Issue - meetings

To consider the Chief Executive’s Corporate Performance Overview Report covering the fourth quarter, January 2019 to March 2019 (Q4) of 2018/19 financial year and the first quarter, April to June 2019 (Q1) of the 2019/20 financial year

Panel members are asked to give advance notice to Kirstine Berry in the Governance and Scrutiny Team of any questions relating to the CPOR(s) where possible.

The Commission considered the Chief Executive’s Corporate Performance Overview Report (CPOR) covering the fourth quarter, January 2019 to March 2019 (Q4) of 2018/19 financial year and the first quarter, April to June 2019 (Q1) of the 2019/20 financial year.

Panel members were asked to give advance notice to Kirstine Berry in the Governance and Scrutiny Team of any questions relating to the CPOR(s) where possible.

No questions relating to either CPOR had been received in advance of the meeting.

Timothy Wheadon, Chief Executive, introduced the Q1 CPOR to the Commission and explained that:

·         The Q1 CPOR had not yet been to the Executive.

·         The financial information in the Q1 report related to the Q4 report as the reports had been produced slightly out of sequence.

·         The overriding position was that the Council was currently in a holding pattern.

·         The service plans in place related to the Council Plan that was agreed in 2015

·         Council would be asked to agree a new plan in Nov for the period 2019-2023 and this was where the effort was being directed. 

Some of the key highlights of quarter one performance were:

·         Progress against key performance indicators (KPIs) in Q1 of the year, were overwhelmingly on target, as expected.

·         Over 80% of KPIs had green indicators.

·         3 elections had been held in the first quarter.  Democratic Services had new team dealing with the elections who had been very effective.  There may very well be more elections in the short term and at short notice.

·         The accounts were closed in the first quarter with a balanced budget for the twenty first consecutive year in a row.

·         There had been over 1500 hours of volunteering in Parks and Countryside to maintain local parks, open spaces and rights of way which equated to 43 weeks of paid work at 37 hours per week.  This was something the community and the Council should be very proud of.

·         Housing and Welfare were equal second fastest in the South east for processing new claims, and equal first for change in circumstances so we act quickly for our residents.

Areas that had caused concern during the first quarter were:

·         The close down of the accounts had been difficult because of a change in the law on pensions. Ongoing delays to The Berkshire Pension Fund accounts had taken longer to deal with and had posed a challenge.

·         58 complaints had been received in the first quarter which was more than would have been expected.

·         When the 58 complaints were put into the context of the millions of interactions the Council had with residents in the same period, this was a low figure, but it was hoped it could be lower still.

In response to questions from members raised during the meeting, Timothy Wheadon, Chief executive advised members that:

·         Complaints were processed in 3 stages.

·         The complaints recorded were written complaints.

·         The first complaint stage was dealt with by a line manager.

·         A stage 3 complaint was dealt with by the Chief Executive or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15