Agenda item

The Leader of the Council submitted a report advising Members on performance indicators that the Council was required to monitor and publish annually in the Annual Report.  The report advised Members of estimated performance for 2014/15 and the targets for the next three years.

Members were advised that the performance indicators supported the Council’s priorities and reflected the intended Service Plan Activity for 2015/16.  The Corporate Planning and Performance Manager provided detailed information relating to all of the tables and graphs detailed in the report.

Members were reminded that the Council’s Covalent System monitored long terms trends and there were 16 indicators expected to show a decline in performance over the long term.  If performance continued to decline and targets either remained at current levels or increased, 13 of these indicators were at risk of moving to a ‘Red’ or ‘Amber’ status in future.

The Corporate Planning and Performance Manager concluded that targets were generally being met. However, the direction of travel showed that the number of indicators in the short term detailing a decline in performance was increasing and the number of indicators showing an improvement in performance was decreasing.

Councillor J Wyllie expressed concern that the number of invoices being paid on time was declining in the short term.  He was particularly concerned that small businesses needed cash flow to survive.

The Director of Finance and Support Services advised that performance remained high in that over 95% of invoices were paid on time.  The Chief Executive and Director of Customer and Community Services stated that every directorate monitored performance as regards the payment of invoices and this issue was taken very seriously by the Authority.

In reply to a comment from Councillor J Ranger regarding complaints in the context of the ‘Here to Help’ initiative and the importance of taking complaints seriously, the Head of Information, Customer and Parking Services reminded Members that the way complaints were handled had been endorsed by the Council’s auditors and the Authority took the reporting of complaints very seriously.  He further reminded Members that the level of complaints was low, especially at Stage 2, so that a change of just one or two cases could make a significant impact on the reported percentage figure.

Councillor J Wing expressed concern that whilst 90% of food establishments in East Herts were broadly compliant with food hygiene law, this meant that 1 in 10 were not.  He felt that this figure should be 95% at least.  The Head of Community Safety and Health Services stated that this issue was taken extremely seriously and most establishments were of a very high standard.  He undertook to take Councillor Wing’s feedback to the relevant Officers.

The Chief Executive and Director of Customer and Community Services undertook to provide a written response to Councillor J Jones in respect of the Customer Satisfaction survey of the public regarding the Council’s leisure services.

Councillor Wing stated that he would expect to see a much higher figure than 75% in respect of EHPI 2.1d – Planning Enforcement Initial Site Inspections.  He felt that the public expected a swifter response and with more development taking place across the District this would become increasingly important.  He felt that the figure should be nearer 90% and the Authority should commit the resources to achieve this.

The Head of Planning and Building Control advised that the two elements to this target were how many working days it took for an Officer response and also the scale of the planning control breach.  Members were reminded that the ongoing staff resource issue for the Enforcement team should be addressed in the medium term in the next civic year.

The Chief Executive and Director of Customer and Community Services advised that if the target was to be more rigorous, Members would have to give consideration to a budget bid from Officers for additional resources.

The joint meeting of Scrutiny resolved that, in respect of EHPI 2.1d – Planning Enforcement: Initial Site Inspections, Environment Scrutiny Committee be asked to review the matter and consider, mid-year, raising the 2015/16 target from 75% to a higher figure.

The Head of Community Safety and Health Services undertook to provide a written reply to Councillor N Symonds regarding the numbers of vacant properties across the District and where they were located. .  Members were reminded that bringing vacant properties back into use was very difficult to achieve.

The Director of Finance and Support Services advised Councillor E Buckmaster that the IT Helpdesk was now fully staffed and had a single system for all Helpdesk requests for East Herts and Stevenage Officers.  She stated that performance in respect of EHPI 9.5 had showed an upward trend in January and should continue to improve rapidly.

The joint meeting of Scrutiny Committees resolved that the Executive be informed that the future targets for 2015/16 and 2016/17 should be approved.  The Chairman thanked the Heads of Service for attending to answer Members’ questions.

RESOLVED – that (A) the Executive be informed that the future targets for 2015/16 and 2016/17 should be approved; and

(B)   in respect of EHPI 2.1d – Planning Enforcement: Initial Site Inspections, Environment Scrutiny  Committee be asked to review the matter and consider the raising of the 2015/16 target from 75% mid-year to a higher figure.