1.        PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1     The Committee is asked to review the progress of key strategies, plans and performance indicators which support the delivery of the Council’s Strategic Plan 2015-20.

2.        INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2.1     Having a comprehensive set of actions and performance indicators ensures that the Council delivers against the priorities and actions set in the Strategic Plan. The top-level indicators are referred to as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

2.2     Each April the KPI set is reviewed and new targets and indicators were agreed by the Policy & Resources Committee in July 2015. The Strategic plan 2015-20 contains 29 performance indicators, of which 12 can be reported quarterly and 12 plan and strategy updates.

3.        PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

3.1     Appendix A shows the results for all of the KPIs that can be reported quarterly and provides progress updates on all of the strategic actions. Some indicators are collected bi-annually or annually, these indicators have not been included in this report.

3.2     Strategic actions have been rated based on progress towards delivering the actions outlined in the relevant Council plan or strategy. If no update has been provided the action will be rated Red. 

3.3     Ratings

The table below show the status of the KPIs in relation to the target and direction.

Good Performance

3.4     There has been an 11.5% decline in recorded crime. This is positive considering there was a 2.1% increase in recorded crime for this period last year. For the year to date anti-social behaviour, vehicle crime, burglary and theft offences have decreased when compared to 2014/15. However, violent crime has increased by 21%, overall during quarter 2, 92% of all crime in the borough was victim based.   

3.5     In relation to the Community Safety Strategy, the Strategic Assessment will be undertaken in December to inform the revised plan which is expected to be endorsed by Committee in April 2016.

3.6     The Regulation 19 version of the Local Plan will be reported to SPST Committee on 12th January 2016 and then full Council on 25th January.

3.7     The ‘Percentage of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)’ has continued to reduce. Only 1% of Maidstone’s population are claiming this benefit, which equates to 981 people. The last time the proportion of people claiming JSA was this low was in June 2008.

Poor Performance

3.8     The ‘Number of households prevented from becoming homeless’ has been rated red for the second quarter running. The staffing issues that occurred during quarter 1 carried on into quarter 2, this coupled with the increase in the numbers of those presenting as homeless has led to the red rating. Two new Housing Advisors started in August and it is expected that performance will now improve. However, based on performance from the previous year and the increase in homeless presentations it is expected that the annual target will not be achieved.

3.9     The number of affordable homes delivered has failed to achieve the quarterly target. However, the overachievement of the target in quarter 1 means that for the year to date they have delivered a total of 76 affordable homes against 80 targeted. The overall programme is still on track and expected to deliver excess or 160 affordable homes.

3.10 We have not reported ‘User Satisfaction with the Leisure Centre’ for quarter 2. There have been some issues with the data collection for this indicator therefore the Policy & Information team will undertake a review of this indicator.

3.11 At the mid-year point the following indicators are not expected to achieve the annual target, a predicted rating has been provided in brackets.

·     Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting (Amber)

·     Number of household prevented from becoming homeless through the intervention of housing advice (Red)

·     Number of on-board Park and Ride bus transactions (Amber)

4.        REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1     It has been recommended that the Committee note progress made against strategic actions and Key Performance Indicators and make recommendations in order to improve performance.

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

5.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

6.        REPORT APPENDICES

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

·         Appendix I: Strategic Plan Update Quarter 2 2015/16

7.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

Strategic Plan 2015-20