Agenda item

(To receive a report from Jasmine Sodhi, Performance and Equalities Manager, on the Corporate Plan Performance Framework, which is being presented to the Executive on 6 October 2020. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report from the Performance and Equalities Manager, on the Corporate Plan Performance Framework, which was due to be presented to the Executive on 6 October 2020. The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item. Performance reporting would commence against the framework and replace the Council Business Plan performance reporting.

The Framework contained performance indicators and key activities, against which performance/progress would be reported in order to demonstrate whether the Council was achieving the four ambitions for Lincolnshire as set out in the Corporate Plan. The four ambitions were: high aspirations; the opportunity to enjoy life to the full; thriving environments and good-value council services. Services had been asked to provide key milestones over the next 18 months (September 2020 – March 2022) for each activity.

Performance would be reported by exception, and include, those performance indicators:- that had not achieved the target; where the target had been achieved but the direction of travel was of concern; where the target had been met and services wanted to celebrate success.  An explanation of the performance and steps necessary to improve performance would be included in the report. The report outlined how performance would be reported to scrutiny committees.

Members discussed the report, and during discussion, the following points were noted:

·         In relation to paragraph 1.2.2, the service areas would have to report the Tier 2 performance indicators to the relevant scrutiny committees. The service areas had the option to report Tier 1 performance indicators to the scrutiny committees, such as to provide context, but Tier 1 would normally only be reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and the Executive to avoid duplication with the scrutiny committees.

·         All service areas across the Council were provided with the opportunity to contribute to the criteria for each of the four ambitions contained in Tier 1. The Corporate Leadership Team then identified which criteria to include in Tier 1 of the Performance Framework. There was a need for pragmatism when selecting the criteria as to which ones already had data captured through existing performance indicators, and capturing data for new ones. In addition, there were a number of 'business as usual' activities taking place across the Council which were not captured in the framework as the focus was on any development work for taking the Council forward.

·         As this was only the first year of the Performance Framework and it was a 'work in progress', the criteria would be reviewed regularly and be refined and improved upon as and when necessary.

·         A number of the criteria in the 'support high aspirations' ambition, such as the achievement levels at Key Stage 2, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5, would only be reported annually. There was a need to look at ways of monitoring this ambition quarterly in a way that showed current performance.  

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Board unanimously support the recommendations to the Executive, as set out in the report;

2.    That a summary of the above comments be passed on to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.