CLACKMANNANSHIRE COUNCIL
Report to Performance and Audit Committee of 19th October 2006
Subject: 2005/06 and 1st Quarter 2006/07 Performance Indicators - Corporate Development
Prepared by: Jeni Graham, Director of Corporate Development Services
1.0SUMMARY
1.1.This report informs Members of performance against the seven Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) for Finance, and against key Balanced Scorecard measures for Corporate Development.
2.0RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1.It is recommended that the Committee notes the performance of the service within Corporate Development and, in particular, the action being pursued by management to ensure continuous improvement.
3.0BACKGROUND
3.1.The Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) are submitted to Audit Scotland annually. These include seven relating to Finance. Of these, three represent top quartile performance, two are 3rd quartile and two are in the bottom quartile.
3.2.There are no specific SPIs for Human Resources or Business Improvement and Technology Services. We intend in the future to obtain suitable benchmarking data from The Society of Personnel Directors and SoCITM to better assess our HR and IT performance. Similarly, appropriate benchmarks will be sought for Business Improvement and Procurement.
3.3.Each service within Corporate Development provided a Balanced Scorecard for Quarter 1 2006/07 and these were included in the report to the August meeting of the Committee.
3.4.In certain cases, no data is available, either because it is a new measure and the data was not previously collected, or data will not be available until a later date, for example, the year end. These are marked as “N/a” – not applicable. Balanced Scorecard measures will continue to develop and evolve over the next few years, and as they do so, our capacity to present more comprehensive data, including comparative data, will improve.
4.0SPI/BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURE - FINANCE
4.1.The following table indicates the SPIs for Finance. Graphs and management comments, including actions, appear in Appendix A.
SPI/Balanced Scorecard Measure / 03/04 / 04/05 / Rank 04/05 / Scot. Ave. 04/05 / 05/06 / 1st Quarter 06/07Council tax – the cost of collecting council tax per dwelling / £15.26 / £14.21 / 23 / £13.54 / £14.07 / N/a
Gross administration cost per Council Tax or Housing Benefit Application / £33.67 / £33.56 / 4 / £55.76 / £39.09 / N/a
Average time taken to process new claims / 33 days / 28 days / 7 / 40.5 / 32 days / 37 days
Percentage of cases for which the calculation of the amount of benefit due was correct on the basis of the information available at the determination. / 98.7% / 99% / 6 / 96.5% / 97.6% / N/a
Council tax – the percentage of council tax income for the year that was collected in the year / 91.0% / 91.3% / 26 / 93.6% / 92.1% / 25.3%
Non-domestic rates – the percentage of non-domestic rates for the year that was collected in the year / 93.3% / 96.0% / 22 / 96.5% / 96.5% / 15.85%
Invoice payment – the percentage of invoices paid within 30 days / 79.0% / 75.9% / 27 / 82.6% / 72.1% / 92.3%
5.0BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES – HUMAN RESOURCES
5.1The following table indicates some of the key Balanced Scorecard Measures for Human Resources. Management comments, including actions, appear in Appendix B.
Balanced Scorecard Measure / 03/04 / 04/05 / 05/06 / Target 06/07 / 1st Quarter 06/07Number of working days to fill vacancy(from request to HR to employee start date) / N/a / N/a / 59 / 46 / 56
Turnover time (days) for grading requests / N/a / N/a / 56 / 16 / 24
6.0BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES – CUSTOMER SERVICE (BITS)
6.1The following table indicates the Balanced Scorecard for Customer Service. Management comments, including actions, appear in Appendix C.
Balanced Scorecard Measure / 03/04 / 04/05 / 05/06 / Target 06/07 / 1st Quarter 06/07Average number of calls per month / N/a / N/a / 18,326 / 14,000 / 14,520
Percentage of calls answered within 20 sec / N/a / N/a / 62% / 70% / 37%
Percentage of calls resolved first time at the Contact Centre / N/a / 67% / 76% / 78% / 65%
7.0BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES – BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT & PROCUREMENT
7.1The following table indicates some of the key Balanced Scorecard Measures for Business Improvement & Procurement. Graphs and management comments, including actions, appear in Appendix D.
Balanced Scorecard Measure / 03/04 / 04/05 / 05/06 / Target 06/07 / 1st Quarter 06/07Statutory PI’s submitted to the external auditor by end August each year / 100% / 100% / 100% / 100% / 100%
Procurement Efficiency Savings (£000) / £198 / £184 / £245 / £140 / N/a
8.0BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES – IT
8.1The following table indicates some of the key Balanced Scorecard Measures for IT. Graphs and management comments, including actions, appear in Appendix E.
Balanced Scorecard Measure / 03/04 / 04/05 / 05/06 / Target 06/07 / 1st Quarter 06/07Cost to support a workstation / £399 / £398 / £238 / £220 / N/a
Cost to support a telephone / N/a / £298 / £147 / £120 / N/a
% of helpdesk calls closed the same day / 40% / 40% / 44% / 45% / 46%
% helpdesk calls open greater than 13 weeks / 30% / 30% / 36% / 25% / 29%
Training hours offered by IT Staff to End users / N/a / N/a / 522 / 500 / 122
Availability of Network / 99.8% / 99.8% / 99.9% / 99.8% / 99.9%
Availability of Hydra / 99.8% / 99.9% / 99.8% / 99.8% / 99.9%
Availability of Systems / 99.8% / 99.8% / 99.9% / 99.8% / 100%
9.0CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT – % DAYS LOST THROUGH STAFF ABSENCE
9.1The following table indicates the percentage of days lost through sickness absence for Corporate Development as a whole. A graph and management comments, including actions, appear in Appendix F.
