Agenda item

This report summarises the performance of the Council’s Key measures of Success for April - June (Quarter 1) 2014/15 as set out in the Council Plan 2013/15.

Discussion:

The Committee received a report summarising the performance of the Regeneration, Community and Culture Directorate for Quarter 1, (April - June 2014) as set out in the Council Plan 2013/2015.

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 whilst there were 19 key measures of success that were monitored to assess delivery of the Council Plan, data for 11 of the key measures would not be available until Quarter 2 or Quarter 4. Out of these 11 key measures, 7 related to perception data from the tracker,  a phone based survey of around 400 customers carried out bi-annually. The next survey was due to take place in September 2014 and results would be included in Quarter 2.

It was reported that the performance data included within Appendix 1 to the report included information from the Citizen Panel results obtained in April 2014. It was explained that this involved a quarterly paper survey of approximately 2,000 residents who had been recruited to be a Citizen Panel member. It was stressed that targets within the Council Plan 2014/15 had been based on tracker performance and not the results from the Citizen Panel therefore, due to the different methodologies for capturing customer/resident perception it was not possible to undertake comparisons on the views expressed. It was confirmed that this was the reason for the discrepancy in the figures between the two different methods of obtaining satisfaction data.

The Committee was advised that 7 out of 8 Council Plan key measures specific to this Committee were on target or had exceeded their target for Quarter 1 and 8 out of 8 key performance measures of success had improved compared to Quarter 1 2013/14 performance.

Under the priority  - A safe, clean and green Medway, 2 out of 2 measures of success achieved or exceeded target in Quarter 1.

Key performance highlights included:

-         The Street Scene Enforcement Team had managed 372 fly tips with 16 cases leading to prosecution resulting in fines totalling almost £11,000.

-         The Walking to Schools Campaign continued to be a success resulting in a reduction of approximately 31,000 cars off the road and 81,000 green journeys. This placed Medway top of the league across Kent.

-         In addition to securing a Green Flag across 5 existing sites, Green Flags had also been awarded to the Great Lines Heritage Park and Gillingham Park.

-         In Quarter 1, there had been higher than anticipated kerbside organic recycling and this would provide a positive effect on Medway’s overall recycling rate.

Under the priority - Everyone benefiting from the area’s regeneration, 5 out of 6 measures of success had achieved or exceeded target and 4 out of 6 measures had improved compared with the 2013/2014 average.

Key performance highlights included:

-         Following the award of new contracts for the operation of Supported Bus Services and Yellow School Buses, a saving had been achieved and, it had been possible to increase the frequency of all Sunday services on the main corridors and evening services between Medway and Maidstone and a new night bus had been introduced.

-         The Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) had awarded Kent and Medway a total of £68.1m for transport projects that would commence in 2015/16 with £28.6m allocated to five Medway schemes. In addition, Medway had been granted a loan of £4m for flood protection in Canal Road, Strood.

-         Employ Medway continued to be a success and since the Gaps project had begun in 2011, over 200 young people had been helped into apprenticeships. Medway Council remained one of the best performers on the Work Programme and the Impress project was currently supporting 305 clients.

-         Through Partners in Growth and Tiger Loan projects, 665 jobs had been attained in 2013/14 (482 created and 183 protected) through engagement with local businesses. This was an increase of 142% on 2012/13 performance.

-         In Quarter 1, Medway successfully delivered a diverse range of free cultural events including the English Festival, Sweeps Festival, Summer Dickens Festival, FUSE and Armed Forces Day. All events were positively received with high footfall and satisfaction scores.

-         The new improved Strand Leisure Park opened in May 2014 and the official opening of the Stirling Sports Centre as King’s Rochester Sports Centre had taken place.

The Committee was informed that 1 out of 8 key measures had been below target but was still within acceptable performance limits as follows:

-         ECS48c – Employment that had lasted 26 weeks - Quarter 1 performance was 53 narrowly missing the target of 54.

