Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Corporate Services, Councillor Jon Walklett

Councillor Jon Walklett, Cabinet Member Corporate Services introduced the report which had been circulated with the agenda. The report set out information and data taken from the council’s performance management system to enable Council to review the corporate performance of the organisation at the end of the financial year 2012-13.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services explained that the report was a realistic appraisal of the corporate strategy performance targets set out at the end of previous financial year.  The report tracked 78 milestones which had been identified in the 2012-13 action plan. Out of these, 56 (72%) milestones were completed at the end of the year, 16 milestones were classed as being amber as there are plans for the completion within a reasonable timeframe and 6 milestones are red as they will not be achieved within a reasonable time frame. The six milestones all related to the JCS programme or the Community Governance Review.  The 2012-13 action plan also identified 52 key performance indicators to track the council’s progress. 32 of these were indicators which CBC is directly accountable for and of these 81% had been met and there were positive initiatives in place to address the remaining three.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services said that 2012-13 had been a difficult year for most local authorities due to ever decreasing funding and he congratulated the Cabinet Member Finance for making funding streams available for projects in these difficult circumstances. He went on to highlight some of the positive achievements of the council including the work of the Participation and Engagement team with the police to reduce crime and the council’s work with CBH  to address the shortage of affordable and social housing.  Finally, he referred members to the update on two further indicators which had been circulated at the start of the meeting.

Councillor Garnham, as the leader of the Conservative group, was happy to support the report as he felt it shone a light on the weaknesses of the current administration and held it to account. He acknowledged that the council had performed well in areas of partnership working such as tackling crime and affordable housing.   By contrast, he felt the council had failed to meet targets on its own services and he highlighted waste and recycling, ICT, the Olympic legacy, the democratic accountability of Ubico and NEETs.  He felt these were all areas where the council could do better.

Another member asked for reassurance that staffing levels within the new Art Gallery and Museum and tourist information centre would still enable the best possible services to be delivered. In response, the Cabinet Member Sport and Leisure, confirmed that a full restructure was under way at the Art Gallery to ensure it was fit for purpose and staffing levels were set at appropriate levels to deliver the service required.  In response to the comment about the Olympic legacy, she had seen benefits in her local ward and she would be happy to supply Councillor Garnham a more detailed note  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8

Report of the Cabinet Member Corporate Services

RESOLVED THAT

the report on the review of performance in 2012-13 be endorsed.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services introduced the annual performance report and highlighted the following:

·        6 out of 78 milestones would not be achieved within a reasonable timeframe. These related to the Joint Core Strategy and the Community Governance Review and to a large extent were due to events outside of the Council’s control

·        out of the 32 CBC performance indicators with targets 81 % had been met

·        tribute was paid to partnership working with the police relating to domestic burglaries in the town and as a result of which there had been a decrease in the number of burglaries

The Leader added that the annual report would be submitted to Council on 24 June.

RESOLVED THAT

the report on the review of performance in 2012-13 be endorsed.