Report attached.

Steve Smith (Assistant Director, Commissioning Support Unit) introduced the report. He drew attention to the 64 Key Business Measures (KBMs), 33 of which were within the ambit of the Resources and Fire & Rescue Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The report provided a summary of performance against KBMs.

Councillor Reilly highlighted Section 2.2 of the report which stated that 40% (13) of KPMs had not achieved target levels, commenting that this was an area of concern.

In response, Steve Smith drew attention to the remedial actions identified within the report and highlighted the improvements which could be seen within the Council Plan Quarter 1 Performance Progress Report (agenda item 6). He stated that the impact of COVID-19 had affected the Authority’s performance figures in some areas.

Councillor Kaur commented that several factors had influenced performance reporting, including the ‘revolving door’ effect of measures being revised or discontinued, with new measures being introduced in response to changing demands. She stated that the Authority’s response to coronavirus, which saw library staff being redeployed to support shielding hubs, or Business Support Services diverting resources in support of Communications, had affected the outcome of the report.

Councillor Kaur commented that key performance indicators would be reoriented based upon the COVID-19 Recovery Programme. She added that some areas of concern indicated by the report had been detected prior to the pandemic crisis and were subject to longer-term remedial action.

Councillor Reilly highlighted the importance of maintaining clearly monitorable standards of performance reporting. He stated that it would regrettable to reorient performance indicators where the Authority had failed to meet its targets and noted that the majority of the report related to pre-coronavirus performance. He suggested that where challenges had been detected, the Council should acknowledge the causes and present a plan of action.

Councillor Butlin emphasised that it was important to acknowledge the disruption caused by the outbreak of coronavirus. This had led to resources being diverted across the organisation and postponement of key areas of work. For example, highway improvement work had been impeded by the requirement to introduce social distancing measures on site. He stated that the Council had performed well in difficult circumstances, to the extent that it had been presented as an exemplar by Westminster to other local authorities.

The Chair highlighted that the pandemic crisis had brought about rapid organisational change and the transformation process enacted during the initial six weeks of lockdown would have taken many years to accomplish in ordinary circumstances.

Councillor Kaur agreed, adding that Cabinet had resolved to introduce a cross-party group to track the performance of the COVID-19 Recovery Plan and develop the Council’s priorities for 2021/22. This provided an opportunity for members to contribute to the development of a longer-term performance reporting strategy.

Barnaby Briggs (Assistant Chief Fire Officer) indicated that some figures relating to the performance of the Fire & Rescue Service needed to be viewed in context; for example, the Service would not set a target of anything other than zero in relation to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5