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Policy & Resources Committee

21 November 2018

 

Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 2 2018/19

 

Final Decision-Maker

Policy & Resources Committee

Lead Head of Service

Angela Woodhouse, Head of Policy, Communications, and Governance

Lead Officer and Report Author

Anna Collier, Policy and Information Manager and Ashley Sabo, Performance and Business Information Officer

Classification

Public

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

Policy & Resources Committee is asked to review the progress of Key Performance Indicators that relate to the delivery of the Strategic Plan 2015-2020. The Committee is also asked to consider the comments and actions against performance to ensure they are robust.

 

This report makes the following recommendations to Policy & Resources Committee:

1.   That the summary of performance for Quarter 2 of 2018/19 for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) be noted.

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Policy & Resources Committee

21 November 2018



Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 2 18/19

 

1.      INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

1.1     Having a comprehensive set of actions and performance indicators ensures that the Council delivers against the priorities and actions set in the Strategic Plan.

 

1.2     Performance indicators are judged in two ways. Firstly on whether performance has improved, sustained or declined, compared to the same period in the previous year. This is known as direction. Where there is no previous data, no assessment of direction can be made.

 

1.3     The second way is to look at whether an indicator has achieved the target set and is known as PI status. If an indicator has achieved or exceeded the annual target they are rated green. If the target has been missed but is within 10% of the target it will be rated amber, and if the target has been missed by more than 10% it will be rated red.

 

1.4     Some indicators will show an asterisk (*) after the figure. These are provisional values that are awaiting confirmation. Data for some of the indicators were not available at the time of reporting. In these cases a date has been provided for when the information is expected.

 

1.5     Contextual indicators are not targeted but are given a direction. Indicators that are not due for reporting or where there is delay in data collection are not rated against targets or given a direction.

 

 

2.        Quarter 1 Performance Summary

 

2.1     There are 27 key performance indicators (KPIs) which were developed with Heads of Service and unit managers, and agreed by the four Service Committees for 2018/19. 16 are reported to the Committee for this quarter. 

 

2.2     Overall, 85.7% (12) of targeted KPIs reported this quarter achieved their target compared to 83% (10) in quarter 1 and 75% (9) in the same quarter last year.

 

2.3     There are 3 contextual indicators (indicators without targets) represented in the chart below as N/A, these indicators were requested for inclusion as they are important to assessing how the council is performing by examining the outcomes. These indicators are; the percentage of littering reports attended to, the number of households living in temporary accommodation at the last night of the month and the number of households living in nightly paid temporary accommodation on the last night of the month. 

RAG Rating

Green

Amber

Red

N/A

Total

KPIs

12

0

1

3

16

Direction

Up

No Change

Down

N/A

Total

Last Year

7

0

7

2

16

Last Quarter

4

0

10

2

16

3.        Performance by Priority

 

Priority 1: Keeping Maidstone Borough an attractive place for all

 

3.1     The percentage of reports of littering attended is calculated by taking the number of reports received from residents about littering divided by the number of these that required additional action (for example litter picking or a mechanical sweep). The objective for the team is to reduce the amount of responsive work required due to the schedules being sufficient to deliver a clean borough.

 

3.2     This quarter has seen improvements to the schedules implemented which has reduced the amount of responsive actions required. It is impossible to eliminate all responsive action as incidences of littering unfortunately can occur any time after a road has been cleaned. The target is to get below 50%.

 

3.3     The percentage of fly tips resulting in enforcement action was 83.3% against a target of 50%. In this quarter the new Waste Crime Officer joined the team along with the second on-street enforcement officer. This has resulted in a significant increase in enforcement activity and the issuing of FPNs and warnings. The team are also now carrying out regular joint operations with the Police and have taken action to seize vehicles from offenders. This performance is exceptionally high and over the course of the year may not be sustainable.

