Agenda item

The Committee considered an analysis of progress against its key performance indicators, together with updated risk registers, for the first quarter of 2021/22.

In response to concerns regarding performance against KPI SR7 (% of calls answered by the Customer Services Team within 60 seconds) the Head of Customer Engagement and Partnerships considered that the 80% target was unrealistic and would benefit from review for various reasons, e.g.

·           under the current operating model (introduced as part of the Customer First programme in 2018) the team was responsible for a range of corporate administrative functions besides answering phone calls, and the target had been missed ever since;

·           apprentices and trainees had to be given time off to study for their National Vocational Qualifications;

·           the telephony system was over 20 years old and in need of replacement – this would facilitate more effective ‘channel shift’ whereby those residents able to ‘self-serve’ could do so without having to make calls to the Council, thus enabling the team to prioritise vulnerable residents who require more dedicated telephone support;

·           the average length of calls, and the ‘after-call’ time required for the team to process associated actions was increasing.  

The Chief Executive responded to various questions by confirming that:

·           senior managers would be addressing key risks and outstanding actions as a matter of urgency;

·           he would be assessing the underlying reasons for relatively high rates of sickness absence (KPI SR4) before identifying remedial actions;

·           regarding Corporate Risk 11 (senior management vacancies inhibiting corporate performance and improvement) an interim HR specialist had recently been appointed, although the Chief Planning Officer vacancy remained unfilled – he would be assessing the effectiveness of the current senior management structure (to be informed by a review of the Council’s strategic priorities) before considering the future of the Executive Head of Resources post which had been vacated in July 2021;

·           he acknowledged the need improve staff morale through better communication and engagement; and

·           the effectiveness of home working was monitored according to whether relevant services continued to be delivered – this relied on an element of mutual trust.  

Members reiterated previous suggestions that committee minutes should include lists of actions to be undertaken by specific officers, thus improving transparency and accountability. Progress against the actions concerned could then be reviewed at the next meeting of a committee, or at the following Full Council.

Regarding the Finance and Planning Transformation projects (identified as a ‘status update’ in respect of S&R Risk 1 – “inability to maintain high standards of delivery for statutory services”) the Programme Management Officer surmised that separate reports would be presented to the Committee on progress against key milestones. He also explained actions being taken to address performance against KPI SR8 (number of overdue complaints) including the report to the 30^th September 2021 Audit & Scrutiny Committee and fortnightly monitoring by the Executive Leadership Team.

Arising from the discussion, the Chair requested that information be e-mailed to Members about whether:

·           assurances could be given regarding performance against KPI 3a (days taken to process new benefit claims) in light of the migration to the new (Northgate) software system (later in the debate, the Executive Head of Communities stated that she was content with the way in which claims were being dealt with); and

·           the Council incurred penalties for not responding to Freedom of Information requests within statutory timeframes.

            R E S O L V E D – that that the Quarter 1 (2021/22) performance and risks for the Strategy & Resources Committee be accepted.

            A C T I O N S: