200218 Corporate Board Item 7 Performance & Budget ... · for Richmond (Yorks) compared with 43 for the whole of 2016/17. These were dealt with in an average of 11.7 days (7.2 days

Item 7 Corporate Board 20 February 2018 PERFORMANCE & BUDGET MONITORING REPORT 2017/18 – QUARTER 3 Report of Senior Management Team

All Wards Key Decision = N

1.0 Purpose of Report 1.1 The Performance and Budget Monitoring Report seeks to bring together key

aspects of the Council’s performance on a quarterly basis. The report is to update Members on performance against key service performance indicators, as well as against the Council’s Business Plan, and also provides details of the financial position (revenue and capital) of the Council as at the end of December 2017.

2.0 Decisions Sought 2.1 Members are requested to note the performance and actions taken as a result of

performance issues, and to approve the amendments to the projected spend as identified in section 6 below.

3.0 Background 3.1 The Council Plan was finalised and was approved by both Corporate Board and

Council during October 2015. A review of progress against the plan was presented to the June 2017 Corporate Board and a refresh was considered at the November 2017 Corporate Board. Spokesperson roles are aligned to the themes and Performance Briefings take place between the Member Spokespeople, Scrutiny Chair and Deputy, and the relevant Corporate Director.

4.0 Performance 4.1 Attached at Appendix 1 is a summary of the key points raised at the three

Performance Briefings. A full set of papers for each Directorate as presented at the briefings is attached at Appendices 2 to 4.

4.2 The key performance issues at Quarter 3, reported by Directorate are as follows:- Operational Services

• Council rent arrears – a target of £166,000 by 31 March 2018 has been set against outturn performance of £172,265 for last financial year. At the end of quarter 1 rent arrears totalled £186,115 and this had reduced by the end of quarter 2 at £182,863. This figure has further reduced to £156,504 at the end of quarter 3, which is very encouraging. A key issue continues linked to increasing

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numbers of tenants switching to Universal Credit and the associated delays. Delays associated with Universal Credit can extend to 8 weeks and above and the time taken to organise “managed payments” (direct payments to the Council) can also be significant. Universal Credit related arrears currently account for approximately 50% of all rent arrears. The housing team continue to work through these issues and delays and this appears to be paying dividends based on quarter 3 performance.

• Car park income – the original target of £293,000 has been updated to £351,600 to include VAT. This is to make sure the target and the performance are reported on a consistent basis. Income to the end of Q3 was £350,607.

• Re-letting empty Council properties – a target for 17/18 has been set to re-let

properties needing minor repairs within 17 working days. Performance during quarter 1 was 21 days, which reduced to 19 days during quarter 2, showing improved performance. However, performance dropped during quarter 3 to 21 days, 4 days above target. The reasons behind the worsening performance are a high volume of empty properties (26 since 31st October alone) compounded by staff sickness and vacancies. Increased empty properties are attributable to more sheltered scheme vacancies and some vacancies related to anti-social behaviour in certain parts of Colburn. The target still remains achievable but challenging.

• Recycling rates – there is a time lag between quarter ends and when dry

recycling rates are known which means best estimates are used at the end of each quarter. The outturn at the end of quarter 2 was 40%, the same as quarter 1 performance of 40%. The estimated rate at the end of quarter 3 is 37%, compared to 35% at the same point last year. The main reason for the fall in quarter 3 is the cessation of the collection of garden waste.

• Green waste subscription service – an income target of £212,000 has been set

for the full year with income of £216,000 being achieved by the end of quarter 2.Take-up is currently 42% with the bulk of subscribers already accounted for. Income remained at £216,000 during quarter 3.

Resources

• Front office customer satisfaction is at 91% for Q3, a slight decline from 92% for Q2. This compares to a target of 90%. Customer satisfaction for the contact centre saw a big improvement to 91% from 82% for Q2.

• Corporate sickness levels for the third quarter are over target (5.71 per FTE

compared to a target of 4.13 per FTE for the year to date). This is a decline on 2016/17 actuals (5.07 for the first three quarters in 2016/17, and 6.84 for the full year).

• Housing Benefit claims’ processing continues to be very good, although reduced

from Q1 and Q2 (19.47 days compared to 17.71 days for the whole of 2016/17). The national average for processing of claims is 22 days for new claims and 10 days for change of circumstances as at 2016/17. Change of circumstances processing is 5.33 days compared to 3.16 days in Q2.

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• Council tax collection rates (88.28%) are in line with previous years and with

expectations at this point; Business rates collection is also on target and in line with last year at 88.36%

• During the third quarter of 2017/18 the Council received 10 letters from the MP

for Richmond (Yorks) compared with 43 for the whole of 2016/17. These were dealt with in an average of 11.7 days (7.2 days in Q2).

Strategy and Regulatory

• The Register of Electors was successfully published as required on 1st

December 2017 and it was pleasing to note that the return rate was 99.01% which compares with 96% for the same period last year. This higher rate was because there was a longer time period for responses and a proactive data mapping process. This year Officers took time to undertake a data matching exercise which has improved the accuracy of the Register and 36,608 electors are now registered. Last year the figure was 36,110. Rolling Registration has now commenced which means that the register will be updated on a monthly basis and the first update to the Register was on 2nd January.

• Environmental Health First response to planning applications – 97% - This performance indicator continues to be a priority for the Team and continues to operate above target at 97%. This has been as a focused response following Member queries about lower performance figures in 14/15 however, since that date we have now had 36 months of consistently high performance.

• Development Management P.I.’s less than 33% of planning appeals allowed - The Q3 position is that so far this year we have had five appeals with one allowed. The performance in relation to planning appeals is important because Government have announced that they intend linking planning appeal performance to both their special measures regime and also the payment of New Homes Bonus.

• Between 40% - 50% of searches completed within 7 working days - A good level

of performance has been maintained during this quarter and it has been possible to exceed the target with 56% of searches being completed within 7 days.

5.0 Revenue Budgets 2017/18 General Fund 5.1 The Council set the General Fund budget for 2017/18 in February 2017 at

£6,046,600 in line with the approved Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) in place at the time.

5.2 This original General Fund budget by Directorate is set out below:

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Corporate Directorate Original

Budget £

Technical Adjustments

£

Working Budget

£ Operational Services 2,103,900 47,200 2,151,100 Resources 1,899,800 (71,600) 1,828,200 Strategy & Regulatory 2,020,400 24,400 2,044,800 Drainage Board Levies 22,500 22,500 Net Revenue Expenditure 6,046,600 0 6,046,600

Housing Revenue Account 5.3 At the same meeting of the Council, Members also approved the original budget for

2017/18 for the Housing Revenue Account as follows:

Housing Revenue Account Original Budget

£ Gross Expenditure 6,403,500 Gross Income (6,479,300) Estimated Net (Surplus) for Transfer to Reserve

(75,800)

6.0 Updated Revenue Budget Position to December 2017, Quarter 3 6.1 The latest financial position for each Corporate Directorate is presented in the

detailed papers attached at Appendices 2 to 4, which formed the basis for discussions at the Performance Briefings held. A number of variances are identified which result in a recommendation from those briefings that Members approve the request to revise the original budget in order to reflect the latest estimate of the revenue outturn for the Council.

6.2 All the planned efficiencies for 2017/18 have been adjusted in the budgets allocated

to services this year and are therefore being achieved, unless reported otherwise through the directorate financial positions included in Appendices 2 to 4. Plans are well developed for the delivery of efficiencies for 2018/19 and 2019/20.

General Fund 6.3 The detail of proposed amendments to the budget are set out in Appendices 2 to

4. 6.4 A summary of the impact of those amendments is set out in the table below. As

can be seen the in-year cumulative position is showing an underspend of £198,930. This includes an overspend of £5,370 declared at Quarter 1 and then an underspend of £204,300 at Quarter 2 and an underspend of £104,920. Members agreed, at the November 2017 Corporate Board that the contribution from reserves of £137,359 that was expected to be needed to balance the budget is not used, leaving a current underspend of £166,791 available to fund the capital plan. The MTFS expected budget adjustments reflects the most recent version of the MTFS as included at Item 6 Appendix 1 – Annex C.

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6.5 The significant items within the Q3 underspend are £81,000 of planning income following higher than budgeted income mostly for small schemes. There is also a £24,600 underspend in car parking costs due to an appeal on the rateable values. There are a number of other smaller items that are described in the appendices.

