Policy & Resources Committee

14 February 2018

 

Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 3 17/18

 

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 3 of 2017/18 for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) be noted.

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Policy & Resources Committee

14 February 2018



Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 3 17/18

 

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     Following the refresh of the Strategic Plan for 2017/18 the Committees agreed 28 Key Performance Indicators in April 2017.

 

1.3     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.

 

1.4     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.

 

1.5     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.

 

1.6     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 3 Performance Summary

 

2.1     There are 28 key performance indicators (KPIs) which were developed with Heads of Service and unit managers, and agreed by the four Service Committees for 2017/18. 14 are reported to the Committee for this quarter. 

 

2.2     Overall, 67% (8) of targeted KPIs reported this quarter achieved their target for quarter 3. For 54% of indicators, performance improved compared to the same quarter last year (where previous data is available for comparison).

 

2.3     There are 2 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 number of litter reports attended to and the number of households living in TA at the last night of the month. 

 

 

 

 

RAG Rating

Green

Amber

Red

N/A

Total

KPIs

8

2

2

2

14

Direction

Up

No Change

Down

N/A

Total

Last Year

6

0

5

3

14

Last Quarter

6

0

8

0

14

 

 

3.        Performance by Priority

 

Priority 1: Keeping Maidstone Borough an attractive place for all

 

3.1     For the period of October to December, 99.7% of land and highways had acceptable levels of litter against a target of 93.5%. The areas visited and graded for cleansing in this tranche of monitoring were High Street, Detling and Thurnham, Staplehurst and Headcorn. Littering levels were very low in these areas on assessment, with only a couple of roads falling below the required standard of Grade B.

 

3.2     For the same period, 97.8% of land and highways had acceptable levels of detritus, against a target of 84%. Resources have been focused on the removal of detritus over the past few months since the leafing period started and this has had a positive effect on the levels of detritus across the Borough.

 

3.3     130 reports of litter were attended in the borough during quarter 3. This is a decrease of 3 in comparison to quarter 2. This relates to the number of litter reports received which the team visit. Unfortunately there is no way to determine whether litter picking was required or not as this information is not captured in a way it can be reported on. The quarterly figure equates to 1.4 reports per day, which has been consistent over the past 3 quarters.

 

3.4     89.3% were cleared of fly-tips within 2 working days during quarter 3 against a target of 88%. The removal of fly tips has significantly improved this quarter. Many of the issues experienced last quarter have been resolved with staff sickness reduced, no further issues with the mobile technology and no requirement to divert resources to high speed roads. The cleansing manager has also made some minor resource changes to ensure the fly tipping is removed swiftly.

 

3.5     51.7% of household waste was sent for reuse, recycling, or composting during October and November. We are currently awaiting figures for December from Kent County Council. Tonnages for garden waste have been lower this quarter; however it is common for these to fall during the colder months.

 

3.6     During quarter 3, 89.3% of fly-tips with evidential value resulted in enforcement action. The outcomes for this indicator have remained high and significantly above target. It is anticipated this will improve further with the addition of a new waste crime officer to the team and the new street scene enforcement officers. Within this quarter there are also 3 prosecutions related to fly tipping.

 

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

 

3.7     Footfall at the Museum and Visitor Information Centre was 11,548 against a target of 11,000. This quarter's visitor figures are roughly 1,500 higher than this time last year and can be linked to both the opening of the new Ancient Lives gallery and our Christmas events which saw us host Father Christmas for the first time. Ancient Lives has, so far, had consistently high feedback from visitors and has, in particular, been praised for the sensitive and respectful display of Ta-Kush, the mummified woman at the heart of the gallery.

 

Priority 2: Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough

 

3.8     The target of Major planning applications in time for quarter 3 has been slightly missed by 3.5%; however the target from April to December remains above the 85% target, at 88.2%. The reason for the reduction in performance in quarter 3 relates to a number of factors including the Planning Services Implementation Project which has diverted officer attention to the clearance of the backlog applications, and key staff leaving the department who processed the major applications. These matters have been closely monitored with new officers appointed to the Major Project Manager and Principal Officer posts (although not commencing until Feb/March 18) and contract consultancy staff employed to provide cover until the individuals start work. Performance is being closely monitored to ensure quarter 4 meets expected targets.

 

3.9     The team processed 69.7% of Minor applications in time during quarter 3. This has missed the target of 85%, and is a result of the ongoing PSIP project and clearance of a backlog of applications. This quarter has seen all the activity in clearing the backlog applications which commenced on 18 October and has seen 81 of the 128 out of time applications (backlog applications) now determined with a further 21 of the 34 gypsy and traveller applications determined. The impact on minor applications has been carefully monitored and the impact year to date is a performance level of 76.8%. The determination of backlog applications will continue into quarter 4 and this will need to be carefully managed to ensure the performance does not fall below national targets.

 

3.10 90.4% of ‘Other’ applications were processed in time during quarter 3. This remains above the expected target of 85% but has seen a drop in performance since the start of the PSIP project. This is mainly due to the processing of backlog applications which has seen performance dip. This was flagged as a risk at the start of the PSIP project but has been carefully managed to ensure performance is maintained. From April to December last year the performance for others is 92.3% which is well above the national target and some 7.3% above the local indicator. Whilst the PSIP project does expect the clearance of backlog applications to continue until the end of January 2018, performance measures have been put in place to ensure applications are processed within their target timeframes (8 weeks) so performance is expected in quarter 4 to increase to bring the financial year target back into the high 90's.

 

3.11 The quarterly target of 150 for the number of applicants housed has been exceeded by 30 due to an increase in the amount of available vacant and new build properties received from our Registered Providers.

 

3.12 There were 43 affordable homes delivered during quarter 3. There has been good progress with schemes, and completions are picking up.  As usual, the majority come forward in the final two quarters of the year. There have been 156 affordable completions as at 31 December 2017. The overall quarter target of 50 completions is slightly short by just 7 completions. However it is still expected that the year-end target of 200 affordable completions will be exceeded.

 

3.13 A total of 107 homeless preventions were made during quarter 3. This represents 40 homeless preventions completed within the Housing Advice Team; 57 with assistance from Discretionary Housing Payments; and 10 Sanctuary Scheme support. This is a slight decrease in comparison to the previous quarter; however there is a marked increase in comparison to quarter 3 of 2016/17.

 

3.14 The number of households in temporary accommodation (TA) on the last night of this quarter is the lowest figure seen since quarter 1 of 2015/16. Of these 73 households, only 26 are in nightly paid accommodation and the remainder are in stock owned by MBC or units of accommodation provided by Registered Providers (Housing Associations) and down from 51 compared to the last quarter.

 

 

4.        RISK

4.1     This report is presented for information only, 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 will be 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 will also go 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.

 

 

S 151 Officer and Finance Team

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.

 

 Keith Trowell, Interim Team Leader (Corporate Governance)

 

Privacy and Data Protection

We will hold data 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.

 Keith Trowell, Interim Team Leader (Corporate Governance)

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 1: Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 3 17/18

 

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

None