Agenda item

The Corporate Performance Report provides an analysis of the Council’s performance for the first quarter of 2019-20. The report, set out at Annexe 1, is being presented to each of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees for comment and any recommendations they may wish to make to senior management or  the Executive.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee considers the performance of the service areas under its remit as set out in Annexe 1 to this report and makes any recommendations to senior management or the Executive as appropriate.

15.1     Nora Copping, Policy & Performance Officer, presented the Corporate Performance Report for the first quarter of 2019/20 (April – June 2010).

15.2     Kelvin Mills, Head of Commercial Services responded to questions about car parking at Farnham Leisure Centre and the Frensham Heathland Hub:

·         Comments about the lack of lighting along the path to the Riverside car park had been noted, and this would be addressed by winter.

·         It had been very disappointing to have the grant application refused for funding for the Frensham Heathland Hub, and the decision had been challenged. Application had been made to a different funding source; the intention was still to deliver the whole project, but the works could be split and phased in order to make progress. The National Trust supported the project, but not financially.

15.3     Cllr Deanus queried the fall in performance on responding to complaints. Robin Taylor, Head of Policy & Governance, responded that the very low number of complaints meant that one complaint taking more than the target period to resolve had a big impact on the indicator when expressed as a percentage. In response to a question from Cllr Cosser, Mr Taylor agreed to circulate the corporate complaints policy to Members, and also advised that the complaints annual report would be submitted to the Value for Money & Customer Service O&S Committee in November.

15.4     Turning to the Communities Service, Andrew Smith, Head of Housing Delivery & Communities, explained the work being done to address the increased level of street homelessness and begging in the Farnham area. The individuals usually had very complex histories, with homelessness being only part of their problem. Cllr Mirylees asked what councillors could do to signpost to homeless people where they could go to get help, bearing in mind that some did not want to go to a hostel. Katie Webb, Community Services Manager, explained that as well as genuine homeless people, there was also an element of Serious Organised Crime with gangs of beggars arriving in a town. The council was working with Guildford Borough Council on a multi-agency protocol across both boroughs, to ensure that incidents could be dealt with effectively. The Community Safety Team should be councillors’ first call for assistance with responding to rough sleepers.

15.5     Cllr Jenny Else noted that annual review of the 12 organisations that the Council helped to fund through Service Level Agreements had taken place, and expressed concerns about the Gostrey Centre: as part of their move to the Farnham Memorial Hall a coffee bar had been provided for the Gostrey Centre to operate as a way of generating income that would offset their loss of hiring income; however, to date, the coffee bar had not been opened and this would be impacting on their income.

15.6     Katie Webb explained that there were two organisations that officers were working with closely, to help them with their organisational development and ability to deliver services that met Waverley’s requirements as a funding body. As part of the SLA renewal process, the intention was to carry out ‘health checks’ on all the organisations, covering the following key areas:

-        Leadership / Organisational Governance and Management

-        Finance and Income Generation

-        Financial Management and legal Compliance

-        Human Resources - People – workforce management and training

-        Strategy, plans and partnership

-        Marketing and Communications

-        Service delivery, Achieving Results and adhering to Health and Safety 

-        Equal Opportunities

The two organisations causing greatest concern would be assessed first using the ‘health check’ criteria, to allow them time to address areas of weakness before future funding decisions were made. But, all funded organisations would be assessed, as part of a fundamental review of what services were funded, and by whom. The health check assessments would be carried out with support from Voluntary Action South West Surrey.

15.7     The Committee was pleased to see the good level of performance across all areas of the Council’s business and thanked Heads of Service for the additional commentary which was very helpful.