Agenda item

Consider report by Chief Executive presenting a summary of quarterly performance information  for Members.  (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Chief Executive presenting a summary of quarterly performance information for Members, with details contained within Appendix 1.    A summary of the main changes made to performance indicators was provided at Section 4 of the report, followed by a high level summary of performance in Section 5. Appendix 1 provided a more detailed presentation and explanation of each Performance Indicator (PI).  Where possible, information which was collected on a quarterly basis was presented but this was not possible for all areas of Council business, for example, school attainment.  The presentation used in Appendix 1 was consistent with what was presented to Council on 26 June 2014 and to the Executive Committee each quarter thereafter.   All information contained within the report was also made available on the SBC website using the public facing part of SBC’s Performance Management software (Covalent).  This could be accessed at  http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/info/691/council_performance/1353/our_performance_as_a_council and by clicking on “Scottish Borders Performs”.

Based on feedback from Elected Members, a number of changes would be made to the infographic summaries presented within Appendix 1 for the June 2016 meeting of the Executive Committee, showing clearly the difference between PIs that SBC had direct influence over and those that were provided for context only.  Members discussed the performance report and received answers to their questions in relation to the Council’s volunteering policy and  lottery funding  from the Corporate Performance and Information Manager.   The Customer Services Manager Mr Les Grant, gave Members a presentation on the performance monitoring of Customer Services and improvements to the service.  The focus was on outcomes for the customer and performance information was collected in respect of a number of areas including interactions through the CRM, complaints and SPSO indicators.  The volume of complaints was relatively small but improvements in dealing with complaints at stage 1 were needed.  The importance of learning from complaints was highlighted.  Current and future challenges included the introduction of a customer portal, moving more processes to “on-line” and social media channels and working across the Council to deliver more services front-line.  Members commented on the importance of the management of customer complaints through to completion.  There were comparatively few complaints in relation to the volume of business and there was a requirement on how to positively solicit complaints and how to tap into those people who were not minded to complain. Older people were less inclined to use social media but younger people preferred and expected to use social media which was more cost effective than face to face contact.  It was emphasised that all contact options needed to be available for customers.

DECISION

AGREED to

(a)        note the changes to performance indicators in Section 4 of this report;

(b)       to acknowledge and note the performance presented in Section 5 and within Appendix 1 and the action that was being taken within Services to improve or maintain performance; and

(c)        note that improvements would be made for the next Executive report to enhance public performance reporting.

MEMBER

Councillor Edgar joined the meeting during discussion of the above item.