Agenda item

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1^st January 2024 to 31^st March 2024 (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 January 2024 to 31 March 2024.

The Business Intelligence and Change Manager introduced the report and stated that a slight improvement was recorded compared to the previous quarter with a drop in the number of red indicators. Performance improvements and challenges had been identified in the following areas:

Homelessness Prevention

• It was noted that the key points had been covered earlier in the meeting.

Customer Service

• The metrics in the previous quarters had been significantly below target, however Q4 had noted improvements. Performance was below target for call answering times however this had improved; and

·       The call abandonment metric was on target despite an increase with the length of time customer phone calls were taking;

Housing Benefits speed of answering new claims:

·       Anomalies had been noticed with the Housing Benefit data for processing new claims and this had been queried with PSPS. Clarification was awaited and figures would be confirmed once received;

Occupancy rates for council’s other investment properties :

• This remained below target due to the continued vacancies at Butter Market and Short Street offices.

Car Parking Income:

·       Whilst this had failed to meet the cumulative target set, the target had since been reviewed with the 2024/25 budget, and along with the new tariff structure that had been introduced, it was anticipated that forecast outturn would be in line with the target;

Ayscoughfee Hall visits:

·       Visits to Ayscoughfee Hall had shown a considerable increase which had largely been attributed to the popular Night Light event, and increased opening hours; and

Gym membership:

·       This metric had experienced growth, although this was not accurately shown in the report and the data would be amended to reflect the true figure.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members queried the reason for the increased length of call times to the Contact Centre:
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that:
    • Customer Contact staff were focused on giving a good quality of service; however, the trend was that the number of phone calls had increased, along with the length of the individual calls, this was mainly attributed to the cost-of-living crisis with customer issues becoming more complex;
    • Many of the enquiries logged did not provide a digital option, there was a need to shift a percentage of the calls to offer more digital options, allowing Customer Contact to prioritise the longer calls; and
    • A post within PSPS was currently being explored, that was to solely focus on refining the website and working alongside the Council and their teams. The purpose would be to incorporate as much information as possible to better signpost the customer to locate the correct forms/information.

• Members noted that the report evidenced that Kingdom Contractors had issued a large number of fixed penalty notices. How many of these had been paid?
  • The Business Intelligence and Change Manager would make enquiries with the relevant officer and report back to the Panel.

·       Members asked if there was a reason why staff in the workplace did not feel as valued as in previous years, was there a reason this was on a decline.

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager would make enquiries regarding the commentary from the Key Performance Indicators and report back to the Panel.

·       Members noted that staff turnover had increased. Was any action being taken to ensure that staff in the partnership felt valued?

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager responded that:

§  The figures were cumulative;

§  There was a programme of work being looked into that had a lot of future initiatives planned, which would look into improving staff morale; and

§  The results in the report were inclusive of the partnership and this could be split to show the true figures for SHDC separately, moving forward the Panel requested both the partnership and SHDC data to be provided.

o   Members recommended that Cabinet pay attention to the results of staff surveys and that feedback/ areas of concern be embedded into a report to Cabinet.

• Members requested additional information about the combined housing benefit/council tax support.  Why were new customers waiting more than five weeks for their claim to be processed?

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager confirmed that PSPS believed that this data was lower but could only refer to the figures that were provided, more accurate information would be reported back to the Panel.

• Members enquired if the Extension of Time for Planning applications should be removed and could more information be provided on the data. The figure of 30% could be deemed relatively good compared to other authorities but did not give enough direction as to where the issues arose. Members also requested a figure be provided for how much the authority had paid back in Planning fees? Members would like to know how many pre-applications had been provided and was this considered successful?

o   The Business Intelligence and Change Manager would investigate the figure and report back to the Panel.

AGREED:

a)    That the report be noted by the Panel; and

b)    That the comments of the Panel be noted.