Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Programme and Improvement Manager on the Performance Report of the Third Quarter (Q3) 2023/24 – October to December 2023.  Members were given the opportunity to scrutinise progress towards corporate operations and service delivery and make any necessary recommendations to Cabinet for future service delivery. 

A summary of the Council’s performance against the selected 26 Key Performance Indicators (KPI) broken down into eight service areas was included at Appendix A to the report.  Performance was compared to the previous quarter result and to the same quarter the previous year. 

The majority of KPIs were on target, except for:

·       Corporate Core CC1 % of Freedom of Information (FOIs) Requests answered in 20 working days: Statutory duty for the Council.  The target was 95%, Q3 result was 89%.  This result was attributed to an increase of requests (18%) received in Q3 compared to Q2, complexity issues and customers making multiple requests.  Additional staffing resources and longer-term options for data governance were being assigned and considered respectively.  Members requested a breakdown of the FOIs regarding the relevant service areas.  The Head of Digital Transformation and Customer Services agreed to disseminate this information after the meeting.  He also confirmed that year-on-year comparison information would be included within future performance reports.  Concern was aired that multiple requests for information were and could be time consuming / labour intensive, which ultimately could lead to vexatious correspondence.  Therefore, it was considered important, that a robust line was taken regarding multiple requests and that the Council’s Vexatious Policy should be instigated, where appropriate.  Staffing resources should not be wholly consumed by FOI requests.  It was suggested that charges be instigated should the time to deal with FOI requests exceed a certain number of hours and that information be uploaded to the website so that the public could be directed to the information immediately.  The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) agreed to investigate, and the findings would be reported back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at a future meeting.  Monitoring would be ongoing.

·       Customer Services C1 Telephone Calls Answered by Customer Services (sum of received and abandoned calls): The number of calls answered by Customer Services staff.  The target was 11,606, Q3 result was 10,669.  This result was attributed to an increase in calls (26%) received in Q3 in comparison to Q3 2022 and indicated an improvement in performance but not a reduction in calls.  Overall, Members were advised that digital contact had increased.  It was clarified that priority was given to vulnerable cases calls e.g. threat of homelessness etc.  The Head of Digital Transformation and Customer Services advised that staff resources were increased at peak times e.g. Monday mornings etc.  Where appropriate, customers were being directed to using the Council’s website facilities and the Chat Bot (Aiimee).  Modernised telephony systems (including call-back options) would be investigated; however, costs would be a significant factor.

·       Revenues and Benefits RB1 – Percentage of Council Tax and RB2 – Percentage of Business Rates owed for the year that have been collected: The target was 98.3%, Q3 results were 84.20% and 83.31% respectively.  Council Tax collection was slightly down on the profiled rate, but was better than the corresponding period in the previous year.  Business Rates collection was down compared to 2022/23.  Several different reliefs were available for businesses therefore, it was difficult to compare collection year-on-year.

A general comment was also made on the Housing Temporary Accommodation Targets.  These cases were unique and involved complex issues, which could be time consuming and costly, dependent on circumstances etc.

A SLT led Performance Board was established in July 2023 as part of the new Governance arrangements. This sat alongside the (officer led) Risk and Programme Boards to improve performance management, risk management and accountability in the Council. The Board brought together Heads of Service and relevant Service Managers to discuss performance and service risks collectively and individually across the Council.

The Government had created a new Office of Local Government (Oflog) as part of the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, tasked with understanding and supporting local government performance.  It was in the process of creating the Local Authority Data Explorer, a dashboard or online tool with sets of key measurements.  The sections for waste management and finance had measurements relevant to district councils and the published data for Rother District Council was attached at Appendix B to the report for Members’ information.  This was welcomed by Members, as it was easy to read and identified clear understandable statistics / data.  As metrics were developed, more service areas would be added to the dashboard.  

RESOLVED: That:

1)    the report be noted; and

2)    charging for Freedom of Information requests be investigated by the Senior Leadership Team and reported back to a future Overview and Scrutiny Committee.