Communities, Housing & Environment Committee

18 September 2018

 

Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 1 2018/19

 

Final Decision-Maker

Communities, Housing & Environment 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

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 Key Performance Indicators during Quarter 1 of 2018/19 be noted.

 

2.   That the housing advice performance indicator be changed to:

 

The number of cases where the homelessness Prevention Duty or Relief Duty has been brought to an end due to the applicant having secured suitable accommodation that will be available for at least 6 months.

 

3.   That the housing advice performance target be changed to:

 

200 cases per year for the first year.  

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Communities, Housing & Environment Committee

18 September 2018



Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 1 2018/19

 

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     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.

 

1.3     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.

 

1.4     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.

 

1.5     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 1 Performance Summary

 

2.1     There are 27 key performance indicators (KPIs) which were developed with Heads of Service and unit managers, and agreed by the four Service Committees for 2018/19. 12 are reported to the Committee for this quarter. 

 

2.2     Overall, 75% (6) of targeted KPIs reported this quarter achieved their target compared to 89% (8) in quarter 4 of 2017/18 and 14% (1) in the same quarter last year.

 

2.3     There are 3 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; the percentage of littering reports attended to, the number of households living in temporary accommodation at the last night of the month and the number of households living in nightly paid temporary accommodation on the last night of the month. 

RAG Rating

Green

Amber

Red

N/A

Total

KPIs

6

0

2

3

11

Direction

Up

No Change

Down

N/A

Total

Last Year

6

0

3

2

11

Last Quarter

4

0

5

2

11

Data/Comment Not Provided or Available

 

The percentage of land and highways with acceptable levels of litter and detritus.

 

2.4     As per the DEFRA guidance, this indicator is measured three times per year. The monitoring is carried out in quarters 2, 3 and 4 in order to keep consistency with previous years. The monitoring involves rescoring the level of litter and detritus in 300 x 25m transects of highway taking into consideration all land uses i.e. retail, high intensity housing, rural etc.

 

3.        Performance by Priority

 

Priority 1: Keeping Maidstone Borough an attractive place for all

 

3.1     Percentage of reports of littering attended to was 68.69%. For this indicator the lower the percentage the better as it indicates that the cleansing schedules are sufficient for additional reactive cleanses to be unnecessary. Over the past couple of months there have been some significant changes to the street cleansing schedules with the intention that the schedules will be able to be published by the end of the financial year. This should enable residents and Members to check when roads are due to be cleaned and therefore reduce the number of reports of litter. The proposed improvements to the schedules will work to reduce this percentage from 68% towards 50%.

 

3.2     Percentage of fly tips resulting in enforcement action was 61.1% against a target of 50%. This quarter showed that the service is maintaining the high number of enforcement actions.  The Waste Crime Team is now fully operational and this is noted by a higher percentage.

 

3.3     Percentage of fly-tips cleared or assessed within 2 working days was 96.88% against a target of 89%. A new fly tipping response team has been created which involved moving two street cleansing operatives to work directly for the Waste Crime Team. With this dedicated team it has enabled fly tipping to be actioned more quickly and for evidence to be gathered at the same time as the waste being removed in many cases. The Waste Crime Team is also now fully staffed meaning there are four officers who are able to support the response team in gathering evidence and intelligence more quickly so the waste can be removed without delay.

 

3.4     The percentage of fly-tips cleared or assessed within 4 working days was 99.2% against a target of 94%. During this quarter there were only 2 fly tips which could not be removed within 4 working days. This was because they involved large quantities of hardcore and the team needed to wait for Kent County Council and the Waste Disposal Authority to arrange for a facility to accept the waste. Once the arrangements were in place the team removed the waste straight away.

 

3.5     54.96% of household waste was sent for reuse, recycling, or composting during quarter 1. The past quarter has provided an improved recycling rate and the target was achieved. This was mainly due to increase garden waste collection over the period of prolonged good weather.

