RAG Rating

Target not achieved

Target missed (within 10%)

Target met

No target to measure performance against

Data Only

Direction

Performance has improved

Performance has not changed / been sustained

Performance has declined

No previous performance to judge against

RAG Rating

Green

Amber

Red

N/A

Total

KPIs

8

1

6

6

21

Strategic Actions

10

4

0

14

Direction

Up

Across

Down

N/A

Total

KPIs

4

0

7

10

21

The indicator measures percentage of household waste that has been sent by the Council for reuse, recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion. This is a key measure of a local authority’s progress in moving management of household waste up the hierarchy, consistent with the Government’s national strategy for waste management. The Government expects local authorities to maximise the percentage of waste reused, recycled and composted.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

48.68%*

52.5%

-3.82%

Target will be slightly missed

Performance Comment: *The figure for quarter 1 includes tonnage for April only as data is provided by Kent County Council and complete data has not yet been received. Recycling rates  are higher than the same month in 2014 and 2015, with overall waste reduced. Mixed recycling is higher which has increased recycling rates for April, even though composting levels were down.

Update for 2015/16: Data for quarter 4 is now available. Overall performance in 2015/16 did not meet the annual target.  Whilst actual tonnage of recycling and composting collected in quarter 4 was higher than for the same quarter for past two years, as the overall tonnage of household waste has also increased, this meant that the percentage of waste sent for recycling and composting is lower than in previous years.  

This indicator reflects the work being undertaken to relieve Council funding pressures. Future targets for this indicator will be budget dependent. 

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

£10,000

N/A

N/A

N/A

Performance Comment: Figures for Quarter 1 are not currently available.

Actual performance will be reported from Quarter 2 onwards. Current indications suggest that the target for quarter 1 has not been met. Income should improve once the Commercial Officer is in post.

This indicator gives a wider view of the issues in waste management beyond street cleansing. It also reflects the work undertaken to reduce the level of fly-tipping in the borough through projects and deterrents. Good performance is indicated by a lower figure.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

199

300

-101

Target will be achieved

Performance Comment: Performance is well above expected as the number of reported fly-tips in the quarter is more than a third below target. The drop in number of fly-tips compared to the target is likely to be due to seasonal shifts.

Community Safety Strategy

The 2016 Community Safety Action plan has been agreed and is being implemented through the Safer Maidstone Partnership’s sub groups. A new sub group called Community Resilience has been established and is set to tackle a number of issues including modern slavery, child sexual exploitation, and ‘Prevent’ which is an agenda aimed at preventing radicalisation.  

A number of action days have been held in relation to the Partnership’s road safety priority and a short DVD was created to inform pedestrians of the dangers of traffic.

 Funding allocated to the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) by the Police Crime Commissioner will help enable the strategic outcomes set out in the CSP Action Plan.  

The Maidstone self-neglect forum is now self-sustaining and is being rolled out to other Districts in the county. The Community Safety Unit has also been involved in developing a Waste Management App which enables council employees to highlight areas where syringes linked to drug use are found so they can been removed quickly and then mapped to trace drug use hotspots.

Safeguarding has been identified as a national priority and a compulsory part of what we do as a Council. This indicator measures the number of internal and external staff trained in areas such as child sexual exploitation and anti-extremism. Having more practitioners trained in safeguarding ensures the protection of vulnerable adults and children across Maidstone. 

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

0

50

-50

Target will not be achieved

Performance Comment: No safeguarding practitioners have been trained this quarter. The Safeguarding Policy for Vulnerable Adults and Children will be presented to the September Communities, Housing & Environment Committee and if agreed training will be carried out.

The lack of training to date may have an effect on the ability to attain the annual target by the end of the year. Once the policy has been implemented, training will increase.

Environmental Quality Survey

A new Environmental Performance Officer is currently being recruited and will carry out full National Indicator (NI) 195 monitoring 3 times per year to monitor the effectiveness of the current cleansing regime and to provide information to make future improvements. This monitoring will include measuring the levels of litter and detritus on land and highways. The officer is expected to be in post by September and will complete the first survey in the Autumn. The survey for 2015/16 showed Maidstone's performance to be better than the national and southern averages.  

