Agenda item

8.1

James Henderson, Director of Policy, Performance and Communications, gave a presentation providing an update on progress in terms of the Council’s major contracts, including Waste Management (Veolia), Streets Ahead (Amey), Housing Investment and Repairs (Kier), Building and Repairs (Kier), Revenue and Benefits, ICT and HR Transactions (Capita).

8.2

Mr Henderson highlighted specific points in terms of the different contracts, as follows:-

·                Waste Management – the proportion of household waste that was recycled or composted had risen in Quarter 2 for the third year in a row, but still remained below the target of 35.19%.

·                Streets Ahead – user satisfaction for Sheffield’s roads had increased in the areas of highway condition, highway maintenance and street lighting.  More detailed performance information would be available on the Streets Ahead contract following a year end review.

·                Housing (Investment and Repairs) – customer satisfaction was performing on target for all indicators, with the exception of the District Heating and Domestic Heating functions. Quality and timeliness of repairs were also generally performing well.

·                Building and Repairs – there had been generally an improving trend in terms of the time taken to complete repairs, and quality checks showed that a high proportion of the work was being carried out to the required standard.  With the exception of November 2014, customer satisfaction scores were showing signs of steady improvement.

·                Revenue and Benefits – work being undertaken to improve on last year’s in-year Council Tax collection rate of 93.7%.  Although performance in Quarter 4 was slightly behind last year, the annual in-year Business Rate collection was expected to be achieved.  The average number of days to process new benefit claims remained within the target of 26 days, although it had risen slightly in the first two quarters of this year.  The number of days taken to process changes in circumstances of benefits customers had also increased slightly.  The percentage of customers satisfied with the service showed an increase in the most recent survey.

·                ICT - majority of performance targets met in Quarter 2, with the exception of Commissioners’ satisfaction and user satisfaction.

8.3

Members of the Committee raised questions and the following responses were provided:-

·                In terms of comparing performance with other local authorities, there were a number of benchmarking clubs, which looked at comparables with regard to contract performance.  If this information were made available, it would be provided in future update reports to the Committee.

·                Depending on the terms of the contract, the Council was able to impose financial penalties if performance targets were not met and had, in fact, done so in the past. 

·                Although the average number of days taken to process new benefit claims and process changes in circumstances relating to benefit entitlement was comparable to, if not better than, the Department for Work and Pensions, more detail on these rates would be included in future update reports.

·                The figures relating to the number of dropped jobs (bins not collected), under the Waste Management contract, related to all the different types of bins and collection boxes.  Officers would look into whether such figures could be broken down to include the different types of bins and collection boxes for future update reports.

·                Whilst recognising the improving satisfaction levels in the housing repairs contract, Members were aware of cases where tenants had experienced problems in getting through on the telephone to Kier, when reporting issues with works already undertaken. There was no information about this in the report.  Officers would look to see if this information was available, and include it on future update reports.

8.4

Members also made the following comments:-

·                It would be useful if details could be provided regarding the number of complaints about holes which had been dug as part of the installation of the new street lighting under Streets Ahead, had been left excavated, often for long periods of time.

·                It appears that, despite problems being experienced as part of the Streets Ahead works, including the issues relating to the replacement of the street lighting, which had been raised at the Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee, lessons had not been learnt on the basis that similar problems were being experienced in other areas of the City.

8.5

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       notes the information reported as part of the presentation now made, the responses to the questions now raised and the additional comments now made;

(b)       thanks James Henderson for the presentation now made and expresses its thanks to Mr Henderson and his colleagues for an excellent presentation;

(c)        expresses concern at the poor performance in connection with Commissioners’ satisfaction and user satisfaction with regard to the ICT contract with Capita; and

(d)       requests:-

(i)       the Director of Policy, Performance and Communications to look into the possibility of including information on future update reports relating to the number and nature of complaints received from customers; and

(ii)      that (A) the Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee has a further look at the Performance Indicators in respect of the Streets Ahead project and (B) the issues relating to customers not being able to get through on the telephone when reporting repairs, or chasing up existing repairs, with Kier, be referred for consideration by the Safer and Stronger Communities Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee.