Agenda item

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1^st April 2023 to 30th June 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 April 2023 to 30^th June 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 to the report.

The key points of the report were outlined:

• There had been a revision to some indicators and targets to ensure they remained relevant to service delivery and monitored the key aspects of service performance.
• 33% of metrics presented a positive position, while 14% were below target. 
• Homelessness performance had particularly improved from the last quarter.

The Head of Customer Contact was also in attendance and highlighted:

• Customer Contact performance varied in quarter 1 as some metrics were red and others were green but noted that all metrics were green for quarter 2 which would allay Members fears.
• March and April were an extremely busy time for Customer Contact with benefits and council tax calls.
• Pre-emptive measures had been put in place for this period such as the call back service introduced on 9^th May, a ban on annual leave and extended hours.
• There were a number of improvements in the pipeline with new data in the Customer Relations Management system that could track the digital capabilities of customers and the number of enquiries received where there were no digital options in place. This information would be fed back to services to inform them of digital changes that could be made to their service.
• A Customer Experience Board had been set up, attended by the Head of Customer Contact, the Business Intelligence and Change Manager and the Assistant Manager – Wellbeing and Community Leadership, that looked at recorded data and used this to influence future service operation decisions.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members asked whether there were any trends identified that had caused the increases seen.
  • The Head of Customer Contact stated that there was a natural uplift in the number of calls received in March and April which could be planned for to a certain extent, but demand this year was much higher than expected with a 38% uplift in April this year, compared to last April
  • It was also noted that financial pressures for residents had increased which had led to an increase in calls relating to benefit applications, council tax and homelessness. Many of these calls took longer to answer as they were sensitive cases and often needed to be signposted to additional support.
  • The Head of Customer Contact confirmed that a quality first approach was being taken to ensure all customers were given the best support possible. This approach did however have a knock-on effect as other customers would then have to wait in the queue for longer.
  • It was confirmed that digital self-serve avenues were being investigated with individual departments to help reduce the number of phone calls coming through to customer contact, although it was recognised that this was not an overnight solution that can be put in place and will take time. A call-back system had also been introduced that had received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
• Members asked whether there were any concerns about the sustainability of progress made within customer contact?

• • The Head of Customer Contact responded to say that peaks within the year were planned for and there had been continued positive performance within the department.
  • It needed to be recognised that due to the inflexible nature of the targets set that during March and April these may not be met due to the overwhelming demand on the service.
  • It was explained that the service now had a stabilised workforce and were working on re-evaluating what the new norms were for the demand on the service in comparison to the same period last year.
• Members commented that there had been a concerning drop in the number of metrics that were showing positive performance, from 40% to 33%.
• Members noted that the new contract for Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) and fly-tipping had been working well and praised the uplift in charges for these. However, there was concern that the 66% payment rate for FPNs seemed low. Members asked how long the time period was for payment to be made and what steps were taken to gain payment once this time period had ended.
• Members also queried why there had not yet been any prosecutions for fly-tipping under the new contract and felt that there had been an increase in fly-tipping in the countryside since the beginning of the contract as compared to the urban areas in the District. Members asked for more information on this difference to be provided.
• Members noted that it was good to see an increase in the number of visitors to the Peele Leisure Centre.
• Members questioned whether there had been an improvement to the staff turnover percentage, which appeared high for Quarter 1 at 5%.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager confirmed that the figure represented 11 leavers in total, 86% of which were voluntary resignations.
    • Members felt that this needed to be monitored in case any trends appeared as if the same figure was returned long-term, there could be a serious problem.
• In relation to fly-tipping, Members asked several questions in relation to portable CCTV cameras:
  • How many of these cameras did the authority own?
  • Was there a way to increase the stock of cameras?
  • What sort of damage had occurred to previous cameras used across the District?
  • Where had cameras previously been utilised?
  • How much activity did the cameras pick up?
  • If cameras were not being utilised, could an explanation be provided as to why?
• Members asked whether staff who had left recently were all from the same department or spread across many different departments?
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager confirmed that the leavers were from various different departments across the Council.
• Members queried whether the target for number of businesses with a food hygiene rating of 3 stars should be increased to at least 4 stars.
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager explained that the number of 3 star premises was the annual return figure that was reported to the Food Standards Agency but suggested that a line for 4 or 5 stars could be added in addition to the 3 star metric.

AGREED:

That the contents of the report be noted.