To receive a report from the Assistant Director (Corporate).

James Gilbert, Assistant Director (Corporate) presented Members with the Performance and Governance Framework – Quarter 1Monitoring Report 2023/24 (April to June 2023), pages 39 to 62 of the Agenda refer.

Members were referred to Appendix A and invited to put their comments and questions forward.

East Lindsey Corporate – Staff Turnover, page 45 of the Agenda refers.

The Assistant Director (Corporate) highlighted the figures for Q1 to Q4 2022/23 were incorrect and should read as follows:

Q1 - 3.3%, Q2 - 4.02%, Q3 - 1.5% and Q4 - 3.17%.  It was confirmed that Q1 2023/24 was correct at 3.11%.

Wellbeing and Community Leadership – Percentage of Customer Contact Calls Answered, page 43 of the Agenda refers.

A Member highlighted the red status for Q1 and queried whether there was an issue with calls being answered and if this this was a result from staff working from home whether measures were in place to address this.

The Assistant Director (Corporate) advised Members that the Customer Contact staff worked from the Hub and the issue was due to the volume and complexity of calls, including council tax bills and election queries during that period.  Members were further advised that the portfolio holders across the partnership were having a summit to discuss the customer service contract.  A Member commented that the call back system was working well, however the cost of living crisis had resulted in the call numbers increasing.  A Member referred to the increasing number of organisations who were only dealing with customers through submitting forms on line of offering an online chat service and stressed it was important to retain the telephone option.  It was further highlighted that the customer contact team was doing its best under the circumstances.

East Lindsey Leisure and Culture – Market Stall Occupancy Rate, page 44 of the Agenda refers.

A Member queried why markets were included as leisure and culture and considered that it should be included as an economic indicator.

Following which, the Chairman asked whether a document could be circulated that showed which area each departmental service sat under.

East Lindsey Neighbourhoods – Key Performance Indicators – Percentage of streets graded b and above for detritus, page 45 of the Agenda refers.

A Member queried what steps had been put in place to clear the roads affected as it appeared that resources had been deployed mainly along the coast at the expense of the inland towns and villages.  The Chairman advised Members that the Council’s Pride Team would respond to any reported incidents, and highlighted that there may have been an issue across the summer months due to additional resources required along the coast.

East Lindsey Finance – External Funding Received - ELDC, page 46 of the Agenda refers.

A Member commented that the figures provided were meaningless without details of the department referred.  In response, the Assistant Director (Corporate) advised Members that the figures were part of 80+ lines in a spreadsheet that was continually being added to and the intention was to report it as part of the annual scrutiny to demonstrate everything so it was more meaningful.

Members were further advised that efficiency and targets for the £42m partnership funding would be fed into the performance report and would form part of discussions moving forward into 2024/25.

East Lindsey Planning and Strategic Infrastructure – Key Performance Indicators, page 47 of the Agenda refers.

A Member commented that he would like to see the return of the weekly list of permissions granted or refused rather than having to search on the website as this gave Members an idea of performance.  The Chairman asked that the Democratic Services Team forward this request.

East Lindsey General Fund Assets – Key Performance Indicators Invest East Lindsey: number of caravan sales completed – annual target 30 and percentage of available holiday lettings taken against occupancy target – annual target 55%., page 49 of the Agenda refers.

N.B.  At this point in the Meeting, Councillor Fiona Martin asked it be noted that she was a Member of the Invest East Lindsey Advisory Board.

A Member highlighted that the figures of 3 and 25.13% respectively was very poor.  The Chairman highlighted that not all caravan parks on the coast were operating with the restraints that Kingfisher Caravan Park were currently operating under.

East Lindsey General Fund Assets – Key Performance Indicators – Repairs and Maintenance: Percentage of car parking income received against agreed budget/Repairs and Maintenance: Percentage committed spend against budget, page 48 of the Agenda refers.

A Member highlighted that it was disappointing to see the decrease in car parking income received against budget from 124% in Q1 2022/23 to 88% in Q1 2023/24.

It was further queried why the percentage committed spend for repairs and maintenance against the budget was 17.31% in Q1 2023/24 from 109.20% in Q4 2022/23 and if less money was being spent whether this would be taken away in future years.  The Assistant Director (Corporate) explained that the figures were cumulative and the budget would have been agreed by Council.  The figure of 17.31% was the percentage spent at the end of Q1 2023/24.

No further comments or questions were received.

Following which it was,

RESOLVED:

That the Performance and Governance Framework – Quarter 1 Monitoring Report 2023/24 be noted.