Balanced Scorecard Measure / 03/04 / 04/05 / 05/06 / Target 06/07 / 1st Quarter 06/07% days lost through staff absence / N/a / N/a / 4.1% / 4.8% / 2.5%
10.0CONCLUSIONS
10.1The Committee are asked to note the report and the management position.
11.0IMPLICATIONS FOR THE COUNCIL
11.1Financial implications:None
11.2Staff implications:None
11.3Strategic aims:None
Create strong, active, safe and caring communities / Achieve local economic prosperity and stability /
Make the most of Clackmannanshire's unique built and natural environment /
Develop a culture of personal achievement where everyone isvalued /
Improve the health of the people of Clackmannanshire /
Represent and promote the interests of all of the people of Clackmannanshire /
Ensure that the people of Clackmannanshire receive the highest quality services for the public pound /
Director of Corporate Development
Appendix A: FINANCE SPI/BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES
Council tax – the cost of collecting council tax per dwelling
This is an improving situation. The key factor here is the increase in dwellings within Clackmannanshire. As the number of dwellings has increased, this has pushed down the unit cost per dwelling.
Action: Continue with current improvement plan
Gross administration cost per Council Tax or Housing Benefit Application:
Increased due to an increase in the number of counter fraud staff employed, which has gone from 2 staff to 4 staff over 2005/06 to ensure we meet Department of Work and Pensions quotas of completing 44 fraud sanctions. Although our costs have increased over 2005/2006, our performance continues to be favourable when compared to the Scottish average.
Action: Continue with current improvement plan
Average time taken to process new claims
There has been a slight decline in performance in the 1st Quarter 2006/07 due to a re-organisation in Revenues and Benefits that took effect in February 2006. Since then a number of new staff have been involved in processing. We expect performance to improve on the completion of training and once sufficient experience is gained.
Action: Improvement Plan in place to reduce the process time for the management of new claims
Percentage of cases for which the calculation of the amount of benefit due was correct on the basis of the information available at the determination.
These figures are based on random samples. Although indicating a decline, the performance reported is within fluctuations that should be expected when sampling techniques are used.
Action: Continue to monitor on a regular basis
Council tax – the percentage of council tax income for the year that was collected in the year
Improving performance. On target to reach annual target and should result in improvement on 2005/06 figures
Non-domestic rates – percentage of income due from non-domestic rates that was received by the end of the year
Improving performance. On target to reach annual target and should result in improvement on 2005/06 figures
Invoice payment – the percentage of invoices paid within 30 days
Performance has improved significantly over the 1st Quarter of 2006/07. This is due mainly to improved staff coaching in existing procedures.
Action: Continue with existing improvement actions.
Appendix B: HUMAN RESOURCES BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES
Number of working days to fill vacancy(from request to HR to employee start date)
Slight improvement, with target to improve further in the course of the year. Several variables are difficult to control such as new employees notice period and timescale for essential pre employment checks, such as Disclosure Scotland.
Action: Recommending that services set and publish a timetable for the recruitment process at the advertising stage to ensure timescales are met. Greater use of e-recruitment should also accelerate timescales as will exploring a general pool of available candidates through inclusive employment initiatives.
Turnover time (days) for grading requests
Significant improvement, but relatively low number processed. Individual cases can vary widely depending on extent of discussion and review of profiles between the service and HR.
Action: The interim process will be simplified pending implementation of the new job evaluation system. We will also be encouraging services to ensure all relevant information on jobs is clarified at the outset.
Appendix C: CUSTOMER SERVICES BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES
Average Number of Calls per Month
The volume of calls continues to rise at a time when resource levels remain static.
Percentage of calls answered within 20 Seconds
August 2006 performance was lowest ever monthly figures for the Contact Centre, representing an unfavourable decline in performance. A report was presented to the Customer First Programme Steering Group outlining potential options available in September 2006. Once the recommendations of the CFPSG have been addressed an updated version will be made available in the Members’ room for the information of Members.
Percentage of calls resolved first time at the Contact Centre
Performance has remained consistently static between 65%-75% over the last few years, just below target.
Action: Further analysis is required on level of service failures and follow ups.
Appendix D: BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT & PROCUREMENT BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES
Procurement Efficiency Savings
Savings through more efficient procurement savings, realised an improvement in performance over 2005/06, above target of £140,000.
Action: continue with current action plan.
Appendix E:INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BALANCED SCORECARD MEASURES
Cost to Support a Workstation and a Telephone
Our decision to move away from traditional PCs to terminals has realised a significant reduction in support and maintenance costs.
A 50% reduction in costs of supporting a telephone on the previous year was due to realising a benefit from investment in new technology.
Percentage of Calls Closed the Same Day and Percentage Calls Open Greater than 13 Weeks
Both measures indicate improvement over last year, with the % calls open greater that 13 weeks in particular demonstrating significant improvement.
Appendix F: CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT – % DAYS LOST THROUGH STAFF ABSENCE
Percentage of Days Lost Through Sickness Absence
This is an area where improvement has been made in the 1st Quarter of 2006/07, however, it is something we will continue to monitor closely. As part of our ongoing drive to improve attendance, we will ensure return to work meetings are undertaken with staff following sickness absences as a matter of routine.
Action: monitor closely and ensure back to work meetings are undertaken.
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