Issue - meetings

The Policy Officer, Strategy and Performance, introduced the report submitted to the Committee.  She advised the meeting that the report contained thirty-five quarterly KPIs, of which five showed as no data available.  The Committee was informed that ENV1 (domestic waste collected per household from the kerbside), ENV2 (household waste recycled and composted), and H&J3 (number of net new additional homes) were subject to a time lag in reporting data, H&J1 (average time to let void housing properties) was part of a wider review of void housing properties, and H&J4 (affordable new homes completed each year) was unavailable due to the officer who provided the data leaving the Council recently. 

With reference to a question about the increase in the amount of waste recycled and composted (ENV2) in quarter 1 2023/24, the meeting was advised that in waste data was cyclical in nature and some quarters would always be low performing with an improvement in the following quarter.  The Committee was informed that quarter 4 was always a poor performing quarter, but for 2022/23 it was very significantly so.  The meeting was advised that officers had been unable to fully establish why this quarter 4 was so low, but believed it was the combination of a series of events: including high street cleaning tonnages from gritted roads and the clearance of the remaining leaf fall; high post-Christmas refuse tonnages; a number of recycling rejections; a lower level of recycling than normal; and some errors in reporting following a change in waste classifications at the tip.

The Committee was advised that the Executive Head of Regeneration and Planning Policy would provide a written response to the question of what more the Council could do to encourage occupancy of the town centre shops.

Similarly, the response to a question on efforts to secure more temporary accommodation was that the Neighbourhood Housing Lead had been unable to attend the meeting in person but was happy to speak to the Councillor raising this issue.  In addition, the Committee was advised that two schemes were being planned to meet the need, but work had not started as the Council were currently reviewing all assets and the best use of them.

The Executive Head of Communications and Customer Services responded to a question about the measures put in place for training the Council’s call handling teams and, in particular, how these staff were trained to help residents with health conditions or impairments that may need extra care and time to help them with their queries.  The Committee was advised that all customer service staff attended equality and diversity training, customer service team leaders monitored calls for feedback, and training to help staff deal with customers with mental health needs was planned.

With reference to H&J4, the number of affordable new homes built each year, a Councillor questioned whether his proposal that the number of social homes be reported separately from the number of affordable homes had been progressed since last year.  The Policy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28

The Chairman reminded the Committee that members with queries about specific performance indicators in the report had been asked to submit these in advance to the Policy Officer, Strategy and Communications, to enable an explanation to be given at the meeting.

The Lead Councillor for Climate Change and Organisational Development introduced the report submitted to the Committee.  He advised that the key performance indicators (KPIs) within the report had been updated as a result of feedback from the Committee and a recent review workshop and meeting of the Council’s Executive Liaison Group. 

In addition, the Policy Officer, Strategy and Communications, informed the Committee that the review of performance indicators had reduced the number of KPIs to approximately forty from Quarter 3 reporting onwards.  She advised that some previous KPIs would continue to be monitored through the service planning process. 

The Policy Officer, Strategy and Communications, advised the Committee of an amendment to a figure within the report; namely, the Quarter 1 amount for COU11, Speed of determining planning applications for minor development, was 40.39 percent, rather than 52.17 percent.

In response to questions on COU3 and COU4 and aligning KPIs and internal service targets with the Council’s priority outcomes, the Policy Officer, Strategy and Communications advised that the Joint Executive Head of Communications and Customer Service would be consulted on the merit in reviewing the KPIs further. 

With reference to COU15, 16, 21, 22, and 23, a member of the Committee asked for an informal update on the Council’s customer service performance.  The Policy Officer, Strategy and Communications, summarised a response provided by the Joint Executive Head of Communications and Customer Service; the meeting was advised of a different approach from the Council’s communication and engagement through social media and the reasons for increased call wait times to the Council’s customer services in December.  In addition, the Policy Officer, Strategy and Communications, indicated that online requests were being dealt with within advertised timescales, informed the Committee that there were over 51,000 customers registered with MyGuildford accounts, and provided details recruitment to customer services.

In reply to a question linking the number of homeless families placed in bed and breakfast accommodation with the possible use of unoccupied Council housing, the Leader of the Council and Lead Councillor for Community and Housing pointed out that void houses were often in need of repair.  She undertook to arrange for more information on the issue to be provided to Committee members.

The Committee was informed that the Quarter 2 data for the KPI relating to affordable housing units granted planning permission on eligible sites (H&J20) was not available due the reporting function on the database not working.  The Policy Officer, Strategy and Communications, indicated that further information could be provided to Committee members.

The Lead Councillor for Climate Change and Organisational Development made clear that comments from Committee members on improvements to KPIs would be welcomed at any time. 

RESOLVED:  (I) That the Performance Monitoring Report for 2022/23 Quarter  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39