Agenda item

Report of Head of Transformation

Purpose of Report

This report covers the Council’s performance for the period 01 April 2014 – 30 June 2014 as measured through the Performance Management Framework.

Recommendations

The meeting is recommended:

1.1         To note the many achievements referred to in paragraph 3.1.

1.2         To identify any performance related matters for review or consideration in future reports identified in paragraph 3.2.

Resolved

(1)          That the following achievements be noted:

Cherwell: A District of Opportunity

·      Northwest Bicester: Delivery of the Masterplan to the agreed timescales is reporting as Green. The next stage in delivering the Masterplan will be the submission and processing of planning applications for the development. It is anticipated that applications will be received for the majority of the site before the end of the year and determined during 2015.

·      Graven Hill: deliver the Council’s vision for this strategic site is reporting as Green. Huge progress has been made on concluding the S.106 issues and completion of the land transaction expected in early August 2014. The business case for creation of a 'group structure' of Companies Limited by Shares (Holding Company and Development Company) has been approved by the Executive (16th July) with companies incorporated and inaugural meeting of both companies held on the 7 July 2014.  Six key work themes have been identified as necessary to deliver the council's vision for Graven Hill: consolidation of land assembly & boundary issues; On-going engagement with Ministry of Defence (MOD); Ecology and ground investigation; Design and planning; Delivery and procurement; Sales, marketing and investment.

Safe, Green and Clean

·      Tonnage of waste sent to landfill is reporting as Green. On track and with a number of actions planned during 2014/15 to reduce amount sent to landfill.

·      Number of fly tips enforcement actions (compared with same period 2013/14) is reporting as Green*. During the quarter 50 warning letters, 13 Section 71 Notices and 1 formal caution were issued. Warning letters work very well in circumstances when it would not be suitable to take a more formal approach.

·      Percentage of nuisance cases responded to within prescribed period of 48 hours is reporting as Green. Case load increased from 183 in Quarter 4 2013/14 to 452 in Quarter 1 but despite the increasing case load response times have been maintained.

Thriving Communities

·      Average time taken to process new claims and changes for Housing Benefit in days is reporting as Green*. Changes continue to be processed well within target and this is expected to continue through the year.

·      No of households in temporary accommodation is reporting as Green*. The number of households in temporary accommodation remains within the target set.  The Housing Team continue their service delivery with an on-going focus on homelessness prevention.  This helps to keep the number of those progressing to make a statutory homeless application low, which in turn maintains the current performance for provision of temporary accommodation.

·      Maintain a minimum usage level of visits to leisure facilities (Total of visits to District Leisure Centres and WGLC, NOA and Cooper) is reporting as Green*. Throughputs are up 18,913 on June 2013 with: - Spiceball Leisure Centre up 1,907, Kidlington & Gosford Leisure Centre up by 5,144 and Bicester Leisure Centre up by 11,862 - the increase is attributed to the play and teach pool figures.

·      Processing of major applications with 13 weeks is reporting as Green*. The measures introduced last year continue to show improvements.  A figure of nearly 91% has been achieved this quarter and this continues to represent sustained and significant progress compared to historic performance.

Sound Budgets and Customer focussed council

·      Maximise income through designing services that can attract a market is reporting as Green. Some market work has been undertaken to ascertain the capacity to trade. Until the new operating model is in effect trading potential is limited.

·      Increase our use of social media to communicate with residents and local businesses is reporting as Green. Facebook and Twitter continue to be used extensively at CDC, with residents engaging with the communications team on a daily basis on a variety of subjects.  The range of messages that are promoted through social media also continues to grow as departments become more aware of what can be achieved on a limited or no budget.

·      Deliver an annual balanced budget setting out the five year financial plan (Medium Term Financial Strategy) is reporting as Green. Currently developing updated Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) with actions to address future anticipated pressures

(2)          That the following performance related matters be identified for review or consideration in future reports:

Cherwell: A District of Opportunity      

·      Bicester town centre regeneration including the Council Community  Building is reporting as Amber. Planning permission obtained for the Community Building. We are currently reviewing costs ahead of awarding construction contract. Completion is aimed for Q4 2015.

·      Agree next steps for the development options for Kidlington against agreed timescales and milestones is reporting as Amber. Masterplans follow on from Local Plans.  These are currently delayed while the Local Plan issues are resolved.

