Communities, Housing & Environment Committee

14 November 2017

 

Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 2 17/18

 

Final Decision-Maker

Communities, Housing & Environment Committee

Lead Head of Service

Angela Woodhouse, Head of Policy, Communications, and Governance

Lead Officer and Report Author

Alex Munden, Information & Corporate Policy Officer

Classification

Public

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

Communities, Housing & Environment Committee are 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 Communities, Housing & Environment Committee:

1.   That the summary of performance for Quarter 2 of 2017/18 for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) be noted.

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Communities, Housing & Environment Committee

14 November 2017



Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 2 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 2 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. 11 are reported to the Committee for this quarter. 

 

2.2     Overall, 78% (7) of targeted KPIs reported this quarter achieved their target for quarter 2. For 67% of indicators, performance improved compared to the same quarter last year, where previous data is available for comparison.

RAG Rating

Green

Amber

Red

N/A

Total

KPIs

7

1

1

2

11

Direction

Up

No Change

Down

N/A

Total

Long trend

4

0

2

5

11

Short Trend

7

0

2

2

11

 

 

3.        Performance by Priority

 

Priority 1: Keeping Maidstone Borough an attractive place for all

 

3.1     For the period of April – July, 95% of land and highways had acceptable levels of litter. The target of 93.5% has been exceeded. These surveys are carried out 3 times a year, and so this indicator is reported 2 months in arrears.

 

3.2     For the same period, 91.5% of land and highways had acceptable levels of detritus, against a target of 84%.

 

3.3     We attended to 133 reports of litter in the borough during quarter 2. This is an increase of 2 in comparison to quarter 1. We do not currently have data for the previous year to compare against.

 

3.4     We cleared 77.5% of fly-tips within 2 working days during quarter 2 against a target of 88%. There have been 245 fly tips in the past quarter, meaning the target was missed by 25 fly tips. The performance has been below target due to three key reasons: cleansing of high speed roads, staff sickness, and technical issues. During the quarter, we carried out overnight cleansing of high speed roads which limited daytime resources. We are exploring alternative ways of carrying this out, which will have a lower impact on the frontline service. There have also been a number of technical issues which have affected how quickly information is passed from frontline operatives to close the reports. Updates to the software have been carried out to resolve these issues. The number of fridges and freezers has also been monitored over the past quarter following changes to the bulky collection service.  The number reduced from 14 in Quarter 1 to 9 in Quarter 2, showing less than 4% of fly tips involve fridges or freezers.

 

3.5     54.5% of household waste was sent for reuse, recycling, or composting during July and August. We are currently awaiting figures for September from Kent County Council. Performance has continued to improve since quarter one, again meeting its target. This shows a significant improvement in the recycling rate, and the positive effect that recycling campaigns and projects are having. The main reason for the increased recycling rate is rising food waste recycling due to a number of recent campaigns.  Increased garden waste tonnage is also having a positive impact.

 

3.6      During quarter 2, 60% of fly-tips with evidential value resulted in enforcement action. This is a significant increase in comparison to quarter 1. The changes made to the enforcement team have had positive outcomes, as has increased collaborative working. It is expected the enforcement action rate will exceed the target for the rest of the year.

 

3.7     The Housing and Enabling team have spent or allocated 48.4% of the Disabled Facilities Grant budget in quarter 2 against a target of 45.0%. This has more than doubled since quarter 1. A total of £490,254.39 was allocated or spent against an annual budget of £1,013,000.

 

 

 

Priority 2: Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough

 

3.8     A total of 147 households were housed through the housing register during quarter 2, narrowly missing the target of 150. This is a slight increase in comparison to the first quarter.  However, it is has reduced in comparison to the same quarter for 2016/17. The number of affordable properties delivered by Registered Providers is lower than last year, meaning we have fewer properties to offer those on the housing register.

 

3.9     There were 74 affordable homes delivered during the second quarter. There has been good progress with schemes, and as expected completions are starting to pick up. This resulted in the target of 50 being exceeded. There are still 84 shared ownership completions and 91 affordable rented completions forecast for the remainder of the year. Therefore it is expected that the annual target will be achieved.

 

3.10 A total of 137 homeless preventions were made during quarter 2. This comprises 70 homeless preventions completed within the Housing Advice Team. 57 were given assistance from Discretionary Housing Payments, and 10 received Sanctuary Scheme support. Good performance has continued, with a slight increase in comparison to the previous quarter. Performance has also significantly increased in comparison to quarter 2 of 2016/17.

 

3.11 There were 91 households in temporary accommodation (TA) on the last night of the quarter. There has been a slight increase compared to the last quarter.  However, there has been a significant decrease from 112 households for the same period last year. There was also a 67% increase in the number of applications made for the previous year. Of the 91 households in TA, 51 are in nightly paid accommodation, with the remainder in stock owned by the Council, or provided by Registered Providers.

 

 

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.

Senior Finance Officer (Client)

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

None identified

Interim Deputy Head of Legal Partnership

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.

Interim Deputy Head of Legal Partnership

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 2 17/18

 

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

None