Agenda item

Simon Walters, Director for Communities and Environment;

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee with an outturn summary of the council’s performance in Quarter 1 of 2022/23

b)    explained that the full report was attached as Appendix A of the report, with the Strategic Measures Dashboard attached as Appendix B and the Annual Measures as Appendix C

c)    invited members’ comments and questions.

Question: Could the notice period for staff in Customer Services could be lengthened as it took 3-6 months to train new staff.

Response: The notice period was being reviewed with HR.

Question: Could more publicity could be done for Yarborough Leisure Centre as the little pool was still open but wasn’t well known by customers.

Response: Officers were liaising with Communications about publishing a further message informing the public that the little pool and the gym remained open. Once all the scaffolding had been erected there would be a further media push regarding the works that were taking place at Yarborough Leisure Centre.

Question: Car Park utilisation was lower than pre covid but improving. Members asked if there were and reason for this and what car parks were under performing.

Response: Car park income was improving and had been above target since April. In the last month there had been a slowing in income. Due to the time of year, all the uphill car parks were doing well while the down-hill car parks not so much (except Central car park). This was mainly down to new ways of working and commuters being on holiday etc. Once the summer break had ended, the figures would be reviewed further to see if the cost of living crises is having an effect also.

Question: Members asked why the performance target for Planning was behind if there were less applications.

Response: Only one planning target was not being met due to the complexity of some of the applications being reviewed

Question: Members asked if there were any customers waiting for Disabled Facilities Grant works to be carried out before they came out of hospital or nursing homes.

Response: There were no cases outstanding at present however Officers confirmed that they would carry out further checks.

Question: Would there be an intake of apprentices this year and and how much funding had been received from the apprenticeship levy.

Response: Officers confirmed that once this information had been received they would feed it back to the committee.

Question: Members asked why call answer times had increased.

Response: This was mainly down to the reduction in staff and there were currently 3.5 full time vacancies within the team. There had been a lot of staff turnover and it took around 3-6 months to train a new operative. The move to online communications had not been as expected as customers still preferred to talk to someone on the phone and some customers were not digitally prepared.

Question: Some customers repairs had been logged and then cancelled without the works being carried out. This was causing the Council to get a bad reputation. Why was this.

Response: All repair jobs were cancelled at one point due to the pandemic and residents were asked to re-apply for a repair. Some historical repairs had been lost which had led to negative feedback.

The committee passed on their thanks to the Customer Services Team for all of their hard work and for the excellent service they provide to the public.

Question: Members asked if radio could be used as a form of communication with customers as not all of them use social media.

Response: Using the radio as a form of communication could be an option as this was used when the park and Ride was closed at the Christmas Market and was effective

Question: How did students that didn’t pay Council tax effect income.

Response: The updated Lincoln City Profile included the latest census data which  showed the spike in student population. There were around 18,000 students in Lincoln currently.

Question: Historically, performance data for Major Developments wasn’t reported to Performance Scrutiny Committee on a quarterly basis, could this information be reported more regularly rather than just annually.

Response: Performance data from Major Developments got reported to Performance Scrutiny Committee on an annual basis via the portfolio holder, which was considered more effective due to the work in this area being project based.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The little pool and gym and Yarborough Leisure centre would be promoted as they were still open to the public.

2.    Officers agreed to check if there were any outstanding cases of customers who were waiting for Disabled Facility Grant works to be carried out before they could move out of hospital or a nursing home.

3.    Information on whether there would be an apprentice intake this year and how much funding had been received back from the apprentice levy be fed back to the committee.

4.    The report be noted.