Agenda item

This report presents the 2026-27 key performance indicator refresh of the One Medway Council Plan 2024-28.

Discussion:

The Chief Information Officer introduced the report which outlined proposed amendments to the One Medway Council Plan for 2026-27. He highlighted that the majority of indicators remained unchanged, 24 amendments were proposed to reflect current performance, 11 indicators would be removed because data was no longer available or relevant and seven new indicators were proposed.

The following issues were discussed:

Delegation to the Chief Executive – the Committee discussed the proposed delegation to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council to agree new key performance indicators. A Member raised concern that the delegation to officers could enable indicators to be amended to provide a more favourable outlook for the Council. He added that in his view the ability to change indicators should be reserved to the Committee.

The Chief Information Officer stated that changes to the indicators had been brought to the Committee for consideration to ensure transparency. The Chief Operating Officer stated that the report was considered as part of pre-decision scrutiny, so any comments by the Committee would be noted and if Members did not want the Chief Executive to have the delegation that could be considered and voted upon at full Council.

The Chief Operating Officer added that the purpose of the delegation to the Chief Executive was to add new measures to reflect changes in priorities or schemes during the year. The delegation did not provide authority to the Chief Executive to remove targets, and performance was presented to the relevant Committees on a quarterly basis with complete transparency in relation to all targets.

A recommendation was proposed to note the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s concern that the Chief Executive had a delegation to amend indicators. On being put to the vote, the recommendation was lost.

Scrutiny and Review – in response a to a question whether the development and scrutiny of key performance indicators reflected best practice, the Chief Information Officer stated that the development and scrutiny of performance was open and transparent and this reflected good practice.

Business Creation – It was asked for further information to support the amended target for KPI 2.2 business creation which had been reduced from 8,000 to 4,000 new businesses over the Council Plan period. The Chief Information Officer undertook to provide a response from the service following the meeting.

A Member commented that there was not a specific indicator which related to the survival of small businesses and inward investments to the areas high streets, it was asked if further information could be provided as to how the Council measured investment into the high street and the survival of businesses. The Chief information Officer stated that whilst there was some indicators relating to regeneration there was not a specific indicator for inward investment in high streets and business survival, he undertook to request a briefing note form the service on the current situation.

Swimming – in response to a question regarding the numbers of young people swimming and whether this had been affected by the decision to remove free swimming, the Chief Information Officer explained the target KPI 4.14 was to increase swimming by 5% year on year, to achieve the target of 15% of young people accessing swimming lessons by the by 2027-28. He would request further information regarding the detailed performance from the service.

A Member requested further information in relation to littering in their ward. The Chief Information Officer undertook to request the service to provide that information following the meeting.

Decision:

a)     The Committee considered the proposed changes to the key performance indicators that will be used to track performance of the One Medway Council Plan in 2026/27 as set out in appendix 1 and section 3.7 and submitted comments to Cabinet as set out above.

b)     The Committee noted that Council will be requested to delegate authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to agree new key performance indicators and interim targets where applicable as set out in paragraph 3.8 of the report.

c)     The Committee requested further information regarding the performance in relation to ward level performance regarding littering.