Agenda item

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Change and Scrutiny regarding progress made in the first quarter of 2012/13 for the authority’s key performance indicators (KPIs).

RESOLVED:

1.  That the progress and out-turns of the KPIs (Appendix A to the report of Head of Change & Scrutiny) be noted.

2.  That actions to address the continued pressure on the housing service which is key to the achievement of the Council’s priority  ‘For Maidstone to be a decent place to live’ be agreed:

HSG PS 002 – Number of homes occupied by vulnerable people made decent – The lower level of performance is attributed to reduced take up of grant programmes targeted at vulnerable households and an increased number of service requests relating to non-vulnerable households. This target was also set prior to grant funding for 2012/13 being confirmed.

HSG 005 – The number of households prevented from becoming homeless- Lower performance levels are the result of a range of issues including, an increase in the number of homelessness decisions, parental evictions and difficulty in accessing the private rented sector.

3.  That the areas where performance has declined and performance requires further monitoring be noted:

PKG 007- Number of onboard P&R transactions – the number of transactions continues to decline, it is 11% down from 2009/10.  Although this service is being reviewed it is recommended that this indicator is closely monitored.

DCE 001- Percentage of planning enforcement cases signed off within 21 days. Although there were less cases received within the period performance has declined by more that 10% compared to quarter 1 last year. This drop is being attributed to absence of the investigation officers and clearance of backlog cases. It is recommended that this indicator is monitored as if performance does not improve it is likely that the annual target will not be achieved.

CTC 001 – The average wait time for calls into the contact centre – after not achieving the annual target last year and requesting that the 2011/12 target be retained the quarterly target has not been achieved. The service manager has attributed the lower performance level to both the number of bank holidays in the quarter and capacity issues. As the issue with Bank Holidays is a trend that has previously been identified it is suggested that mitigation measures are looked into.

CTC 002 – The percentage of visitors to the Gateway responded to within 20 minutes – performance in this area has declined, as with the indicator above this is being attributed to the number of Bank Holidays as well as capacity issues tied up with training needs.

HRO 001- Working days lost to sickness absence (rolling year) – Despite an impressive end of year out-turn for 2011/12 of 6.01 days and the agreement of Cabinet to increase the target to 8.00 days, long term sickness has meant that the quarterly target has been missed. Action has been taken to address long term sickness issues and as this is a rolling indicator it is possible that it could return to an acceptable level. It is recommended that this indicator is monitored and if performance has not improved by end of quarter 2, actions to improve performance are requested.

4.  That any other areas where actions to improve performance would be appropriate be agreed.