 

3.4     The percentage of fly-tips cleared or assessed within 2 working days was 90.27% against a target of 89% and the percentage of fly-tips cleared or assessed within 4 working days was 94.97% against a target of 94%. The targets have been achieved due to collaborative working between the Cleansing and Waste Crime Team. With these two teams working within the same depot a greater ability to deal with reports and sharing of information.

 

3.5     53.06% of household waste was sent for reuse, recycling, or composting during July. This is currently only based on July’s figures as data has not yet been provided by Kent County Council. Garden waste is lower for July and this trend is likely to continue for August and September due to the exceptionally dry, hot weather.

 

3.6     The percentage of relevant land and highways that is assessed as having acceptable levels of litter was 99.7% against a target of 94%.  The level of “acceptable” litter is defined by the DEFRA Code of Practice and means the road is predominately free of litter with no accumulations. The high performance has been due to increase litter picking of rural roads and a greater amount of resource targeting littering along high speed roads.

 

3.7     The percentage of relevant land and highways that is assessed as having acceptable levels of detritus was 97.4% against a target of 94%.  Detritus is the breakdown of organic matter on the highway.  This does not include leaves until they have broken down and are no longer recognisable as leaves.  Detritus build up is more indicative of the effectiveness of the Council’s sweeping schedules.  The good performance was achieved due to an increase of mechanical sweeping in residential areas during the school holiday period as there were less parked cars  

 

Priority 1: Keeping Maidstone borough an attractive place for all, & Priority 2: Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough

 

3.8     Footfall on the High Street had a value of 3,026,971 against a target of 2,400,000. Quarter 2 footfall continues to follow the trend of previous years. There has been a drop of 140,646 from the same quarter last year however footfall has increased by 53,622 from the previous quarter.

 

Priority 2: Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough

 

3.9     Performance in major applications was 95.24% for quarter 2, which exceeded the target by 7.24%. The team have worked hard this quarter to ensure applications are progressed before the Community Infrastructure Levy deadline. This has placed added pressure on the team and the performance results are testament to this hard work.

 

3.10 Performance remains strong in the minor applications for quarter 2 at 94.44%. This shows the hard work that has been put in by the team and the success of the Planning Service Implementation Project (PSIP) in clearing backlog applications and ensuring the team are focused on determining applications in a timely manner and to agreed timeframes.

 

3.11 Performance for other applications was 95.13% for quarter 2. Performance remains strong in the others category and is exceeding the current target expectations of 90%. The team have worked very well to achieve these targets Backlog applications have been removed from the system and they are now focused on determining applications in a timely manner and to agreed targets.

 

3.12 The number of affordable homes delivered (gross) was 50 against a quarterly target of 45. There have been a total of 128 affordable homes delivered for the first two quarters of the year, exceeding the mid-year target by 38 homes.  We remain on track to achieve the year-end target.

 

3.13 The number of households housed through housing register this quarter was 152 against a target of 150. The quarter is lower than the previous quarter’s figure of 173 due to less properties coming through from Registered Providers and a smaller amount of new build units being completed during this quarter.

 

3.14 The number of households prevented from becoming homeless through the intervention of housing advice was 77 against a target of 150. As a result of the change in housing legislation from April 2018 the data collection for this KPI has changed. In previous years the Council reported to the Department for Communities and Local Government through the P1E return all successful homelessness prevention and relief action and activities undertaken, both by the Authority or funded by the Authority, that resulted in households being prevented from being homeless for a minimum of 6 months or relieved their homelessness this is a wider set of data than the new figure reported. The target was based on the old data collected

 

 

3.15 This quarter the Prevention Duty was ended to 48 households as a result of accommodation having been secured for a minimum of 6 months. A further 27 households were owed the Relief Duty and this was ended as a result of accommodation being available for a minimum of 6 months. Due to the new measure of reporting against this KPI the target is unlikely to be met but will act as a benchmark for target setting for the next financial year.