 

3.6     The percentage of spend and allocation of Disabled Facilities Grant Budget (YTD) was 14.1% against a target of 20%. Activity during the first quarter tends to be lower following on from a busy final quarter in the previous year. This target value is lower than profiled for this point in the year. Our partner agencies all report strong demand for this form of assistance and we expect that activity will return to target during next quarter.

 

Priority 2: Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough

 

3.7     The number of households housed through housing register this quarter was 173 against a target of 156. The quarterly target for the number of applicants housed has been met due to an increase in the amount of available vacant and new build properties received from our Registered Providers.  The number of households who are on the Council’s Housing register was 572 on 30 June 2018 which was a decrease from the end of the previous quarter.  

 

3.8     Affordable completions are usually slow for the first two quarters of the year and historically pick up for the final two quarters. However the quarter’s target of 45 has been exceeded with 78 affordable completions being delivered for the first quarter of the year. Of these, 39 have been for shared ownership and 39 have been for affordable rent. We remain on track to achieve the year-end target.

 

3.9     Due to changes in monitoring as a result of the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act the housing team have had to change the data which they collect under the current indicator ‘number of households prevented from becoming homeless through the intervention of housing advice’.

 

3.10 Therefore they are showing as missing target as they have been unable to collect the data as they would have previously.  Of what was collected prevention duty was ended to 22 households as a result of suitable accommodation being secured that would be available for at least 6 months and a further 2 applicants had the Relief duty ended as a result of securing suitable accommodation available for at last 6 months.

 

3.11 As a result of this change, committee are asked to agree a change to the indicator and target, this is outlined in section four of the report.

 

3.12 There were 110 households living in temporary accommodation last night of the month of June 2018. This represents the total number of households in all types of temporary accommodation used by the Authority and includes, B&B providers, providers of nightly paid temporary accommodation, accommodation owned and leased by the Authority, Registered Providers stock used by the Authority as temporary accommodation. The number of households in all types of temporary accommodation has increased during the quarter. At the end of Q4 2017/18 there were 99 households in TA, which has increased by 11 in this quarter. This increase is also reflective of the increase in number of statutory homeless applications, which rose from 160 in quarter 4 2017/18 to 298 in quarter 1 2018/19.  The Homelessness Reduction Act did increase the number of cases will fall under a statutory application, as the trigger for an application increased from a threat of homelessness within 28 to 56 days.

 

3.13 There were 54 households living in nightly paid temporary accommodation on the last night of June 2018. This indicator is the total number of households is nightly paid accommodation, i.e. B&B’s and private providers of nightly paid accommodation. This indicator is included as the Authority pays per night for each unit of accommodation, which is at a significant cost to the Authority. At the end of quarter 4 2017/18 there were 48 households in nightly paid TA, which increased to 54 at the end of Q1 2018/19.

 

4.        Indicator Change

 

4.1     Committee are asked to change the indicator from number of households prevented from becoming homeless through the intervention of housing advice’.  to  ‘the number of cases where the homelessness Prevention Duty or Relief Duty has been brought to an end due to the applicant having secured suitable accommodation that will be available for at least 6 months’.

 

4.2     Previously under the government P1E homeless returns, an Authority recorded any successful prevention activities undertaken, or funded, by the Authority. This included awards of Discretionary Housing Payments by the Revenues and Benefits Team; sanctuary scheme referrals to put security measures in place for domestic abuse cases; and activities undertaken by the CAB, which fell outside of a statutory application for housing assistance.

 

4.3     Due to changes in legislation and the reporting to the MHCLG of homelessness prevention activity quarterly returns to government now only include those activities which end the Prevention or Relief duty accepted under a statutory application for housing assistance.

 

4.4     This is a dramatic change from what was previously collected, and the current target is not realistic particularly as the team embed the changes. A new target for 200 cases per year for the first year is suggested to committee to agree.  

 

 

5.       RISK

5.1    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.

 

 

6.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

6.1     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 receives 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.

 

 

7.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

7.1     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.

 

 

8.       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, 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, 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

 

9.        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 1 18/19

 

10.    BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

None