Agenda item

The annual report of the Director of Strategy and Resources presents assurances to the Corporate Governance & Audit Committee on the effectiveness of the council’s corporate performance management arrangements.

The report of the Director of Strategy and Resources presented assurance to the Committee on the effectiveness of the Council’s corporate performance management arrangements.

The Committee were provided with the following information:

·  The introduction of the Best City Ambition, adopted by full Council in February 2022, had necessitated a review of the performance framework and the KPI’S routinely reported to CLT, Executive Board and Scrutiny.

·  Following transitional arrangements introduced for 2022/23, a single list of KPI’s is being refined through discussions with services and scrutiny chairs to ensure there are appropriate measures to routinely monitor and measure the Council’s performance. It was noted that associated systems and processes are also being reviewed at the same time to ensure efficiency and robustness.

·  The Committee were advised that Oflog had outlined a list of KPI’s for which the Council will be required to submit data.

Responding to questions from the Members the Committee were provided with the following information:

·  These performance indicators look at performance at a high level it would only be indicators such as repairs indicators that would be investigated to a lower level. Corporate and personal performance indicators are used to look at performance of the workforce and individuals, this is done through Health and Safety, Appraisals and the Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Board. Extra provision is provided at a local level for personal performance using the ‘Golden Thread’ approach of top to bottom and bottom to top framework which is complex. Where issues are identified these are dealt with through the appraisal system. It was noted that there had been positive feedback from the staff survey.

·  The KPI’s will inform CLT by identifying any issues and raised for discussion at relevant meetings. Services and Directorates raise matters about areas where improvement is required and report on any actions being taken to address falling performance.

·  It was noted that the Survey of Internal Control had shown that performance management was ‘well embedded’ by 93% of respondents. The Committee were informed that the questions in the survey had been slightly different to the previous years’ questions. It was acknowledged that this was a wider ranging review with services and conversations with Scrutiny Board Chairs.

·  Benchmarking analysis is provided within the performance report. Comparisons with other core cities is used and most services are well established for benchmarking data. The data is fed into CLT.

·  In relation to the Contact Centre KPI’s any key issues are fed through to CLT. It was noted that comparisons for previous years was needed.

·  It was recognised that the list of indicators from Oflog would provide some uniformity. It was noted that these would be reported to Oflog on an annual basis.

·  The Committee requested comparative information for year on year from the Survey of Internal Control.

·  Members were advised that a report was due to Scrutiny in relation to the Contact Centre, but the Council was waiting for Oflog to provide guidance on what would be required.

·  The Committee noted that the HR assurance report would be coming to this Committee in March 2024.

RESOLVED – To receive the report and the attached Appendix 1 as together providing key forms of assurance on the robustness of the authority’s corporate performance management arrangements.