Agenda item

Graham Rose, Senior Strategic Policy Officer:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee with an outturn summary of the council’s performance in Quarter 4 of 2022/23

b)    explained that the full report was attached as Appendix A of the report, with the full list of performance measure outturns and supporting performance commentary provided at Appendix B of the report

c)    invited members’ comments and questions.

The committee discussed the report in detail and asked the following questions, it was agreed that answers would be provided from the relevant officers following the meeting:

·         Asked for further information on why the numbers of new apprentices starting on the Council’s apprenticeship scheme were so low and if this was linked to staffing issues?

·         Referred to staff vacancies and asked why were any vacant posts with less than 37 hours per week removed from the outturn figure?

·         Asked that further information be provided as to why the number of appraisals completed at year end were so low? It was also noted that in 2023/24 the performance figures would look a little odd as the authority transitioned from an annual appraisal between April and Sept to a new approach where staff have an annual appraisal on the anniversary of starting with the council.

·         Asked why the sickness levels within the Directorate of Housing and Investment were so high when compared to the other directorates. Further asked for more context to be provided around the short and long term levels of sickness within the Directorate of Housing and Investment?

·         Asked if there were any particular reasons as to why  apprentice sickness levels were so high?

·         Asked that more detail be provided on what the issues were with the phone app system in relation to Birchwood and Yarborough Leisure Centres? Officers confirmed there were no penalties built into the contract, but noted the contract was written to incentivise Active Nation through the profit share element but also the loss share element – the latter heavily weighted to Active Nation underwriting the majority of any financial loss.

·         Referred to Yarborough Leisure Centre and asked how much had the outturn of 18% been impacted by the closure of the swimming pool?

·         Asked if it would be possible to provide information in the quarterly reports highlighting those directorates / service areas which were not raising purchase orders for invoices?

·         Asked if the hybrid working approach was having an impact on staff not raising purchase orders / following procedures?

·         Referred to the average time taken to answer a call to customer services and asked if the extremes of wait times could also be provided within the supporting commentary for each quarter?

·         Asked what were the issues with the system preventing the PPASB data being collected and were these issues likely to arise again in the future? Officers confirmed how the data was collected and offered assurance the system was now up and running.

·         Asked if it would be possible to send Councillor Christopher the text message which was sent to customers to gather satisfaction data on the PPASB service they had received.

·         Referred to the percentage of first time fixes in relation to ICT and asked if  the actual numbers could be provided in the supporting commentary alongside the percentage outturn?

·         Referred to the percentage of first time fixes in relation to ICT and  asked if the Citrix issues referenced in the supporting commentary related to more people working from home?

·         Referred to the Number of users logged into the on-line self-service system this quarter and asked if the measure could be changed to show the number of logins into the online system rather than the number of users logging in?

The committee continued to discuss in detail the percentage of invoices that had a purchase order completed. Councillor Clarkson expressed concern that a purchase order was not being raised for every purchase. He referred to the report which stated that “staff were encouraged to ensure that all invoices had an associated purchase order raised” and asked if this could be changed so that it was mandatory to raise a purchase order for every purchase. He further commented that the target of 55% was low and suggested that this could be raised.

Colleen Warren, Financial Services Manager advised that a number of the invoices related to gas and electricity bills which did not require a purchase order, also some related to large capital projects. The team had been working with service managers to improve the number of purchase orders raised and this had improved compared to four years ago when only 40% of purchase orders were being raised. She explained that she did not have authority to mandate that all purchases required a purchase order and this would need support from Corporate Management Team.

Simon Walters, Director of Communities and Environment confirmed that he would raise this with Corporate Management Team.

The Chair suggested that the Committees comments and concerns be referred to Executive for consideration, this was supported by the committee.

RESOLVED that:

1.    Relevant responses to questions raised by members be provided by officers following the meeting as requested.

2. The report be noted and forwarded to Executive for approval.

3. The format of the performance report continued to meet the committee’s requirements.

4. The committee’s comments and concerns in relation to purchase orders be referred to Executive for consideration.