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Agenda item
Quarter 1 Performance and Financial Monitoring Report
- Meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Thursday, 28th September, 2017 6.00 pm (Item 8.)
- View the background to item 8.
Minutes:
The Director of Operational Services and Director of Corporate and Governance presented a report to update members on performance against the targets set out in the corporate plan for 2017/18, and other key activities, during quarter 1. The report also provided a summary of financial information.
Following a recommendation of the earlier overview and scrutiny review of scrutiny functions, the format of the report had been revised. The new layout reflected the five key themes of the corporate plan; cleaner and safer, driving economic growth, support when its needed, providing great services and income generation growth. Each of these themes had a number of key performance indicators which would be monitored throughout the year and reported to the committee on a quarterly basis.Discussion took place regarding the operation of the waste and street cleansing contract. The Director of Operational Services noted that the town had a successful summer overall, attracting a large number of visitors. However, it had been disappointing that the street cleansing arrangements put in place by the contractor during this busy period had not been sufficient. Since then, the council had been working closely with its contractor to develop a recovery plan. In the meantime, the council continued to enforce the requirements of the contract robustly. Consideration was also given to the standards of street cleaning outside the town centres, particularly opportunities for the council to work more closely with social housing providers.
The Director of Operational Services updated the committee on progress with the council’s income generation programme. Cabinet had considered a draft income generation strategy, commercial property investment strategy and business plan for a council-owned housing company at its meeting on 11 September 2017. A number of new beach huts had also been installed on the seafront. A further report on energy generation proposals would be presented to Cabinet later in the year.
The committee discussed options to secure affordable housing within new developments in the town. The Lead Member for Housing and Leisure advised that the funding arrangements for homelessness prevention activities and temporary accommodation costs had been changed by the government. The council now received a flexible homelessness support grant. A portion of this grant would be used to fund an Affordable Housing Development Officer post, shared between the housing and planning teams. The post holder will liaise between the council and housing developers to enable the provision of affordable housing and ensure the number of units of accommodation are maximised.
Members noted that the quarter 1 performance indicator targets for the collection of council tax and non domestic rates had not been met. The Director of Corporate Services and Governance responded that the introduction of universal credit had impacted on the collection of council tax. Many customers also now opted to pay council tax and business rates over a 12 month period, rather than 10, which affected the quarterly profiles. Over recent years, the council had taken steps to reduce its use of bailiffs to recover debts and engage with customers who may be at risk of missing payments at an early stage. The Revenues and Benefits Service Manger would brief members on this area of work later in the year.
RESOLVED (unanimously) that:
1. The committees comments on quarter 1 performance be addressed by the relevant Lead Member(s) with appropriate action and report back, and;
2. Staff be thanked for their hard work and achievements in this quarter
The reason for this decision was:
To assist the council undertake performance management arrangements.
Supporting documents:
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