Decision details

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) on progress in relation to the relevant parts of the Chief Executive’s Departmental Service Plan for quarter 2 of 2009/10.

The Chief Executive’s Departmental Plan had been approved earlier this year. The purpose of this report was to update the Cabinet Member on performance for the Performance and Partnership Team and Communications Unit against the Departmental Service Plan (3 year strategic objectives) and Annual Service Plan (ASP) as at the quarter 2 of 2009/10. This reporting frequency and approach had been recommended for all portfolio areas.

As part of the performance management framework, all Departmental Service Plans, and Annual Service Plans were entered into the Council’s SPRINT performance management system and officers were required to update progress within that system. A copy of the Departmental and Annual Service Plan quarter 2 update on performance was attached to the report.

Annex 1 of the report gave more detailed information of the quarter 2 2009/10 monitoring for the Department Service Plan that was relevant to the Performance and Governance Portfolio.

The Senior Corporate Support Officer spoke to the report, indicating that updates had been made for all aspects of the funds partnership and the Community Management Team; that an updated version of the Sprint System was being tested, which included improved comparators in the system and would be more user- friendly.  She further stated that officers were not always up to date and that this may indicate a training need, as the system was complex and there could be too much focus on the detail and not enough long term, strategic vision.

The Cabinet Member informed the meeting that Sefton had only just reached compliance state; that the system should be moving on from that situation and that more feedback was useful, as some people felt that the system was not user-friendly.

The Spokesperson had concerns with the communications strategy and the Cabinet Member stated that these could be addressed under agenda item 9

The Cabinet Member expressed concerns that information on targets mentioned on pages 84 to 86 of the annex 1 had not been agreed by Members and he further stated that as the Member responsible, issues should be brought before himself and other Members, for example, he had not been informed of any of the July deadlines mentioned.  Also, he stated that none of the information which was a matter of concern was covered by the Freedom of Information Act

The Assistant Chief Executive (Management) informed the meeting that a number of work streams had been agreed and brought to Cabinet previously and this was now an opportunity to further examine them; that some items were not appropriate for a public meeting and suggested a meeting with the Cabinet Member and the Spokespersons to look at these issues. 

The Spokesperson agreed with the suggestion for a meeting and further stated that there was a lack of resources and that different communication expenditure streams could be sought, for example, by using the shared expertise of the Strategic Borough Partnership to avoid duplication.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Communications) informed the meeting that information on the areas in question had been brought to Cabinet Members and that the Transformation Strategy will look at the use of advertising, marketing ,sharing of staff and other media to achieve economies of scale.

The Cabinet Member commented that some Local Authorities achieved good communication streams without comparable expenditure but that, broadly speaking, performance was satisfactory.

RESOLVED:

That the progress in respect of the Performance and Governance portfolio’s responsibilities within the Chief Executive’s Departmental Service Plan be noted.