General Fund 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 £ £ £ £ Original Revenue Budget 6,024,100 5,720,550 5,962,400 6,145,650 Drainage Board Levy 22,500 22,200 23,500 24,900 Total Budget 6,046,600 5,742,750 5,985,900 6,170,550 MTFS expected budget changes (inc efficiency plan) – Feb CB updated version

(61,700) 183,250 111,200

Drainage Board Levy Adjustment

(300) 1,300 1,400 1,500

Variance to date Operations 61,000 (61,000) Resources (185,630) 185,630 Strategy and Regulatory (74,000) 74,000

Quarter 3 Variance

Operations (24,600) 24,600 Resources 2,680 (2,680) Strategy and Regulatory (83,000) 83,000 Latest Budget Outlook 5,720,550 5,962,400 6,145,650 6,256,850 Latest Drainage Board Levy

22,200 23,500 24,900 26,400

Total Budget 5,742,750 5,985,900 6,170,550 6,283,250

Funding Available (5,909,241) (5,967,750) (5,736,653) (5,767,922) Estimated contribution from reserves

0 (18,150) (433,897) 0

Overall cumulative Funding (Surplus)/Shortfall at Q3

(166,491) 0 0 515,328

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Housing Revenue Account 6.6 Details of expected variances from budget are discussed in the Performance

Briefing report attached at Appendix 2. At Quarter 3 these include some underspends due to vacant posts and various underspends across Sheltered housing

7.0 Sensitivity Analysis and other items affecting outturn

The detailed reports contain sections on the risks faced, and how these are being addressed. Key risk areas across the Council are housing benefits (partly due to the implementation of Universal Credit), waste expenditure as a result of changes to rounds, transport as a result of obtaining the new fleet and the variability of planning income. The detail is contained in the appendices and is therefore not replicated here.

While significant work has been undertaken to ensure that budget monitoring is

accurate there are a number of items that have an impact at year end that cannot accurately be estimated but do have an impact on the outturn figures. This can include

• IAS19 pension adjustments • Provision for bad debts, and • Collection fund adjustments

8.0 Capital Programme 8.1 The capital monitoring statement showing actual expenditure as compared with the

Capital Programme for individual capital schemes to the end of Quarter 3, 31 December 2017, is attached at Appendix 5 for Members’ information.

8.2 The ICT Capital Plan has been reviewed and has identified £170,000 of budget that

can be removed from the capital programme in 2017/18. This is a mixture items that are no longer required e.g. because we no longer expect to procure a new system or items that are now included in later years in the 2018/19 capital.

8.3 Within Strategy and Regulatory there is an overspend of £22,590 in relation to

Disabled Facilities grants but this is balanced out by increased funding. There are no significant variances within Operations at Q3.

8.4 There continues to be a budget pressure on Housing Revenue Account capital

expenditure, the current budget also includes £150,000 of savings to be made in year, so far around £37,100 have been identified from the Programme, this leaves an additional £90,850 that would need to be funded from reserves..

8.5 It is proposed that the current projected underspend of £166,491 in General Fund is

used as a revenue contribution to Capital rather than potentially needing to undertake a small amount of Capital borrowing to fund in year spend and to reduce the capital receipts used to fund in year expenditure if possible.

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9.0 Recommendations It is recommended that Members:

(a) Note the financial performance in Q3 and the use to fund the capital plan

(b) Note the position on performance against the Council Plan reported in Appendices 1 to 4;

(c) Approve the amendments to the Capital Plan as set out in paragraph 8 above

and detailed in Appendices 1 to 4. 10.0 Corporate Implications

Scrutiny Consultation Not applicable. Community Engagement None. Environment & Sustainability None. Financial Implications The financial implications of this report

are set out in the Appendices. Legal Implications There are no legal implications to this

report. Risk Implications There are no risks associated with approving this report. However the risks associated with not receiving regular monitoring reports are potentially quite serious. Risk in not receiving regular budget monitoring reports and not approving the recommendations within those reports:- Risk Implication Prob* Imp* Category Preventative

action Medium term financial strategy

Failure to deliver and sustain a MTFS on a regular basis/annually for a 4 year period results in inability to deliver core services, balance the budget, public dissatisfaction

M

H

2

Budget Monitoring is a key part of maintaining delivery of a balanced budget.

Prob = Probability, Imp = Impact, Score range is Low / Medium / High Human Resource Implications None. Equalities Implications All aspects of performance and budget

monitoring have a potential impact on Equalities and Diversity. However, there are no issues highlighted that have not been previously considered for action. The updated Customer Services Strategy has had an Equalities Impact Assessment undertaken on it, and relevant issues

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identified have been included in the action plan.

Health & Safety Implications None. 11.0 Further Information 11.1 Background Papers – None 11.2 File Reference – None 11.3 Appendices - Appendix 1 – Summary of issues raised at Performance briefings

Appendix 2 – Operational Services Performance Briefing Paper

Appendix 3 – Resources Performance Briefing Paper

Appendix 4 – Strategy and Regulatory Services Performance Briefing Paper

Appendix 5 - Capital Programme 2017/18 monitoring statement

Contact Officer: Katy Riley Email/Extension: [email protected]

Ext: 44081 Spokespeople: Councillor Angus Thompson

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mailto:[email protected]

Appendix 1

Summary of Issues Raised at Performance Briefings – Quarter 3

Performance Briefings between Directors and Members were held to discuss the issues highlighted in the detailed reports attached at Appendices 2 to 4. Issues raised at each briefing are as follows: Operations The meeting was attended by Cllrs Threlfall and Duff.

1. Much improved rent arrears performance.

2. Reporting issues associated with the car park income in terms of consistency.

3. Proposed actions to encourage more responsible use of bring banks.

Resources The meeting was attended by Cllrs Thompson, Cameron and Glover. Apologies had been received from Cllr Partridge. Key issues raised:

1. Ongoing positive performance on collection rates for council tax and business rates

2. The link between receipt of information from DWP on universal credit with housing benefits performance

3. The reconsideration of capital spending on ICT projects resulting in reduced need in 2017/18 of £170,000

4. The delivery of all the procurement savings target for 2017/18 5. A discussion took place on the sickness figures, and whilst the targets had not been

achieved the overall performance is still positive compared to other public sector organisations across the region

6. Members asked for clarification on how customer satisfaction was measured; it was explained that it was with counters at reception for front facing service.

7. The work on replacement contracts for Health & Safety, occupational health and payroll were also noted.

Strategy and Regulatory The meeting was attended by Cllrs Cameron and Partridge. Apologies were received from Cllrs Wilson Petch and Grose

1. The improvement in planning fee income compared with the previous year was noted

2. The introduction of the new Homeless Reduction Act and new reporting requirements were noted

3. Members discussed the general level of work that was now being undertaken in relation to supporting mental health initiatives such as the Dementia Friendly project and the Healthy Horizons project.

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Appendix 2 Operational Services

Quarter 3 2017/18 Performance and Issues Briefing

1. Brief Summary of Services Covered

• Landlord services • Waste and recycling • Community Safety • Grounds maintenance and play parks • Car parking • Council housing improvements • Lifeline service 2. Financial Update – Major Variances Please refer to Annex 1 of this report. Key major variances to report are as follows: • Housing Revenue Account: The key variances to report are savings in repairs and maintenance (£21,480) due

to staff vacancies and additional rechargeable repairs being raised as well as a number of minor savings in sheltered housing totalling £11,400.

• General Fund: Key quarter 3 variances relate to relate to car parking (£24,600) and an associated reduction in non-domestic rates following the revaluation of NNDR. Additionally, street cleansing saw an additional cost (14,900) related to the purchase of route optimisation software, paid for via staffing savings created by a back office restructure.

3. Key Performance Update Please refer to annex 2 of this report. A whole host of performance indicators are included in service plans but this appendix selects those PIs, which provide a useful and brief health check on how operational services are performing. The key issues to raise are as follows: • Council rent arrears – a target of £166,000 by 31 March 2018 has been set against

outturn performance of £172,265 for last financial year. At the end of quarter 1 rent arrears totalled £186,115 and this had reduced by the end of quarter 2 at £182,863. This figure has further reduced to £156,504 at the end of quarter 3, which is very encouraging. A key issue continues linked to increasing numbers of tenants switching to Universal Credit and the associated delays. Delays associated with Universal Credit can extend to 8 weeks and above and the time taken to organise “managed payments” (direct payments to the Council) can also be significant. Universal Credit related arrears currently account for approximately 50% of all rent arrears. The housing team continue to work through these issues and delays and this appears to be paying dividends based on quarter 3 performance.

