target set for calls answered however performance was on a positive trajectory and a breakdown of the data was provided within the report;
  • a 67% increase in demand when compared to the same period last year had resulted from over 100,000 incoming calls regarding the Council Tax Rebate Scheme; and
  • essential training on the new telephone system had taken place during the period.
• Freedom of information and complaint response times had improved slightly but remained below target. The report provided a breakdown of data by service areas. The department was under review so that contingencies could be employed across the Partnership when required.
• Whilst Homelessness indicators remained under target, significant improvements had been made since the previous quarter and performance was on a positive trajectory. A breakdown of data was provided in the covering report and this area was to be monitored closely over the following months. The Assistance Director – Wellbeing and Community Leadership was to bring a report regarding interventions to Leaders of all three authorities within the S&ELCP on the 2 December 2022. The report could be shared with the Panel if this was considered useful; and
• Housing Voids had improved since the previous quarter and performance had been within targets.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members referred to the market stall occupancy rate and requested that the data be separated to detail occupancy of the different markets within the district, rather than as a total.

• Members referred to the conclusion at point 3 of the report which detailed the performance of 51 per cent of the Council’s metrics and asked for information regarding the remaining 49 per cent.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager  responded that the 49 per cent related to ‘data only’ Performance Indicators where targets were not set. A narrative would be included in future reports so this point would be clear.

• Members noted the 67% increase in calls to the Contact Centre due to the Council Tax Rebate Scheme and questioned whether action had been taken to improve outward communications regarding the scheme to reduce demand on the service. Was the data being utilised to inform action?

• Members referred to the Homelessness performance detailed at point 2.3 of the report and requested that the 4 unpreventable cases and the 51 pending cases be reviewed to see if earlier engagement would lead to better outcomes. In depth triage at an early stage was called for.

• Members noted the Freedom of Information performance at point 2.4 of the report and asked whether late responses had been attributable to multiple requests from single enquirers. A narrative which detailed the reasoning behind the data was requested for future reports.

• Members noted that the number of reports which had not been made available to the Democratic Services team for agenda publication had doubled and asked for commentary to be included in future Performance reports.

Regarding the format of the report, members stated that:

• the report layout was welcomed;
• a refinement of commentary was requested throughout; and contextual commentary was required where statistics alone had been stated; and
• where percentages had been stated, the statistics behind the percentages also needed to be included.

AGREED:

That the content of the Q2 2022/23 Performance Report be noted by the Performance Monitoring Panel.