 

3.16 The number of households living in temporary accommodation on last night of the month was 135, which is an increase of 25 on the previous quarter. Of these, 75 were nightly paid, 52 were within our own stock, and 8 were by Registered Social Landlords. The ongoing implementation and awareness of the Homelessness Reduction Act in April 2018 continues to have a significant rise in the numbers accommodated within temporary accommodation.

 

3.17 The number of households living in nightly paid temporary accommodation (TA) on the last night of the month was 75, which is an increase of 21 on the previous quarter. This is the total number of nightly paid accommodation from private landlords, hotels and B&Bs. We have seen a continual rise since quarter 4 of 2017/18 as the numbers in TA continue to rise. These nights are predominantly in Maidstone, however some cover Medway, Swale, Gravesham and Ashford. The average nightly cost of temporary accommodation is as follows: 1 bed is £35, 2 beds is £45 and 3–4 beds starting from £55. However the use of hotels and B&B drives this cost up.

 

 

4.        RISK

4.1     This report is presented for information only, committees, managers and heads of service can use performance data to identify service performance and this data can contribute to risk management.

 

 

5.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

5.1     The Key Performance Indicator Update is reported quarterly to the Service Committees: Communities Housing and  Environment Committee, Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transportation Committee, and Heritage Culture and Leisure Committee. Each Committee will receive a report on the relevant priority action areas. The report is also presented to Policy & Resources Committee, reporting only on the priority areas of: A Clean and Safe Environment, Regenerating the Town Centre, and a Home for Everyone.

 

6.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

6.1     The Council could choose not to monitor the Strategic Plan and/or make alternative performance management arrangements, such as frequency of reporting. This is not recommended as it could lead to action not being taken against performance during the year, and the Council failing to deliver its priorities.

 

7.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

The key performance indicators and strategic actions are part of the Council’s overarching Strategic Plan 2015-20 and play an important role in the achievement of corporate objectives. They also cover a wide range of services and priority areas, for example waste and recycling.

Head of Policy, Communications & Governance

Risk Management

The production of robust performance reports ensures that the view of the Council’s approach to the management of risk and use of resources is not undermined and allows early action to be taken in order to mitigate the risk of not achieving targets and outcomes.

Head of Policy, Communications & Governance

Financial

Performance indicators and targets are closely linked to the allocation of resources and determining good value for money. The financial implications of any proposed changes are also identified and taken into account in the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan and associated annual budget setting process. Performance issues are highlighted as part of the budget monitoring reporting process.

Senior Finance Officer (Client)

Staffing

Having a clear set of targets enables staff outcomes/objectives to be set and effective action plans to be put in place

Head of Policy, Communications & Governance

Legal

There is no statutory duty to report regularly on the Council’s performance. However, under Section 3 of the Local Government Act 1999 (as amended) a best value authority has a statutory duty to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. One of the purposes of the Key Performance Indicators is to facilitate the improvement of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of Council Services. Regular reports on the Council’s performance assist in demonstrating best value and compliance with the statutory duty.

 Team Leader  (Corporate Governance), MKLS

Privacy and Data Protection

The data will be held and processed in accordance with the data protection principles contained in  the Data Protection Act 2018 and in line with the Data Quality Policy, which sets out the requirement for ensuring data quality.

There is a program for undertaking data quality audits of performance indicators.

 Team Leader (Corporate Governance),

MKLS

Equalities

The Performance Indicators reported on in this quarterly update measure the ongoing performance of the strategies in place. If there has been a change to the way in which a service delivers a strategy, i.e. a policy change, an Equalities Impact Assessment is undertaken to ensure that there is no detrimental impact on individuals with a protected characteristic.

Equalities & Corporate Policy Officer

Crime and Disorder

None Identified

Policy & Information Manager

Procurement

Performance Indicators and Strategic Milestones monitor any procurement needed to achieve the outcomes of the Strategic Plan.

Head of Policy, Communications & Governance, & Section 151 Officer

 

8.        REPORT APPENDICES

 

The following documents are to be published with this report and form part of the report:

·         Appendix : Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 2 18/19

 

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

None