• Car park income – a target of £293,000 has been set for the full year. This target has

been amended in the interests of consistency. The original target excluded VAT where the quarterly figures included VAT. The revised target is £351,600, which includes VAT with income totalling £350,607 at the end of quarter 3. New, more consistent measures will be introduced in 2018/19 to ensure clarity.

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• Re-letting empty Council properties – a target for 17/18 has been set to re-let properties

needing minor repairs within 17 working days. Performance during quarter 1 was 21 days, which reduced to 19 days during quarter 2, showing improved performance. However, performance dropped during quarter 3 to 21 days, 4 days above target. The reasons behind the worsening performance are a high volume of empty properties (26 since 31st October alone) compounded by staff sickness and vacancies. Increased empty properties are attributable to more sheltered scheme vacancies and some vacancies related to anti-social behaviour in certain parts of Colburn. The target still remains achievable but challenging.

• The time taken to re-let properties needing major repairs during quarter 1 was 0

compared to a target of 35 working days. The reason for the figure is that no “major voids” were completed during quarter 1. The time taken during quarter 2 was 23 days, which compared favourably to the full year target. Performance during quarter 3 dropped to 37 working days, 2 days above target. The reasons for the drop in performance are explained above with the full year target remaining achievable but challenging.

• Recycling rates – there is a time lag between quarter ends and when dry recycling rates

are known which means best estimates are used at the end of each quarter. The outturn at the end of quarter 2 was 40%, the same as quarter 1 performance of 40%. The estimated rate at the end of quarter 3 is 37%, compared to 35% at the same point last year. The main reason for the fall in quarter 3 is the cessation of the collection of garden waste.

• Green waste subscription service – an income target of £212,000 has been set for the

full year with income of £216,000 being achieved by the end of quarter 2.Take-up is currently 42% with the bulk of subscribers already accounted for. Income remained at £216,000 during quarter 3.

4. Key Operational Issues The aim of this section is to provide a brief update on key issues currently affecting the cluster of operational services. a) Enhanced kerbside recycling Enhanced kerbside recycling was implemented on the 25th September to coincide with the arrival of the new recycling vehicle fleet. Residents can now recycle more at the kerbside e.g. more types of plastic, cardboard and clothing. The launch was preceded by a comprehensive communications plan, including leaflets to each household, press releases, attendance at country shows and the use of social media to get key messages across. A key element of the roll-out was to tailor recycling boxes and bags to the needs of individual households – households that produce relatively small amounts of recyclates are be able to use existing bins and bags whereas those which produce larger amounts are able to request a greater number of receptacles. This approach is much more cost effective than a “one size fits all” approach, applying standard provisions to all households regardless of their actual needs. Take-up of new boxes and bags has been brisk, showing clear resident buy-in to the new approach.

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The new enhanced approach continues to bed in but it is too early to measure the impact in terms of additional recyclates collected. A further update will be given in the quarter 4 update. We have also seen an increase in recycling income due to an upturn in the recyclate market. b) Home Improvement Agency As reported previously, Home Improvement Services, which currently provide assistance to households applying for disabled facilities grants, and handyperson services on behalf of the Council are funded via the County Council administered Supporting People Programme. The service is currently provided by Yorkshire Housing following a county-wide procurement exercise. The County Council are withdrawing funding for Home Improvement Agency services as from 31st March 2018, which means these services, will need to be provided via alternative means from 1st April 2018. The withdrawal of County Council funding will be mitigated, partly or in full, via an anticipated increase in Disabled Facilities Grant funding via the Better Care Fund, which, will be passported down to district/borough level, subject to a memorandum of understanding in terms of service levels and outputs. A report proposing an in-house solution was approved by Corporate Board in January and preparations are underway for the launch of a new in-house service on the 1st April 2018. c) In-House Street Lighting Service Current performance in quarter 3 will be forwarded, as the information is not currently available. The reduction in street light consultancy from a 1 day per week presence to a 1 day per fortnight presence is working well. This is in line with the original intention to reduce this support.

d) Depot Review A review of the Gallowfields Depot has been undertaken in order to establish if further investment in the facilities represents value for money when compared to two relocation options. The preferred option, supported by Senior Management Team and the Leader and Deputy Leader is to continue to operate from the current facilities as this represents the best value and least risk over the long term (20 years). This position has been shared with the depot staff. A capital improvement plan will be completed by the end of quarter 4 outlining what improvements will be made and when in order to ensure the facility remains fit for purpose. Funding will be via the Council’s 10 Year Capital Programme. e) Public Toilet Cleaning As previously reported, a new Street Scene structure has been implemented, including a new public toilet cleaning regime, which commenced on the 6th November, matching resources available to estimated footfall/ usage. The new cleaning regime continues to bed in and a more detailed update will be given in the quarter 4 update.

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f) Choice Based Lettings As per the previous performance report, the current position remains unchanged: • York’s exit has still to be formally confirmed and the position ,due to be confirmed in

December 2017, is still awaited, • The remaining partners wish to retain North Yorkshire Home Choice as a partnership. Future performance updates will be provided.

g) Bring Banks As per previous updates, cross contamination of recyclates is a growing problem in some of the Council’s bring bank sites whereby users are placing recyclates in the wrong container/s. As the basis of the recycling contract is “clean” sorted recyclates, the recycling contractor can charge the Council to undertake re-sorting after collection. This can create additional budget pressure. Further investigatory work has been undertaken in order to establish a range of full / part solutions open to the Council. Following consultation with the Council’s leadership, the collection frequency has been increased from 3 days per week to 4 days per week in order to reduce issues of overfilling and associated contamination. The revised collection regime will be piloted for a 6 month period to monitor its impact. The leadership have also approved improved signage and surveillance at bring bank sites in order to encourage more responsible use and a capital bid for 2018/19 was submitted to January Corporate Board accordingly. The improved signage will highlight the costs of irresponsible use and the penalties, which can be imposed. Additional surveillance will be provided via mobile cameras. Despite an intensive collection regime prior to and during the festive period excessive deposits were experienced at key sites, principally Nuns Close in Richmond. Thus, despite additional collections the site over-spilled on occasions. The additional signage and surveillance may deter such abuse of the site/s and the new approach will be monitored accordingly. h) Review of Street Scene Service and Back Office Review Following on from previous performance reports new ways of working within the street scene team was implemented on the 6th November as follows : • Standard shift patterns will change from “4 days on/2 off” to 4 longer working days and

3 days off over a 7 day rolling period – this will reduce reliance on overtime • Generic teams which will undertake a full range of duties – street sweeps, litter picking,

litter bin emptying and toilet cleaning • Outlying staff based in Hawes and Leyburn will become part of the mainstream

service/teams. • A revised public toilet cleaning regime tailored to usage (please refer to point h above). The new structure will reduce costs by £55,000, principally due to the deletion of two vacant posts.

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A back office staffing review has released savings of £24,400 via the deletion of a vacant post from the staffing establishment. Part of this saving (£14,900) will initially be used to purchase street scene route optimisation software similar to that recently introduced for waste and recycling collection rounds. This will give more structure and consistency to the street cleaning regime, enabling better performance management. There will also be an annual on-going cost of £5,000 associated with the new software. In future years, the full saving from the back office review (less the £5,000 already referred to) will support the Council’s Efficiency Plan. i) Roll out of charging in public toilets The roll out of charging was completed on the 1st November ahead of the original timetable (end of November). Advice letters were sent out to the affected Parish and Town Councils to ensure good communication of the new approach. Complaints and compliments are being closely monitored. No charge is being made for toilets designed specifically for people with a disability. Income will be collected via the Council’s newly appointed cash collection provider as soon as collection frequencies have been confirmed. Income levels will be monitored over the coming months and compared against estimates included in the business case. Income generated since 1st November totals £2,772 but it should be noted that it will be some months until accurate annual income figures will be available. j) Lifeline Service Lifeline customer numbers are currently being closely monitored due to falling numbers and an associated fall in income. This represents a risk, which needs to be noted as the Lifeline service is a key income generating service for the Council as well as providing support and peace of mind for its vulnerable customers. A review of the service has been concluded which showed that it is self-sustaining in financial terms but only just. No further action will be taken but the service will be subject to review by the CASH team to ensure all efficiencies are being captured. Officers are currently involved in county-wide discussions around the future provision of telecare. The Council currently receives an income from the County Council in return for installing and monitoring telecare equipment via the Lifeline Service. The County Council are currently in the process of procuring a single Telecare solution across the county rather than individual arrangements with each lower tier authority such as Richmondshire. The outcome of this procurement exercise may change the way telecare is installed and monitored in the district and further updates will be provided in this respect. k) Hildyard Row parking As previously reported, parking charges will be suspended until the new financial year. This will result in a total loss of income in the region of £12,000. L) Community Safety A joint meeting of the Richmondshire and Hambleton Community Safety Partnerships was on the 23rd November with a key agenda item being to consider the future of the joint