This indicator reports the percentage change in the number of all recorded crime in the borough to provide an indication of the crime trends in the borough and help assess the impact of the work the Council undertakes in relation to Community Safety. Note: Improving performance for this indictor is demonstrated by a negative figure.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

16.0%

Performance Comment: There has been a 16% increase in crime this quarter which includes an almost 25% increase in violent crime compared to the same quarter in 2015/16. There has also been an increase in vehicle interference, things such as broken mirrors, possibly linked to the night time economy.

Violent offences committed around the night time economy periods had increased but numbers have now started to fall.  It is normal for around a quarter of violent crime to be domestic abuse and any increase in domestic abuse could be seen in a positive light as it means victims are coming forward. It also shows confidence in the police and other agencies in supporting and protecting victims of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is a key priority for the Safer Maidstone Partnership and is a key focus area for joint work, particularly around the One Stop Shop and the Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) process. This enables local organisations to share information about high risk domestic abuse cases.

Health Inequalities Action Plan Update

The Maidstone Health Inequalities Action Plan is now 2 years old. This provides an opportunity to review progress against actions and move forward in closing the gap in health inequalities.

A draft progress report was submitted to the Maidstone Health and Wellbeing Board on Monday 4th July highlighting key successes in a number of areas detailed below.

·         Breastfeeding contributes significantly to the long-term health of infants and mothers and increases maternal bonding. In Maidstone, the percentage of mothers who breastfeed within 48 hours of giving birth has increased slightly from 74.6% to 75.8%.

·         A reduction in hospital admissions for deliberate self-harm has been noted from 215.3 per 100,000 to 205.67 per 100,000 (2014/15).

·         The baseline for the number of healthy workplaces signed up to the Kent Healthy Business Awards was 20. Currently 31 workplaces have signed up, with 5 achieving awards in 2015/16.

·         The length of stay in temporary accommodation has been reduced to 39.67 days, falling below the 2015 target of 42 days.

·         The number of NHS Health Checks carried out within the borough exceeded the target of 1,500, with 2,908 health checks made. This is 93.86% above target.  

The report highlights the need to tackle particular areas of concern around incidences of malignant melanoma, statutory homelessness, obese adults, and violent crime. These areas of concern are for Maidstone Borough as a whole. Over the coming months, presentations will be delivered to Wider Leadership Team, Members, and officers with a view to producing a refresh of the Health Inequalities Action Plan in late 2016.  

Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) are used to provide home adaptations for disabled people generally to improve access; access into and around the home and access to, or provision of, basic amenities such as bathing and WC. They are an important part of the work we do to support people who want to remain independent or stay in their own home.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

16

25

-9

Target will be slightly missed

Performance Comment:  

The first quarter of a new financial year is historically lean on grant completions owing to the higher number of cases at the end of the quarter 4 being targeted for completion by builders to ensure the level of spend against budget is attained.

The same quarter last year saw 7 Disabled Facility Grants completed, less than half the number that were completed this quarter. This is the highest number of Disabled Facilities Grants that have been completed in quarter 1 since 2013. Performance is expected to improve as the year progresses.

The Council recognises that access to leisure services plays an important role making somewhere a good place to live. This indicator measures customer satisfaction with the Leisure Centre.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

72.22%

82.00%

-9.78%

Target will be slightly missed

Performance Comment: The management at the Leisure Centre have been unable to pinpoint a specific reason for the drop in satisfaction at the centre. Out of all the responses received there were only a handful that had written responses regarding their experience at the centre, which were a mix of both positive and negative. The main negative aspects appeared to point to a period where the pool temperature had dropped due to boiler failure and poor service in the cafe area. Service was slow during peak times and tables were not being cleared.

