Agenda item

The Chairman, Cllr Seward, introduced this item. He explained that it provided an overview of quarter 4 (January to March 2021) and enabled the Council to assess delivery against objectives detailed in the Delivery Plan 2019 – 2023 as well as operational service performance.

Cllr A Fitch-Tillett, Portfolio Holder for Coast, referred to page 31 and the summary section for corporate plan delivery. She said that she was extremely disappointed to see that the coast was not referenced at all. She said that later on in the report all of the targets relating to coast were green and this should be recognised and reflected in the covering section.

Cllr J Rest referred to pages 52,77 and 78 of the report and the indicators marked with a red triangle. He said that he understood why objectives such as the establishment of a Youth Council were currently on hold but he sought assurance that they would be progressed as soon as possible. Cllr L Shires confirmed that she was committed to getting the Youth Council up and running as soon as it was practical to do so.

Cllr C Cushing referred to the February Budget meeting of Full Council when he had raised the Administration’s lack of preparation for a future deficit. He drew members’ attention to page 68 of the report and section 6.2.1 which related to the objective of developing a financial sustainability strategy. He said that preparations should be starting now to prepare for future years and asked for an update. The Chairman replied that he had requested a briefing meeting with the Finance Team to discuss preparations for next year’s budget. He referred to the new approach of zero based budgeting which was being introduced soon and said that preparations were underway for achieving a balanced budget next year. Cllr Cushing asked why the anticipated deficit was not listed as a key priority within the delivery plan (page 34 of the report). The Chairman replied that it was his understanding that the Government’s Fairer Funding review was likely to be further delayed and this could impact on the Council’s priorities. He added that he wanted to approach the financial sustainability of the Council in a planned way.

Cllr Cushing requested an update on the situation at the next Cabinet meeting. The Chairman replied that the Outturn report would be presented to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee soon and members would have the opportunity to question the Section 151 officer on these issues. He agreed that an update would be provided at the next meeting of Cabinet.

The Director of Communities said that financial sustainability and growth was key. Some objectives had been delayed by Covid but the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) was very aware of the financial position and was looking at areas for improvement.

Cllr V Holliday referred to the ‘reasons for the recommendations’ at the start of the report. She said that it stated that it was to ensure that the objectives of the Council were achieved, however, the objectives were not likely to be achieved if the Council was not prepared to be critical about what it was trying to achieve. The Director of Communities replied that when performance was viewed in the fullness of the previous year, the Council continued to achieve against a number of targets. He added that it had been looked at hard and some judgements had been made. It should be acknowledged that it was a journey and that performance was lagging in some areas but further ahead in others. He used the example of the homeless list, saying that the Council could not control how many people presented as homeless but it could manage the list and the provision of available properties. He concluded by saying that when performance was considered against the background of a pandemic a lot had been achieved. Cllr Holliday asked when the pandemic would no longer be used as a reason to justify slippage. The Director for Communities replied that this report covered the period from January to March 2021 which was when the impact of the pandemic was at its height in North Norfolk. He said that it was likely to have an impact for some time as support grants were still being paid out to businesses and a large number of visitors were expected during the summer season.

Cllr N Dixon said that he wanted to make an observation. He said that it was not the easiest or clearest document to read. He referenced page 34 which was entitled ‘key priorities’, he said that there was just a pie-chart and that it would be more helpful to have a list of the Council’s top 10 priorities here. He then said that some of the indicators listed were about how well processes were working rather than outcomes. He added that as a ward member and a County councillor, he was aware of one or two portfolios where problems occurred regularly. He said that when the Council received feedback from a business or an individual who hadn’t had a good experience of the Council, this should be reflected in the performance report. Customer experiences and the resulting challenges that arose from these should be acknowledged, accepted and reflected in the performance report. As it currently stood, the report was not consistent with his own experience as a ward member and a county councillor.

The Chairman said that it was hard to reflect the issues that Cllr Dixon was referring to in the report, however, consideration would be given as to how this could be addressed.  He said that outcomes were more important than processes and he was supportive of adapting the indicators to reflect this.

Cllr L Shire, Portfolio Holder for Customer Services, said that she would be happy to work with Cllr Dixon to improve the service.

Cllr N Lloyd said that he had asked similar questions of the Administration when he was in Opposition. He believed that the current Administration had taken a lot of the previous criticisms on board and more detail was now included in the performance report. He thanked officers for the progress that was being made in achieving the ambitions set out in the Corporate Plan.

The Director of Communities said that the style and content of the report was a work in progress. He asked members to make senior officers aware of any improvements.

It was proposed by Cllr J Toye, seconded by Cllr W Fredericks and

RESOLVED to

Note the report and endorse the actions being taken by Corporate Leadership Team detailed in Appendix A – Managing Performance.