Agenda item

Corporate Plan Targets Performance Update - April to June 2019 (Quarter 1 - 2019/20).

Minutes:

Committee considered a report which provided the Quarter 1 outturns (April to June 2019) for the Corporate Plan 2019-2020, which sat under the ‘providing our customers with excellent service’ and ‘transforming our organisation’ aims as of 30th June 2019.

There were 11 targets in total of which all were on track;

 

·         Providing our Customers with Excellent Service -10 targets in total.

·         Transforming our Organisation - 1 target in total.

 

Providing our Customers with Excellent Service;

 

C 06 - Prevent homelessness for more than 50% of people who are facing homelessness each year.

 

There were 54 approaches made to the Council in Quarter 1 from people facing homelessness.  28 cases were prevented from becoming homeless (52%).  7 cases were still open and receiving support.

 

C 07 - Install 150 new lifelines within the community each year.

 

There were 41 new units of Careline equipment provided to older vulnerable people in Quarter 1.

 

C 08 - Process all new Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support claims within an average of 20 days

 

Quarter 1 data would not be available until the end of July 2019.  The data was obtained from a system extract of which the date was determined by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

 

A query had been raised at the Scrutiny pre meeting by the Chair and Vice Chair and a response to the query was circulated at the meeting as follows;

Is the data available?

 

 

Officer Response;

 

Quarter 1 2019/20 = 15.79 days (Actual).

 

C 09 - Process changes to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support within an average of 10 days.

 

Quarter 1 data would not be available until the end of July 2019.  The data was obtained from a system extract of which the date was determined by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

A query had been raised at the Scrutiny pre meeting by the Chair and Vice Chair and a response to the query was circulated at the meeting as follows;

 

Is the data available?

 

Officer Response;

 

Quarter 1 2019/20 = 5.39 days (Actual).

 

C 10 - Carry out 300 disability adaptations to Council houses each year.

 

There were 48 disability adaptations completed in Quarter 1.  The target status was to be reviewed at 6 months.  The Council responded to requests from DCC for adaptations and these were scheduled according to Council budget and resource.  Larger jobs, e.g., wet rooms had been done in Quarter 1, which affected the number recorded but provided a better outcome for the tenant.

 

C 11 - Monitor performance against the corporate equality objectives and publish information annually.

 

Quarter 1 - Good progress was being made against the new equality objectives for 2019-2023.  Notable actions in the quarter included holding a very positive meeting of the Equality Panel, providing equality & diversity training to Members and new staff starters, collation of draft engagement plan ready for publishing on the Council's website and supporting the organisation of transgender guidance to NEDDC Leisure staff which the BDC Equality lead also attended.

 

C12 - Ensure a minimum of 50% of clients experiencing Domestic Violence each year are satisfied with the support they received.

 

A total of 31 new referrals were received during Quarter 1 of which 11 were high risk.  A total of 11 did not engage with the service.  For those who did (20), all feedback forms had been completed.  Positive responses (100%) were received from 20 service users.

 

C 13 - Reduce average re-let times of Council properties (not including sheltered accommodation) to 20 days by March 2020.

 

Queries had been raised at the Scrutiny pre meeting by the Chair and Vice Chair and a response to those queries was circulated at the meeting as follows;

 

Members are pleased to note the improved performance.  Could the commentary pleased be expanded to make reference to what actions have taken place over the quarter to ensure the target was met i.e. is it just as a result of the Voids Review/ Voids Task Group?

 

In addition, following Officers attending at the last meeting as part of our current review, there was a discussion as to the Members receiving additional information on number of voids/location of voids/length of time void. It would be useful to know if there could be any further detail at this stage.

 

Officer Response;

 

Revised update:- The average re-let time for Quarter 1 was 20 days. (Including sheltered housing the overall average was 55 days).  The target was also achieved in Quarter 4 2018/19 – 20 days (Including sheltered housing – 47 days).  So this target had shown improved performance from January 2019.  This reflected the impact of the Voids Review.