As another point of reference for customers experience, looking at reviews on Trip Advisor the Leisure Centre averaged 3.7 out of 5 from 18 reviews during the quarter. These tend to give a better indicator of what people found right and wrong. Poor satisfaction within trip advisor reviews seemed to point towards issues with the car park (receiving fines) and issues with swimming lessons and communication. In all instances of reviews on Trip Advisor, the management at Maidstone Leisure Centre (MLC) are quick to respond to customers in order to address any issues quickly.

The management at MLC are confident that they are able to improve on these figures going forward and we will be monitoring the situation closely.

This indicates the key work that is being completed at the Leisure Centre around health. This part of the Leisure Centre’s work is not reflected in ratings of satisfaction. This indicator has no target and is for information only.

Current Performance

2016/17 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

33

Performance Comment: This is an initial figure to form a baseline for following periods. The indicator methodology may need to be reviewed to look at providing this figure as a percentage of those completing courses. This will give an indication of the proportion of people who are completing courses, rather than just the number.

This is a unique sector leading project, which is currently funded. In the longer term, it will look to continue without funding. It seeks to engage older people in learning in a community group to prevent social isolation.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

16

Performance Comment: These are mainly attendees at café culture events. Cafe Culture is a monthly event for older people to enjoy a drink and share memories over a selection of objects from the museum's collection which encourages them to explore thair own lives, memories and experiences. It is a legacy project of a grant aided scheme called Museums on Prescription aimed at tackling social isolation in older residents. We would expect this figure to improve in the next quarter as we have introduced advertising material and made contacts with care providers across the borough and will no longer be relying on referrals from the Museums on Prescription scheme to attend. This is the first measure for this kind of project at the museum.   

Communications & Engagement Strategy Update

The Communications and Engagement Strategy and related action plan is being reviewed and will be presented at Policy and Resources Committee in September 2016.

Work is underway identifying key themes, based on customer contact including the resident survey and working with officers.  An all member workshop is being held on the 28 July to inform key actions going forward. 

Festivals & Events Strategy Update

The programme of festivals and events across the borough is growing with new events this year including the Big Day Out in Mote Park in June, and an open air cinema in Whatman Park in September.

A report will be taken to Heritage, Culture and Leisure Committee in November with a review of the Council's own events - The Mela and Proms in the Park with recommendations for the future following consultation with stakeholders and attendees at this year’s events.  The report will also include a summary of all the events that have taken place at Maidstone Borough Council venues.

Destination Management Plan Update

Good progress is being made against the Action Plan.  A Destination Management Plan event is being planned for September 2016 to share progress on the 3 year plan with all stakeholders. Achievements include:

·         The creation of Friends of the River group.

·         A new tool for venues to link to the Visit Maidstone website to feed on information on accommodation, things to do and what's on.  

·         A New Historic Interpretation Panel installed, as well as map and information points being replaced through Maidstone.

·         Data has been collected from rural areas in order to develop and promote this offer.

Cultural Strategy Update

Work is continuing on a new Public Realm Design Guide for the Town Centre and a Public Art Policy for the Borough.  Consultation is being undertaken on this work with stakeholders in July and August.  A bid is being submitted to Heritage Lottery Townscape Initiative Fund for Gabriel's Hill for £2m.  This will focus on the built environment, public realm and intangible heritage assets of one of Maidstone’s historic former principal streets, now dilapidated and degraded, and will enhance the Council's own public realm for this area.   The Council has also been shortlisted for an Urban Panel visit on September 16.

Net contribution generated from commercial activities

The Council has a Commercialisation Strategy, which seeks to make better use of the Council’s assets to provide increased leisure opportunities for the borough’s residents and visitors. This indicator is to assess the performance and progress of the Commercialisation Strategy in monetary terms.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

£63,500

£139,900

-£76,400

Target will not be achieved

Performance Comment: No Comment Provided

Footfall at the Museum and Visitor Information Centre

This indicator reflects the investment the Council has made to ensure that an important cultural provision and a major draw to the Town Centre is maintained. 

