Agenda item

(To receive a report by Jasmine Sodhi (Performance and Equalities Manager), which invites the Committee to review, scrutinise and comment on Quarter 3 performance)

The Committee gave consideration to a report from Judith Hetherington Smith, Chief Information and Commissioning Officer, which provided Quarter Three performance data in the new style performance report against the Council Business Plan.

Jasmine Sodhi, the Performance and Equalities Manager presented the report to the Committee, making particular reference to the following:-

·         That following a report to Council on 18 December 2015, Quarter Three reporting against the Council Business Plan by exception would be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee;

·         That the new style performance reporting used infographics that had been developed in consultation with members and had been introduced to scrutiny committees in Quarter One;

·         That it was intended that the new style of performance reporting was intended to be web based and could be viewed in a secure area on the Lincolnshire Research Observatory web.  Members were advised that a link to the relevant area would be emailed to all members of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee;

·         The Committee received a demonstration of the link available for members to access the data on the Lincolnshire Research Observatory website.   It was noted that the data would become publicly available in due course; and

·         That Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee would have an over view of performance; and would receive an exception report aligned to the Commissioning Strategies.  Details of commissioning strategies who had continued to perform well were detailed in Appendix A to the report presented.  Information relating to areas where targets had not been achieved in all three quarters and where performance had declined were shown in Appendix B to the report.

During discussion, the Committee raised the following issues:-

·         The Committee expressed support for the new performance data, advising that they had found the data to be more informative and easier to follow;

·         Clarification was sought as to whether on page 63 the 'Permanent admissions to residential and nursing care homes aged 65+ per 100,000 population' was weighted to the demographic of the area  or not.  The Committee was advised that it was per 100,000 people and was therefore not weighted;

·         Page 73 – Illicit alcohol and tobacco seized per operation.  A question was asked as to whether the target should be green, as more goods had been seized than had been targeted for.  It was agreed to look into this target.  A further comment raised was whether because of the information presented was there a need for more Trading Standards staff. Further comments raised were whether the target had been set correctly; and were the trading standards results reported to the police and licensing authority.  Officers agreed to look into the queries raised.  The Chairman agreed to take up issues regarding notification with the Chairman of Community and Public Safety Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Brewis.  A suggestion was also made for a presentation from Trading Standards concerning Alcohol and tobacco;

·         A request was made for a search field so that indicators could be found more easily.  Officers agreed to look into this request;

·         Page 82 Alcohol related violent crime incidents.  It was highlighted that the reason for the increase in alcohol related violent crime had been reported as being because of a particularly mild winter.  The Committee requested the availability of comparative data for a cold winter.  A further question was asked as to whether cuts would have any further impact on services, and therefore on data.  It was also highlighted that there was to be a reduction in the number of police officers and PCSO's, which would also have an effect on crime levels;

·         Page 42 – Time taken to match a child to adoptive family following court order.  The report advised that both the upper and lower ranges had been set to 10 days, however, on Page 40, the time taken to move from care to adoptive family had been reduced to 25 days from the previous year's target.  A question was asked as to how successful the Council's adoptions were.  Officers agreed to look into and report back to a later meeting;

·         Page 33 Adult reoffending – That the figures presented were confusing.  The Committee was advised that the target range allowed for fluctuation.  A further comment raised was that further information would be useful as to the types of offences and to their geographical spread;

·         Page 53 – Contact with the Library Service – It was highlighted that despite changes to libraries there had continued to be lots of activity;

·         Page 51 – Contact with Heritage Service – One member suggested the inclusion of Aviation Heritage, as this was an area that was important for Lincolnshire; and

·         Page 84 – Household Waste Recycling – Reference was made for the need for better classification for recycled items; as more in depth information would be useful.  The Committee was advised that there was volatility in the recycling industry; and that cost effectiveness was achieved when there was the capacity locally to deal with a particular recyclable.  A further comment was made for the need to encourage people to compost more.

RESOLVED

That the Council Business Plan 2015 – 2016 Performance Report, Quarter Three be noted and that the comments highlighted above be actioned.