Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive (enclosed)

The Chief Executive submitted a report giving progress made to date on the delivery of the Organisational Improvement Plan, including the delivery of key projects and the performance of key indicators.

Good progress was being made with 83.6% of projects rated green or complete. One projected was rated amber and one, rated red. 13.11% of projects had not yet been started, with work scheduled to start over the next few months.

A breakdown of the projects by Corporate Priority was included within the report, there one project, development of the Buttermere Community Centre that was rated red and one project, provision of Off Street Parking in Croston, that had been rated amber. An explanation as to why was given as follows:

Work on the new Buttermere Community Centre was yet to start due to a delay in the tender process by the developer. Work had been due to start at the beginning of September however the company had gone into liquidation so the developer was now looking to reappoint with a view to begin work early December 2014.

A number of sites had now been identified and presented to Western Parishes as potential options for Off Street Parking in Croston. Feedback on the proposals was still outstanding and the parishes had been chased a number of times for their feedback.

Although delivery of the organisational plan is only just underway with some projects not yet scheduled to start there had already been a number of notable achievements that were listed within the report.

However there was a number of key performance indicators that were off track and Members were informed of the reasons as to why they were below target that included:

% of domestic violence detections

Domestic Violence detections was a measure that had been set by the police and adopted by the Council. The original target was set as a stretch target and due to changes in legislation, the work that was undertaken to encourage people to report, interventions and alternative disposals, including mediation to reduce the number reaching ‘detection’ stage, the police argued that this would change. This was echoed to the Panel by Detective Inspector Geoff Hurst at a previous meeting in March 2014. The Council’s Corporate Strategy is due to be refreshed in November and it was agreed that the authority needed to identify a new way of capturing the relevant statistics in order to target specific areas more effectively.

It was also reported that the current funding arrangements for the IDVA service were due to come to an end, as funding from Lancashire County Council would cease shortly. The Community Safety Partnership would be holding its Annual Conference in October and it was hoped that both issued could be addressed at this forum.

Number of long term empty properties in the borough

Although slightly off target, the number of long term properties in the borough had continued to reduce. Current performance was 208 empty properties, against a target of 195, however the total had stood at 214 at the end of the 2013/14 financial year. It was however noted that performance can be affected by fluctuations on the housing market and delays in probate cases. The Council had appointed a temporary empty homes officer to address this issue and would be targeting some of those homes that had been empty for a considerable length of time.

Average time taken to process new claims and change events for Housing and Council Tax Benefits

The performance of this indicator was consistent with that of previous years for quarter one, current performance was 12.09 days against a target of 10%, comparative against 11.99%, at the same time in 2013, as this is the busiest period for the customer services team after the year end. High work volumes have increased processing times for new claims and change events. In addition, the recent single front office training programme was having an effect on performance and would continue to do so over the coming months.

New customers requiring housing advice (monthly not year to date)

Current performance was 117 against a target of 57 and was reflective of the increased demand in the service. Housing Advice is provided by the Housing Option Service, with their role being to prevent families from becoming homeless. This is achieved by creating awareness with customers and partners to encourage households to seek advice at the earliest opportunity, and it is this proactive approach that can result in an increase in demand.

In response to this and following the changes in Welfare Reform, the team has increased its pro-active work and has introduced early-warning protocols with landlords to support tenants who fall into arrears.

Number of older people (65+) visiting Council’s leisure centres

Although currently performing at 6801 against a target of 7571, the overall number of visits to the leisure centre continued to increase. This was a difficult target to improve upon as there are a number of voluntary groups established with Chorley that offer a wide range of different activities such as health walks, exercise classes or social activities that older people can diversify into.

Members were informed that all the Council’s services are expected to complete a service level risk register which formed part of the Council’s risk management framework and was an important assurance procedure. They were also provided with an update on the work that had been undertaken on the Integrated Impact Assessment to ensure that the Council fulfils its commitment to equal opportunities.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.