Agenda item

Report and presentation of the Chief Executive

Councillor Duggins, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item 

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive concerning the One Coventry Plan Annual Performance Report 2018/19 which covered the progress made towards the Plan during the previous year. A copy of the performance report was set out at an appendix to the report. The report was due to be considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 27^th August, 2019. Councillor Duggins, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership attended the meeting for the consideration of this item.

Consideration of the report allowed Members the opportunity to identify any areas that required additional scrutiny.

The report indicated that One Coventry described the Council’s objectives, key strategies and approaches. The Plan was for the period 2014 to 2024 and was last refreshed in 2016. It built on the Council’s long-standing principles (being globally connected, locally committed, and working together to deliver priorities with fewer resources) and set out new ways of working to help the Council face the challenges of increasing demand and reduction in funding.

The annual performance report sets out the progress made towards the One Coventry Plan. For each objective, this report set out the trends, actions taken, and performance metrics, to provide an objective assessment of the progress made against previous years and other places. Agreed indicators were used to show progress made towards the priorities. This was supported by a range of measures such as equality and perception measures that helped explain the trends and story behind the headlines. Indicators were selected from key strategies and aligned to directorate priorities and equality and health inequalities objectives.

Further information including infographics, open data, maps and a publication schedule were available online. This year, progress had been made towards developing a Citywide Intelligence Hub, a one-stop data platform providing a “single source of truth” of data and evidence about Coventry.

Of the 75 headline indicators, 42 indicators improved; 10 stayed the same; 15 indicators got worse; 7 indicators couldn’t be determined or there was no clear direction of travel; and progress was not available for 1 indicator. This meant that, at the end of the year, 78% of directional indicators had improved or stayed the same. This compared to 71% in 2017/18 and 75% in 2016/17.

The Committee noted that the progress had been maintained in the context of continued and sustained reduction in the overall resources available to the Council, with resources from the Local Government Finance Settlement had fallen by £113m in the period between 2010/11 and 2018/19. 

The report also set out how the Council was addressing equality and health inequalities. Appendix 2 to the report set out the Council’s performance management framework which detailed how the Council planned and organised its resources to achieve its vision and priorities. 

Councillor Duggins, Cabinet Member referred to the Climate Change strategy and to City of Culture and to the likelihood of additional performance indicators relating to these areas being included in due course.

Members questioned the officer on a number of issues and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  Support for the informative document which allowed the opportunity to revisit performance in key areas

·  An acknowledgement of Coventry being second only to Cambridge in the number to patent registrations

·  A request for further details about numbers of job seekers, fly tipping and street cleansing on a ward by ward basis

·  Suggestions to include ethnicity information on the life expectancy number 10 bus route diagram and the inclusion of a gender analysis of business leads in future annual performance reports

·  A suggestion of using discreet cctv at fly-tipping hotspots

·  Support for including new performance indicators on the Climate Change strategy and the City of Culture in the report in due course

·  Support for the increase in footfall in the city centre and an acknowledgement of the likelihood of a further increase due to the opening of The Wave

·  Concerns about the private rental sector housing market, in particular the high rents which could also lead to fuel poverty and the aspiration for vacant student homes to be used by local families

·  Whether landlords were making a profit which was having a negative effect on accommodation standards

·  A suggestion that the two local universities be requested to consider selling surplus properties to local families rather than buy to let investors.

RESOLVED that:

(1) The Council’s performance, as set out in the performance report, be noted

(2) Cabinet be requested to consider the following matters for future performance reports:

i) Consideration be given to including information on fly-tipping and street cleansing on a ward by ward basis on the online tool

ii) Consideration be given to including ethnicity information on the life expectancy no 10 bus route diagram in future annual performance reports

iii) In relation to Supporting Local businesses, consideration be given to the inclusion of a gender analysis of business leads in future annual performance reports

iv) The intention to include City of Culture and Climate Change in future annual performance reports be noted

(3) The Cabinet Member for City Services be requested to consider the concerns raised regarding local hotspots for fly-tipping, in particular when on privately owned land, and the use of cctv

(4) Further consideration to be given to the issues raised relating to the private rental sector housing including high rents, fuel poverty and the freeing up of student homes for local families, in conjunction with the current work on selective and additional licensing.