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

16,764

19,625

-2,861

Target will be slightly missed

Performance Comment: The 2016/17 target is reflective of the closure on Monday and staff structure changes. Footfall in April and May fell in comparison with both 2014/15 and 2015/16. June had approximately 1,000 more visits than the year before. The quarter as a whole was only 16,764 compared to 19,039 in 2015/16 and 20,320 in 2014/15. It is possible that this was the effect of having a very early Easter, where holidays mostly fell in March. The temporary exhibition at this stage was TIME, a contemporary art exhibition by local artists. The increased figures in June are likely to relate to the museum's annual Dino Day, which attracted nearly 2000 visits in a single day. Dino Day in particular had a positive effect on footfall this quarter and is likely to be a key factor in increasing footfall. Overall, footfall is likely to have been affected due to adverse weather in May and June.

Number of children taking part in formal educational activities on and off site.

This indicator reflects the investment the Council has made to ensuring that an important cultural provision and a major draw to the Town Centre is maintained.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

2,496

2,085

+411

Target will be achieved

Performance Comment: The Museums Schools and Arts Award continues to be popular with schools. In addition to these sessions that take place at the museum, the Learning Team also carry out sessions at schools and lend objects from the museums' handling collection. These loan boxes are available on a number of topics covering history, the arts and natural science. Usage of these boxes is measured by the number of children engaged in activities directly related to the loan of the box to the school. Information on all our schools offer is available to staff and parents through the museum website.

Footfall in the High Street

This indicator provides a good balance between Town Centre vitality and satisfaction with the High Street.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

2,356,418

2,058,735

+297683

Target will be achieved

Performance Comment: Footfall in quarter 1 is somewhat lower than was observed in the same period last year. Footfall was still above target, and weekly data that is collected is showing an upward trend. This is consistent with the trend that was observed over the same period in 2015/16.

Figures for this are published by KM Charity Team. This reflects the objectives set out in the Integrated Transport Strategy in reducing the use of unsustainable transport.   

Current Value

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

4780

Performance Comment: The quarter 1 figure for this data demonstrates a positive modal shift. A total of 4780 car journeys have been avoided through green travelling schemes for school children in quarter 1 of 2016/17. For the same period in 2015/16, the number of car journeys was reduced by 6016. Statistics for green travel increase gradually for the period as different schools and classes upload their data over time after the quarter closes. The data includes schemes such as walking bus, Active Bug, Green footsteps, and Walk-Once-a-Week.

Out of Work Benefit claimant count records the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and Universal Credit. This indicator is expressed as a proportion of the resident population of the area aged 16 to 64 years old and is provided by the office of National Statistics. A lower figure indicates good performance.  

Current Value

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

1.2%

2%

-0.8%

Target will be achieved

Performance Comment: 1205 people were claiming out of work benefit in May 2016, an increase of 20 people compared to May 2015. Figures for June have not yet been released. When compared to the other local authorities in Kent, Maidstone has the fifth lowest figure. Thanet has the highest level of people claiming out of work benefits at 3.3% and Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells have the lowest with 0.7%.

Percentage of 16 to 18 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEETs)

Non-participation in education, employment or training between the ages of 16 and 18 is a major predictor of later unemployment, low income, depression, involvement in crime and poor mental health. The figures are based on the monthly submission made to Department for Education via National Client Caseload Information System for Kent County Council. Academic age is the age of the young person on 31st August (i.e. prior to the start of the academic year).

Current Value

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

5.43%*

Performance Comment: *Data is for May only, June data has not yet been released. Maidstone is currently fifth out of the twelve Kent authorities for proportion of NEETs. Sevenoaks has the lowest figure at 4.07% and Swale has the highest at 7.49%. Maidstone has the third lowest proportion of ‘unknown’ NEETS. These are 16 – 18 year olds where it has not been possible to ascertain their current education or employment status. It is likely that this figure will increase in quarter 2 due to the start of the new academic year before declining over the winter months.

Number of Businesses/Start-ups receiving information, advice, and guidance

The Business Terrace is a new venture by the Council, to provide office space and facilities to smaller and start-up business with the addition of business support functions. Through local, regional and national partners and other users, the Business Terrace provides formal and informal peer-to-peer business support and advice underpinned by onsite bespoke mentoring, events, seminars and workshops.

