Agenda item

To receive a report providing an update on the Council’s performance against the Corporate Plan at the end of Quarter 4 2025/26 (covering the period January to March 2026), including progress with Corporate Plan actions and projects and Corporate Performance Indicators.

The Cabinet has considered and commented on progress and performance during Quarter 4, as summarised in the report and detailed in Appendices A, B, C and D.

A report by the Data Analyst – Transformation and Corporate Reporting  was submitted (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) providing an update on the Council’s performance against the Corporate Plan at the end of Quarter 4 2025/26 (covering the period January to March 2026), including progress with Corporate Plan actions and projects and Corporate Performance Indicators.

The Executive Councillor for Resident Services and Corporate Performance, Councillor Hunt introduced the report and commended the work of Officers in producing the report. He commented on what was a positive picture overall, driven by great performance in particular from One Leisure, the Waste Collection Service and Homelessness Prevention.

In response to questions from the Committee, the Executive Councillor for Resident Services and Corporate Performance, Councillor Hunt advised that he would speak with relevant Officers regarding the suggestion from the Overview & Scrutiny Panel (Performance & Growth) to include time-bound actions in future reports, which he felt was a sensible idea. Furthermore, challenging targets were set and the Council benchmarked against its peers. As such, there would be examples of amber and red ratings, which were useful indications of where the Council was performing well and where more focus was potentially needed.

The Leader, Councillor Conboy commented that the work done in the previous administration around Key Performance Indicators had took the Council from a good place to an exceptional place, particularly in terms of the range of data collected and how it demonstrated how meaningful those performance indicators were. It was noted that there were instances where good enough presented value for money, and doing more than good enough would not necessarily be good value to the public purse. Furthermore, the continued working with the Overview & Scrutiny Panels was welcomed.

The Chief Executive advised that the Council prided itself on being a learning organisation, wanting to understand why things might not be green which was considered part of continuous improvement. Furthermore, she also commented around the cost ratio benefits of being excellent compared to the improvement in any standard of service delivered and if the cost expended on that excellent outcome actually represented value for money in terms of what residents felt they had received as a service.

The Executive Councillor for Resident Services and Corporate Performance, Councillor Hunt made further reference to the comments of the Overview & Scrutiny Panel (Performance & Growth) around the next report including more in-depth metrics, which he was willing to support and engage with.

In response to a question from the Cabinet, the Chief Executive advised that housing stock was a challenge because the Council was not a stock-owning authority. In previous years the Council was able to deliver high numbers of affordable social housing, which meant the temporary accommodation budget was able to stabilise. Although it was a metric that was not in the Council’s direct control, it was able to use its ability to influence and enable.

The Leader welcomed the Overview & Scrutiny Panels appetite to be involved and actively scrutinise.

Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

that the Cabinet considered and commented on progress and performance during Quarter 4, as summarised in the report and detailed in Appendices A, B, C and D.