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meeting approach. Joint quarterly meetings started as a result of shared services and continued to ensure that partners - such as the Police and Fire and Rescue Services - only needed to attend one quarterly meeting rather than two – albeit with two separate agendas (one for each partnership to report). The decision has been taken to end the joint meeting approach on the basis that such an approach no longer serves any useful purpose with each Council resourcing community safety differently and applying differing local solutions. As a result, the Council will hold its own local Community Safety meetings and key partners will be involved in developing the new standalone approach. Further updates will be given in this respect. A key current community safety issue is significant anti-social behaviour in the Colburn area and January Corporate Board approved a Public Spaces Protection Order in order to provide a further tool to tackle this behaviour. The PSPO has the backing of the local community and local Police and follows a comprehensive public consultation exercise. It’s effectiveness in tackling the problem will be monitored closely. M) Refugee resettlement As per a previous Corporate Board decision, preparations are underway to re-settle 6 refugee families in the District during January as part of the Council’s commitment to a national quota agreed some months ago. As in other parts of North Yorkshire, the resettlement is being co-ordinated by North Yorkshire County Council with a local Operational Group formed comprising all the key agencies including health, education, Police, Refugee Council and Council staff to ensure a coordinated response. A project group has also been established within the Council to feed into the Group referred to above, dealing specifically with the rehousing element of the project. The resettlement will be limited to the central area of the district – Garrison, Colburn and Richmond – in line with Migration Yorkshire and Refugee Council advice. Affected district Councillors have been advised accordingly. The bulk of funding for the resettlement is being provided by the Home Office and this funding will be slowly phased out over a 5 year period. The most intensive support is anticipated to be needed in the first 12 months of the resettlement project. 5. Links to Council Plan Objectives The operational services contribute to the following key Council Plan aims: Providing a healthy environment: • Increase the take up of green waste – update – the % of households subscribing to the

scheme to date is 42% (compared to 40.5% in 14/15 and 43.9% in 15/16). Take-up rates appear to be stabilising, which will aid better income forecasts.

• Achieve North Yorkshire recycling targets – update – the current estimated recycling rate is 42%.

• Replace the refuse and recycling fleet – all new refuse and recycling collection vehicles have been delivered.

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• Increase the range of recyclables collected at the kerbside – update – the roll-out of the extended recycling collection started on the 25th September to dovetail with the arrival of the new recycling vehicle fleet.

• Install energy efficient street lights – the street light improvement programme continues to be rolled out with part-night lighting fully implemented in line with Parish Council wishes. Following feedback from Scrutiny 1 Committee further work is being undertaken to assess the feasibility of rolling out part nighting further i.e. to those Parish Councils, which rejected the original offer – further updates, will be given in this respect.

• Improve energy efficiency – the 17/18 Council housing improvement programme is currently underway, including energy efficiency work. The installation of air source heating in rural Council properties is due to commence in 2018/19 in line with the improvement programme, subject to a review of installations so far.

Helping vulnerable people:

• Encourage new Lifeline customers – a service review has been completed and

marketing activity continues. 39 new Lifeline customers joined the service during quarter 1 and 47 joined during quarter 2. 38 new customers joined the service in quarter 3.

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Service 2016/17 Actual2017/2018 Original Budget

2017/18 Working Budget


Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017

Q2 Variance Reported CB

14/11/2017Q3 Variance

2017/18 Projected Outturn

Year End Variance (Surplus)/

DeficitCar Parking (286,127) (289,500) (289,500) 0 (24,600) (314,100) (24,600)Cemeteries (42,600) (31,500) (31,500) 0 (31,500) 0Closed Churchyards 7,501 7,900 7,900 0 7,900 0Footway Lighting 96,248 113,100 113,500 400 113,500 0Homelessness 211,719 228,500 - (228,500) - 0Housing Support 88,973 91,000 93,900 2,900 93,900 0Lifeline (99,928) (134,600) (131,600) 3,000 28,900 (102,700) 28,900Parks & Open Spaces 186,803 209,400 214,200 4,800 13,300 227,500 13,300Public Conveniences 85,756 86,100 87,700 1,600 87,700 0Public Health 22,027 23,100 23,700 600 23,700 0Recycling (188,175) (169,800) (159,400) 10,400 (159,400) 0Street Cleansing 182,116 202,300 208,600 6,300 14,900 223,500 14,900Transport 895,567 850,700 846,700 (4,000) 18,800 865,500 18,800Waste Collection 460,546 502,100 516,700 14,600 (14,900) 501,800 (14,900)Depot Buildings 43,542 40,900 40,900 0 40,900 0

Pest Control (10,429) (19,000) (16,100) 2,900 (16,100) 0

Community Safety Partnership (19,600) (19,600) (19,600) 0

Net Revenue Expenditure 1,653,540 1,710,700 1,506,100 (204,600) 13,300 47,700 (24,600) 1,542,500 36,400

Internal Recharges etc 413,080 393,200 393,200 0 393,200

TOTAL BUDGET 2,066,620 2,103,900 1,899,300 (204,600) 13,300 47,700 (24,600) 1,935,700 36,400

OPERATIONAL SERVICES

Financial ReportQ3- 1 April - 31 December 2017

REVENUE - GENERAL FUND

Summary by Service

Annex 1

91

Income 2016/17 Actual2017/2018 Original Budget



Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017





DeficitFees & Charges (94,081) (83,200) (47,100) 36,100 36,800 28,900 18,600 (101,800)Other (1,645,556) (1,692,000) (1,672,000) 20,000 (1,672,000) (20,000)Sub Total: (1,739,637) (1,775,200) (1,719,100) 56,100 36,800 28,900 0 (1,653,400) (121,800)

Expenditure 2016/17 Actual2017/2018 Original Budget



Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017





DeficitSalary Related Costs 1,755,152 1,835,800 1,696,800 (139,000) (13,300) (14,900) 1,668,600 167,200Building Running Costs 330,798 368,800 316,500 (52,300) (24,600) 291,900 76,900Vehicle and Travel Costs 811,115 764,000 760,500 (3,500) 18,800 779,300 (15,300)Supplies and Services 476,398 492,700 426,800 (65,900) (10,200) 14,900 431,500 61,200Third Party Payments 18,215 24,600 24,600 0 24,600 0

Sub Total: 3,391,677 3,485,900 3,225,200 (260,700) (23,500) 18,800 (24,600) 3,195,900 290,000

Net Revenue Expenditure1,652,040 1,710,700 1,506,100 (204,600) 13,300 47,700 (24,600) 1,542,500 168,200




Income & Expenditure Summary

92

Service

Full Year Variance (Surplus)/

Deficit

Car Parking (24,600)

Street Cleansing 14,900

Waste Collection (14,900)

Total (24,600)

Reduction in NNDR due to the appeal on the VO's revaluation of the car parks for 2017/2018 - this has been amended going forward in the 2018/19 budget




Details of Major Variances

Initial one off cost of route optimisation for Street Cleansing, to be paid for by saving in staffing restructure in WASS section.

In year staffing saving to be used for route optimisation in street cleaning.

