Agenda item

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1July 2023 to 30 September 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 July 2023 to 30 September 2023.

The report was introduced by 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 of the report.

The following key points of the report were outlined:

• An improvement in performance from Q1 had been seen overall with some previously underperforming indicators moving to ‘on’ or ‘above’ target (green) and others which were slightly below target were within an agreed tolerance level; and
• An update was given for each area where performance was below target (red), as follows:

Percentage of cases opened at homelessness prevention stage (red):

o   Increased cases during the Q2 period represented the seasonal trend; 

o   The team had spent the majority of Q2 catching up with Full Housing Assessments which had improved from 8 weeks to within 3 days. As a result, the team was in a position to focus on prevention which aimed to reduce the number of cases transferring to ‘relief’ cases;

o   Whilst approaches at relief stage were largely out of the council’s control, the percentage of cases closed where homelessness had been prevented was within the council’s control. The Q2 performance in this area had exceeded the previous four quarters and was significantly higher than the East Midland’s average; and

o   An upcoming review of the homelessness website by the team aimed to:

§  Improve the customer journey and utilise improved digital pathways for residents to access services; and

§  Expedite the outcome should residents move from a prevention case to a relief case.

Combined Housing Benefit and Council Tax speed of processing changes (PSPS) (red):

o   High volumes of work had been encountered during the period; and

o   The speed of processing Housing Benefit Only claims was 20.67 days in September 2023 which represented an improvement in performance. The improvements had continued into October 2023 and therefore had not raised concern.

Freedom of Information access (FOIA) and complaint responses (red):

o   The total amount of requests for Q2 was 173, of which 144 were FOIA requests and the remainder related to Subject Access, Police and Law Enforcement;

o   92 FOIA requests were responded to within 20 working days; 19 were late and 33 were overdue;

o   Recent intervention to streamline the delivery of FOIA had taken place. Through the guidance of the shared Group Information Governance Manager, steps had been taken to enable the BBC and ELDC compliance achievement rate of 95-99%, to be attained at SHDC;

o   Restrictive deadlines had been implemented which encouraged improved service engagement and facilitated earlier identification of service personnel responsible for the FOIA;

o   Delays in FOIA cases being referred to Legal personnel had been reduced;.

o   Regarding complaints, 26 issues had been received during Q2, of which 11 had received responses by the deadline;

o   There had been a backlog of work within the Information Governance team which had resulted in delays relating to the logging of complaints and follow-up processes;

o   Adherence to complaint deadlines had been challenging due to high service workloads; and

o   The Group Information Governance Manager had added capacity by handling 60 first contact complaints and rolling out best practices across the partnership.

Customer Contact(red)

o   Customer contact performance had improved significantly across a range of indicators;

o   Some areas were slightly below target however a tolerance of 5 per cent had been agreed; and

o   The recorded data detailed ‘year to date’ performance as this reflected the PSPS contract monitoring approach. The commentary related solely to Q1.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Regarding reported FOI requests, members queried the number which could be considered ‘general enquiries’ and therefore had the potential to be answered by improvements to published website information.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that the team was vigilant in this respect and assessed whether the information was readily available on the website prior to the registering a FOI request;
  • The website was being reviewed to ensure that content was clear; and
  • The number of requests deemed to be ‘general enquiries’ would be investigated and reported to the panel after the meeting.

• In respect of complaints, members enquired whether a common theme had been identified. 
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that:
    • a pattern was not evident from the 26 ‘true’ complaints however a breakdown would be shared with the panel at the 23 January 2024 meeting; and
    • Where a customer query could be easily resolved, these cases were intercepted and addressed by officers prior to the registration of an official complaint and thereby the processing period was reduced. 

• A discussion ensued around the increased trend in respect of rough sleepers and members queried the following:
  • The reason for the increased trend;
  • Whether departmental resource issues had affected response times;
  • Whether rough sleepers were from the South Holland district or elsewhere;
  • The implications of encampments on private property, such as in shop doorways;
  • The efforts being made to engage with rough sleepers during the night;
  • The practical support available for rough sleepers in terms of hostel accommodation, hot food and drink; and
  • The number of empty properties owned by the council which may contribute to a solution.
• The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that:
  • A seasonal increase in homelessness approaches had been received during the quarter;
  • The data was dependent upon whether the resident was at prevention or relief stage; any identified trends would be shared with the panel;
  • The annual rough sleeper count was due to take place the day after the current meeting and the data would be shared with the panel; after the data was collated, the homelessness team would connect with Change4Lincs regarding support for rough sleepers; and
  • The workload of the SHDC homelessness team was considered manageable, at 28.8 cases per officer.
• The Community Safety and Enforcement Manager responded that:
  • The rough sleepers in Spalding were known to the council and regular support was offered;
  • Individuals became homeless due to a range of different personal circumstances and the right support needed to be offered - all options were explored; and
  • Change4Lincs engaged with rough sleepers during the night and provided support with the accessing of services based on need; this could include assistance with completion of paperwork; access to a mobile phone; and provision of water and food vouchers.

Members recognised the complex issues which affected this area and that the relevant officer was not present at the meeting to provide a fuller response. It was therefore requested that the relevant officer be invited to attend the 23 January 2023 Performance Monitoring Panel meeting in order to answer member questions.

• Members noted that some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were not measured against targets but were recorded as ‘trend only’ and queried the reason for this.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that ‘trend only’ usually applied to new KPIs in their first year, after which time an improvement target would be set for subsequent years. The panel had previously asked for such trends to be included in the report prior to a target being set; and
  • ‘Trend only’ was considered the optimum mechanism in some areas, such as ‘staff turnover’.
• In respect of the Year 1 trend, members suggested that a target be set with the understanding that this would be adapted thereafter on receipt of feedback/data.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that:
    • The framework was currently being reviewed for the following municipal year and many of the current ‘trend only’ KPIs would have targets for 2024/2025;
    • There was a reluctance to include targets for new areas of performance due to the lack of data upon which a realistic target could be based; nonetheless, the Business Intelligence and Change Manager noted the request and would investigate the matter to see what could be done.

• Members expressed concern regarding the number of staff who felt informed about the partnership and its decision-making. The value of 52 per cent was low, and the trend had not improved despite the issue being known for over a year. More effort was required to rectify the position.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that:
    • Where responses of ‘yes’ and ‘sometimes’ were combined, the value rose to 89 per cent for the partnership, and to 91 per cent for SHDC; and
    • The Corporate Management Team were aware of the issue and an update would be circulated to the panel in respect of work being undertaken by the Communications Team;

• Members queried the reason for the increased number of working days lost to sickness.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager would seek a response from H.R. (PSPS) which would be circulated to panel members after the meeting.

• Members requested sight of performance data for ELDC and BBC so that partnership trends could be compared and learning shared. Could the data be included in the report.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that whilst the navigation of a combined partnership performance report would be challenging, the respective ELDC and BBC performance reports could be shared.

AGREED:

That the contents of the report be noted.