Issue - meetings

(A report of James Gilbert, Assistant Director – Corporate)

Portfolio Holder: Councillor Anne Dorrian

The Leader presented the report which covered the performance and risk monitoring information for Quarter 3 of 2023/24 as at the end of December 2023.

The Leader advised that the majority of performance indicators were on, or better, than target. There were four areas which had been identified as being off target, albeit with performance improving, these being:

·       Average speed of answer – Customer Contact (134 seconds against a target of 120 seconds);

·       Time to process Council Tax Support and Housing Benefit change events (14.72 days against a target of 12 days);

·       Percentage of all planning decisions that were subject to extensions of time in period (33% against a target of 30%); and

·       Percentage of major planning applications validated within 10 / 5 working days vs total received (85.71% against a target of 90%).

Full details of the performance targets were included within Appendix A.  A  summary of the strategic risks, scores and changes were set out in the report with full details in Appendix B.

Members noted that risk workshops were being held in February and March to enable Senior Officers to review all strategic, operational, partnership and fraud risks for quarter 4 reporting as at the end of March 2024.  This would include all suggestions for improvement from the Audit and Governance Committee. 

Councillor Callum Butler referred to the performance target in respect of car parking income and advised that he was pleased to see that the new car parking machines were starting to have an impact. He added that the app was very well used which provided an additional option for payment in addition to cash and card. The Leader agreed and thanked Councillor Sandeep Ghosh for choosing those particular machines. 

Councillor John Baxter thanked the Leader and Officers for the report and highlighted the many positive figures that were flagged in green. He then referred to the performance targets and queried what they could be benchmarked against. The Leader agreed and advised that she would include more of the positive aspects within her reporting in future meetings.

Members discussed the Offlog measures which were being introduced by the Government. The Insights and Transformation Manager reported that the Offlog measures had been included within the performance management framework for the next year (2024/25). She noted that not all measures had yet been set, but members would receive regular reporting to see how Boston measured against other Councils.

The recommendations were moved by Councillor Anne Dorrian and seconded by the Councillor Dale Broughton.

RESOLVED:

That the quarterly performance and risk monitoring information for Q3 of 2023/24 be noted.

[The Insights and Transformation Manager left the meeting at 7.13 p.m., following consideration of the above item.]