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You are here: Home > Council and democracy > About the Council > Performance > Service performance

How the Council is performing

This section provides detailed information about how the Council is performing compared against its own local targets and those set nationally.

The Council is always striving to improve its service delivery and works hard to monitor its own performance throughout the year.

One of the main ways a local authority measures its performance is through indicators - or targets for service delivery. In some cases these are local indicators produced by the Council, while others are Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI’s) defined by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

The Council has a statutory obligation to collect BVPI's and publish the results.

The ‘Corporate Health Basket’ of performance indicators

The Council has identified a number of key indicators that are important in judging if we have achieved our own local targets and those set nationally.

This is schedule of key indicators is known as the ‘Corporate Health Basket’. The indicators are grouped by theme, which reflect the Executive portfolios. This basket is scrutinised by senior management, the Executive and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on a quarterly basis.

The Council’s performance is shown in two dimensions

1.  Status – this compares actual performance against the target for the first quarter. Performance is depicted

On or above target =
below target =
within agreed tolerance =

2.  Trend – compares this quarter’s performance with the same quarter last year. Performance is depicted by the following arrows

an improvement on same quarter last year =
a decrease on same quarter last year =
no change compared to same quarter last year =

Against each indicator is a management action/comment, which explains the status/trend reported.

In addition to the agreed set of corporate health indicators, there is the ability to report any other indicators that have been identified for action by a Portfolio holder and or Directors.

The following are the quarterly results reported during 2008-09 

Key points to note from the Quarter 1 2008-09 report.

Areas of good performance should be noted:

The total percentage of recycling and composting has achieved over 40% for the first time reaching 40.54% in Quarter 1
Targets for processing all three types of planning applications were achieved in this quarter.

 Q1 Corporate Heath basket results (XLS opens in new window) (262.5kB)

Further information

You can download detailed spreadsheets showing further information about the Council's performance indicators together with associated management actions where appropriate. Please note that you will need Microsoft Excel to download the following spreadsheets showing individual performance indicators in detail for:

•  Download the 2007/08 year end results (XLS) (312.5kB)
•  2006/07 (XLS) (122.0kB)
•  2005/06 (XLS) (118.5kB)
•  2004/06 (XLS) (105.0kB)
•  2003/04 (XLS) (99.5kB)
•  All BVPIs with improvement targets for each of the next three years (XLS) (149.5kB)

Progress in delivering the 2006/09 Corporate Plan priorities

The Council's progress in achieving the priorities set out in it's 2006/09 Corporate Plan are set out below in the spreadsheets for each of the four programme themes contained within the Plan. It can be seen that good progress is being made in achieving the deliverables set out in the Plan through the projects and major tasks that are being undertaken in order to deliver the priorities contained therein.

•  Programme theme 1 - Caring for our Local Environment (PDF, opens in new window) (31.0kB)
•  Programme theme 2 - Regeneration and New Neighbourhoods (PDF, opens in new window) (64.5kB)
•  Programme theme 3 - Self Reliant and Thriving Communities (PDF, opens in new window) (33.5kB)
•  Programme theme 4 - Value for Money (PDF, opens in new window) (35.5kB)

Staffing Policy for Hiring Contractors

The Council has a statutory responsibility to provide information on it's policy towards protecting its staff on occasions when we hire contractors. This statement must be referenced to this Best Value Performance Plan.

• The Council's staffing policy for hiring contractors

Certification of compliance with the code of conduct on workforce matter

We are required annually to certify that individual contracts entered into comply with best value requirements, including workforce requirements in the code of practice and the accompanying guidance.

During the financial year 2007/08 the Council did not enter into any contracts that involved the transfer of staff.