Meeting documents

Cabinet
Tuesday, 6 June 2006

CA060606-07

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Division(s): N/A

ITEM CA7

CABINET - 6 JUNE 2006

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Report by County Council Management Team

Introduction

  1. This report sets out our performance for 2005/2006 against:

    1. Oxfordshire Plan 2005/6 priorities

    2. Public Service Agreement 2003/04 – 2005/06 targets

    3. Raising our Performance 2

    4. Best Value Performance Indicators

  1. The new Balanced Scorecard will be introduced from quarter 1 of 2006/7 and will report on the key performance measures for the coming year across the four categories of customers, people, process and finance. In Annex 1 (download as .xls file) of this report we have presented the information reported throughout the past year in traffic light format. This is equivalent to the customer quadrant of a balanced scorecard and illustrates the approach we will be taking to performance reporting through the coming year. A fuller description of the Balanced Scorecard will be contained in the accompanying report to Cabinet for the 2006/7 first quarter.

    2. Headlines

    Oxfordshire Plan

     

     

    Priorities

    Fully or partially achieved

    70%

    Detailed sub-targets

    Achieved or improved performance

    74%

    Public Service Agreement

     

     

    Target areas

    Fully or partially achieved

    73%

    Detailed sub-targets

    Improved performance

    88%

    BVPIs

     

     

    Individual BVPIs

    Achieved target or improved performance

    77%

  2. Almost 70% of the Oxfordshire Plan Priorities have fully or partially achieved target (9 out of 13). These priorities comprise a total of 50 individual sub-targets. The Council has either achieved target or improved performance compared to 2004/5 for 74% of these targets.

  3. The Council has fully or partially achieved target and qualified to receive reward grant for 73% (8 out of 11) Public Service Agreement targets areas where outturn information is available. These 11 target areas comprise 25 individual targets. The Council has achieved improved performance for 88% (22) of these.

  4. The Council has achieved target or achieved improved levels of performance for 77% of BVPIs. This comprises 58% of BVPIs for which we have achieved our year-end target and a further 19% where we have recorded improved performance but not achieved our end of year target.

    5. Oxfordshire Plan 2005-06 Priorities

  5. The Oxfordshire Plan 2005-06 carries forward the Council’s 13 priorities from 2004/05 (known as the "10+3"). The following priorities were reported as having achieved target at the end of the fourth quarter:
    • Child Protection
    • Waste Minimisation and Re-cycling
    • Affordable Housing
    • Better Use of Property
    • West End of Oxford
  1. There are 4 priorities which have partially achieved targets. These are:
    • Improve Maintenance of Local Roads and Pavements
    • Youth Crime Reduction
    • Foundation Stage Learning
    • Drugs and Alcohol

  1. There are 3 priorities which have shown significant levels of performance but which have not or are unlikely to achieve target and 1 priority which has not achieved target. These are:
    • Significant improvement
    • Public Transport – where we are a high performing County. For 2004/05 we were the best performing county council achieving the highest patronage figures per head of population.
    • Support for Older People – where performance has improved significantly over the year and is in excess of the national target but falls just short of our stretching PSA target.
    • Educational Attainment – where performance has improved for 7 out of 8 target areas.
    • Unlikely to achieve target
    • Delayed Discharges from Hospital
  1. The results are summarised at in Annex 1 (download as .xls file)

    2. Public Service Agreement Targets

  2. The 3-year Local Public Service Agreement (2003-06) between Oxfordshire County Council and the Government identifies 12 areas in which performance is to be stretched beyond normal expectations. Each target area includes a number of sub-targets, 26 in total. The targets are, therefore, particularly challenging. However, if we are successful in achieving some or all of these targets or sub-targets the Council will receive a Performance Reward Grant. We have been able to achieve sustained improvement in these areas.

  3. At present we can report progress on all target areas. Of the 12:
    • 8 are on track to achieve full or partial reward grant;
    • For 1 it is unsure at this stage whether it will achieve target; and
    • 3 are predicted not to achieve target.
  1. The results are summarised at in Annex 1 (download as .xls file).

    2. Raising our Performance 2

  2. Raising our Performance 2 is the Council’s Organisational Improvement Plan for 2003-2005. The Council is developing a new organisational improvement strategy in response to the vision and objectives of the new Cabinet which will replace Raising our Performance 2.

  3. Raising our Performance 2 defined nine key outcomes, most of which have been met successfully. Work is continuing in the following areas to build on the the good base described below:

    • Become an outstanding authority – where we have retained our status as a 3* (good) authority under the new CPA framework.

    • A fresh approach to Human Resources – where we have introduced a new HR strategy

    • Better use of our property and an improved working environment for our employees – where plans are on hold pending clarification of property needs arising from the Shared Service Centre and Realignment

    • Effective performance management – where there are plans to further develop the corporate approach to project management
    • Improved financial management – where an independent report from accountants Robson Rhodes said 'The Council has clearly made considerable progress and improvements in its financial management arrangements'.

Best Value Performance Indicators

17. There are 104 indicators for which we are required to report for 2005/06, which have targets associated with them. The Audit Commission has reported that 'nationally last year, the 'best' performance against targets was in the mid-50%'s'. This is borne out by some informal comparisons we have undertaken. We have achieved target for 58% of indicators. The overall position breaks down as follows:
    • 58% have achieved end of year target;
    • For 4% there is no clear information at present;
    • 38% have not achieved end of year target.
  1. The Council has achieved target or improved performance compared to last year for 77% of indicators.
  2. The results are summarised at Annex 1 (download as .xls file).

    3. RECOMMENDATION

  3. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the report.

COUNTY COUNCIL MANAGEMENT TEAM

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Paul Edwards, Corporate Performance Manager Tel: (01865) 815307

May 2006

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