Safe, Clean and Green

·      Number of fly tips recorded (compared with same period 2013/14) is reporting as Red. There is no obvious trend showing so far regarding the number of fly tips.  It has however been noted that there has been a small increase in the number of white goods being left out on the verge, for the scrap metal collectors.   Investigations cannot always identify the resident that has left them out.

·      Percentage of nuisance cases resolved within 8 weeks is reporting as Amber. Of the 452 cases received in Quarter 1, 425 were resolved.  Due to the high number of cases resolution, performance has continued to be good although slight slippage is inevitable. A greater level of activity tends to occur in Quarters 1 and 2 as it is seasonal.  There has been an increase in the number of complaints about barking dogs and the figures here include those from Operation Jazz which is now in its third year.  This operation, running 2 nights per week, has proved very successful and consequently officers are dealing with more calls. 

Thriving Communities

·      Processing of minor applications with 8 weeks is reporting as Red. The impact of greater overall application numbers together with a higher proportion of majors has affected the processing of minor applications.  The emphasis on majors has resulted in a backlog of registration which has in turn had an impact on overall performance, 55% compared with a target of 65%.  Short term measures have been put in place (allocation of additional staff and overtime working) to reduce the registration backlog.  In addition the registration team has been relocated and the whole proves is being modelled using "PlanSim" software which will allow the impact of changes to the process to be understood before introduction.  These changes are expected to see an improvement in performance by the end of the next quarter.

·      Percentage of planning appeals allowed against refusal decision (%) is reporting as Red. The performance measure is volatile as it is based on low overall appeal numbers and therefore each decision can impact on the performance measure for appeals.  There is no evidence of poor performance, though this continues to be carefully monitored.

Sound Budgets and Customer Focussed Council

·      Increase organisational capacity and efficiency and Improve workforce planning and development is reporting as Amber. Action Plan is being developed as part of the HR & OD Strategy work as part of 3 way working. During 2014/15 the focus will be on planning for this with implementation expected in 2015/16.

·      Deliver significant reduction in phone contact by implementing additional online services is reporting as Amber. Suspension of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Portal project pending 3 way working reviews will impact on the opportunity to achieve "significant” reductions.  However work continues in the interim to use current software provision to implement online services where viable.

The Head of Transformation submitted a report which presented the Council’s performance for the period 01 April 2014 – 30 June 2014 as measured through the Performance Management Framework.

Resolved

(1)          That the following achievements be noted:

Cherwell: A District of Opportunity

·      Northwest Bicester: Delivery of the Masterplan to the agreed timescales is reporting as Green. The next stage in delivering the Masterplan will be the submission and processing of planning applications for the development. It is anticipated that applications will be received for the majority of the site before the end of the year and determined during 2015.

·      Graven Hill: deliver the Council’s vision for this strategic site is reporting as Green. Huge progress has been made on concluding the S.106 issues and completion of the land transaction expected in early August 2014. The business case for creation of a 'group structure' of Companies Limited by Shares (Holding Company and Development Company) has been approved by the Executive (16th July) with companies incorporated and inaugural meeting of both companies held on the 7 July 2014.  Six key work themes have been identified as necessary to deliver the council's vision for Graven Hill: consolidation of land assembly & boundary issues; On-going engagement with Ministry of Defence (MOD); Ecology and ground investigation; Design and planning; Delivery and procurement; Sales, marketing and investment.

Safe, Green and Clean

·      Tonnage of waste sent to landfill is reporting as Green. On track and with a number of actions planned during 2014/15 to reduce amount sent to landfill.

·      Number of fly tips enforcement actions (compared with same period 2013/14) is reporting as Green*. During the quarter 50 warning letters, 13 Section 71 Notices and 1 formal caution were issued. Warning letters work very well in circumstances when it would not be suitable to take a more formal approach.

·      Percentage of nuisance cases responded to within prescribed period of 48 hours is reporting as Green. Case load increased from 183 in Quarter 4 2013/14 to 452 in Quarter 1 but despite the increasing case load response times have been maintained.

Thriving Communities

·      Average time taken to process new claims and changes for Housing Benefit in days is reporting as Green*. Changes continue to be processed well within target and this is expected to continue through the year.

·      No of households in temporary accommodation is reporting as Green*. The number of households in temporary accommodation remains within the target set.  The Housing Team continue their service delivery with an on-going focus on homelessness prevention.  This helps to keep the number of those progressing to make a statutory homeless application low, which in turn maintains the current performance for provision of temporary accommodation.

