Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 33 (7 October 2014), the Leader of the Council presented a performance report in respect of the priority projects and performance indicators agreed as part of the Corporate Delivery Plan, which also included an update on the LGA Peer Challenge Implementation Plan.

The report covered the quarter 2 period up to 30 September 2014 and the Leader advised that he had asked officers to improve the presentation of the information for future reports.  In respect of the quarter 2 data, observations were made in respect of the following:

·  NEETS – The proportion of 16 to 18 year olds not in education, employment or training had not improved and the Cabinet Member for Regeneration outlined some of the issues and the steps being taken to achieve an improvement.

·  Housing Re-lets – It was noted that the 71-day average to re-let Council properties in 2013/14 was primarily due to the excessive specification for void properties.  The specification had now been reduced to a more appropriate level and the most recent data suggested that the turnaround time was back below 30 days.

·  School GCSE Results – The latest GCSE results showed that the borough’s pupils scored 3% above the national average for 5 or more passes at A*-C grades.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Schools also referred to the need for the plans for major regeneration projects in the borough, and specifically the Beam Park project, to fully take into account school place provision.  To this end, the Cabinet Member for Regeneration was invited to attend future meetings of the Admissions Forum at which the issue of future planning for school places was to be discussed.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care also requested additional information in future reports in relation to the implications of the population and demographic growth in the borough and suggested that Cabinet Members’ ownership of performance data was integral to the successful delivery of the Council’s new vision and priorities.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the performance for the priority projects and KPIs, agreeing any actions to address any lack of progress or deteriorating performance, and

(ii)  Note the progress towards delivering the actions set out in the Peer Challenge Implementation Plan.