Agenda item

Report and Presentation of the Executive Director of People

Councillor Gannon, Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources and Councillor Abbott, Cabinet Member for Community Development, Co-operatives and Social Enterprise have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item  

The Committee considered a report and received a presentation of the Executive Director of People which set out the progress made against the Council Plan in the first six months of 2015/16. A copy of the performance report was set out at an appendix. The report had already been approved by Cabinet at their meeting on 5^th January, 2016. The Council’s equality objectives were aligned to the Council Plan priorities and, where available, the report included analysis to show the impact on protected groups in the city. Councillor Abbott, Cabinet Member for Community Development, Co-operatives and Social Enterprise, whose portfolio included Equalities attended the meeting for the consideration of this item. 

The Council Plan setting out the strategic direction and priorities for the next ten years was approved by Council in January, 2014 and refreshed in July, 2015 to reflect the Council’s vision to be a top ten city where everybody could share in the benefits of growth, including the City’s most vulnerable residents.

The report provided a high-level summary and gave an overview including, where applicable, contextual information to describe what was happening in Coventry and how this compared with elsewhere. Where headline indicators had been reported previously, progress had been compared with previous years; where the indicator was new this would form the baseline against which to measure future progress.

Of the 64 headline indicators 33 had improved (52%); 7 stayed the same (11%); 7 had worsened (11%). 4 did not have a target (6%) and progress could not be determined for the remaining 13 (20%). This was expected at half year as a number of indicators were updated annually. Progress had been made in the context of continued cuts to government grants meaning that by 2015 the Council had £200 less to spend per person as compared to 2010.

In relation to the Council’s equality objectives, as a Marmot city, Coventry recognised that health inequalities resulted from other areas of social deprivation. The measures for the wider determinants of health were embedded in the Council Plan helping to make sure that all service areas contributed to reducing health inequality in the city.

The presentation provided further information on the 64 headline indicators which had been categorised as 18 for globally connected, 33 for locally committed and 13 for delivering priorities with fewer resources. Information was also provided on the 59 equality indicators.

The Committee questioned the officers on a number of issues relating to the presentation and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  Whether there was likely to be future indicators for digital connectivity ie for residents and businesses

·  What was required for Coventry to become a Top 10 City

·  Concerns about the statistics relating to schools and recycling and a request for the reasons why the figures have dropped

·  In the present financial climate and the increasing need for reliance on business rates to deliver key services post 2020, what was the current and future position regarding the business rate base

·  Concerns about the lack of reference in the report to Coventry being an Age Friendly city and the need to consider the older generation as well as students when planning for changes in the city centre and elsewhere in the city

·  A reference to the significant numbers of calls being made to the Contact Centre regarding missed bin collections and whether this was impacting on the statistics for recycling

·  Whether the fly tipping figures were affected by a lack of reporting of incidents by residents in certain areas

·  Clarification about why specific reference to Asian Bangladeshi had been included in the education figures for Key Stage 4 and a concern relating to the details for the statistics for early years as to why the figures for Asian Pakistani were lower than those for Asian Bangladeshi and Asian Indian

·  Concerns about the early years figures for boys and the Key Stage 2 and 4 details for Looked After Children – it was clarified that the education statistics would be looked at in greater detail by the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2).

·  A comment that the reduction in the number of employees at the City Council was viewed as a positive.  

RESOLVED that:

(1) Having considered the progress detailed in the half year performance report, the Committee noted that the Education statistics were due to be considered by the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) at their meeting on 25^th February, 2016 including the figures for Looked After Children and Coventry – A Top 10 City was due to be considered at the Committee meeting scheduled for 24^th February, 2016.

(2) Officers be requested to send details of the 59 Equality indicators, as highlighted in the presentation, to Members of the Committee.

(3) Officers be requested to circulate further details regarding the Education headline indicators, including comparison figures for other local authority areas, to Members of the Committee.