To receive a report from the Assistant Director, Corporate.

James Gilbert, Assistant Director - Corporate presented Members with the Performance and Governance Framework – Quarter 2 Monitoring Report 2023/24 (July to September 2023), pages 85 to 142 of the Agenda refer.

The report brought together information relating to the Council’s Performance and Governance Framework at the end of Quarter 2 2023/24.

The Assistant Director - Corporate advised that three questions were received in advance of the meeting:

• Number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN’s) Issued – Fly Tipping, page 97 of the Agenda Refers. Clarification was requested on why this item was duplicated.  The Assistant Director - Corporate advised there was an error on the indicator and that the one directly above the bottom indicator should have stated Kingdom Contract: Number FPN’s paid.

• Number of swimming lessons, page 99 of the Agenda refers. It was queried if the decline in Quarter 2 was due to school holidays and there being no school swimming lessons.  The Assistant Director - Corporate advised it was the Q2 outturn and this was a seasonal dip, generally it was expected to see peaks and troughs.

• Partnership Table, page 120 of the Agenda refers. It was queried what the figures related to.  The Assistant Director - Corporate advised this was to be titled as “The external funding secured across the Partnership”.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

• A Member enquired why the format had changed, pages 91 to 120 of the Agenda refer.  The Assistant Director - Corporate advised that the format had changed on trend indicators.  The previous report had only included the current quarter’s trend and was not effective without historic data. The past four months were now included to give a fuller picture.

• A Member further commented that the commentary underneath the indicators was no longer present, pages 91 to 119 of the Agenda refer.  The Assistant Director - Corporate advised that comments were still included for red or amber indicators, where red and amber was below performance but were within a set tolerance level.  The overall aim was to achieve consistent metrics across the Partnership year on year.  It was further advised that the information being collected was to ensure a stable position in terms of KPI’s which were reviewed every year.  The KPI’s were discussed with the Portfolio holders and metrics were agreed, this has been consistent since the last quarter.

• A Member queried percentages in relation to company income, pages 116 to 119 of the Agenda refer. The Assistant Director (Corporate) advised that when looking at rental and car parking income, it was recently highlighted by Senior Leadership Team that the financial position should be detailed and not just as a percentage against the budget.  The information was to be made available going forward. 

• Referring to homelessness on page 91 of the Agenda, a Member queried if immigration in Skegness was having any effect on figures.  In addition further clarification was requested on the new register of strategic risks, page 88 of the Agenda refers.

The Assistant Director - Corporate advised that the organisation managed risks at three levels, strategic risks which were reported quarterly, operational risks within services and the current risks which could have the greatest impact.  These were evidenced in the report with indicators to show whether there had been any changes in severity or impact, and there had been no changes since the last time they were reported.  In addition, new strategic risks have been added for consistency across the Partnership, page 88 of the Agenda refers.  Further information was to be sought and brought back to the Committee in relation to the question on homelessness.

• A Member expressed lack of clarity on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) risks.  In response, the Assistant Director - Corporate advised that LGR was something the Council was aware of and was present in government and political discussions.  It was identified as a risk to the authority, however it was unknown what impact it would have.

• A Member queried if the number of fixed penalty notices was for low level or large-scale fly tipping, page 97 of the Agenda refers. The Assistant Director - Corporate advised that further information would be obtained and reported back to the Committee.

• Referring to Business Centre Occupation, page 116 of the Agenda refers.  A Member commented that it would be useful to know what percentage of occupiers was using the virtual office rather than the internal space. 

• A further Member enquired if third party service delivery included PS2 and who the third-party service was quoted to, page 132 of the Agenda refers.  It was additionally queried why Invest East Lindsey was not considered as a risk in the event that it failed and left a lot of debt.  The Assistant Director - Corporate advised that further information would be obtained and reported back to the Committee.

No further comments or questions were received.

Following which it was,

RESOLVED:

That the Performance and Governance Framework Q2 2023/23 Reportbe noted.