Current Value

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

210

200

+10

Target will be achieved

Performance Comment: Quarter 1 of 2015/16 saw 210 businesses and start-ups receiving information, advice, and guidance. The support came from resources on the Business in Maidstone website, advice from workshops and seminars, and guidance from onsite advisers. On-going support is also given to office licensees and desk members in the business terrace. This shows the reach that the Business Terrace has in providing information, advice and guidance to businesses and start-ups in the borough.

The Maidstone Borough Local Plan and accompanying documents were submitted as planned to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) on 20 May 2016. All the documents have been made available on the website, which has been updated in preparation for the forthcoming examination. An Inspector, Mr Robert Mellor, has been appointed, and his views on the matters to be examined are awaited. In the interim period, officers have been preparing for the examination alongside the appointed Programme Officer, Ms Louise St John Howe. It is anticipated that the examination hearings will commence at the beginning of October and run through until sometime in November or December.

Housing Strategy Update

The Council adopted the final version of the Maidstone Housing Strategy 2016-2020 in March 2016. Following adoption the Strategy has now moved into the delivery stage. The new Strategy has three key priority themes for the Council to address over the next four years centred around enabling the delivery of quality homes across the housing market, ensuring existing housing is safe, desirable and promotes good health and well-being and preventing homelessness and securing provision of appropriate accommodation for homeless households. The Council has made progress during the last quarter against a number of actions stated within the Strategy, in order to help achieve the three key priority themes and stated outcomes. This includes successfully agreeing terms for the purchase of a property for use as temporary accommodation for homeless households, establishing a self/custom build register and continued work on facilitating the redevelopment of Brunswick Street.

27

75

48

Target will not be achieved

Performance Comment:

The second Housing Assistant post was vacant for the whole of this quarter. The post has now been recruited to; the successful candidate will start in post in October. A temporary member of staff will be covering the post in the meantime. The average homelessness assessment caseload during this quarter was 30 (including the senior), compared to 14 in 2014/15. Although the third Housing Advisor was recruited to in this period and received her formal training at the end of June, the number of assessments open as of 8 July would still give each advisor close to 30 cases, even with this post included.

It is necessary to prioritise statutory work over preventative, due not only to the nature of those clients already being homeless, but also in an effort to minimise the spending on temporary accommodation.

100%

80%

+20%

Target will be achieved

Performance Comment:  The performance on majors continues to be very good and demonstrates the good working relationship between officers and developers. Extensions of time are negotiated on a significant proportion of major applications due to the complexities of the application and the requirement to negotiate on Section 106 (S106) agreements. Work has progressed with the draft S106 templates and will soon be available to download on the website, which will help speed up the processing of S106 agreements and enable developers to submit draft agreements with applications. This, together with the agreed protocol in place, (which will commit Legal Services and Development Management officers to producing initial drafts within a set timeframe) will further speed up the legal and decision making processes. This creates a more focused customer experience and delivery of much needed planning permissions.

Housing supply has not kept pace with demand. Many families are locked out of the housing market by unaffordable prices and unobtainable mortgages.  Affordable dwellings include social-rented housing and intermediate housing. These can be new build or acquisitions; the figure does not take into account any losses.  

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

73

45

+28

Target will be achieved

Performance Comment: The first quarter has seen a significant amount of newbuild affordable completions delivered, which has exceeded the quarterly target. There are in excess of 300 affordable units which are forecast for completion this year as many sites have progressed quicker than anticipated. It is therefore expected that we will easily exceed the target for the year.

This is an important indicator, which will help to monitor the number of applicants on the housing register who have been successfully rehoused. This provides a balanced view of the work of the housing service, in addition to the homeless preventions indicator.

Current Performance

Q1 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

189

150

+39

Target will be achieved

Performance Comment: The quarterly target for the number of applicants housed has been achieved due to a significant amount of newbuild affordable completions which have been achieved during the first quarter.  This will provide baseline data to inform future targets for this indicator. Good performance should continue throughout the year due to the expected amount of affordable units that are being built throughout the year.