Agenda item

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not published elsewhere)

Contact Officer, telephone number and email:

Helen Thomas, Policy & Performance Management Officer

Tel: 01263 516214 Helen.Thomas@north-norfolk.gov.uk

Cllr T Adams – Council Leader introduced the report and informed Members that it provided data on a range of measures with performance shown alongside other Councils. He added that Council Tax collection rates were a positive example, whilst more challenging measures included the number of residents on the housing waiting list. It was noted that measures such as this should be understood in the right context, with North Norfolk being a very desirable place to live with higher numbers of second homes and inward migration, which significantly increased housing demand. 

Questions and Discussion

      i.        The PPMO reminded Members that a benchmarking briefing session had taken place, with a range of measures agreed for consideration. She added that focus should be placed on areas where improvement was required, so that suggestions and recommendations could be made to address these areas.

     ii.        Cllr V Holliday noted that the Council appeared to be fourth worst on the household waiting list, second worst on time taken to process housing benefit claims, third worst on household waste recycling and almost at the bottom for new enterprises created. She added that she did not see any decisions relating to actions, and felt that further benchmarking should be considered for matters relating to expenditure on central services, environmental and regulatory services, and public health. It was noted that actions taken in response to benchmarking data would be determined by Cabinet, though the Committee were free to make recommendations. Cllr V Holliday suggested that the Committee should make recommendations where benchmarked performance was poor, and add further measures as suggested. The CE stated that any recommendations would need to be carefully considered to account for the level of resource available, and noted for context that the high number on the housing waiting list was an issue shared with other regions with a high number of second homes. He added that this suggested that the policy tools may not be available to fully address the contributing factors. On recycling rates, it was noted that rural authorities often struggled to achieve rates comparable to urban areas, as a result of not collecting food waste. The CE stated that his concerns related to benefits performance, though an improvement plan was being developed to address the issue.

    iii.        The Chairman noted that all benchmarking indicators required contextual background, and the aim of the report should be to identify areas where the Council was not performing as well as expected, why this was the case, and what could be done to address the issues.

   iv.        Cllr W Fredericks stated that the speed of new housing benefits claims had been affected by legacy benefits that were changing to Universal Credit, which had caused complexities in working with the DWP, that had subsequently slowed down the process, though software was being considered to mitigate this.

     v.        Cllr L Withington asked whether it would be appropriate to ask Cabinet where they could provide further contextual information to explain performance, taking into account that several issues were already being addressed as part of the Planning performance review and CCfA process. The Chairman replied that it was important to ensure that the Committee remained independent, and therefore must make its own decisions on what to consider when reviewing performance.

   vi.        Cllr J Toye stated that it could be useful for the Committee to request reports on matters of concern, rather than seeking excessive data for consideration. The CE added that this had been the case for Planning performance which had been raised in the previous year, with clear progress made.

  vii.        Cllr H Blathwayt noted that South Lakelands District appeared frequently in the benchmarking data, however this authority was now Westmorland and Furness unitary authority.

 viii.        Cllr T Adams stated that he supported the Committee considering issues of concern, but felt that it would be helpful to provide further context of the issues that effected performance.

   ix.        The recommendations were proposed by Cllr A Brown and seconded by Cllr H Blathwayt.

RESOLVED

To Receive benchmarking information as follows;

1.    Use the CIPFA nearest neighbours comparator group.

2.    Report on a quarterly basis at the same time as the performance reporting.

3.    Seven key benchmarking areas to be included in the initial report as laid out in appendix 1.

4.    Performance areas are reviewed on a six-monthly basis.