 

The Action Plan from the Voids Review identified the following ‘tools’ to be used by the Voids Task Group:-

 

·         Erection of ‘For Rent’ boards on low demand properties.

·         The remodelling of kitchens/bathrooms on bungalows/ground floor flats as part of void works.

·         The installation of wet rooms to bungalow as part of void works.

·         To add all properties to the ground maintenance schedule (rather than one off cuts).

·         Removal of shutters prior to viewings.

·         To ensure staff communicate through the void period to identify and action potential issues.

 

During Quarter 1 some of these measures had not been needed, e.g. advertising boards.  Relevant Housing Teams (Needs and Repairs) work closely on monitoring interest in properties and use the tools where required.

 

The method of collating and reporting void data was being reviewed in preparation for the refresh of the Council’s corporate performance arrangements currently being undertaken.

 

These measures include:-

 

·         Undertaking benchmarking work with other housing providers. (A neighbouring Council has approached us to detail our working practices as our void performance is good. We have shared the work undertaken by the Voids Review and the Action Plan).

·         Utilising the facilities of the new OPEN Housing Management System being implemented to provide more detailed data.

 

Further to requests from Members and in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, a schedule of properties allocated was being prepared detailing the number of voids, location and length of time void.  This would be provided on a quarterly basis commencing Quarter 2 (June – Sept 2019).  This schedule would also be amended to meet the requirements of revised performance indicators.

 

The Deputy Leader felt that void accommodation in sheltered housing complexes should be included in the reporting of the number of void properties as these also contributed to a loss of rent for the Council.  He added that Council properties were only let on a Monday and this further contributed to a loss of rental income.  The Chair noted that when a tenant passed away, relatives had to give notice and hand keys back in to the Council within a month - this has caused distress to families in some cases known to the Chair.  The Portfolio Holder for Housing noted that these were issues she would be looking into. 

 

C 14 - Attend 98% of repair emergencies within 6 working hours.

 

Quarter 1 – 97.80% - The Lead Officer had requested that this target be reduced to 98% for 2019/20.  As reported during the 2015-2019 Corporate Plan, performance was consistently around 97.6%.  It was not feasible to attain 99% for all emergencies received during office hours due to the overlap with the ‘out of hours’ service.  The lead officer considered 98% attainable.  Recommendation to be included in the Quarter 1 Performance Report to Executive.

 

C 15 - Ensure a minimum of 50% of clients receiving parenting support each year express a positive outcome.

 

1 course had been completed in Quarter 1, ‘Living with Teenagers’ and out of the 5 parents attending, all completed the course and questionnaire.  All 5 (100%) expressed a positive outcome and would recommend to others.

 

Transforming our Organisation;

 

T 13 - Increase on-line self- service transactions dealt with by the Contact Centre by 20% each year.

 

Quarter 1 - On line transactions = 1,480 (Self Service (628) and Webchats (852))

286 new SELF accounts were created.

 

Implementation of the 'Do-it Online, Redesign SELF' project and the increase of forms available for the public to access had now been delivered and went live on 1st May 2019.  In addition, a refresh to the BDC website homepage to make the 'SELF’ facility more prominent was still ongoing.  21 additional new services were available with consideration for further forms where possible - this was an increase from 16 self-service forms, which were available in 2018/19.  (2018/19 total = 2,350 on line 'self' transactions against a target of 2,600).  Target for on-line transactions for 2019/20 was 4003 (this was 20% increase on 3336 - all Online Self (2350) and Webchat (986) contact during 2018/19).  From 01/04/19 baseline and target measurement to include webchats also to reflect all online activity.

 

Moved by Councillor Ray Heffer and seconded by Councillor Rita Turner

RESOLVED that progress against the Corporate Plan 2019-2020 targets be noted.

 

The Information, Engagement and Performance Manager left the meeting.

 

Supporting documents: