URL: https://rother.moderngov.co.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=1861

Decision Maker: Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cabinet

Outcome:

Is Key Decision?: No

Is Callable In?: No

Purpose: To monitor delivery of the Council's Key Performance Indicators and make any necessary recommendations to Cabinet.

Content: Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Corporate and Strategic Services on the Performance Report of the First Quarter (Q1) 2025/26. Members were given the opportunity to scrutinise progress towards corporate operations and service delivery and make any necessary recommendations to Cabinet for future service delivery.   A summary of the Council’s performance against the selected 22 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) broken down into nine service areas was included at Appendix A to the report. Changes made to several of the KPIs since the previous year were highlighted for Members, which included an additional 2% uplift in income from all assets for the Estates indicators and two new Planning indicators.   The exceptions (those either not meeting or exceeding targets) were detailed in the report and highlighted to Members as follows:   ·           Customer Core: 100% of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests answered in 20 days – performance this quarter was 75%: Performance had dropped largely due to late responses without good cause. There had also been issues with the previous manual diary process where a number of requests were missed or not answered. Mitigations to address performance had now been put in place, along with the purchase of a new management system that was planned to be deployed in September/October. ·           Environmental Health – 90% of scheduled food inspections carried out – performance this quarter was 64%: A Senior Environmental Health Officer post had been vacant, but was now filled, and performance was expected to return to normal levels. ·           Planning: Extensions of time: 30% of major applications in 13 weeks – quarter one performance is 17%. 60% of non-major applications in 8 weeks - quarter one performance is 18%: This KPI measured the percentage of applications subject to extensions of time. Extensions of time had been used and, whilst they were allowed and agreed in writing with the applicant/agent, the Planning Service was currently overusing these. This was because of a backlog of applications with Planning Business Support awaiting verification. Temporary resources had been put in place, and a permanent officer had now been recruited as well as an upgrade to the IT system.   Performance was discussed at internal management meetings where Heads of Service and relevant Service Managers discussed performance and service risks collectively and individually. The individual sessions allowed for a detailed look at any issues impacting performance and the collective sessions allowed for any cross-cutting issues to be identified.   Benchmarking data had been included where it was available, and Members were advised that Central Government was currently consulting on a new Local Government Outcomes Framework that would compare performance of all local authorities. Rother officers would take part in this consultation and were attending the engagement workshops organised by Government.   The Head of Planning advised Members that P5, ‘30% of Major applications in time (13 weeks) in the year to September’ and P6  ‘60% non-major applications in time (8 weeks) in the year to September’ KPIs did not have any basis in the Government’s metrics but a new planning performance system would be coming from Government within the coming year.  Members agreed to recommend to Cabinet these two KPIs be deleted and for the position to be reviewed once the new planning performance system came out from Government.   Members were given the opportunity to ask questions, and the following points were noted during the discussion:   ·           performance data against the Customer Services indicator ‘% of enquiries that are resolved on the first contact with customer services’ was not available due to problems experienced with the telephone system. This had now been rectified; ·           the Head of Planning highlighted that three of the indicators within P1-P4 were more stringent than the Government’s metrics. Any target set that was too stringent could result in more planning applications being refused in order to meet timescales; ·           Members were pleased to note that the Missed Bins KPI was still at a good level; ·           it was important to continually review KPIs to ensure they were still fit for purpose; ·           £28,000 income had been received through the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices, which had improved the levels of detritus across the district; ·           N5 ‘Fly tip fines issued (number)’ related to instances where evidence of identity could be established; ·           Members raised concerns that no financial implications had been identified for the proposals within the report, but it was still very early in the financial year; ·           street cleansing was not in the KPI set, but was independently checked three times per year; and ·           the missing result for H2 ‘Average cost of placing household in temporary accommodation’ was confirmed for Members as £913 in Q1, however this was slightly misleading due to the way the data was collected, as Q4 often looked worse and Q1 better than actual.   Members thanked the Head of Corporate and Strategic Services for her work on producing such an easy to read and understandable report.   RESOLVED: That:   1)     the report be noted; and   2)     Cabinet be requested to consider deleting KPIs P5 ‘30% of Major applications in time (13 weeks) in the year to September’ and P6 ‘60% non-major applications in time (8 weeks) in the year to September’ and consider again once the new planning performance system came out from central Government.

Date of Decision: September 8, 2025