A report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications providing the panel with performance indicators for Q2 2018/19.

The panel received a report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications.  The report provided the results for the key performance indicators identified for Watford Borough Council’s outsourced services for Quarter 2, 2018/19.

The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications introduced the report.  She referred members to page 3 of the document explaining that there were a total of 37 indicators contained within the report.  She discussed the ‘customer first’ indicators and explained the following in respect of the four indicators below target :

·        Levels of detritus (indicator 10) – replacement sweepers had been brought in to operation that would make a real difference.  An improvement was anticipated in quarter three.

·        Levels of fly posting (indicator 12) – the target was extremely challenging and there was a consistent use of fly posting by a variety of businesses.

·        Membership of Watford Leisure Centre (indicator 15) – a significant process of refurbishment was being undertaken.

·        Number of ticketed performances at the Watford Colosseum - there was a need to focus on quality rather than quantity.

She then discussed the financial indicators and advised that the target for the ‘collection of National Non-Domestic Rates’ (indicator 25) would likely be met in quarter three. 

The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications discussed staff indicators, and explained that it was disappointing that the ‘return to work interview carried out on time’ target (indicator 31) had not been met. There was no apparent reason for this as all managers were aware of the target. 

The Head of Service Transformation added that given the figures were represented in percentage terms (and that quarter two  would be expected to have lower levels of sickness) the 13% failure to meet the target could relate to only two or three missed return to work interviews.  Additionally, the return to work interviews were prioritised by managers for longer and more serious periods of sickness absence; so it was unlikely that the missed interviews corresponded to instances of sickness that would require a phased return or modifications to working practices.

Members felt that conducting return to work interviews was an important matter and that simply showing raw percentages did not indicate the full picture.  The Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications undertook to find out why the target had not been met and to include absolute numbers in future KPI reports (in addition to the percentages).

The Head of Service Transformation discussed the ICT indicators (numbers 33 to 37).  He explained that seeking improvement in performance was built in to the Amicus contract and that the council was now in a very different place from when the contract was originally tendered.  The present indicators were somewhat out of date relative to the progress that had been made and they needed to be refreshed. He advised that the Council needed to start to measure service success rather than just measuring how well the service responded to things going wrong; which was how the current indicator set operated. An example of this would be measuring network or key system uptime, which historically had not been satisfactory, but was now operating very successfully and stability was also good.  He reassured the panel that Amicus was performing very well despite what the indicators may suggest.

The Head of Service Transformation continued by advising the panel that the ‘tickets closed per team’ target (indicator 36) had been aspirational when set within the Amicus contract.  The fact that the quarter two performance was three percent below target was not of concern; as it was subject to issues being raised by users being appropriate for Amicus to resolve and was reliant on the documentation provided by the on-site team.  He concluded by discussing how service levels for calls grading were being revised and how classifications were being changed to give a more accurate reflection of the performance of the service.

In response to questions by members, the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications and the Head of Service Transformation:

·        Reference indicator 3 (penalty charge notices issued); explained that the new contractor, appointed in April 2018, had made a significant difference with a more efficient enforcement regime.  It was discussed how an increase in indicator 4 (tribunal appeals lost) would be more worrying - potentially indicating the overzealousness of staff.

·        Advised that the Amicus contract was tendered for two years, with a two year extension provision which was exercised in June 2018.  It would be right to re-tender at its conclusion in 2020 as the service had changed significantly.  The ICT environment was now far more stable and the Council was in a much more positive place.  Future developments were discussed, including the use of mobile data terminals and the cloud.

RESOLVED  –

1.      that the report be noted.

2.     that the actions agreed be undertaken.