Reason

93

Service 2016/17 Actual2017/2018 Original Budget



Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017





DeficitHousing Supervision & Management 437,341 496,600 498,700 2,100 (1,400) (3,000) (9,500) 484,800 (11,800)

Repairs & Maintenance 1,442,331 1,502,200 1,507,200 5,000 (29,400) (21,480) 1,456,320 (45,880)Special Services 401,589 436,700 437,800 1,100 (1,700) (1,820) (11,400) 422,880 (13,820)Dwelling Rents (6,334,744) (6,237,900) (6,237,900) 0 8,900 11,580 1,530 (6,215,890) 22,010Non-Dwelling rents (103,676) (111,900) (111,900) 0 9,100 (102,800) 9,100Other Income (148,681) (129,500) (129,500) 0 (4,720) (2,700) (136,920) (7,420)Item 8 & Interest Charges 1,990,296 1,694,100 1,694,100 0 23,600 (2,040) 34,450 1,750,110 56,010Pension Costs 422,925 66,700 58,500 (8,200) 58,500 (8,200)

Net Revenue Expenditure (1,892,618) (2,283,000) (2,283,000) 0 0 0 0 (2,283,000) 0

Internal Recharges etc 1,892,618 2,283,000 2,283,000 0 2,283,000

TOTAL BUDGET 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0



REVENUE - HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT

Summary by Service

94

Income 2016/17 Actual2017/2018 Original Budget



Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017





DeficitFees & Charges (64,684) (35,000) (35,000) 0 3,820 1,420 (29,760) 5,240Other (6,719,995) (6,604,600) (6,604,600) 0 8,900 11,580 (14,080) (6,598,200) 6,400Sub Total: (6,784,679) (6,639,600) (6,639,600) 0 8,900 15,400 (12,660) (6,627,960) 11,640

Expenditure 2016/17 Actual2017/2018 Original Budget



Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017





DeficitSalary Related Costs 1,269,608 1,321,000 1,321,000 0 17,200 (10,360) (39,900) 1,287,940 (33,060)Building Running Costs 811,941 884,600 884,600 0 (38,700) (3,000) 9,000 851,900 (32,700)Vehicle and Travel Costs 13,296 15,800 15,800 0 (1,000) 14,800 (1,000)Supplies and Services 2,797,215 2,135,200 2,135,200 0 13,600 (2,040) 43,560 2,190,320 55,120Third Party Payments 0 - 0

Sub Total: 4,892,060 4,356,600 4,356,600 0 (8,900) (15,400) 12,660 4,344,960 (11,640)

Net Revenue Expenditure (1,892,618) (2,283,000) (2,283,000) 0 0 0 0 (2,283,000) 0





95

Service


Deficit

Repairs & Maintenance (21,480)

Special Service (11,400)

Other Minor Variances 32,880

Total 0

Including transfer to reserves

Various underspends across all EPH's


£9k disabled adaptations higher than expected; £24k saving on vacant posts; £6,4k savings as additional rechargeable repairs raised.

Financial Report


Reason

Q3- 1 April - 31 December 2017


96

Scheme 2017/18 Budget

2017/18 Actual to

Date

Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017

Q2 Variance

Q3 Variance


Full Year Outturn Variance

Waste/Recycling Replacement Bins 64,000 60,094 64,000

Repair/ Replacement Litter Bins 5,000 4,737 5,000

Lifeline 15,000 5,699 (4,000) 11,000 (4,000)

Street Lighting Investment Programme 42,000 20,478 42,000

Grounds Maintenance Equipment 26,000 26,732 700 26,700 700

Open Spaces 10,000 6,470 10,000

Public Conveniences Charging Trial 45,000 72,317 33,000 78,000 33,000

Sweeper Replacement 116,798 115,600 1,200 116,800 116,800

Increase/(Decrease) in Capital Programme 207,000 313,325 33,000 115,600 (2,100) 236,700 146,500



CAPITAL - GENERAL FUND

Summary by Scheme

97


Financial Report

Q3- 1 April - 31 December 2017

CAPITAL


Explanation of Variance Reason Q3 Variance

Other minor variances (2,100)

Total (2,100)

98


2017/18 Actual to Date

Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017

Q2 Variance

Q3 Variance



Window Replacements 227,000 271,822 41,000 268,000 41,000

Bathroom & Kitchen renewals incl Rewiring 883,000 602,615 (58,000) 825,000 (58,000)

Preliminaries/Management 91,000 55,423 91,000 0

Fire Risk Assessment Works 69,000 44,296 (9,000) 60,000 (9,000)

Boiler Replacement 85,000 90,597 70,000 155,000 70,000

Disabled Adaptations 160,000 115,718 20,000 180,000 20,000

Technical Salaries 55,000 15,600 70,600 15,600

CDM 5,000 2,150 5,000

Asbestos 40,000 19,247 (5,500) 34,500 (5,500)

Unplanned Void Property Works 100,000 48,205 100,000

Colburn Insulation 31,000 41,310 16,000 (5,000) 42,000 11,000

Heating (Sheltered Housing) 0 22,928 24,000 (1,000) 23,000 23,000

Planned Boiler renewals Phase 1 210,000 67,485 (151,000) 59,000 (151,000)

Condensation 70,000 (70,000) 0 (70,000)

Render Works 70,000 70,000

IT Systems 32,000 32,000

Housing Management System 80,000 26,850 106,850 26,850

Backlog works 0 7,461 64,000 64,000 64,000

Decrease to Programme (150,000) 97,900 52,100 0 150,000

Increase/(Decrease) in Capital Programme 2,058,000 1,389,256 64,000 26,850 37,100 2,185,950 127,950



CAPITAL - HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT

Summary by Scheme

99

Explanation of Variance Q3 Variance

Boiler Replacement 70,000

Condensation (70,000)

Decrease to programme 52,100

Other Minor Variances (15,000)

Total 37,100



CAPITAL - HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT


Reason

Additional Boiler replacements required

The continues to be pressure on the programme that are making it difficult to make savings

Condensation issues have not arisen

100

Annex 2

Operational Services

Performance Indicators 2017/18

Landlord Services Description 15/16

Actual 16/17

Actual 17/18

Target Q1 Q2 Q3 17/18

Actual Comp

vs target

Comp vs last year

Reduce rent arrears by 4%

£179,025 £172,265 £166,000 £186,115 £182,863 £156,504 -£9.5k £168,135

Minor works and lettable with 2< advert cycles

25 18 17 days 21 19 days 21 days +4 days 14 days

Major works and lettable with 2 < advert cycles

37 36 35 days 0 23 days 37 days +2 days 35 days

Support and Improvement

Description 15/16 Actual

16/17 Actual

17/18 Target

Q1 Q2 Q3 17/18 Actual

Comp vs

target

Comp vs last year

Maximise the number of new Lifeline installations

169 173 170 39 new 32 lost

47 new 39 lost

32 new 49 lost

Complete the annual improvement

programme on time and in budget

492 392 (of which

223 were windows)

370 inc 84 doors

and windows

160 inc 79 doors

and windows

97 inc 6 D&W

105 inc 1 D&W

101

Waste & Street Scene Description 15/16

Actual 16/17 Actual

17/18 Target


Comp vs

target

Comp vs last year

Maximise income from green waste collection

£190,882 £214,743 £212,000 £210,588 £216,000 £216,000

% of Garden Waste Subscribers

44% 42.6% 44% 40% 42% 42%

Maximise recycling tonnages

52.40%

41.21% 42% 42%

42% 37% est

Open Spaces and Amenities

Description 15/16 Actual

16/17 Actual

17/18 Target


Comp vs

target

Comp vs last year

Cut grassed areas at least 10 times per year

10 cuts 10 cuts 10 cuts 5 cuts 9 cuts 10 cuts

Maximise car park income *

£354,935 £355,115 £351,600 £125,206 £223,268 £350,607

• Targets and previous year actuals amended for consistency (measure = income from parking machines only, inclusive of VAT)

102

Appendix 3 Resources Directorate

Quarter 3 2017/18 Performance and Issues Briefing

1. Brief Summary of Services CoveredOngoing operational services • Finance and Improvement• Revenues, Benefits and Customer Services• HR and Payroll• ICT, Business Change and Business Support• SMT Support

Corporate Themes • Equalities and Diversity• Health and Safety• Information Governance• Corporate Capital and Asset Management

2. Financial Update – Major Variances

Please refer to Annex 1 of this report; key issues to bring to the attention of Members are as follows:

• There are small variations in the projected spend across resources, showing a netimpact of £2k

• The projected underspend on ICT capital is no longer required for future yearsand has therefore been released.

3. Key Performance Update

Please refer to Annex 2 of this report for the detailed list of performance indicators with comparators. The key issues to raise are as follows: • Front office customer satisfaction is at 91% for Q3, a slight decline from 92% for Q2.

This compares to a target of 90%. Customer satisfaction for the contact centre saw abig improvement to 91% from 82% for Q2.

• Corporate sickness levels for the second quarter are over target (5.71 per FTEcompared to a target of 4.13 per FTE for the year to date). This is a decline on2016/17 actuals (5.07 for the first three quarters in 2016/17, and 6.84 for the full year).

• Housing Benefit claims’ processing continues to be very good, although reduced fromQ1 and Q2 (19.47 days compared to 17.71 days for the whole of 2016/17). Thenational average for processing of claims is 22 days for new claims and 10 days forchange of circumstances as at 2016/17. Change of circumstances processing is 5.33days compared to 3.16 days in Q2.

• Council tax collection rates (88.28%) are in line with previous years and withexpectations at this point; Business rates collection are also on target and in line withlast year at 88.36% collection

• Positive transition from ‘face to face’ contact to electronic access continues, withhigher performance than targeted, with reducing visitor numbers and maintainedlevels of electronic access. With the introduction of the new website from mid-December, these performance indicators will be monitored very carefully over theforthcoming months.

