Agenda item

To present performance management information on the Council’s Corporate Plan for 2016/17 and progress updates for current projects.

i.  Considered and commented on progress made against Key Activities and Corporate Indicators in the Corporate Plan and current projects, as summarised in Appendix A and detailed in Appendices B and C of the report; and

ii.  Considered and commented on the Council’s financial performance as at the end of December 2016.

The Cabinet considered a report (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) which commented on progress against the Key Actions and Corporate Indicators listed in the Council’s Corporate Plan for 2016/17 for the period 1 October to 31 December 2016. The report was presented by the Executive Councillor for Strategic Resources in conjunction with the Finance Manager.

The report incorporated progress on the current projects being undertaken at the Council; Financial Performance Monitoring Suite information as at the end of December 2016 and an update on the Commercial Investment Strategy including details of the investments to date and the level of returns expected to be generated.

In addition the report now included progress on achievement regarding the Peer Challenge Action Plan following its approval by the Cabinet in November 2016 (Minute No.61 referred).

It was noted that those key actions listed as a red status were already known to the Cabinet in particular the issues surrounding the percentage of operational CCTV cameras and the reduction in the number of staff sickness days lost per full time employee.

At the recent Employment Committee meeting progress made in managing long-term sickness cases was reported and at the end of Quarter 3 the Council’s sickness absence rate was lower than at the same point last year.  The Council remained committed to reducing sickness absence and the adoption of a new Sickness Absence and Attendance Policy in November appeared to have had a positive impact on attendance rates. Managing sickness absence was a key priority for Senior Management Team and the Managing Director continued to review every long-term sickness case on a monthly basis.

In referring to Appendix C – Project Performance and those projects with a red status, the Cabinet were informed that a Commercial Estate Manager had been employed on a temporary basis to progress the projects which were all currently listed as a red status.

The Cabinet were referred to Appendix D of the report which detailed the Financial Performance Monitoring Suite information.  It was explained that the Forecast Net spend for November was £17.2m which was an underspend of £0.7m and the underspend of £1.9m regarding the Forecast Capital spend compared to the Budget.  The Appendix provided explanations for The Revenue Forecast variances across all services.

Appendix E detailed the status of the Zero Based Budget (ZBB) savings agreed as part of the 2016/17 Budget.  It was noted that although those listed as a red status related to car parking charges and homelessness, the ZBB exercise had been productive with the majority of savings being delivered. 

During discussions more explicit key performance indicators were requested that specifically related to executive portfolios, represented in a straightforward manner.  Although the document was comprehensive it needed to be rationalised with fewer variations of graphs incorporated.  It was further requested that for comparison purposes data reflecting the last three years should be incorporated into the document, not just the previous year.

Comments from the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Performance and Customers) were circulated to the Cabinet subsequent to the agenda publication, the Panel meeting having occurred following the agenda publication. 

Whereupon it was

RESOLVED

That the Cabinet

i.  considered and commented on progress made against Key Activities and Corporate Indicators in the Corporate Plan and current projects, as summarised in Appendix A and detailed in Appendices B and C of the report; and

ii.  considered and commented on the Council’s financial performance as at the end of December 2016, as detailed in Appendices D and E of the report.