Lead Member – Cllr Alex Wagner, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Communities

Lead Officer – Jess Edwards, Business Intelligence and Insight Manager

RESOLVED:

1. To note progress to date in achieving the outcomes of The Shropshire Plan, utilising the interactive Shropshire Plan Performance Dashboard
2. To collectively review and align Shropshire’s Performance Management Framework and the associated suite of KPIs with the new administration’s priorities, Corporate Plan and the Local Government Outcomes Framework metrics.

The report was presented by the Leader of the Council, who explained that the performance report was being reformed to be more meaningful and informative.  She referred to the live dashboard which would inform the actions of the Improvement Board.

She reported that 74% of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were meeting their targets, early years provision was ranked second in the country and teams were working hard throughout the council under extraordinary pressure.

Discussion covered areas of concern including staff sickness absence and turnover, and an increase in households in bed and breakfast accommodation.  In terms of staff, the Leader reported that the Corporate Peer Challenge the new administration had requested had identified low staff morale and understaffing; another Pulse Survey was being conducted to gather current staff feedback, and a People Plan was being developed to improve working conditions, staff engagement, and organisational culture.  Senior leadership forums and informal staff webinars had also been introduced to increase visibility and transparency and had helped managers from different departments to connect and share ideas.

The reduction of households in B&B accommodation was a priority, with recent improvements and new units coming online.

Other areas of discussion covered capacity in environmental health for food hygiene inspections, recycling rates and broadband access.  It was felt the Performance Indicator for broadband access did not accurately represent the situation in Shropshire and work was underway to measure this in a more meaningful way.

It was acknowledged that financial and operational constraints were impacting performance but there was a commitment to ongoing improvement, staff support, and more realistic reporting and planning.

RESOLVED:

1. To note progress to date in achieving the outcomes of The Shropshire Plan, utilising the interactive Shropshire Plan Performance Dashboard
2. To collectively review and align Shropshire’s Performance Management Framework and the associated suite of KPIs with the new administration’s priorities, Corporate Plan and the Local Government Outcomes Framework metrics.

To note progress to date in achieving the outcomes of The Shropshire Plan (TSP) and confirm that the KPIs currently agreed remain the same for Q2 of 2025/2026 and thereafter, be aligned to the refresh of TSP in 2025/26.

TO FOLLOW

The Executive Director of Public Health presented the Quarter 2 performance monitoring report, outlining areas of improvement and concern against the Shropshire Plan’s strategic objectives using Key Performance Indicators. The report format had been updated to provide more detailed information, as requested by Cabinet and the committee.

The Committee asked questions about the reasons for increase in bed and breakfast placements, reduction in available social housing and more people presenting as homeless.  The Executive Director said she understood the reduction in social housing was due to complex factors including turnaround times for void properties and delays in temporary facilities coming online.  Further detail could be made available from the xxxx if required.

A number of members queried the measurement methodology used to  claim that 99.7% of households had access to superfast broadband, this was misleading especially relating to rural communities.   Officers explained that this metric was based on a public data source and that this could be reviewed and potentially changed to better reflect reality.

Members asked why there was difficulty recruiting staff particularly in relation to food hygiene inspection and education health and care plans,  and what was being done about this.  Officers explained that recruitment issues stemmed from national skill shortages, access to training as well as local factors. A People Plan was being developed to improve attractiveness, retention and morale. 

Other areas discussed included the slight improvement in freedom of information performance, reduction in use of agency staff, and suicide rate.  The number of KPIs was also discussed and whether there were too many.   The Committee noted that going forwards, KPIs would focus on priority areas guided by the new Improvement Plan and Corporate Plan.