Issue - meetings

To receive a report on the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2018/22 and an update on project delivery.

Executive Councillor: J Neish.

The Cabinet has considered and commented on progress made against the Key Actions and Corporate Indicators in the Corporate Plan as summarised in Appendix A and detailed in Appendices B and C of the report.

With the aid of a report prepared by the Performance & Data Analyst (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Cabinet considered progress made against the Key Actions and Corporate Indicators listed in the Council’s Corporate Plan 2018/22 for the period 1st July to 30th September 2020. The report also incorporated progress on the current projects being undertaken by the Council.

The Deputy Executive Leader and Executive Councillor for Strategic Planning summarised the progress made in delivering the Key Actions for 2020/21 over the reporting period and the Cabinet were advised that 77% of these were on track, with 23% being classified as being within the acceptable variance.  In doing so, Cabinet’s attention was drawn to those areas where positive progress had been achieved, as set out in Section 3.4 of the report submitted.

In terms of performance against the Council’s Corporate Indicators, Cabinet were pleased to note that the majority of these were on track at the end of Quarter 2 with only three being classified as ‘Red’ because performance was below an unacceptable variance. The latter being a direct result of the impact of Covid-19.

Having considered the comments of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Performance and Growth) who had commended the overall performance of the Council during this period, the Cabinet expressed their appreciation to the Managing Director and her team for the progress which had been made during this difficult time. Whereupon it was

RESOLVED

to note the progress made against the Key Activities and Corporate indicators in the Corporate Plan and current projects, as outlined in Appendix A and detailed in Appendices B and C of the report now submitted.

The Corporate Performance Report 2020/21, Quarter 2 is to be presented to the Panel.

Consideration was given to a report by the Business Intelligence and Performance Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) in which the Council’s corporate performance for quarter 2 of 2020/21 was presented to the Panel.

Following the presentation of the report by the Deputy Executive Leader, the Chairman commented that, overall, the performance of the Council was commendable, particularly the low number of Key Actions and Performance Indicators rated red.

Councillor Gardener then raised the issue of employees’ mental health. In response, it was confirmed that the Council had taken a number of steps in order to support staff with their mental health including: the provision of Mental Health First Aiders for confidential one to one conversations, virtual drop in sessions and ensuring managers check on the wellbeing of their staff.

Councillor Roberts addressed the potential effect of the second lockdown on the Key Actions rated amber. Members were reassured that the Council had already developed plans to mitigate the effects of the second lockdown on all the priority areas of activity.

Councillor Wakeford asked whether the Council had exceeded the target on Performance Indicator 3, number of homelessness preventions achieved, as a result of Court Action being suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was confirmed that the suspension of Court Action had assisted the Council in this area but that proactive action had also been taken. In addition, it was noted that work with vulnerable people had been highly effective.

Concern regarding the amber rating for the affordable homes target (performance indicator 20) was raised by Councillor Wakeford. It was noted that the Council had adopted policies in relation to affordable homes the terms of which included requirements on the granting of planning permission and collaboration with a Registered Housing partner in order to build affordable homes on Council owned sites. Members were reminded that there could be a time lag between the Development Management Committee granting planning permission and the affordable housing being physically built. The Panel

RESOLVED

that the Cabinet be recommended to consider the comments raised by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel when considering the report at their meeting.