Agenda item

Consider report by Director – People, Performance & Change. (Copy attached.)

6.1         With reference to paragraph 2 of the Minute of the meeting held on 1 March 2022, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Director – People, Performance and Change which presented a high level summary of Scottish Borders Council’s (SBC) Quarter 4 2021/22 with Annual performance information with more detail contained within Appendices 1 and 3 to the report. A summary of the Community Action Team’s activity was provided in Appendix 6 to the report.  Highlights on the progress of change and improvement projects across SBC under the Fit for 2021 programme was included in appendix 2 to the report, and monitoring of the progress of the Recovery Plan in appendix 4. SBC approved a revised Corporate Plan (Our Plan and Your Part in it 2018- 2023) in February 2018, with four corporate themes. In order to monitor progress against the four themes, performance and context information had been presented quarterly to the Executive Committee, with an annual summary in June each year. Further, the new Council Plan was developed and agreed by SBC in February 2022. As such, the quarterly performance report was being reviewed to ensure alignment with the revised Council Plan. The revised Quarterly Council Performance Report would be presented to SBC on 23 June and therefore, the report would be the last in the current format. During Quarter 4 and throughout 2021/22 SBC had continued to press ahead with a range of important initiatives and innovations, including utilising technology to automate and streamline processes;  the replacement programme for synthetic pitches in the region; the continued roll out of the Inspire Learning programme; and Health and Social Care projects working with partners and the wider community. 

6.2         The Director – People, Performance and Change presented the report, highlighting that the process to develop the revised framework was ongoing, and the need to align performance against the new Council Plan.  It had not been possible to update some of the indicators in the report. Planning permission data was not available until July 2022, and the figures for adults using self-directed support were not available due to a change in the recording system.  Members in attendance thanked the Director for the breadth of the report, and praised that the data in the report allowed Members to identify areas that required improvement.  In response to a question regarding the reported decrease in mediation referrals, the Director explained that the drop off was expected to be a temporary dip related to covid-19, with a return to the normal trend predicted.  Regarding the Eat Well Age Well project, the Director explained that the project was live, and was focussed on ensuring that people ate well and stayed hydrated.  Councillor Thornton-Nicol undertook to share the details of the project, and encouraged elected Members to get trained.  Regarding the lack of data for adults receiving care at home being unavailable despite the implementation of Total Mobile, the Director, Strategic Commissioning and Partnerships, explained that the reporting system had been fully set up, and that work had been undertaken to make sure that staff were reporting and using the system correctly to ensure that reported data was accurate. The Director – People, Performance and Change provided a definition of volunteers referred to in the report and undertook to define that clearly in future reports.

DECISION

AGREED to:-

(a)       Note the progress update relating to Change and Improvement Projects, referenced at section 4 and detailed further in Appendix 2 to the report;           

(b)       Note the changes to performance indicators outlined in Section 5 of the  

            report; and

(c)       Note the performance summarised in Sections 7 and 8, and Approves the Annual Reports set out at Appendices 1, 2 and 3 and the action that is being taken within services to improve or maintain performance.