Agenda item

The Chair recommended that, due to the cross-cutting nature of the items, the Corporate Performance and Risk reports (Q1) should be discussed together.

·      It was agreed that OSMB’s revised approach would be to identify concerns and prioritise items within the performance report, with reference to the corporate risk report, with a view to delegating to the relevant Commission to scrutinise in detail.  This was a recommendation from the training Members recently received from the Centre for Governance & Scrutiny.

·      It was explained that this approach would enable valuable scrutiny of performance by each Commission; and would provide an ability for relevant officers and Cabinet Members to attend and contribute to a scrutiny meeting where appropriate.

The Head of Insight, Performance and Intelligence introduced the Performance Report, and the Risk & Insurance Officer introduced the Risk Report.

·      The Chair explained that the OSMB Lead Member had identified initial themes in the Performance report which required attention. These were;

o    BPC222 ‘Increase the take-up of free early educational entitlement by eligible 2 year olds’

o    BPB528 ‘Increase the percentage of employment offers made to people living in the 10% most deprived areas’

o    BPC541 ‘Increase the percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting’

·      The Chair of the People Scrutiny Commission brought the Board’s attention to Performance Indicator BPB225e ‘Increase the percentage of Final EHCPs issued within 20 weeks excluding exception cases’; that, although this Indicator provided a positive performance measure, he thought  there could be issues with EHCPs, and so the detail behind this indicator required further scrutiny and explanation.  It was also suggested that this should be flagged as a higher risk.

·      The Chief Executive stated that he and relevant senior officers were aware of the situation and growing challenge related to EHCPs, and provided reassurance that there was ongoing consideration of the issues.

·      Performance Indicator BPB124a ‘% of major residential planning applications processed within 13 weeks or as otherwise agreed’ was raised as a concern, as it potentially contradicted other goals, which included the ability to achieve positive outcomes from a negotiation process within the allotted time. 

·      There was a discussion about the wellbeing performance indicators and the Board was advised that some of the indicators that displayed ‘Annual – data not due’ were aligned with the Quality of Life Survey, and there were lags in some of the data fields, which would be reviewed early 2022.

·      There was a discussion about ‘major threat’ risks which remained amber for four quarters and Members were advised that this would be passed to the risk owners and those which remained at the same score over a number of quarters were flagged and reviewed at Executive Director meetings.

·      The corporate risk CRR42 ‘Provision of Leisure Centres’ was discussed within the context of the proposed closure of Kingsdown Leisure Centre. The Board was advised that the risk owner was responsible for the scoring of the risk, and the reporting period for this report was up to 1 July, which was before the closure proposal was known.

·      The Chair recommended that the three critical threat risks, listed below, should be taken to the appropriate Scrutiny Commission for detailed Scrutiny; 

o    CRR41 ‘Long Term Major Capital projects’ (Growth & Regeneration Scrutiny Commission)

o    CRR32 ‘Failure to deliver enough affordable Homes to meet the City’s needs’ (Growth & Regeneration Scrutiny Commission)

o    CRR9 ‘Safeguarding Vulnerable Children’ (People Scrutiny Commission)

·      There was a discussion about the timeliness of performance reports; the Board proposed that, to enable valuable scrutiny, they should have sight of the reports in parallel with Cabinet Members, or as soon as possible after. It was agreed that this suggestion would be submitted to the 2^nd November Cabinet meeting via a statement from OSMB.

RESOLVED;

That;

·      Performance Indicator BPC541 ‘Increase the percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting’ and Risk CRR42 ‘Provision of Leisure Centres’ be referred to the Communities Scrutiny Commission;

·      Performance Indicators BPB225e ‘Increase the percentage of Final EHCPs issued within 20 weeks excluding exception cases’; BPC222 ‘Increase the take-up of free early educational entitlement by eligible 2 year olds’ and BPB528 ‘Increase the percentage of employment offers made to people living in the 10% most deprived areas’; and Risk CRR9 ‘Safeguarding Vulnerable Children’ be referred to the People Scrutiny Commission

·      Performance Indicator BPB124a ‘% of major residential planning applications processed within 13 weeks or as otherwise agreed’; and Risks CRR41 ‘Long Term Major Capital projects’ and CRR32 ‘Failure to deliver enough affordable Homes to meet the City’s needs’ be referred to the Growth & Regeneration Scrutiny Commission;

·      That a statement by OSMB be made to Cabinet setting out the points outlined above in relation to various indicators; asking that consideration be given to sharing the performance data with Scrutiny as soon as possible; and inviting Cabinet Members to join future performance discussions at the relevant Scrutiny Commission meetings.