Basingstoke & Dean Borough Council Scrutiny Committee Meeting

Councillor Miller was replaced by Councillor Golding.

Councillor Carr was replaced by Councillor Robinson.

Councillor Ganesh was replaced by Councillor Compton-Burnett.

Councillor Jones was replaced by Councillor McCormick.

The Vice-Chair Councillor Tustain chaired the meeting in the absence of the Chair Councillor Miller.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent matters.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2023 were confirmed as a correct record, subject to an amendment to the first paragraph of minute 21/23 to replace the word huge with significant. The minutes were signed by the Chair.

The Head of Customer Services Improvement and Performance Introduced the report which provided the Committee with a proposed updated suite of Key Performance Indicators for 2024/25 in support of the Council Plan.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments:

• Raised the issue of accountability as some of the targets were statutory but it was important that the KPIs captured were tailored towards the issues that the council could influence such as specific elements of the regeneration projects.

• Questioned why the KPI on the recycling rate didn’t have a specific target.

• Reference was made to the green team and how the customer satisfaction information would be gathered. Clarification was also sought as to the reason why a KPI had been created for the issue as it was a small part of what the council did. The Committee were advised that as it was a new initiative a KPI had been included in order to monitor the success, the Leader stated that anecdotally the team had been well received. Councillor Robinson stated that they had received reports that that the advice provided had been basic and therefore unhelpful. The Leader requested that Councillor Robinson discuss the issue with him outside of the meeting.

• Questioned why there were no measures for the aquadrome, ice rink, football club and Winklebury regeneration.

• Clarity was sought in relation to the Q2 results for 2023/24 which sought to demonstrate the need for the change to the existing measure in relation to major/non-major appeals measures.

The Committee suggested the following amendments to the KPIs:

• Concern was raised over the parameters for the red, amber and green status and it was suggested that each category be quantified as a percentage.

•  Requested that a KPI be included in relation to residents’ satisfaction of the aquadrome.

•  Requested that the Leader review whether the socially rented housing figures could form a KPI.

• Suggested the removal of the condition for the receipt of relevant information for new housing register applications and to instead extend the overall time period for dealing with the requests.

• Requested that the KPI for a youth council include a target figure for how many schools the Council planned to engage with in the first year.

• Suggested that the council use the same model used for staff questionnaires to carry out the safety survey.

• Requested the current KPI on the number of homeless households with dependent children placed into B&B be retained.

• Implored the Cabinet to increase the target for the number of trees planted.

• Suggested that wellbeing should be measured by outcomes and not output.

Overall, it was felt that the KPIs should be more outcome focussed instead of output based, the targets should be stretching and include timescales for key projects for Manydown to show when the council could be expected to reach the milestones.

It was also suggested that the KPIs include what type of average it was used such as median and how returns were measured for Treasury Management, that the key data be provided on a separate sheet which would help to add context and reassure members. It was also requested that the red, amber and green status be included to show the trends, so it was easy to review the progress of an individual KPI for that quarter.

The Committee acknowledged that the development and presentation of performance measures was an ongoing process.

Resolved: The Committee provides its comments.

The Head of Customer Services Improvement and Performance introduced the briefing note which provided the Committee with the status of the 2023/24 key indicators as at the end of Quarter 1 and Quarter 2.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments:

• Requested that the RAG status per quarter be included to easily show the trend for each quarter.

• Acknowledged that the cost-of-living crisis had impacted on the recycling rate as residents were using cheaper products which used fewer recyclable materials.

• Requested a response on the reason why the Leisure Park programme was listed as “on track” when the project had been delayed.

• Questioned whether the terminology and measurement figures were used for the staff Sickness rate KPI.

Resolved: The Committeenotes the report.

The Chair introduced the work programme and gave a brief overview of the items that would be included on the agenda for the upcoming meetings.

The Committee discussed the work programme and made the following comments:

·        The Committee agreed that any update on the Waste Service would be dealt with by the Community Environment and Partnerships Committee instead.

·        Reference was made to the report on the Housing Associations due to be considered at the March meeting and clarification was sought as to which housing association would be represented at the meeting.

·        The Chair confirmed that she had received a work programme suggestion form from Councillor McIntyre and that she would respond with Officers outside of the meeting.

·        Agreed to continue the work of the Housing task and finish group.

·        Agreed that the Transport Task and Finish Group be postponed until the new municipal year and that the focus be amended to review the poor service provided by the taxi companies, the issue of uber from a licensing perspective, availability of accessible vehicles and community transport.