Policy & Resources Committee

27 June 2018

 

Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 4 2017/18

 

Final Decision-Maker

Policy & Resources Committee

Lead Head of Service

Angela Woodhouse, Head of Policy, Communications, and Governance

Lead Officer and Report Author

Anna Collier, Policy and Information Manager and Ashley Sabo, Performance and Business Information Officer

Classification

Public

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

Policy & Resources Committee is 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 Policy & Resources Committee:

1.   That the summary of performance for Quarter 4 of 2017/18 for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) be noted.

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Policy & Resources Committee

27 June 2018



Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 4 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 4 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. 14 are reported to the Committee for this quarter. 

 

2.2     Overall, 67% (8) of targeted KPIs reported this quarter achieved their target for quarter 4. For 58% of indicators, performance improved compared to the same quarter last year (where previous data is available for comparison).

 

2.3     There are 2 contextual indicators (indicators without targets) represented in the chart below as N/A, these indicators were requested for inclusion as they are important to assessing how the council is performing by examining the outcomes. These indicators are number of litter reports attended to and the number of households living in temporary accommodation on the last night of the month. 

 

 

 

 

RAG Rating

Green

Amber

Red

N/A

Total

KPIs

8

3

1

2

14

Direction

Up

No Change

Down

N/A

Total

Last Year

7

0

5

2

14

Last Quarter

5

0

9

0

14

 

 

3.        Performance by Priority

 

Priority 1: Keeping Maidstone Borough an attractive place for all

 

3.1     The percentage of land and highways with acceptable levels of litter was 99.2% against a target of 93.5%. This is exceptionally good this quarter and reflects the hard work carried out by the Street Cleansing Team to review and revise schedules.  The new schedules have resulted in greater manual presence in areas where vehicles or the street layout prevents mechanical cleansing which has improved the levels of littering witnessed during the inspection.

 

3.2     The percentage of land and highways with acceptable levels of detritus was 95.5% against a target of 84%. The levels of detritus were lower this quarter and within target.  This is also due to the changes within street cleansing which have resulted in revised schedules and a more targeted approach to areas with higher levels of detritus.

 

3.3     A total of 128 litter reports were attended to this quarter. This has reduced slightly which is very positive considering the figure could be expected to increase this quarter due to the die back of vegetation exposing historical litter.  The positive impact can be attributed to the revision of the cleansing schedules and the work of the team to target areas where litter accumulates and can't be cleaned with mechanical sweepers.

 

3.4     94.97% of fly-tips were cleared within 2 working days during quarter 4 against a target of 88%. Performance has significantly improved this quarter as result of two actions within the environmental services.  Firstly a dedicated resource within Street Cleansing to clear the fly tips more quickly. Secondly greater collaborative working between the waste crime and street cleansing teams now they are both based at the Depot.

 

3.5     47.3% of household waste was sent for reuse, recycling, or composting during January and February. We are currently awaiting figures for March from Kent County Council. The recycling rate is below target this quarter and it is likely to remain below target when the data for March is available. Performance is low due to Christmas catch up and collections after the snow. Whilst performance is also down on the same quarter last year it is minimal at 0.33% and overall the percentage for 2017/18 is up by 1.98%.

 

 

 

3.6     Percentage of fly tips resulting in enforcement action was 63.6% against a target of 20%. This quarter showed that the service is maintaining the high number of enforcement actions.  Recruitment is now taking place for 3 additional staff which it is hoped will help elevate this number higher.

 

Priority 1: Keeping Maidstone borough an attractive place for all, & Priority 2: Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough

 

3.7     Footfall at the Museum and Visitor Information Centre was 14,063 against a target of 18,000. Although not having met the quarterly target, footfall at the museum has increased quarter on quarter since the opening of the Ancient Lives Gallery in October. The performance is comparable to footfall in quarter 4 in 2016/17, we may therefore have been too ambitious in setting such a high target compared with previous performance. Visitor figures were reduced during the snow which would have had an impact on performance to some degree. We are now working on delivery of the Museums 20 Year plan which is designed to increase footfall in the future and are considering the profiling for next year to ensure it is realistic.

 

Priority 2: Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough

 

3.8     For the last quarter 20 out of 26 major planning applications were determined within the agreed timescales, which equates to 80.77%.  The downturn in the performance on major planning applications in the last quarter was primarily due to clearing a large number of backlog cases, as one of the primary aims of the Planning Service’s Implementation Project work.  The performance for the whole year for majors was 94 out of 108 determined in time, which equates to 87%, which meets and exceeds the KPI target.

 

3.9     The value for processing of minor planning application was 69.5% against a target of 85%. The target was missed for a second quarter and is the result of prioritising and working through the backlog of planning applications, the majority of which were progressed during the back end of the last quarter and the front end of this quarter. This was raised as a significant risk at the start of the planning review. The year to date total, whilst below the target of 85% shows an improved overall performance figure of 75.16%. It is anticipated that performance will return back to target levels by the first quarter of the new financial year as the backlog of applications has now been cleared.

 

3.10 89.18% of ‘other’ applications were processed in a timely manner, however, for the year to date this stands at 91.51% and  the overall target for this category of applications has been achieved. This involved the processing of 1,178 applications with 1,078 being processed within agreed deadlines despite clearing a significant number of backlog applications.

 

3.11 The quarterly target of 150 for the number of applicants housed through the housing register has been exceeded by 18 due to an increase in the amount of available vacant and new build properties received from our Registered Providers. The annual target has also been exceeded.

 

3.12 There were 61 affordable homes delivered during quarter 4. The year-end target (200) for affordable completions has been exceeded by 26 completions, resulting in 226 affordable completions overall, comprising of 95 for shared ownership (42%) and 131 (58%) for affordable rent.

 

3.13 A total of 97 homeless preventions were made during quarter 4 against a target of 75. This represents 44 homeless pretentions completed within the Housing Advice Team; 41 with assistance from Discretionary Housing Payments; and 12 Sanctuary Scheme support.

 

3.14 Of the 99 households living in temporary accommodation on the last night of this quarter, 48 are in nightly paid accommodation and the remainder are in stock owed by MBC or units of accommodation provided by Register Providers (Housing Associations). The rise can be attributed to fewer households moving on from temporary accommodation in the last quarter into the social sector or private rented sector compared to the quarter before (only 33 in quarter 4 compared to 53 in quarter 3).

 

 

4.        RISK

4.1     This report is presented for information only, committees, 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 is 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 is also presented 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 Manager (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

There is no statutory duty to report regularly on the Council’s performance. However, under Section 3 of the Local Government Act 1999 (as amended) a best value authority has a statutory duty to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. One of the purposes of the Key Performance Indicators is to facilitate the improvement of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of Council Services. Regular reports on the Council’s performance assist in demonstrating best value and compliance with the statutory duty.

Keith Trowell, Interim Team Leader (Corporate Governance)

 

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.

Keith Trowell, Interim Team Leader (Corporate Governance)

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 4 17/18

 

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

None