MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
RECORD OF DECISION OF THE Cabinet
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Decision Made: |
14 August 2013 |
QUARTER 1 PERFORMANCE REPORT 2013/14
Issue for Decision
Quarterly performance monitoring.
Decision Made
1. That the progress and out-turns of the KPIs, as set out at Appendix A to the report of the Head of Policy and Communications, and that definitions are included for reference at Appendix B to the report of the Head of Policy and Communications be noted.
2. That the areas where performance is strong and on track to achieve annual targets be noted.
3. That the areas where performance has declined and performance requires further monitoring be noted.
4. That the Action Plan, attached at Appendix C to the report of the Head of Policy and Communications, to address the decline in the overall employment rate which is key to the achievement of the priority ‘For Maidstone to have a growing economy (reported in the Strategic Plan Annual Performance Report, June 2013) be agreed.
Reasons for Decision
The Council has set 72 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), as part of the Strategic Plan 2011-15; there are 40 indicators that can be monitored on a quarterly basis to ensure the Council is on track to meet its annual performance targets.
The Council’s quarterly performance reporting cycle is aligned with financial reporting to enable it to effectively oversee financial performance against corporate priorities and assess whether value for money is being achieved in the delivery of services. The financial monitoring reports for the first quarter shows an under spend of £21,972, with 106 out of 218 cost centres under spending. Within the net under spend £0.13m relates to employee costs, due to continuing vacancy levels.
Context
The Council uses a range of information to manage performance, including performance indicators. The Council’s top-level indicators are referred to as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The Key Performance Indicators are set out in the Strategic Plan. These were reviewed in April 2013 with new targets and indicators agreed by Cabinet in June 2013. These will continue to be reviewed annually to ensure that they are aligned with the Council’s priorities.
Maidstone Borough is Kent’s County Town, it has a population of 155,200 and benefits from a high overall employment rate with relativity high wage levels, although some will commute out of the borough to achieve these. There are small areas of deprivation in the urban area, however Maidstone has a lower than average number of people claiming out of work benefits compared to other Kent authorities.
Performance Summary
Appendix A to the report of the Head of Policy and Communications shows out-turn data for all indicators that can be collected quarterly. Some indicators are collected bi-annually or annually, these indicators were not been included in the report of the Head of Policy and Communications.
Where an indicator is new and there is no quarterly 2012/13 data, no direction can be given. The direction where available, compares the out-turn for quarter 1 with the 2012/13 quarter 1 out-turn.
The following tables show the status of the key performance indicators in relation to target and direction of travel.
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Up |
Down |
N/A |
Total |
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A Growing Economy |
2 (50%) |
2 (50%) |
2 |
6 |
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A Decent Place to Live |
3 (30%) |
7 (70%) |
7 |
10 |
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Corporate & Customer Excellence |
7 (54%) |
6 (46%) |
4 |
17 |
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Overall |
12 (44%) |
15 (55%) |
13 |
40 |
Overall, 40% (15 of performance indicators have been rated green (currently on target), compared to 48% (13) at the same point in 2012/13. Of the 27 KPIs where direction can be assessed, 44% (12) have improved when comparing 2012/13 quarter 1 with that of 2013/14. The table below shows a comparison of the indicator rating and direction for quarter 1 2013/14 and 2012/13.
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Quarter 1 |
Green |
Amber |
Red |
N/A |
Total |
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2012/13 |
13 |
10 |
4 |
0 |
27 |
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2013/14 |
15 |
13 |
10 |
2 |
40 |
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Quarter 1 |
Up |
Across |
Down |
N/A |
Total |
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2012/13 |
13 |
2 |
11 |
1 |
27 |
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2013/14 |
12 |
0 |
15 |
13 |
40 |
It was noted that at the end of 2012/13, 60.5% of all KPIs achieved their annual targets and 43% of out-turns had improved since the previous year. Each year all targets are reviewed and where possible a continuous improvement approach is used to ensure that targets are challenging. At the mid-year report Managers will be asked to assess their indicators to identify if any are likely to underperform.
Of the 13 indicators that have been rated amber, five indicators were within 2% of target and eight were within 5% of the target.
For Maidstone to have a growing economy
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Green |
Amber |
Red |
N/A |
Total |
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2 (33%) |
3 (50%) |
1 (17%) |
0 |
6 |
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Up |
Down |
Across |
N/A |
Total |
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2 (50%) |
2 (50%) |
0 |
2 |
6 |
There are six indicators that can be rated, of which two are rated green, three amber and one red. Of these, performance for two has improved, for two has declined and two cannot be rated as they are new indicators.
The number of people claiming job seekers allowance (LVE 002) has fallen to just 2.2%, with a drop of 198 claimants compared to the same period in 2012/13, achieving the quarterly target. The Council is also contributing directly to lowering the figures around worklessness by providing work experience placements (E&S 001), for the current financial year there have already been 21 placements within the council, nine have been tracked into jobs.
There has been a 42% increase in the number of commercial planning applications for the quarter when compared to last year. Considering an increase in workload the planning department has maintained performance in completing these within the statutory timeframe (DCV 001) when compared to the same period last year. It was noted that quarter one is generally the weakest in terms of performance and that last year the annual out-turn was over 90%.
