Agenda item

The report sets out a summary of Medway’s performance for 2013/14 against the relevant Council priorities and two values for this Committee.  

Discussion:

The Committee received a report summarising the performance of the Regeneration, Community and Culture Directorate for Quarter 4, (January –March 2014) and end of year performance in achieving the outcomes agreed in the Council Plan 2013/2014.

It was noted that any performance information highlighted grey within the report was not relevant to this Committee as it fell under the responsibilities of other overview and scrutiny committees but had been included in the report to provide context and clarity as to how the priorities as a whole had been performing.

The Committee was advised that 21 out of 27 Council Plan key measures specific to this Committee were on target or had exceeded their target for 13/14. In addition, 14 measures of success had improved over the long term (compared with average performance over previous four quarters).

Under the priority  - A safe, clean and green Medway, it was reported that 6 out of 10 measures of success achieved or exceeded target and 4 out of 10 measures had improved since 2012/13.

Key performance highlights included:

- The Street Scene Enforcement Team dealing with 1,093 fly tips and issuing 403 Fixed Penalty Notices for littering, dog fouling etc.  In addition, 45 fly tipping and waste related cases had been prosecuted at Medway Magistrates Court with fines and costs totalling  £27,509.46.  In addition, 7 cautions had been administered and there was 1 conditional discharge.

- The Pan Kent Independent Domestic Violence Advocate Service (IDVA) had received 295 case referrals from Medway MARAC (Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference) for IDVA (Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy) support in 2013/14. This represents 86% of all MARAC cases (342).

- The weekly recycling collection had been launched on 28 October following an extensive communications campaign and between  November 2013 to March 2014 the weekly collections had yielded positive results including:

-         An overall decrease of 3% black sacks

-         An overall increase of 10% in mixed recycling and paper

-         An overall increase of 43% in organic waste

-         5 parks had secured the Green Flag Standard for 2013 (Broomhill, The Vines, Hillyfields, Riverside Country Park, Capstone Farm Country Park)  with The Vines and Riverside Country Park having now secured Green Flag Awards for six consecutive years.

Under the priority everyone benefiting from the area’s regeneration, 15 out of  17 measures of success had achieved/exceeded target and 10 out of 15 measures had improved since 2012/13.

Key performance highlights this year included:

- The Traffic Operations Room now had real time traffic data from a greater number of count sites and traffic signal sites, which enabled better congestion monitoring.

- The Employ Medway service continued to be a success by achieving 379 job start-ups for 2013/14. This was an increase of 14% on the previous year (326).  Employ Medway and partners had been officially confirmed as the best provider in the South East and 3rd in the country for the number of customers sustaining employment beyond 6 months.

- During 2013/14 through engagement with local businesses, 600 jobs had been created or safeguarded (this figure was provisional and awaited end of year figures from Partners ‘Locate in Kent’ and included 130 Tiger jobs). This was an increase of 118% on the 2012/13 performance (275). 

- During 2013/14, Medway successfully delivered over 30 days of free festivals, and over 650 events.  Highlights of the year were the English Festival, Sweeps, Fuse, River Festival and Dickensian festivals.  Satisfaction levels with festivals scored consistently in the 90%s.

In 2013 Medway’s Tourism Bus was launched. This was the only open top tourism bus in the County.

The Performance and Intelligence Manager outlined the 5 key measures that were below target but within acceptable performance limits and the 1 key measure that was significantly below target. This target had previously been discussed by the Committee on 10 April 2014 and the action being undertaken by officers was outlined.

The Committee then raised questions and discussed a number of issues including: 

• Key Project – Sporting Legacy – Leisure Centres. It was confirmed that the refurbishment works at Strood Leisure Centre would include refurbishment of wet-side facilities. Whilst customer satisfaction data relating to the leisure centres did not differentiate between dry-side and wet-side facilities, the way in which information was collected allowed customers to provide additional comments if they so wished.

• Parks and Open Spaces. The Committee welcomed the fact that 5 parks had secured the Green Flag standard for 2013, these being Broomhill, The Vines, Hillyfields, Riverside Country Park and Capstone Farm Country Park. A Member commended the human sundial provided at Broomhill.

• Improved Street and Environmental Cleanliness: Litter (PI Code NI 195a). The Performance and Intelligence Manager explained the reasons as to why the customer satisfaction lags behind operational performance information. She confirmed that officers regularly held meetings with contractors to discus all performance information.

·        Non principal classified roads where maintenance should be

considered (PI BV224a and NI 169). The Performance and Intelligence Manager confirmed that the Council participated in benchmarking with other local authorities and, in addition, participated in the annual National Highways and Transport Survey completed independently by Ipsos MORI for 78 local authorities.

The Head of Highways and Parking Services informed the Committee that at the end of 2013, Focus Groups had assessed the customer satisfaction surveys for road maintenance. The results showed that a number of questions required re-modelling as it had been established that although some questions related to ‘overall perception’, respondents were considering how well they could access the network as opposed to the maintenance of roads when providing responses.

• Street Scene Enforcement.  A Member questioned a breakdown of the figures as they related to businesses and individuals. The Head of Safer Communities advised that he would report back to the Member direct.

• PI LRCC1 – Number of visitors to tourist attractions. It was confirmed that the number of visitors to tourist attractions included both Council operated and private sector tourist attractions with both paid and free entry. Visitors to events in Medway were not included within this performance indicator.

• Cultural Strategy. It was noted that whilst the Christmas Market was included within the Cultural Strategy, the weekly markets held within town centres in Medway were not. The Deputy Director Customer Contact, Leisure, Culture, Democracy and Governance agreed to refer the issue of the promotion of the weekly town centre markets to the Town Centre Management Team for consideration.

Decision: 

a)     The Committee’s thanks be extended to officers for the detailed report;

b)     The performance information for Quarter 4 be noted

c)      It be noted that where officers have been unable to provide a response to questions at this meeting, such information will be circulated in writing to Committee Members.