Issue - meetings

To consider the attached report of the Strategic Director (Corporate and Regulatory).

The Strategic Director (Corporate and Regulatory) presented the Strategic Performance Dashboard – Quarter Two 2022/23. Members were reminded that this was a twelve-month pilot with changes likely between quarters as it developed.

The specific areas of performance that were highlighted were as followed:

·         Anti-Social Behaviour – A rise in the number of incidents investigated by Housing Management increased from 61 to 111 over the last quarter, attributed to the vulnerability of many of the Council’s tenants and also to greater confidence in reporting incidents.

·         Affordable Homes – There were a further 9 affordable homes added to the Council’s housing stock.

·         Business Rate Collection – There were a number of factors that had led to the collection rate being below where it was expected, and it was being monitored to see if there was any further deterioration.

·         Council Tax Collection – This was currently performing better than expected due to the Energy Rebate Scheme payments being credited to accounts.

·         Customer Services – A failure of a council telephony server during the last week of September had meant that staff were unable to access the telephone system. Civica had requested excused performance as a result.

·         Waste – There had been a deterioration in performance indicators for missed household waste collections and environmental cleanliness.

Members raised the following points:

·         That the increased footfall being recorded for Dover did not seem to match people’s impressions of the number of people visiting the town centre. It was questioned whether the increased footfall had translated into increased spend locally but as this data was held by local businesses, they had to be willing to share it with the Council.

·         The importance of local businesses being able to tender for works such as Maison Dieu. Members were advised that this was competitively tendered but it was hoped that local businesses would benefit from sub-contracting arrangements.

·         To clarify the difference between litter and detritus.

·         The need to improve the void turnaround time.

·         To reiterate that the target for call answering by customer services was too long.

In the absence of dissent, it was agreed to note the report.

To consider the report of the Strategic Director (Corporate and Regulatory) (to follow).

Responsibility: Portfolio Holder for Finance, Governance, Digital and Climate Change

It was agreed that the Council’s Strategic Performance Dashboard – Quarter Two 2022/23 be noted.