Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Head of Profession – HR and Transformation.

It was resolved to accept the Scorecard Monitoring report for Quarter 2 2023/24 and to note the areas which the Leadership Team is exploring and investigating to manage and secure improvements into the future as outlined within the written report.

The report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation incorporating the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 2 2023/24 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

Councillor Carwyn Jones, Portfolio Member for Corporate Business and Customer Experience presented the report and highlighted that 91% of the performance indicators are performing above or within 5% tolerance of their targets which is reassuring at the end of Quarter 2. Some of the positive stories include the National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) indicators, the number of empty homes brought back into use, the Adults’ Services indicators, Children and Families’ Services indicators, homelessness indicators, waste management and highways indicators. Although a full analysis of the corporate health performance indicators for the quarter had not been possible, the majority (67%) of the indicators with available data against targets monitored in this section are performing well and are ragged Green or Yellow. At the end of Quarter 2 the performance against target is ragged Red in respect of days lost to absence per FTE but it should be noted that long term sickness is an influencing factor and equates to 62% of the absence rates for the period.  Areas being monitored by the Leadership Team to secure improvements into the future include the average days taken to deliver a Disabled Facilities grant and the turnaround of lettable units of accommodation in Housing Services, the percentage of planning appeals dismissed and the number of FOI requests responded to within timescale due to the lack of available data for the second quarter for this activity. Whilst the forecast for the Council’s financial position has improved from that reported at the end of Quarter 1, an overspend is still being projected for the year end with some service budgets coming under pressure. Expenditure is being scrutinised in order to limit the overspend.

Councillor Douglas Fowlie, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee reported from the Committee’s 21 November 2023 meeting where the Q2 Scorecard report had been scrutinised. He confirmed that the Committee had been pleased to note that 91% of indicators were performing well and had sought assurance that the three underperforming indicators would improve. The forecast overspend was noted and enquiries made about how budget pressures are being managed and mitigated. Members also asked questions about the actions being pursued in response to the increase in the average days lost to absence per FTE. The number of planning appeals dismissed was noted with questions being asked about the impact of the mitigation measures introduced. The two underperforming indicators in Housing services relating to average days taken to deliver a Disabled Facilities grant and the turnaround of lettable units of accommodation (Indicators 28 and 29 respectively) were discussed and further work regarding these areas was requested. Questions were also asked about local indicators to measure performance in connection with the Council’s net zero target. Following its discussions the Committee had been agreed in recommending the Quarter 2 2023/24 scorecard report and the mitigating measures therein to the Executive and had also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5