Decision details

Cabinet received a report of the Associate Director of Customer and Corporate Service, the Executive Head of Human Resources and the Business Intelligence Manager. The report provided Cabinet with an update on the progress of implementing the Council Delivery Plan, the Organisational Development Strategy and the quarter 1 performance update.

The Mayor introduced the report summarising that lots of progress had been made in many areas and he was pleased to see the effective monitoring in place. Identifying a red action in the council plan, he asked about the delay in the works on the business park.

The Associate Director of Property and Asset Management advised that while final clearance was awaited, qualified approval from the Environment Agency (EA) for the initial work had been received. The action should now be amber as this was underway and the sign off of the construction strategy was now awaited.

Councillor Stotesbury noted that the work on the River Colne had been affected by difficulties working with the EA. The Chief Executive advised that the EA was experiencing a significant backlog of 9-12 months and delays were to be expected.

The Mayor asked about the target levels for some key performance indicators, notably 48% of waste to be recycled or composted, and whether a process was in place to ensure they were sufficiently challenging.  The Chief Executive responded that work was ongoing to ensure target levels were appropriate. Some KPIs would come to Cabinet to be reset as part of the service planning process to ensure continuous improvement.  Responding to a further question, she confirmed that targets contained in the forthcoming sustainability strategy would be incorporated into existing reporting mechanisms.

Councillor Williams noted that the Resources and Waste Strategy had stalled in parliament and this would have an impact on levels of residual waste and recycling, placing a greater onus on manufacturers.

The Mayor observed that changes in how performance was measured could disrupt how the council measured trends as it was useful to compare with historic benchmarking.

Introducing the update on the Organisational Development Strategy, the Chief Executive highlighted that sessions on health and wellbeing were being run to support staff. There was also further training on mental wellbeing and the menopause available. Across the organisation 38 agile charters had been drawn up and were complemented by the annexe opening.

The Mayor asked about the lack of equalities data relating to officers. The Chief Executive noted that the previous Executive Head of HR and OD had recently retired and there was renewed vigour under the interim appointment to address this including a planned workshop.  The Executive Head of Strategy and Initiatives added that this was a long-standing issue. It was not clear why staff did not disclose this information. It was noted that this was not uncommon, particularly for district councils.

RESOLVED –

That Cabinet notes:

1.                   the progress updates within this report relating to:

·                     the Council Plan 2022-26 and Delivery Plan 2022 -24 

·                    the Organisational Development Strategy 2020-24

·                    the key performance indicator results for 2020/23.

2.                  that the key performance indicators and measures will continue to be reviewed as part of the council-wide service planning process and the ongoing work on the Business Intelligence Strategy.