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• The number of outstanding ICT requests has reduced slightly since than last quarterand remains in line with target.

• During the third quarter of 2017/18 the Council received 10 letters from the MP forRichmond (Yorks) compared with 43 for the whole of 2016/17. These were dealt within an average of 11.7 days (7.2 days in Q2).

• The Council received 25 compliments and 11 complaints during Quarter 3 of 2017/18;these continue to show the overall high levels of satisfaction with the Council services.

4. Key Operational Issues

The aim of this section is to provide a brief update on key issues currently affecting services provided by the Resources Directorate.

a) Finance and ImprovementThe Finance and Improvement Team has been preparing the detailed budget workingclosely with managers. This has been combined with reviewing the Q3 financial position.The latest financial position as at December 2017 is set out at Annex 1.

The Procurement Team continues to support a large number of ongoing procurements across the Council; the current focus is on housing repair / adaptations contractors, ICT systems, local plan consultancy work and utilities infrastructure.

The section is currently undergoing a restructure this has been subject to consultation with the affected staff. It is intended to implement the revised structure with effect from April 2018.

b) Revenues, Benefits and Customer ServicesThe Revenues service continues to perform at a high level. Focus over the last twelvemonths has been on localisation of business rates and addressing issues arising from therates revaluation by the Valuation Office, effective from April 2017, and new reliefsannounced by the Government in Spring 2017. This continues to cause a large amountof work across the Section. Preparation has now commenced for annual billing whichtakes place immediately after the Council tax is set at the Council meeting in February2018.

Policies and procedures on discretionary rate relief were approved at the September Corporate Board. This has resulted in payments of approximately £175,000 being made to businesses to date; it leaves approximately £45,000 still to award by the end of March 2018.

The performance information provided sets out the latest data on collection rates and housing benefits processing times. Collection rates continue at a high level and performance levels have been maintained for housing benefits processing times. These are set out in detail in Annex 2.

The detailed performance information of Customer Services is included in Annex 2. Customer services assistants have been supporting the changed rounds and methods of recycling, through the distribution of new recycling containers. The next quarter is the busiest of the year with most bills being despatched between January and the end of March 2018.

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c) HR and PayrollThe policies and procedures review continues to progress well, with ongoing discussionat JCF and roll out to staff. The stress awareness policy has been updated, and welfarementors have been trained and introduced across the Council to provide informal adviceand support to colleagues on bullying, stress and more serious mental health issues.The substance misuse policy has been updated and a screening process will be rolledout over the coming weeks.The HR and Payroll Team is now focussing on embedding the Learning andDevelopment Plan across the Council, with technical and individual development trainingbeing provided.The Corporate training plan has been agreed, and courses have been run, or arescheduled on Bully and Harassment, managing Health and Safety, Substance Misuseawareness, the Prevent strategy and Managing stress within teams.

The SLA with Darlington Borough Council to provide Health and Safety support to the Council is due for renewal / extension in April 2018; options are currently being worked through. A challenging Action Plan for the year has been started by the H&S Group, with a greater focus on audit and checking compliance with stated processes.

The sickness levels across the Council for the third quarter of 2017/18 are over target and slightly higher than for the same period in 2016/17. Additional focus is to be placed by the HR team on sickness, given the increase in sickness levels at quarter 3. It should be noted that the Council was one of the best performing councils in the region during 2016/17. The figures for Quarter 3 are as follows: Sickness Absence Statistics

Average FTE

Latest FTE

Total Days Q3 TOTAL

Per FTE to date

Target to date

Variance

Position

Overall Target 4.13 5.50 Services

Management and Support 6.46 6.37 0.00 1.00 0.16 3.43 3.27 OK Resources 56.14 54.79 30.50 146.50 2.67 3.43 0.76 OK

S&R 28.33 28.16 77.25 154.60 5.49 3.43 -2.06Investigate

Operations 109.82 107.67 365.27 823.21 7.65 4.67 -2.98Investigate

TOTAL 200.75 196.99 473.02 1,125.3

1 5.71 4.13 -1.58Investigate

Cumulative 1,125.31 Per FTE 2.40 5.71 Cumulatitive per FTE 5.71 Variance -1.58

Position Investigate

d) ICT, Business Change and Business SupportThe ICT Team is continuing to progress significant amounts of upgrades andimprovements. A recent health check in advance of the annual Public Services Network

105

(PSN) compliance requirement has identified a small number of issues to resolve; these are in hand.

The ICT Capital Plan includes a significant amount of work and spend on the ‘front facing tools’ element of the CA£H programme. Key decisions are required to facilitate progress of the business process improvement work across the Council, and this is covered by a separate report to the Corporate Board at the February meeting.

There is an office move taking place which will bring the ICT and CA£H team together as well as relocating Business Support to the upstairs open plan area.

The Team continues to provide excellent support to the rest of the Council, as evidenced by the performance information at Annex 2.

e) CA£H programmeThe CA£H programme has been focussing on developing the replacement web site. Thiswent live in December. Further details are available in the separate report on theCorporate Board agenda.

f) Senior Management Team (SMT) supportThe Support Team to SMT provides a significant role in ensuring the delivery of Councilobjectives. Details of Local Government Ombudsman correspondence and MPcorrespondence is shown at Annex 2.

Corporate Themes

1 Equalities and Diversity The Council continues to improve its approach to Equalities and Diversity. The Corporate Equalities and Diversity Group are considering an amendment to the Equalities Impact assessment forms in order to achieve improved engagement and more relevance for managers. An e-learning package has been rolled out across all Members with improving success. The details are set out at Annex 2.

2 Health and Safety The Council continues to use Darlington Borough Council to provide Health and Safety support, following the departure of the previous Health & Safety Officer. Now that most policies are up to date, focus has moved to the audit of risk assessments and procedures. The performance on accidents and incidents is included in Annex 2, whilst further performance indicators are being reviewed.

3 Information Governance Progress continues in updating policies and procedures. The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2015 (a major change in legislation) is coming into effect from May 2018. This will involve significant changes to the way data is held and customers are informed. Separate discussions are taking place with managers and information governance representatives to ensure compliance is achieved.

4 Corporate Capital and Asset Management The corporate group is working on the implementation of the Asset Management Plan agreed at the last Corporate Board and is continuing to ensure cross-cutting issues are addressed; the key outstanding issue is the future of property management corporately. This is currently being considered by SMT. The corporate group is working through the

106

recommendations from the Corporate Peer Review findings and is addressing the issues raised.

5. Links to Council Plan Objectives

The Council Plan for 2015-2019 was approved at Council on 20 October 2015 and updated at the November 2017 Corporate Board. The relevant priorities are:

1. To help vulnerable people

a) Administering Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs):The 2017/18 grant for DHP is £141,129 and currently the Council has allocated£129,393.

b) Ensuring residents get all the benefits they are entitled to:• Progress on Housing Benefits processing is covered under sections 3 and 4

above.

2. To provide a ‘fit for purpose’ Council

a) Ensuring the Council has approved financial plans:• The updated Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2017/18 to 2020/21 was

approved by the Corporate Board in November 2017. Senior ManagementTeam is continuing to focus on being able to identify additional savings forfuture years.

b) Investing in existing and new income streams:• The review of fees and charges was presented at the October 2017

Corporate Board for Members’ consideration. The agreed changes will beimplemented with effect from April 2018. Future income streams are beinginvestigated as part of the review of efficiencies. Planning fees are due toincrease on 17 January 2018 by 20% as previously reported to Members.

c) Ensure the HR policy framework is ‘fit for purpose’ by April 2017:• This piece of work has been approved by Members and is now being

implemented.

d) Support Services / effective Information Governance to the Council:• These are reported on a regular basis through Audit, Governance and

Standards Committee.• The Council is implementing the recommendations from the Peer Challenge

undertaken by the Local Government Association in line with best practice.

e) Review current processes and use of ICT to maximise cost effectiveness:• An update on the CA£H programme is set out in a separate report on this

agenda.

