Agenda item

To consider a report from the Director of Strategy and Resources on the newly established Office for Local Government (OFLOG), established by the Government to provide authoritative and accessible data and analysis about the performance of local government and to support its improvement.

The report of the Director of Strategy and Resources provided the Board with information in relation to the newly launched Office for Local Government. The launch outlined the Government’s vision for Oflog, to provide authoritative and accessible data and analysis about the performance of local government and to support its improvement. In addition, a summary of the performance indicators (metrics) Leeds City Council will be required to report against and the current set of results for the council’s performance against relevant comparators, were provided.

The following were in attendance for this item:

-  Councillor Debra Coupar, Executive Member for Resources

-  Mariana Pexton, Director of Strategy and Resources

-  Mike Eakins, Head of Policy

-  Richard Ellis, Deputy Chief Finance Officer

It was noted that Oflog is in its early phases and this report is very much an early look at the implications of it for the Council. The expectation is that the role of Oflog will become clearer in the coming months as will how the data provided in the report will be used by Government.

From a finance perspective, which is data that will fall in the Strategy and Resources Board’s remit in the future, these indicators have been available for a number of years and previously were in CIPFA’s resilience index. It was noted that Leeds is aware of the indicators and is taking steps to address the reserve position and improve performance in some of the areas identified.

In response to comments and questions from the Board, discussion included the following:

• Board members requested a training session on Oflog and the data that is used to better understand the metrics used given that it is new and could be a factor for a number of years. It was agreed that this would be taken forward through member development.
• Members were interested in the role of WYCA in Oflog and the development of a digital dashboard. In terms of WYCA they are involved in employment and skills and will be an important partner in that work and that metric. On the digital dashboard it was hoped that the Oflog dashboard is developed and improves to become more accessible in addition to potential local approaches to deliver a dashboard containing the data across West Yorkshire.
• Members noted debt levels and the performance of Leeds on that and asked about the implications of that on the revenue budget. It was estimated that debt repayments and interest on debt is in the region of £120m annually though it was important to note that the debt figures for Leeds include the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and not all local authorities have HRAs, with housing companies and arm’s length arrangements being used in other authorities, so the data perhaps needs to be treated with caution.
• Members raised some queries regarding the data for adult social care contained in the report, it was agreed that this will be provided to members following consultation with the relevant services, and for members to note that these KPIs will be examined through the relevant scrutiny board.
• Members raised concerns about the reliability of the data and data contamination and whether each authority is submitting the same information to ensure that it is a fair measure of performance. In some areas such as waste there will be differences between what each authority submits, as the approach isn’t as mature as say in the adult social care block where there is an established framework, and the Board were informed that this is a concern, and it would be a wait and see approach to see which direction Oflog goes in dealing with this.

RESOLVED –

The Board agreed to:

a)  Note the information provided in the appendix to this report which contains an overview of the Oflog metrics and results for Leeds and relevant comparators.

b)  Oflog metrics being incorporated into regular performance reporting to the relevant Scrutiny Board as part of the regular reporting which takes place twice per year.

c)  Establish training for elected members on Oflog metrics.