Agenda item

Consider report and appendices by Director People, Performance & Change. (Copies attached.)

With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of the meeting held on 12 September 2023, 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 2 2023/24 performance information.  The information contained within the report would be made available on the SBC website: www.scotborders.gov.uk/performance.  The Director presented the report and highlighted that of the 18 milestones reported in the quarter, 9 had been achieved as planned.  One was rescheduled to a future quarter, and there were 8 milestones which had been partly completed.  Of the 90 indicators presented, 68 were in a good position.  13 were highlighted as areas of focus for improvement.  There was a delay in receiving information for 4 of the indicators. The Power Bi dashboard had been developed and allowed the public to view data on any of the performance indicators that they wished to see.  The Community Action Team had been operating at full strength since 1 June 2023.  There had been an upturn in statistics, particular for high visibility foot patrols and mobile patrol hours.  In response to a question regarding the increase in time taken to process new housing benefits claims, the Director – Resilient Communities explained that there had been a considerable number of vacancies in the team, which combined with a spike in the number of staff on annual leave had led to performance levels dipping.  Performance had returned to expected levels, however an analysis to fully understand the issue was ongoing.  Regarding capacity to deal with the increasing volume of complaints being received, Ms Craig explained that complaints were dealt with by front line staff and that most complaints could be dealt with at that stage.  Digital transformation efforts were expected to enable the Council to continue to effectively manage its complaints as the volume increased.  In response to a question regarding the system in place for the closure of complaints, Mrs Craig highlighted that a report concerning the complaints system had been presented to the Committee at its meeting on 14 November 2023, and that a relatively small number of people reported being unsatisfied following the closure of their complaint.  The Chief Executive outlined that a review of all outstanding complaints had been undertaken which had indicated that a number of complaints which were thought to have been closed had in fact been left outstanding in the system.  Such instances had made a negative impact upon the overall statistics.  Training for complaint handlers was planned to resolve such issues.  Members highlighted the importance of ensuring that the dashboard was user friendly, easily accessible, and requested that context could be provided alongside the statistical information where possible.   It was agreed that a workshop session on the complaints system be held with elected members. 

DECISION

AGREED to:-

(a)        note the Quarter 2 2023/24 Council Plan Key Milestones and Performance Indicators Report contained in Appendix 1 to the report; and

(b)        note the quarter 2 2023/24 Community Action Team Performance Report contained in Appendix 2 to the report.