Agenda item

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

With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of the meeting held on 6 December 2022, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Director – People, Performance and Change which presented a summary of Scottish Borders Council’s Quarter 3 2022/23 performance Information.  The information contained within the report would be made available on the SBC website.  The Director – People, Performance and Change, Ms Clare Hepburn, explained that the report had been revised in line with previously received feedback from Elected Members.  Progress had largely been positive, 10 out of 13 milestones showed positive progress.  There were three milestones which had not made progress as anticipated.  The introduction of Parent Portal to improve digital customer access was not progressed as it had been determined that the benefits to SBC would not be realised.  A programme of curriculum reform incorporating National and International recommendations had been delayed due to an extension in the consultation period by the Scottish Government.  The development of a Council Commissioning Framework had moved to Quarter 4 due to the need to recruit a staff member for the necessary post.  52 of the 96 indicators were progressing as expected or did not show grounds for concern. 17 were considered showing positive progress, and 14 were highlighted as areas of focus for improvement.  Four were provided for information only.  There had been a delay in receiving the latest information for 9 of the performance indicators.  Regarding the Community Action Team (CAT), 104 hours of foot patrols had been carried out, 1034 hours of mobile patrols, and 71 static road checks.  80 parking tickets had been issued, and 20 Anti-Social Behaviour warning letters had been issued to under 18s.  15 person drug searches and 17 premises drug searches had been carried out, with positive rates of 40% and 88% respectively.  In response to a question regarding whether there was a planned alternative to Parent Portal, the Director of Resilient Communities explained that assessments of various measures, including a mobile phone application, was ongoing, with a view to determining the most effective suite of tools to communicate with parents. The Director – People, Performance and Change undertook to ensure that future reports reflected instances where the work of the CAT was affected by external pressures such as missing person cases or other high level staffing requirements.  In response to a question regarding analysis of the source of Freedom of Information requests, Ms Hepburn confirmed that FOI requests came from a range of sources, such as journalists, the Scottish Parliament, and the general public.  The Chief Legal Officer explained that there had been a considerable increase in the number of FOI requests received by SBC, from a wide variety of sources.  The Council recognised the importance of FOI and aimed to publish information wherever possible.  The Chief Legal Officer undertook to prepare detailed information for Elected Members on FOI, and where FOI requests originated from.

DECISION

AGREED to:-

(a)        note the Quarter 3 2022/23 Council Plan Performance Milestones and Performance Indictors Report in Appendix 1 to the report ; and

(b)       note the Quarter 3 2022/23 Community Action Team Performance Report in Appendix 2 to the report.