Agenda item

Mia Shelton, Senior Adviser - Improvement Coordination and Strategy.

The Chair invited Mia Shelton (MS), Senior Adviser Improvement Coordination & Strategy, to introduce the report.

MS updated members on progress against the KPIs included in the DLUHC Grant Determination Letter (GDL) and highlighted some achievements to date. For the first time, the report also included performance against other programmes, outside of the main DLUHC grant. Following previous feedback from members, the reporting system now included a ‘blue’ rating which indicates a KPI that has been delivered, with ‘green’ now indicating on track with limited risk. At the end of Q2, 98% of KPIs were either ‘blue’ or ‘green’.

Members’ comments and questions:

·       The overall positive performance was warmly welcomed, but members queried how officers reported on areas where performance was off track, and whether this could be included in future reports as standard. Similarly, it was requested that the more business-critical KPIs be flagged up as part of the report and what the financial / other implications were of not meeting the targets. MS informed members that the two areas where officers did have a concern were on (i) viewing of LG Inform; and (ii) take up of Ignite, part of the Leadership programme. (i) was largely due to a change to the way Google Analytics records page views. (ii) was due mainly to the late agreement of the GDL pushing back the start of the programme. DS reassured members that LGA officers monitored the performance against all KPIs very closely. Whilst there were no direct financial implications for failing to meet KPIs, it could impact on future years’ negotiations with DLUHC.

·       The Chair asked for greater clarity on where responsibility for improving access to LG Inform lay within the LGA. The strategic importance of LG Inform to the LGA, in the context of Oflog, was emphasised. Juliet Whitworth, Head of Research and Information, reported that a Communications Strategy was planned with the aim of increasing use of the tool and to hit the target if possible. It was suggested that some simple promotional material that councillors could circulate to colleagues might increase coverage. However, it was queried whether simple volume of hits on the website was a useful metric to be measuring – could something more meaningful be devised? How could LG Inform be more effectively embedded into members’ day to day work? Members agreed that it would be helpful for Lead Members to have a more detailed discussion on how to take some of these points forward and to bring a report on LG Inform to the next Board meeting in December for wider member input.

·       Members requested sight of the performance spreadsheet containing all the KPIs. MS said that due to the timing of the meeting coinciding with the end of Q2 there hadn’t been enough time to finalise all the detail but this could be circulated to members once it was completed.

·       Were there any metrics on LG Inform that could have been used to predict the councils that have either had to issue S.114 notices or who were resistant to having Corporate Peer Challenges (CPC). DS said that whilst the data was important (and officers were looking into this in some detail) it was often the qualitative indicators that could be picked up during CPCs that provided more insight.

Decision:

Improvement & Innovation Board noted the improvement update for Quarter 2 and progress against deliverables in the DLUHC Grant Determination Letter and agreed that a report on LG Inform be brought back to the next meeting of the Board on 15 December.

Actions:

·       MS to circulate final KPI spreadsheet to members

·       Officers to include more detail of off track KPIs in future reports

·       Officers and Lead Members to explore in more detail issues raised about LG Inform and bring a report back to Board on 15 December.