Agenda item

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 on this matter.

Another member congratulated the council on the very positive work it had achieved with partners particularly in the areas of sport, safeguarding and supporting people. However he felt the council needed to be looking beyond the scope of working with other districts and look ahead to the time when it may no longer exist as a district council. He was concerned about the axing of the free garden waste collection, the number of unused brown bins at the depot and the increase in general waste and suggested that the closed bin policy had been implemented primarily for financial reasons.

In response, the Cabinet Member Sustainability, acknowledge that the waste targets may have been too ambitious but the council’s recycling rates were some of the most improved in the country. Resources were overstretched but the council continued to look for improvements and extend the range of what could be recycled. He considered that ensuring side waste was not left on the street was a significant improvement from a health and safety point of view.

The Leader expressed his disappointment at some of the points being made. He emphasised that it was the nature of the performance report to highlight things which had been unsuccessful and members should not forget the high level of achievement on both performance indicators and milestones. The council prides itself on its work with partners and he believed the current administration had been responsible for huge changes in waste and recycling.

Other achievements included new business start-ups including shops, the North Place and St Paul’s developments and the new Art Gallery & Museum with its contribution to the town's tourism offer. The Olympic torch relay had been very successful with significant staff effort to set this up and it was not true to say that there was no Olympic legacy in the town.

The Cabinet Member Finance highlighted that resources continue to be stretched with the current ongoing financial cuts, but the council was still maintaining and improving council services. This was at a time when many other authorities up and down the country were being forced to close their services.

Councillor Massey, as the chair of the Audit Committee, referred to comments made by the Head of Audit Cotswold, at their last meeting that he had never seen so much change in an organisation in a 12 month period. In that context, Councillor Massey considered it was remarkable that the council had continued to achieve 81% of its performance indicators and was a credit to the council and its officers.

Another member spoke in support of the report and welcomed the fact that in this council it came to full Council for a debate. He was concerned that the criticism made during the meeting may appear to be more criticism of staff running the service rather than the administration.

In his summing up, Councillor Walklett emphasised that the report gave an appraisal of how the council had performed in the last financial year and helped to formulate plans for the year to come.

Upon the vote it was unanimously

Resolved that the review of annual performance for 2012/3 be approved.