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Annex 1 Q3- 1 April - 31 December 2017

Projected Final Outturn Summary by Service

Service 2016/17 Actual

2017/2018 Original Budget



Q1 Variance Reported

CB 12/09/2017


CB 14/11/2017

Q3 Variance



Deficit

Business Support 265,946 305,700 265,040 (40,660) 265,040 0 Corporate Management 105,199 107,700 99,800 (7,900) 99,800 0 Senior Management & Support 484,318 487,800 503,100 15,300 (7,000) 496,100 (7,000) Customer Services 310,173 296,700 281,180 (15,520) 281,180 0 Finance & Improvement Section 384,811 406,500 418,000 11,500 . (9,250) 408,750 (9,250)

Housing Benefit Administration (98,808) (99,300) (99,300) 0 21,470 (77,830) 21,470 Housing Benefit Payments (11,601) 125,400 125,400 0 (100,000) 25,400 (100,000) Human Resources 204,450 223,000 227,100 4,100 (15,100) 11,930 223,930 (3,170) ICT Services 448,453 469,500 498,120 28,620 498,120 0 Local Tax Collection (197,096) (216,700) (216,700) 0 (216,700) 0 Non Distributed Costs 378,166 419,100 249,900 (169,200) 249,900 0 Pension Costs 0 0 0 0 Revenues & Benefits 492,145 535,100 548,800 13,700 548,800 0 Miscellaneous Finance - inc Financing Costs 258,370 394,700 504,480 109,780 (85,000) 419,480 (85,000)

Net Revenue Expenditure 3,024,525 3,455,200 3,404,920 (50,280) (630) (185,000) 2,680 3,221,970 (182,950) Internal Recharges etc (1,600,095) (1,555,400) (1,555,400) 0 (1,555,400) TOTAL BUDGET 1,424,430 1,899,800 1,849,520 (50,280) (630) (185,000) 2,680 1,666,570 (182,950)

108


Income 2016/17 Actual





CB 12/09/2017


CB 14/11/2017

Q3 Variance



Deficit

Fees & Charges (235,665) (409,600) (357,020) 52,580 (357,020) 52,580 Other (8,686,577) (9,044,900) (7,864,600) 1,180,300 21,470 (7,843,130) 1,201,770 Sub Total: (8,922,242) (9,454,500) (8,221,620) 1,232,880 21,470 0 0 (8,200,150) 1,254,350

Expenditure 2016/17 Actual





CB 12/09/2017


CB 14/11/2017

Q3 Variance



Deficit

Salary Related Costs 2,586,581 2,710,600 2,551,040 (159,560) (22,100) (22,870) 2,506,070 (204,530) Building Running Costs 27,944 27,800 23,200 (4,600) 23,200 (4,600) Vehicle and Travel Costs 10,782 9,600 9,600 0 9,600 0 Supplies and Services 10,668,552 9,995,700 8,876,700 (1,119,000) (200,000) 25,550 8,702,250 (1,293,450) Third Party Payments 0 0 0 0 Capital Financing & Debt Charges 181,645 166,000 166,000 0 15,000 181,000 15,000

Sub Total: 13,475,503 12,909,700 11,626,540 (1,283,160) (22,100) (185,000) 2,680 11,422,120 (1,487,580)

Net Revenue Expenditure 4,553,260 3,455,200 3,404,920 (50,280) (630) (185,000) 2,680 3,221,970 (233,230)

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Current Year Variances

Service Full Year Variance (Surplus)/

Deficit Reason

HR 11,930 One off audit cost

Finance (9,250) Various post bought additional leave and 0.5 fte reduced by three months (£12.5)k ofset by additional risk management cost of £3k

Total 2,680

110

Q3- 1 April - 31 December 2017 CAPITAL

Summary by Scheme

Service 2017/18 Budget

2017/18 Actual to Date


CB 12/09/2017

Q2 Variance

Q3 Variance

Q4 Variance



Deficit

ICT - Capital Programme 445,350 140,184 0 (170,000) 275,350 (170,000)

Increase/(Decrease) in Capital Programme 445,350 140,184 0 0 (170,000) 0 275,350 (170,000)


Service Reason Q3 Variance

ICT - Capital Programme Roll Forward from 2016/2017 £74,350. Committed expenditure £77,000 and £170,000 saving in current year as 2018/19 budget allocation will cover all projects put forward.

(170,000)

(170,000)

Roll Forward to Capital Programme Requested 0

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RESOURCES Performance Indicators 17/18

Quarter 2 performance

Ref Description 15/16 Actual

16/17 Actual

17/18 Target Q1

Q2 cumulative Q3

17/18 Actual

Comp vs target

Comp vs last year

Finance and Improvement 1 Draft accounts completed / audited on time Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes � �2 Quarterly budget monitoring reports Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes � � �3 Performance management database completed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes � �4 Procurement savings achieved Yes £30,000 15,000 12,600 12,600 15,000 � � �5 Compliance with TM strategy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes � � �

HR and Payroll 1 Staff sickness per FTE 4.82 6.84 5.50 1.46 3.13 5.71 x x 2 Number of recruitment campaigns 56 44 n/a 18 37 44 � n/a n/a 3 Annual cost of Occupational Health 1,908 2,230 2,000 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 4 Accidents / Incidents 15 14 12 5 10 14 � x x 5 Total L&D expenditure 33,252 39,639 53,020 10,021 13,695 15,504 � �6 No of days lost through accidents at work 20.5 29.0 0 0 0 0 � �7 % Performance reviews completed across Council 98.00% 89.90% 100.00% 74.25% 78.08 90.07 x �

Revenues and Benefits 1 Council Tax collection rates 98.90% 98.89% 98.50% 32.77% 61.28% 88.28% = = 2 NDR collection rates 97.49% 98.91% 98.50% 44.71% 65.08% 88.36% = = 3 HB awarded - RDC properties 2,892,522 2,966,363 3,000,000 720,242 1,376,380 1,959,205 � �4 HB awarded - rent allowances 5,565,519 5,381,145 5,000,000 1,178,988 2,601,017 3,648,232 x x 5 LA errors 85,365 11,648 12,224 3,056 5,059 11,700 � �

Lower Threshold 40,174 37,806 31,768 7,942 17,029 25,383 Upper Threshold 45,196 42,532 35,616 8,904 19,157 28,556

6 Processing HB new claims - days 33.07 17.71 23 11.04 15 19.47 � x

7 Processing HB change of circumstances claims - days 7.5 3.48 10 4.31 3.16 5.33 � �

8 CTR allocated 2,091,458 1,998,066 2,020,600 2,069,285 2,067,171 2,063,777 = = �

CTR % collected - pensioners 99.68% 90.0% 41.3% 67.74 94.74 n/a �

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CTR % collected - working age 82.26% 80.0% 22.1% 54.67 66.62 n/a x CTR % collected - working age (other) 79.08% 80.0% 33.5% 44.72 72.36 n/a x

9 DHP Award 97,959 120,822 141,129 38,088 54,131 129393 = = 10 Percentage council tax penalties collected new 25.87

Customer Services 1 Electronic access to services 369,279 198,099 247,000 58,596 111,824 164,306 = = 2 Contact centre calls 63,838 63,822 64,000 15,536 29,652 42,635 � �3 Front office visits 37,048 29,222 29,000 5,767 11,361 16,955 � �4 Complaints received 37 41 <41 15 31 42 = x 5 Compliments received 85 76 >76 17 40 65 = x 6 Complaints upheld 3+2p 4 <4 0 1 2 � �7 Payments received via web 12,776 14,249 17,000 3,544 6,532 9,321 x x 8 Payments received by post 5,667 4,796 <3,800 1,083 2,070 2,904 � �9 % Contact centre calls resolved at 1st point of contact 70.0% 80.0% 80.0% 83.0% 83.0% 85.0% = �

10 Customer satisfaction - contact centre 83.0% 85.0% 84.0% not

measure 82.0% 91.0% x x 11 Customer satisfaction - front office 93.0% 95.0% 90.0% 87.0% 92.0% 91.0% x x 12 Invoices paid within 20 days 93.0% 96.0% 96.0% 97.0% 94.0% 94.0% � �13 Creditors paid by BACS 98.0% 98.0% 98.0% 97.0% 99.0% 99.0% = = 14 % SAR responses within statutory deadlines 100% 100% 100% 100% none - n/a 0% = = 15 % FOI responses within statutory deadlines 99% 90% 95% 89% 85.0% 92.0% x

ICT 1 Total service desk calls logged 1,031 3,794 3,400 816 796 716 � �2 Total service desk calls open at end of quarter 55 44 30 53 31 20 � = 3 Time internal systems available (%) 99% 98% 99% 98% 97% 98% = = 4 Time external systems time available (%) 100% 99% 99% 99% 98% 98% = = 5 Time network infrastructure available (%) 100% 100% 99% 100% 99% 99% = = 6 Time internet access available (%) 100% 100% 99% 100% 100% 99% = =

