Agenda item

To consider the attached report of the Head of Leadership Support.

The Head of Leadership Support presented the Performance Report Quarter 2, 2020/21. There were 21 Green Status Performance Indicators (68%), 5 Amber (16%) and 5 Red (16%) for Quarter 2, 2020/21.

The Chairman informed Members that a review of the targets and indicators would be produced in spring 2021 for the Performance Report 2021/22.

East Kent Services and DDC Digital

Members welcomed the Interim Head of Shared Services who had accepted an invitation from the Chairman to attend the meeting following concerns raised by Members at a previous meeting.

In respect of performance indicator EKS02d.1 (Percentage of incidents resolved within 1 working day), assurances were provided to Members that this did not mean that any incidents unresolved within one working day meant that officers were unable to work as the indicator covered a range of issues and the impact of an issue was given consideration in its prioritisation.

The Strategic Director (Corporate Resources) reminded Members that the target had been set at the time East Kent Services had been formed. The current performance of 62% was above the 60% target set for the performance indicator.

Councillor M Rose reminded that time was needed to imbed new digital services.

Civica

Members welcomed the Partnership Director (Civica) who had accepted an invitation from the Chairman to attend the meeting following concerns raised by Members at a previous meeting.

In response to a question from Councillor T A Bond, it was stated that in respect of KPI06-D (Average call wait time in seconds) that performance was ahead of target of 233 seconds with a cumulative performance figure of 113 seconds as at quarter 2. Members discussed whether the performance figure would be better presented in minutes and seconds as opposed to seconds only.

In respect of council tax and business rate collection levels, the Strategic Director (Corporate Resources) reminded Members that these figures included the business rate holiday for retail and the impact of the council rate reduction scheme. However, there still remained a number of challenges arising from the impacts of Covid-19.

EK Housing

Councillor C D Zosseder advised Members that due to concerns over the accuracy of the figures in this section, as explained later in the agenda, she did not intend to consider these figures.

Corporate Resources

Members discussed the budgetary challenges arising from the impact of the first national lockdown and on-going issues related to Covid-19. There remained uncertainty over the extent of government support in respect of costs incurred/income lost due to Covid-19.

The increased funding provision for Tides Leisure Centre was for reactive activity to support essential works and maintain service provision.

In response to questions from members the Strategic Director (Corporate Resources) advised that he would provide written responses in respect of the following:

·         For confirmation that there were no children in bed and breakfast accommodation (HOU012)

·         Why there had been no fines issued in respect of dog fouling (ENH015)

·         The low level of prosecutions for envirocrime (ENH016)

Operations and Commercial

The council had seen an increase in residual and other waste streams during the lockdown which was reflected in WAS010 (residual household waste per household) though this still compared favourably with other districts in Kent. The recycling rate also continued to perform above target.

In respect of a question, Members were advised that the burial service although busy had not seen any increase above normal levels during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the absence of any dissent, the Chairman agreed to receive the Performance Report.