Issue - meetings

The Leader of the Council introduced a report providing an update on progress for the priority projects and performance indicators agreed as part of the Corporate Delivery Plan by Cabinet in October 2014 and commented that good progress had been made overall during the first quarter of the 2015/16 financial year.

The Leader highlighted improved performance in the number of Active Age memberships, which had continued to grow despite the introduction of a charge of £1 per week, and commended management for an increase in some key staff engagement and morale indicators.  Satisfaction with working for the Council was at the highest level since it was introduced into the all staff survey in 2014.

Members discussed the decline in performance in the number of successful quitters aged 16 and over through the Smoking Cessation service.  The Cabinet Member for Education and Schools questioned whether the strategy for improving performance was providing value for money and whether the use of e-cigarettes could help improve performance.  The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health clarified that a person would not be counted as a ‘quitter’ if he/she switched to e-cigarettes and advised that, going forward, a bigger percentage of the budget would be dedicated to smoking prevention, which she hoped would mean fewer numbers of people starting smoking in the first place.

In response to a question from the Cabinet Member for Education and Schools, the Corporate Director for Adult and Community Services explained that the measure for determining the percentage of land with unacceptable levels of litter was not particularly meaningful but was continuing to be used as it was useful for observing trends.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health asked why, despite the improvement in staff engagement levels, the percentage of staff that believed change was managed well in the Council was not on target.  The Chief Executive confirmed that he was looking at ways to improve in that area.  The Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Social Care suggested that the poor perception of the Council’s IT systems could be a key factor.  The Chief Finance Officer acknowledged the point and advised that the IT improvements that had been introduced relatively recently would take time to be embedded.  Further enhancements, aligned to the different ways services would need to be delivered in the future, would be considered as part of the Ambition 2020 Programme and the new Strategic Director for Customer, Commercial and Service Delivery, who would have responsibility for IT services, would also provide a fresh outlook on the Council’s IT services to ensure they were cost effective and met the needs of staff.

Cabinet resolved to note the performance for the priority projects and the key performance indicators for quarter 1 of the 2015/16 financial year.