Skip to main content

Agenda item

Financial, Council Priority and Service Improvement Report – 2021-22 Quarter Two

Purpose

To provide an update on progress on the Council’s priorities and service performance.

 

To provide information on the Council’s financial position.

 

Recommendation(s)

That the Committee reviews overall progress on the Council priorities, service delivery and financial performance for 2021-22 Q2.

Minutes:

The Chief Executive, Rob Weaver introduced the report, identifying areas where performance against key performance indicators had dropped and what processes and procedures had been put into place to address these areas.

 

The Committee noted that leisure centres and gyms were operating at around 80% of capacity. Marketing activities were being undertaken to attempt to return usage to pre Covid-19 levels.

 

The Committee noted that in July 2021, the Council had become part of the Green Finance Institute and Abundant Investment and Climate Bonds Campaign.

 

It was further noted by the Committee that Crowdfund Cotswold, facilitated by Spacehive had become one of the most successful community funding schemes in the country.

 

Town and Parish Councils had attended two Council forums in October 2021 which focused on improving relationships, working together and supporting each other as well as discussions on planning and budgets. The Committee noted that future engagement events with Town and Parish Councils were being planned.

 

The Committee noted that performance indicators relating to the time taken to process Council Tax support and determination of planning applications were showing a performance decrease against the specified targets. An injection of resource across both of these areas was helping to reduce the backlog. This included the addition of temporary, experienced staff.

 

The Committee noted that performance improvements had been made in relation to customer satisfaction (feedback and advice provided by Council staff over the telephone) and food safety team inspections being conducted within the specified 28 day timescale (for new businesses and those flagged as being high risk).

 

The Committee noted that missed bin collections were also decreasing despite the national shortage of HGV drivers.

 

The Committee noted that the Council was experiencing a reduced demand for car parking due to the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic which had impacted on revenue generation.

 

The Committee further noted that during school holidays, car parking income increased significantly.

 

Additional waste collections run via Ubico were being undertaken due to the increase in waste being produced by households which had generated further expenditure for the Council.

 

The Committee noted that income from garden waste collections and planning applications had increased.

 

Due to the increases in certain revenues, the Council had not been required to fully utilise the grants offered by the Government.

 

The Committee noted that negotiations in relation to the 2022 pay award remained ongoing.

 

The Committee noted that whilst the Council continued to experience financial challenges, the projected budget by the end of the financial year was showing a potential underspend.

 

In relation to climate bonds, the Committee noted that further work was being undertaken by the legal team in relation to the contractual information before a report would then be submitted for Cabinet consideration. It was anticipated that there would be a bond issuance of around £1 million to be invested in the Council’s green agenda (electric vehicle charging points, improving energy efficiency in Council owned buildings, etc). The bonds would enable members of the public to invest should they wish to do so.

 

The Committee noted that the money generated by the issuing of bonds would be received by the Council to fund Council projects.

 

The Committee noted that a briefing note would be circulated to outline the role of Gloucestershire County Council in contributing to Spacehive projects, specifically how they might work with the Council in any future projects.

 

The Committee noted that an annual charge was payable to Crowdfund Cotswold by the Council for them administering the community funding scheme.

 

The Committee noted that the Council was currently actively recruiting to three vacancies within the planning team. Seven planning staff were now operating on a career-graded scheme which would assist in retaining staff as they developed throughout their employment.

 

The Committee noted that the Performance task and finish group might be best placed to analyse staff turnover within the Council.

 

The Committee noted that discretionary pension payments were payments which needed to be made by the Council into the Gloucestershire Local Government Pension Scheme. The payments were made to individuals who had retired many years ago and as such their contributions needed to be topped up.

 

RESOLVED that the Committee reviews overall progress on the Council priorities, service delivery and financial performance for 2021-22 Q2

 

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

Related Pages