Agenda item

            The Strategic Director of City and Organisation Strategy submitted the following report:

 

“1.0      Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

 

1.1       The purpose of this report is to provide members with an update on the proposed amendments to the performance indicators to be included in the Council’s 2023-24 Performance Improvement Plan following discussions and engagement with the NI Audit Office (NIAO) and Department for Communities (DfC).

 

2.0       Recommendation

 

2.1       The Committee is asked to:

 

·        agree to the recommended changes to the performance indicators to be included in the Performance Improvement Plan 2023-24.

·        provide approval for officers to update and publish the Performance Improvement Plan 2023-24 following final agreement with DfC and NIAO.

 

3.0       Main Report

 

            Background

 

3.1       Part 12 of the Local Government (NI) Act requires Councils to agree improvement objectives on an annual basis and publish these in the form of a Performance Improvement Plan.  In August 2023, Members agreed the Performance Improvement Plan 2023-24, which contains our commitment to securing continuous improvement as well as delivery of five improvement objectives. The Act also requires us to monitor and report on progress in an annual assessment of performance.

 

            Improvement Plan 2023-24

 

3.2       In August 2023, the SP&R Committee approved the Performance Improvement Plan for 2023-24. It was then published on the council website as required by legislation. To date, Council has provided two quarterly delivery updates to the NIAO for 2023-24 and was in the process of compiling a Quarter 3 report. However, following recent feedback, engagement and discussions with senior officials within the NIAO and the DfC, officers have been working to revise and amend a number of our performance indicators to ensure that we can report on our progress and performance more effectively going forward. 

 

3.3       The Improvement Plan 2023-24 sets out the following improvementobjectives:

Our services and facilities

Maintain and where appropriate improve resident satisfaction with the council and the services and facilities that we provide.

Our communities

Improve our local areas and enhance how we engage and support residents so everyone can enjoy good quality of life.

Our economy

Help small businesses, including social enterprises and co-operatives, to develop and grow, and by doing so, help create opportunities for local jobs and employment.

Our environment

Help tackle climate change, protect our environment, and improve the sustainability of Belfast.

Our city

Revitalise our city and help it to innovate in an inclusive and sustainable way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.4       Each improvement objective is supported by a range of actions and milestones that we are required to report on quarterly. Several KPIs and targets are also attributed to help us evidence the extent to which we have achieved our objectives.

 

            Officers have engaged with the CMT and brought a report to Audit and Risk Panel on the 5 March, to outline and agree the approach and next steps to revising the KPIs within the current Performance Improvement Plan 2023-24, subject to SP&R approval of the changes and final agreement with the DfC and NIAO.

 

3.5       A revised copy of the Improvement Objectives with the proposed new indicators is attached in Appendix 1 and the changes are summarised below: 

 

            Please note:

 

·        Current KPIs that have been scored through are recommended to be removed.

·        Current KPIs not scored through will remain.

·        Proposed new / additional KPIs in green have been agreed by departments (data will be available for reporting and aligned to improvement objectives).

 

 

Improvement Objective 1: Our services and facilities Maintain and where appropriate improve resident satisfaction with the council and the services and facilities that we provide.
Current KPIs	Proposed new / additional KPIs
·    Resident satisfaction with Belfast City Council ·    Percentage of residents who agree that council provides good customer service ·    Percentage of residents who agree that is easy to contact the council or access council services ·    Percentage of residents who agree Council provides good value for money ·    Percentage of residents who agree their local area is clean and attractive ·    Resident satisfaction with sports and leisure facilities.	·    Customer contact service level (people answered within 120 secs) ·    Percentage of corporate complaints resolved within timeframe. ·    Number of adult and junior leisure centre monthly prepaid memberships (including swim school). ·    Throughput / footfall – number of people using leisure centres (individual unique customer visits).

 

 

Improvement objective 2: Our communities Improve our local areas and enhance how we engage and support residents so everyone can enjoy good quality of life.
Current KPIs	Proposed new / additional KPIs
·    Percentage of residents who are satisfied with their local area a place to live. ·    Percentage of residents who agree council shows good leadership. ·    Percentage of residents who agree council consults and listens to the views of local residents. ·    Percentage of residents who agree that their local area has good quality parks and green. ·    Percentage of residents using council parks at least monthly (resident survey data). ·    Number of parks and green spaces with green flag accreditation.          ·    Number of responses to consultation surveys per annum (via Your Say Belfast). ·    Public participation levels in participatory budgeting (PB) decision making events. ·    Number of residents accessing online cost-of-living support and advice or ‘warm and welcome spaces’.	·    Investment in new/ upgraded playgrounds. ·    Total BCC capital investment in neighbourhoods.