Both indicators relating to the objective on transport have been rated amber. The income from pay and display car parks (PKG 002) is less than £5.00 from achieving target however it is expected at this stage that the annual target will be achieved.
Park & Ride on-board transactions have continued to decline (PKG 007). Recently the tariff for long stay parking has been increased and it is hoped that this will have a positive impact on the Park and Ride service. In the meantime the Parking Manager is investigating ways to limit the impact on the income target including looking at the overall parking offer in Maidstone and how it links to the transport network through work on the Integrated Transport Strategy.
For Maidstone to be a decent place to live
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Green |
Amber |
Red |
N/A |
Total |
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7 (47%) |
5 (33%) |
3 (20%) |
2 |
17 |
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Up |
Down |
Across |
N/A |
Total |
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3 (30%) |
7 (70%) |
0 |
7 |
10 |
There are 17 indicators that relate to the priority for Maidstone to be a decent place to live that can be reported at quarter 1, 15 of these can be given a rating. There are seven KPIs that have been rated green, five that have been rated amber and 3 that have been rated red. There are two indicators in this priority that are new for 2013/14, here baselines will be set this year to inform targets for future years.
The percentage of residential planning applications processed within statutory timescales (DCV 003) has not achieved the quarterly target and performance has declined compared to the same period last year. Historically the first quarter’s out-turn is the lowest and it is expected that performance will improve during quarters two and three. There were 37 residential applications processed in quarter 1, including six major applications. Fourteen were processed out of the statutory timescales, reasons cited for the delay in these applications were section 106 agreement negotiations (three of the six major applications were out of time), clearance of two cases dating back to 2010 and prioritisation of the the Local Plan.
Housing has made good progress in the delivery of affordable homes with 70 being delivered during the first quarter. In addition private sector housing has made 65 improvements to homes that have positively impacted on the residents’ health, welfare or wellbeing.
Both of the waste (WCN 005) and recycling (WCN 001) indicators have been rated amber. The new contract in partnership with Swale and Ashford, to be launched in Maidstone from August 2013, is expected to increase the amount of waste recycled and it is predicted that the annual targets will be achieved.
There are two indicators that relate to the outcome ‘Residents in Maidstone are not disadvantaged because of where they live or who they are, vulnerable people are assisted and the level of deprivation is reduced’ that have been rated red, both of which come under housing. The introduction of the new Allocations Policy has impacted on average time to process and notify applications on the housing register (HSG 004). This is because the service effectively closed the register during March, and no new applications were processed during this time, so that they could be assessed under the new policy which came into effect in April. The Housing team is also continuing to face high volumes of people presenting as homeless, past the time that intervention could have taken place. Actions are being devised to improve performance in this area with more self-help solutions and further guidance being investigated.
The Maidstone Families Matter project has started positively and 76 families have been accepted onto the programme (MFM 001a). However engagement is proving an issue. At present 17 families have been engaged with (MFM 001b) but it should be noted that this element of the programme involves a lot of information gathering to ensure that the right person engages with the family. This is currently being addressed at county level.
Corporate & Customer Excellence
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Green |
Amber |
Red |
N/A |
Total |
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6 (35%) |
5 (30%) |
6 (35%) |
0 |
17 |
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Up |
Down |
Across |
N/A |
Total |
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7 (54%) |
6 (46%) |
0 |
4 |
17 |
There are 17 KPIs relating to the priority Corporate & Customer excellence that can be reported quarterly. Six have been rated green, five amber and six red.
Four of the indicators rated red relate to customer contact (BIM 003a, BIM 004, CTC 001 and CTC 004). Avoidable contact (CTC 004) was impacted on by the failure to process a benefits file on time which led to customer calling in about their benefit payments. This combined with the calls about the new housing allocations policy has extended the average wait time for calls into the contact centre (CTC 001) to 221 seconds for quarter 1. This is also considered to have been the reason that there were more customer contacts in the Gateway (BIM 003a).
There was a reduction of 4.26% in outgoing post items (BIM 004) against the target of an 11% reduction. This is because the majority of work relating to this area is in the early stages. A print/post solution is due to be introduced later this year which is expected to have the greatest impact on this indicator.
There were more customer transactions in the Gateway than expected and it is therefore positive that the percentage of visitors to the Gateway responded to by a customer services advisor within 20 minutes (CTC 002) not only achieved the quarterly target but also improved when compared to last year.
Both the percentage of council tax collection and percentage of non-domestic rates collected have marginally missed the quarterly target. Recovery programmes are in place however a similar profile of performance is being reported by other districts.
The rate of Missed bins per 100,000 collections (WCN 006) has achieved the quarterly target. However with the changes to residents’ collection days happening in August it is expected to go up during quarter 2.
Performance has improved compared to last year for the percentage of planning decisions taken under delegation, coupled with a 7% rise in decisions taken under delegation. This is positive as the quarter 1 out-turn is usually the lowest for the year.
Alternatives considered and why rejected
KPIs reflect local priorities and measure progress towards the Council’s key objectives. They are the Council’s top level indicators and are linked to the Council’s Strategic Plan.
Not monitoring progress against the KPIs could mean that the Council fails to deliver its priorities and would also mean that action could not be taken effectively to address performance during the year.
Background Papers
None
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Should you be concerned about this decision and wish to call it in, please submit a call in form signed by any two Non-Executive Members to the Head of Policy and Communications by: 23 August 2013 |