Council and democracy

The Strategy Manager introduced the report and stated that it provided an update on the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from April to September 2021, which included the period when the UK was moving out of COVID-19 lockdown. She stated that at the end of September 71% of KPIs had met their target, and 60% were better than the previous year. She stated that questions that had been raised by the Committee at the previous meeting had been included at point 3.6 of the report.

Councillor Okunade thanked the team for their hard work in meeting the targets, and highlighted page 48 of the report and the KPI relating to older people still at home91 days after discharge from hospital into reablement or rehabilitation. She asked how this KPI was calculated and specifically why the commentary stated that five people were in hospital, which seemed to contradict the definition. The Strategy Manager replied that the indicator included people who had been readmitted to a hospital within three months after returning home, not necessarily for the same reason for which they were initially in hospital. She explained that the definition for this KPI was nationally set. Councillor Okunade moved on and highlighted page 51 of the report and the KPI relating to the turnaround and re-let time for properties. She felt that Thurrock had an issue with homelessness and should be reducing the turnaround time to ensure all residents had a safe place to stay. She asked what incentives were being utilised to get residents into these houses. The Assistant Director Housing replied that the housing team worked closely with other teams to incentivise people to bid for certain houses, and ensured that people lived well together. She stated that the majority of hard to let properties had now been filled, so the KPI was on track to meet its target during the next quarter.

Councillor Hebb arrived 8.42pm

Councillor Halden highlighted page 53 of the report and the KPI relating to the number of children receiving initial health assessments within 28 days. He stated that this KPI had reduced from 80% to 61% of children receiving these assessments due to families not consenting and/or procedural delays. He asked for clarification on the percentage of these cases not receiving an initial health assessment for the latter reason compared to the former, and more information on what was being done to improve this. The Strategy Manager stated that she would liaise with colleagues in Children’s Services to reply in writing.

Councillor Kent thanked the Strategy Manager for the responses to the questions asked by the Committee, outlined on page 57. He highlighted the KPI relating to new homes built this year and stated that only 195 new homes and been built last year, and felt this should be higher. He also stated that the KPI relating to the payment of fixed penalty notices should be improving and asked to see a clear action plan put in place to ensure it met its target next quarter.

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

1. Noted and commented upon the performance of the key corporate performance indicators, in particular those areas which were off target and the impact of COVID-19.
2. Identified any areas which required additional consideration.