Agenda item

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report (FPM-025-2014/15).

The Director of Resources presented report on the Quarter 3, Key Performance Indicators 2014/15 and targets for 2015/16.

The Director of Resources reported that pursuant to the Local Government Act 1999, the Council was required to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions and services were exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. As part of the duty to secure continuous improvement, a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) relevant to the Council’s service priorities and key objectives, were adopted each year. Performance against the KPIs was reviewed on a quarterly basis.

A range of thirty-six Key Performance Indicators (KPI) was adopted for 2014/15 in March 2014. The KPIs were important to the improvement of the Council’s services and the achievement of its key objectives and comprise a combination of former statutory indicators and locally determined performance measures. The aim of the KPIs was to direct improvement effort towards services and the national priorities and local challenges arising from the social, economic and environmental context of the district, that are the focus of thekey objectives.

As part of the overview and scrutiny review undertaken in 2013/14, changes had been made with effect from the current municipal year, where the existing scrutiny panels (Finance and Performance Management, Housing, Planning Services, Safer, Greener, Cleaner) were now responsible for the review of the quarterly performance against specific KPIs within their areas of responsibility. This was rather than all indicators being considered by the Finance and Performance Management Scrutiny Panel.

The overall position with regard to the achievement of target performance for all the KPIs at the end of 31 December 2014 were that 26 (72%) indicators had achieved the cumulative third-quarter target, 10 (27%) indicators had not achieved the cumulative third-quarter target, although 1 (3%) of these KPI had performed within the agreed tolerance for the indicator and 29 (81%) of the indicators were currently anticipated to achieve the cumulative year-end target.

The Director of Resources advised that the Finance and Performance Management Scrutiny Panel had not put forward any further considerations for the Cabinet Committee. The Cabinet Committee were also advised that KPI RES001, Sickness absence (days) was unlikely to meet the year end target because of high levels of sickness in the winter period along with national reports indicating that the Flu vaccinations had not been effective; KPI RES002, Invoice payments were not likely to improve this year but improvements in this process were being implemented in 2015/16; and RES004, NNDR Collection was slightly behind because of the Governments introduction of payments being spread over 12 months rather than 10.

The continued relevance of the existing KPI’s set for 2015/16 had been considered by Management Board and the measures were considered appropriate for the ongoing evaluation of relevant performance factors, with some changes which included 3 indicators being deleted as they were no longer carried out by EFDC or were ineffective; 3 new indicators had been added to replace one of the deletions; and 3 indicators required their definitions to be revised to facilitate benchmarking or to comply with new Government guidance.

The Cabinet Committee commented on KPI RES005, Benefits reducing the target from 25 days to 22 days for 2015/15 and whether it was possible to make a further reduction if the current performance was 21.63, whilst concerns were also raised on whether the target was working days or not and how this could likewise affect the performance. The Director of Finance could not confirm whether the target was working days or not without consulting the relevant officer. Councillor Stallan asked that subject to the answer, he would like working days to be added to the description.

Resolved:

(1)                    That the performance in respect of the third quarter of 2014/15 in relation to the Key Performance Indicators be noted; and

(2)                    That the proposed Key Performance Indicators and targets for 2015/16 be agreed subject to the addition of working days to the description of KPI RES005 Benefits if required.

Reasons for Decisions:

The KPIs provide an opportunity for the Council to focus attention on how specific areas for improvement would be addressed, and how opportunities would be exploited and better outcomes delivered.

A number of KPIs were used as performance measures for the Council’s key objectives. It was important that relevant performance management processes were in place to review and monitor performance against the key objectives, to ensure their continued achievability and relevance, and to identify proposals for appropriate corrective action in areas of slippage or under performance.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

No other options were appropriate in this respect. Failure to identify challenging performance targets, and review and monitor performance could mean that opportunities for improvement were lost and might have negative implications for judgements made about the progress of the Council.