 

 

 

Improvement objective 3: Our economy Help small businesses, including social enterprises and co-operatives, to develop and grow, and by doing so, help create opportunities for local jobs and employment.
Current KPIs	Proposed new / additional KPIs
·    Number of jobs promoted through the ‘Go For It’ programme [Statutory performance indicator] ·    Business start-up and growth activity: -        Number of business plans developed -        Number of participants or businesses supported	·    No additional indicators required / recommended

 

 

 

Improvement objective 4: Our environment Help tackle climate change, protect our environment, and improve the sustainability of Belfast.
Current KPIs	Proposed new / additional KPIs
·    Percentage of residents who agree that Belfast is an environmentally friendly city ·    One Million Trees Programme - number of trees planted per annum. ·    Carbon disclosure project (CDP) score ·    Northern Ireland environmental benchmarking survey rating. ·    Amount of (tonnage) of biodegradable council collected waste that is landfilled  [Statutory performance indicator] ·    % of household waste collected that is sent for recycling (or prepared for re-use) [Statutory performance indicator] ·    Amount (tonnage) of council collected municipal waste arisings [Statutory performance indicator]	·    % of the council’s vehicle fleet switching fuel consumption to HVO

 

 

Improvement Objective 5: Our city Revitalise our city and help it to innovate in an inclusive and sustainable way.
Current KPIs	Proposed new / additional KPIs
·    Resident satisfaction with Belfast as a place to live ·    Percentage of residents who agree the city centre is vibrant and attractive, with lots going on ·    Percentage of residents who agree that Belfast: - is easy to get about - has good infrastructure ·    Number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and companies directly engaged in the Smart District programme.	·    The total number of previously vacant city centre properties that have been awarded the Vacant to Vibrant grant and will become occupied as a result of the intervention. ·    The total amount of funding (£) awarded to city centre traders to address vacancy. ·    The total number of people engaged (traders, developers, business owners, landlords etc) in assisting with the completion of applications to the Vacant to Vibrant intervention.

 

 

            Current KPIs

 

            Planning [Statutory performance indicators]

 

·        Average (weeks) processing time for major planning applications

·        Average (weeks) processing time for local planning applications

·        Percentage of enforcement cases processed within 39 weeks.

 

3.6       Next steps

 

·        Subject to SP&R approval, officers will present the revised KPIs to DfC and NIAO for final agreement.

·        Subject to approval by DfC and NIAO, officers will publish the revised Performance Improvement Plan 2023-24 on our website and will submit a combined Q3 and Q4 update to the SP&R Committee in June 2024.  This combined Q3 and Q4 and all future reports will be based on the revised KPIs. 

 

3.7       Financial and Resource Implications

 

            There are no finance or resource implications contained within this report.

 

3.8       Equality or Good Relations Implications/Rural Needs Assessment

 

            There are no equality implications contained in this report.”

 

 

            During discussion, several Members expressed the view, that whilst there was a need to have wider and more ambitious KPIs, there was also a need to retain some of the existing ones and expand on some of the newer ones and the undernoted points were made:

 

·        Under objective 1: Our services and facilities – the following KPIs should be retained:

o   percentage of residents who agree that it is easy to contact the council or access council services; and

o   percentage of residents who agree their local area is clean and attractive.

 

·        Improvement objective 2: our communities – there was a need to incorporate, in some form, the KPI on the percentage of residents who are satisfied with their local area as a place to live.

 

·        Under Improvement objective 1 – the need to capture the throughput/footfall – number of users of other Council owned leisure/health/community sites.

 

 

            The Committee:

 

·      agreed to the recommended changes to the performance indicators to be included in the Performance Improvement Plan 2023-24, subject to the retention of suitable alternative measures for the following KPIs under Improvement Objective 1:

o   percentage of residents who agree that it is easy to contact the council or access council services;

o   percentage of residents who agree their local area is clean and attractive;

 

·      noted that the Director would look at how to include other comments in relation to value for money; residents’ satisfaction with their local area and footfall/throughput of people using other council-owned leisure/health/community sites; and

·      granted approval for officers to update and re-publish the Performance Improvement Plan 2023-24 following final agreement with the Department for Communities and the Northern Ireland Audit Office.