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Agenda item
Performance Monitoring Quarter 2 (2020/21) Update
(Jane Hartnell, Managing Director)
Minutes:
The Continuous Improvement and Democratic Services Manager introduced this item and drew the committee’s attention to the new updated performance dashboard. This is on the website in the public domain and the aim is to allow residents to access the information about their council when they wanted to rather than wait for the quarterly meetings for updates. It is hoped that this will contribute to the council communicating better to residents.
This has been an accumulation of years of work by officers and this forms a tangible outcome for moving forward with the council’s communication strategy. It is still a work in progress and will get better moving forward. Any feedback on the current format would be appreciated. It is hoping that the new performance dashboard will allow the Overview and Scrutiny committee to perform their monitoring of the council’s activities more efficient.
The Chair led the discussions through the exceptions chart found on the performance dashboard.
The Chair highlighted how many councils’ departments capacity is stretched and key teams such as the transformation team contracts are ending soon. With that in mind would the corporate plan be delivered and incorporate residents’ expectations? The Managing Director advised that the ideal would be that the corporate plan would still be delivered but the impact of COVID-19 could see staff being moved away from these projects. They would be needed for the key priorities of running statutory services and supporting residents.
Councillors asked about future of live arts buildings. They referred to the White Rock Theatre that has received substantial funding over the years. They asked whether the future of these venues and performances would still be viewed physically or through new technology.
The Deputy Leader advised that there was still a contract for the theatre with the council. COVID-19 has impacted the live arts harshly and they need substitutes in order to survive the pandemic. Technology has changed how people interact with the arts but people still have a desire to see performances live and this doesn’t look to change. The future of live arts will be dependent on what they are able to put on and whether they are able to maintain their building.
Councillors asked about the use of the amber on the performance dashboard. The use of the amber colour would mean that something isn’t finished surely this would mean that the target hadn’t been meet? The Managing Director responded that some of these targets were ongoing for the year. Some have been put on hold due to COVID-19 impact this year. At the end of the year reporting the amber could be taken out to make it clearer if the target had been met or not.
The homelessness targets had changed due to the government needing local councils to get all rough sleepers off the street. The government has given funding for this and officers continue to apply for funding. There are now 50-60 entrenched rough sleepers in temporary accommodation. There is still a high amount of people approaching the council for help with homelessness with 30-35 new cases a week.
The Chair thanked officers for there work on the new performance dashboard.
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