Agenda item

The Corporate Performance Report, set out at Annexe 1, provides an analysis of the Council’s performance for the first quarter of 2022-23. The report is being presented to each of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees for comment and any recommendations they may wish to make to the Joint Management Team or the Executive.

Jenny Sturgess and Heads of Service to highlight areas relating to this committees remit (pages to note are Pages [   ] of the Agenda papers).

Louise Norie, Policy Manager, introduced the Q1 performance report noting that the Heads of Service were in attendance to answer any questions.  She informed the Committee that there had been a significant improvement in the performance indicators for the Q1 compared to the previous 2 quarters and highlighted that for the first time the report included Capital Monitoring.    The Chair discussed the performance indicators on page 23 and noted the reduction of red indicators had decreased from 53 to 39.  The Chair brought the Committees attention to the General Fund Account Summary on page 27 of the papers and noted that the Finance and Property treasury income had shown a sharp improvement because of the hike in interest rates, equating to £472,000 of income.  However, there had been an adverse impact on General Funding due to the inflation on contracts and utility bills.  He also noted that Planning had faced challenges due to higher costs and lower income.

Councillor Heagin welcomed the extra Capital Monitoring information element of the performance report and sought further information on the cancellation of the Broadwater Lake project.  Responding to the query, Peter Vickers, Head of Finance and Property addressed the Committee.  He advised the Committee that the Broadwater Lake project was an unsuccessful CIL bid from the Parks Department for improvements, which would not be taken forward.  The Chair noted the issue with responding to complaints, highlighting the poor performance against targets.  He noted that the council had performed above its targets responding to media queries, he informed officers that he hoped to see an improvement in responding to both level 1 and level 2 complaints.

Moving to the Housing Operations Service Dashboard, the Chair discussed the progress on the overdue housing maintenance jobs, he informed the Committee that this had been partly due to recruitment and software compatibility issues.  Annalisa Howson, Housing Service Improvement Manager, responded to the comment advising the Committee that there was an interface between Ian Williams and the Housing Team, and the council were trying to enhance the interface to provide more live data and information which would improve the service.  She noted that the project was underway and expected to complete within 6 months.   Councillor Edmonds raised a query regarding the order of priority of outstanding jobs.  Annalisa Howson advised the Committee that the Council did have an emergency and routine repairs system to prioritise jobs when residents contacted Housing Services.

The Chair decided to combine section 8 of the service dashboard on Housing Delivery and Communities with agenda item 12 on the Housing Development update, because of the imminent Housing Strategic Delivery Review. The Chair recommended the review be brought to the O&S Resources committee on 7 November.  The Chair noted that all projects apart from Ockford Ridge (Site C) were on hold.  Andrew Smith, Head of Housing and Communities, confirmed that the Chair was correct.  He also confirmed that the review and report would go to the O&S Resources Committee on 7 November.

The Chair invited Councillor Hyman to address the Committee.  Councillor Hyman raised queries regarding the variances between the approved budget and the forecast outturn throughout the report.  The Chair noted that there was a difference in the figures, Peter Vickers confirmed that it was Q1 and there was no overspend reported at this stage. Councillor Hyman raised a query regarding the redevelopment of Rowleys, responding to the query Andrew Smith informed the Committee that this was incorrect, he noted that there were plans to replace the roof.