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

·        LRCC1 – Number of visitors to tourist attractions in Medway. It was noted that the 2014/15 target for visitors was 700,000. This was less than the actual number of visitors in 2012/13 (740,956). It was explained that 2012 had been a Year of Celebration in Medway with a number of major activities having taken place during that year therefore, this had been the reason for the increase in the number of visitors to Medway in that particular year.

It was confirmed that the statistics for this key measure were obtained from 15 facilities of which some were operated by the Council, whilst others were run by the private sector. Therefore, general visitors who came to Medway for other reasons or those visiting friends and relatives were not included within this calculation.

A Member expressed concern that at a recent event to commemorate World War 1 held on the Great Lines Heritage Park, the funfair operator had charged £3 for funfair rides despite advertising on posters all rides at £1. It had subsequently been found that the small print on the posters had restricted the reduced fee to Friday only. There was concern that this had been misleading to those persons attending the event. The Assistant Director Frontline Services confirmed that this had been drawn to the attention of Officers and the Events Team had since taken this matter up with the Event Organiser who was responsible for the production of the posters.

·        NI 167 – Average journey time along 6 primary transport corridors into Chatham (mins per mile).  The Assistant Director Frontline Services advised the Committee that the 6 primary transport corridors were shared with Kent and that current monitoring was undertaken by Kent Police using ANPR cameras. Work was  underway with Kent Police to identify a more refined system.

The Assistant Director Frontline Services informed the Committee of changes that had been made at the pedestrian lights in The Brook, Chatham and to signals at the Chatham Waterfront Bus Station as a means of increasing the flow of traffic through Chatham Town Centre.

·        HP26 - Satisfaction with road maintenance. The Assistant Director Frontline Services confirmed that primary and secondary roads were prioritised for road maintenance. He confirmed that Medway was placed in the middle of a league table of local authorities in the South East for performance on road maintenance. In addition, he advised the Committee that the Automobile Association had identified a £14 billion under investment in road maintenance across the country.

·        ECD 50 – Number of apprenticeships created through Employ Medway. The Assistant Director Housing and Regeneration confirmed that Medway Council was proactive in achieving success with the number of apprenticeships created over the last quarter and was actively involved in initiatives to create apprenticeship placements. He advised that through external funding from the European Union a full-time post was dedicated to the creation of apprenticeship placements in Medway. In addition, Medway Council could subsidise apprenticeships within the private sector.

·        LRCC4a – Number of jobs created and safeguarded through intensive assists. In response to a question as to how the safeguarding of a job was measured in terms of the time period by which the job was safeguarded, the Assistant Director confirmed that this information was available from data collected from a number of sources. He agreed to supply a briefing note explaining this in detail.

A Member referring to Paragraph 5.23 of the report advised the Committee that the Mid-Kent Astronomical Society had recently been gifted a telescope from the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. She understood that the telescope was to be located at an observatory in Canterbury but suggested that Officers undertake investigations as to whether the telescope could be located at a suitable venue in Medway. She agreed to provide Officers with contact details of the organisation.

A Member drew attention the lack of Medway publicity at the recent Thames Barge event and drew attention to issues raised with him by the owner of LV21 (Light Vessel 21). In response, the Deputy Director, Customer Contact, Leisure, Culture, Democracy and Governance confirmed the Council’s aspirations to increase use of the river for both leisure and tourism. He confirmed that some private sector organisations operating events did not always seek additional promotion from the Council. In relation to LV21, the Deputy Director, Customer Contact, Leisure, Culture, Democracy and Governance outlined the level of support provided to the owners of LV21 by the Council.

Decisions: 

a)     The performance against the key measures of success used to monitor progress against the Council Plan 2013/15 in Quarter 1 be noted; and

b)     A briefing note be circulated setting out information as to how measurements were undertaken in terms of time periods where a job has been safeguarded.