·      Maintain a minimum usage level of visits to leisure facilities (Total of visits to District Leisure Centres and WGLC, NOA and Cooper) is reporting as Green*. Throughputs are up 18,913 on June 2013 with: - Spiceball Leisure Centre up 1,907, Kidlington & Gosford Leisure Centre up by 5,144 and Bicester Leisure Centre up by 11,862 - the increase is attributed to the play and teach pool figures.

·      Processing of major applications with 13 weeks is reporting as Green*. The measures introduced last year continue to show improvements.  A figure of nearly 91% has been achieved this quarter and this continues to represent sustained and significant progress compared to historic performance.

Sound Budgets and Customer focussed council

·      Maximise income through designing services that can attract a market is reporting as Green. Some market work has been undertaken to ascertain the capacity to trade. Until the new operating model is in effect trading potential is limited.

·      Increase our use of social media to communicate with residents and local businesses is reporting as Green. Facebook and Twitter continue to be used extensively at CDC, with residents engaging with the communications team on a daily basis on a variety of subjects.  The range of messages that are promoted through social media also continues to grow as departments become more aware of what can be achieved on a limited or no budget.

·      Deliver an annual balanced budget setting out the five year financial plan (Medium Term Financial Strategy) is reporting as Green. Currently developing updated Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) with actions to address future anticipated pressures

(2)          That the following performance related matters be identified for review or consideration in future reports:

Cherwell: A District of Opportunity      

·      Bicester town centre regeneration including the Council Community  Building is reporting as Amber. Planning permission obtained for the Community Building. We are currently reviewing costs ahead of awarding construction contract. Completion is aimed for Q4 2015.

·      Agree next steps for the development options for Kidlington against agreed timescales and milestones is reporting as Amber. Masterplans follow on from Local Plans.  These are currently delayed while the Local Plan issues are resolved.

Safe, Clean and Green

·      Number of fly tips recorded (compared with same period 2013/14) is reporting as Red. There is no obvious trend showing so far regarding the number of fly tips.  It has however been noted that there has been a small increase in the number of white goods being left out on the verge, for the scrap metal collectors.   Investigations cannot always identify the resident that has left them out.

·      Percentage of nuisance cases resolved within 8 weeks is reporting as Amber. Of the 452 cases received in Quarter 1, 425 were resolved.  Due to the high number of cases resolution, performance has continued to be good although slight slippage is inevitable. A greater level of activity tends to occur in Quarters 1 and 2 as it is seasonal.  There has been an increase in the number of complaints about barking dogs and the figures here include those from Operation Jazz which is now in its third year.  This operation, running 2 nights per week, has proved very successful and consequently officers are dealing with more calls. 

Thriving Communities

·      Processing of minor applications with 8 weeks is reporting as Red. The impact of greater overall application numbers together with a higher proportion of majors has affected the processing of minor applications.  The emphasis on majors has resulted in a backlog of registration which has in turn had an impact on overall performance, 55% compared with a target of 65%.  Short term measures have been put in place (allocation of additional staff and overtime working) to reduce the registration backlog.  In addition the registration team has been relocated and the whole proves is being modelled using "PlanSim" software which will allow the impact of changes to the process to be understood before introduction.  These changes are expected to see an improvement in performance by the end of the next quarter.

·      Percentage of planning appeals allowed against refusal decision (%) is reporting as Red. The performance measure is volatile as it is based on low overall appeal numbers and therefore each decision can impact on the performance measure for appeals.  There is no evidence of poor performance, though this continues to be carefully monitored.

Sound Budgets and Customer Focussed Council

·      Increase organisational capacity and efficiency and Improve workforce planning and development is reporting as Amber. Action Plan is being developed as part of the HR & OD Strategy work as part of 3 way working. During 2014/15 the focus will be on planning for this with implementation expected in 2015/16.

·      Deliver significant reduction in phone contact by implementing additional online services is reporting as Amber. Suspension of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Portal project pending 3 way working reviews will impact on the opportunity to achieve "significant” reductions.  However work continues in the interim to use current software provision to implement online services where viable.

Reasons

This report presents the Council’s performance against its corporate scorecard for the first quarter of 2014/15. It includes an overview of successes, areas for improvement and emerging issues to be considered.

Alternative Options

Option 1: To note the report

Option 2: To request additional information on items and/or add to the work programme for review and/or refer to Overview and Scrutiny.