Agenda item

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report and appendices.

The Select Committee was reminded that a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for 2015/16 had been adopted by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee in March 2015. The KPI were important to the improvement of the Council’s services, and comprised a combination of former statutory indicators and locally determined performance measures. The aim of the KPIs was to direct improvement effort towards local services and national priorities. Members noted that progress in respect of each of the KPIs was reviewed by the relevant Portfolio Holder, Management Board, and the relevant select committee at the conclusion of each quarter.

The Senior Performance Improvement Officer introduced a first-quarter performance summary in respect of each of the KPI falling within the Select Committee’s areas of responsibility, together with details of the specific three-month performance for each indicator. The Senior Performance Improvement Officer, reported that, in response to feedback previously received from the former scrutiny panels, the indicator dashboards now included additional performance to enable enhanced member scrutiny of performance. The improvement plans for the suite of indicators for 2015/16 were also presented to the Select Committee.

Members noted that the overall position with regard to the achievement of target performance for the KPI within the responsibilities of the Select Committee at the end of the first quarter of the year, was:

(a)       3 (60%) indicators achieved had achieved the first quarter target;

(b)       2 (40% indicators had not achieved the first quarter target; and

(c)       1 (20%) indicator had performed within its tolerated performance margin.

The Senior Performance Improvement Officer reported that overall, 22 (61%) of the Council’s total suite of KPI had achieved target performance at the end of the first quarter of the year. The Select Committee requested that appropriate context be provided for the reporting of target achievement in future quarters, to provide an indication of whether the level of achievement was actually considered to be satisfactory performance, given the challenges presented by the social, economic and environmental context of the district.

The Assistant Director of Governance (Development Management) advised the Select Committee that new provisions allowing an extension of time to be agreed for the determination of planning applications, were beginning to bed in, and also helped to achieve the determination of applications in accordance with the cycle of Area Plans Sub-Committee meetings. Members expressed concern however, that extensive use of these new provisions could have the effect of masking unacceptable performance against the determination of applications within the normal statutory eight and thirteen-week timescales. The Assistant Director of Governance was requested to address the concerns of the Select Committee when reporting performance against the relevant KPI in future quarters.

The Select Committee was advised that KPI GOV004 (Major Planning Applications) had achieved target performance for the first quarter of the year. The Assistant Director of Governance reported that it was anticipated that performance against the remaining KPI related to the timely determination of planning applications (GOV005 (Minor Applications) and GOV006 (Other Applications)) would have improved by the end of the second quarter of the year, and that the available resources within the Development Management Section were currently considered appropriate. Members requested that the Assistant Director of Governance undertake an analysis of a sample of reasons for the deferral of applications from consideration by the Area Plans Sub-Committees, which were not always considered to be at the instigation of the Council, to support the achievement of improvement in respect of KPI GOV005 and GOV006.

It was reported that first quarter performance against KPI GOV007 and GOV008 (Planning Appeals) was also satisfactory, but that appeal decisions appeared not to be always being issued on a timely basis by the Planning Inspectorate at the present time.

RESOLVED:

That performance for the first quarter of 2015/16 in relation to the Key Performance Indicators within the areas of responsibility of the Select Committee, be noted.