Members received the report of the Director - Place and Climate Change,  which gave details of the current Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their target levels of performance for the financial year 2021/22.  Members were requested to review the current KPIs and consider if they were still relevant for 2022/23 when considering the priorities of the Council as set out in the Corporate Plan.

The 13 KPIs for 2021/22 were detailed at Appendix A to the report, reported within five themed areas, namely:

•           Housing and Homelessness (five indicators)

•           Economic Development and Poverty (three indicators)

•           Waste Collection (one indicator)

•           Additional Income (two indicators)

•           Planning (two indicators)

Several other indicators were used to inform the qualitative narrative. This gave the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC)  the ability to scrutinise more effectively and pass on any recommendations they had as a result to Cabinet.

Aside from the above 13 measurements to be reported quarterly, other indicators informing Heads of Service, Directors and the Chief Executive of performance would be reported by exception to the OSC where they were exceeding or significantly missing their target.

Whilst the KPI set were important indicators of organisational performance against the objectives and ambitions laid out in the Corporate Plan, they were not the only mechanism by which this delivery was being monitored. Projects described in the Corporate Plan were monitored through the Corporate Programme, for which a programme board had been established, whilst lower profile activities were monitored through the organisation’s various service plans, which were agreed with portfolio holders. An annual report would also be presented to the OSC for an update on all activity and completion of Corporate Plan targets.

The Environment Strategy 2020-2030 set out the activities and actions that were to be undertaken in response to the Council’s Climate Emergency Declaration in 2019.  At their meeting of 10 January 2022, Cabinet agreed that the performance of the organisational carbon reduction programme should be the remit of the Climate Change Steering Group.  The OSC considered monitoring this within their remit and Members were advised it was unlikely that the performance against the baseline would be updated any more frequently than annually.

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions of the Heads of Service in attendance and the following points were noted during the discussion:

•           Net Additional Homes Built in the District was a difficult target to achieve, as the Council had little control over build-out rates and it was agreed that it be recommended to remove this as a target.  It was noted that this was regularly monitored by the Planning Committee;

•           it was suggested that there be a more ambitious target for Additional Income Generation, as it had been previously expected that the Council would be achieving £2.5m by this time;

•           current planning targets were in line with statutory timescales, however had been measured in days rather than weeks.  The Director – Place and Climate Change advised that this target would be measured in weeks going forward;

•           the interim Development Manager had been funded through the existing staffing budget and significant improvements in planning performance was expected;

•           the Asset Income Total target included rental income generated from the Property Investment Strategy (PIS), which was reported to the Audit and Standards Committee.  Members recommended that a separate PIS income target be included within the KPIs to ensure the Council did not fall behind the financial strategy;

•           in monitoring levels of homelessness, Members agreed that the number of households prevented from going into Temporary Accommodation (TA) would be a more helpful indicator than the current target of the Average Length of Stay in TA.  In addition, it was agreed that a target of Average Cost Per Unit of TA be recommended to add to the KPI set;

•           the Council currently owned nine properties for TA and was in the process of finalising the purchase of another for completion by the end of the financial year, taking the total number of units to 20;

•           the Number of Council Tax Reduction Claimants was a misleading target, as residents’ personal lives dictated whether they were eligible or not.  It was, however, considered useful data to remain included in the KPIs to indicate the state of the district rather than performance;

•           Environmental indicators would be reported back to the OSC from Cabinet; and

•           Members agreed that it would be useful for other indicators of the state of the district to be reported to the OSC on a quarterly basis, such as air quality.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet be requested to review and approve the following Key Performance Indicators for 2022/23:

1)         Housing and Communities

•     Number of households in Temporary Accommodation: Target 60

•     Number of households on the Housing Register: Target 1,200

•     Number of affordable homes delivered (gross): Target 106 (supply) and 121 (local)

•     Number of prevented homelessness: Target to be confirmed

2)         Financial Performance

•     Asset Income Total: Target £1,850,000

•     Property Investment Income: Target to be confirmed

•     Cost of Temporary Accommodation: Target to be confirmed

3)         Economic Development and Poverty

•     Number of Council Tax Reduction Claimants: Target: 6,960 (3,919 working age, 3,041 pensionable age)

•     Council Tax Collection Rates: Target: 98.30%

•     Business Rates Collection Rates: Target: 98.00%

4)         Environment

•     Waste re-used, composted and recycled: Target: 52%

•     Carbon Baseline: Target to be confirmed

5)         Planning

•     Major Applications: weeks to process: Target: 13 weeks

•     Minor Applications: weeks to process: Target: 8 weeks