Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive attached.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Margaret Smith) and Chief Executive (Heather McManus) addressed the Committee and responded to its comments and enquiries relating to the corporate performance report at the end of quarter 2.

During the discussion, the Committee’s comments/enquiries included the following areas:

u   The rationale for not reporting on the first quarter’s performance was discussed and assurances sought that in future years a first quarter’s performance report would be provided to Cabinet and the Scrutiny Committee.

u   Three projects affecting our employees were off track around the living wage reform, health and safety and sickness absence.  It was confirmed that the Council paid the living wage and that the description of this project would be reviewed as part of the actions to bring these projects back on track.

u   The increase in complaints and new feedback policy was explored further and suggestions made of how this information could be used in the future for learning from complaints with an offer to include this in future reports.

u   Concern was expressed at the increase of homelessness recorded and the fact that this has increased due to it being recorded differently.

u   The partnership and influencing role of the Council with regards community safety was explored with regards the increase in violent offences which would be taken forward through the community safety partnership.

u   The rise in the average number of days taken to process new housing benefit claims lead to discussions on how Universal Credit has impacted on the Council.  It was reported that the Chancellor’s budget would have an impact on this policy.  However, the Council was working hard to manage the impact of Universal Credit and improving processing time for new housing benefit claims.

u   Reference was made to some of the narrative in the report stating that the indicator was beyond the Council’s control such as empty properties.  It was acknowledged that the Council did have a role and this particular indicator would be monitored.

u   The Ribble Crossing project was assessed as off-track, which was a long-term project for the Borough.  Further information was provided on the City Deal and the Council’s commitment for a new river crossing to drive our growth which was about balancing our ambitions and key influencing role with that of being realistic and delivering outcomes.

u   The update provided on the organisational development programme was explored and whether this conflicted to the information about staff morale provided by employees and union at a recent Full Council meeting.  The steps being taken to engage with employees and deal with any concerns were outlined together with information on the number of employees leaving the Council being consistent with previous years.  These issues would be considered further at the next meeting of the Committee which was looking at a variety of reports around employee morale, engagement and support.

u   Based on the number of exceptions within the report assurance was sought that there was sufficient capacity and resource to deliver our corporate plan.  Confirmation was provided that there was sufficient capacity, which would be enhanced once the leadership team re-structure was complete. 

u   The fault referred to with regards our new performance management system InPhase was being rectified and other than the error noted had not impacted on the data within the remainder of the report.

u   The use of the subjective word of ‘slightly’ was queried and would be reviewed for future reports.

u   The Masterplans for Leyland and Lostock Hall had been delayed due to not having capacity with steps now being taken to bring them back on track.

u   The non-compliance with licensing requirements was linked with the increase in proactive enforcement by the Council.  Further information on this and other outcomes would be included in the licensing annual report to Full Council.

u   Customer service performance in Gateway and delivering our services via the website was raised, which would be picked up by the Digital Strategy currently being developed by the Council.

RESOLVED: (Unanimously)

That:

1.    the Committee welcomes the assurance that in future the first quarter’s performance and budget report will be presented to Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet;

2.    the title for the Living Wage Reform Project be reviewed and welcomes the assurance that the project will be brought back on track for 1 April 2019;

3.    the Committee thanks the Leader for the offer of future reports providing a flavour of complaints and compliments received and a summary of what has been learned in response;

4.    more detailed information on the impact of Universal Credit on performance be provided to the Committee;

5.    future reports include a more detailed commentary with the impact and outcomes being more explicit;

6.    the Committee requests trend information on the number of employees leading the Council and the reason given for leaving the Council;

7.    the Committee looks forward to exploring staff morale issues at the next Committee meeting; and

8.      the draft Digital Strategy be presented to the Scrutiny Committee in order to assess the customer service provided.