SMT support 1 MP letters 38 43 40 9 14 10 � �2 MP correspondence response - days 8.78 9.74 15 5.6 7.2 11.7 � �3 Local Government Ombudsman complaints 3 2 9 2 3 4 x x

LGO complaints upheld 0 0 2 0 0 0 � �4 Member completion of all e-learning packages n/a n/a 100.00% 46.88% 50.00% 50.00% x �

Member completion of no e-learning packages n/a n/a 0.00% 31.25% 28.12% 28.12% x �

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Appendix 4 2017/18 - Quarter 3

Strategy & Regulatory Services Quarterly Performance and Issues Briefing

1. Brief Summary of Services Covered

1.Planning:

• Planning Policy • Development Control • Land Charges • Private Sector and Housing Strategy • Building Control

2.Democratic Services including Elections:

• Communications • Asset Management • Emergency Planning

3.Business and Community :

• Area Partnerships • Economic Growth • Wellbeing • Leisure • Culture • Prevent

4.Environmental Health and Housing Options :

• Food Safety • Public Health • Homelessness prevention • Licensing

5.Legal Services

2. Financial Update – Major Variances Please refer to Appendix 1 of this report. Revenue Members will recall from Q2 that this service area was showing a sizeable underspend against budget due to a number of posts remaining unfilled pending recruitment and higher than forecast planning fee income. This trend is repeated in Q3 and accounts for the continuing underspend against the forecast budget. Members will see this variance start to decrease as the new Business and Communities Manager starts in March however it is likely that there will continue to be some variance relating to planning fee income.

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Planning Fees - Members may be aware that following the Government consultation Regulations have been made to introduce the 20% increase in planning fees. Richmondshire will introduce the fee increase from the statutory start date which is 17th January 2018. We are anticipating that the fee increase will result in approximately £70k additional planning income which must be re-invested within the Council’s planning service. Capital The main capital projects this financial year are on target and Members will note the additional money received in relation to Disabled Facilities Grant as announced in the Autumn budget. 3. Key Performance Update Please refer to Appendix 2 of this report. This appendix selects those PI’s which provide a useful and brief health check on how operational services are performing. The key issues to raise are as follows: Democratic Services P.I.s: The Register of Electors was successfully published as required on 1st December 2017 and it was pleasing to note that the return rate was 99.01% which compares with 96% for the same period last year. This higher rate was because there was a longer time period for responses and a proactive data mapping process. This year Officers took time to undertake a data matching exercise which has improved the accuracy of the Register and 36608 electors are now registered. Last year the figure was 36,110. Rolling Registration has now commenced which means that the register will be updated on a monthly basis and the first update to the Register will be 2nd January 2018. Environmental Health P.I.’s First response to planning applications – 97% This performance indicator continues to be a priority for the Team and continues to operate above target at 97%. This has been as a focused response following Member queries about lower performance figures in 14/15 however, since that date we have now had 36 months of consistently high performance. Development Management P.I.’s Less than 33% of planning appeals allowed The Q3 position is that so far this year we have had five appeals with one allowed. The performance in relation to planning appeals is important because Government have announced that they intend linking planning appeal performance to both their special measures regime and also the payment of New Homes Bonus. Between 40% – 50% of searches completed within 7 working days A good level of performance has been maintained during this quarter and it has been possible to exceed the target with 56% of searches being completed within 7 days. Homelessness Preventions Members will note that we are now measuring prevention figures in a slightly different way to give a more accurate practical number for the team to assess performance. Performance

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continues to be good with 38 homeless applications taken by Q3 and a cumulative total of 229 preventions through local authority measures. Members will be aware that the Housing Options and Planning Teams have been working to deliver the aims of the 2015-20 Homelessness Strategy. A progress report will be brought in Q4 identifying how we have performed against the Key Actions identified for each of the 7 Homelessness Priorities. Members should be aware however that the new Homelessness Reduction Act is due to take effect from April 2018 which will change the Council’s approach to dealing with homelessness putting a much greater focus on prevention and enabling people to remain in their existing accommodation rather than dealing with homelessness once it is threatened or has occurred. This new legislation has prompted a review of the Homeless Strategy which will need to be updated and reviewed and this will be undertaken and presented for discussion at the same time as the progress report. Officers have also been monitoring the occupancy levels at the Homeless Unit (George Nicking House). The figures demonstrate that the average weekly occupancy has not risen over 41% for the past two years and in the last year has not risen over 29%. Officers will continue to monitor the figures and establish options to help mitigate the cost of operation of the facility. 4. Key Operational Issues The aim of this section is to provide a brief update on key issues currently affecting those teams within Strategy & Regulatory Services. 1. Planning RDC Local Plan Preparation Monthly LPWG meetings continued in October and November where Officers introduced options relating to the policy review of chapters 2 and 3 of the Core Strategy. These included SP4 The Scale and Distribution of Housing Development and the Sub-area Strategies. Members were given a presentation by the consultants (arc4) who carried out the OAN (Housing Need Assessment) which suggests a lower housing target of 115 dwellings per annum. This stimulated the discussion about how housing should be apportioned throughout the settlement hierarchy. For example Members discussed maintaining a higher proportion in smaller settlements and reducing numbers in the Garrison. All Core Strategy policies will be further debated through the Issues and Options stage of the Review. 5 Year Land Supply Members will be aware that the Council is required to ensure it maintains a supply of land suitable to deliver the annual housebuilding target for 5 years. Without an adequate supply the Council is vulnerable to unplanned housing development. Officers completed the annual update and can report that there is a 5.3 year supply. Call for Sites The Call for Sites closed and Officers will begin the assessments of each site in the new year to determine which ones are suitable for inclusion in the SHELAA (Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment). Members will be aware that the Council is

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required to maintain a 15-year supply of land capable of delivering the housing and employment targets set out in the Core Strategy. The MoD submitted land under its ownership for consideration to be included in any future development programme. Brownfield Land Register In Q3 Officers published the Brownfield Land Register before the DCLG deadline of 31 December. The Government introduced, through the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017, a requirement for local planning authorities in England to prepare, maintain and publish registers of previously developed (brownfield) land by 31 December 2017, which must then be updated at least annually. The intention of brownfield land registers is to provide up-to-date and consistent information on sites that local planning authorities consider to be appropriate for residential development. Catterick Master Plan In early December Ward and Parish Members were invited to a presentation at the Catterick Garrison HQ where Lt Col Jordan took those attending through a slide show outlining progress in the MoD plans for the re-development of the military garrison. This presentation had previously been given to the Strategic Group by Major General Wardlaw at their meeting on 9th November and was subject to the caveat that numbers and timings may still change. Those in attendance had the opportunity to ask questions of the MoD, RDC and NYCC Officers present and it gave the opportunity to clarify some factual queries that were causing some Parish Members concern. In relation to the Officer Working Group Officers submitted a business case for a Policy Officer to take advantage of the proposed MoD offer to financially resource the Masterplan. The post will support the roles within the existing policy team as increased demand is placed on its capacity through the master planning work. Similarly, Officers presented the list of evidence base studies and indicative costs to MoD for consideration. Where relevant to the Masterplan, MoD has indicated that it will make a financial contribution to those studies. The proportion of that contribution is to be determined early in the New Year once the MoD have finalised the appointments to their planning team. Housing Delivery and Growth There has currently been a net figure of 30 new homes recorded in Q3 of which 9 were affordable. These included: 15 at Woodside Chase, Colburn (Taylor Wimpey); 9 at Marne Grange, Colburn (Linden Homes). With the additional completions since the Q2 figures were reported this means there have been 146 net completions recorded in 2017/18 with an expectation that the annual target of 180 homes will be exceeded. Officers also assisted the YDNPA with supporting evidence for the proposed affordable housing site at Phase 2 of Hornblower Close in Bainbridge. The Corporate Director attended the official opening of the Community Led Housing Scheme at Hudswell which was also attended by the Leader, Deputy Leader and Local MP. The Council has pro-actively supported two applications to the Planning Delivery Grant Fund, one from the Yorkshire Dales National Park in support of their Young Families project and a second from the LEP made to the Design Quality Fund in relation to the Garrison Expansion Project.

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We have also submitted a stand alone RDC bid as a fall back should the LEP bid prove to be unsuccessful. We will keep Members informed of progress in relation to all bids. As Members will recall the Garrison project has also been included in the One Public Estate bid that featured in the Q2 report. We learned in December that the bid was successful which means that further Central Government support may be available to assist in taking the project forward. We will inform Members of any significant actions in relation to this bid but as there is a dependency upon the Garrison project there is clearly a need for that work to progress before the OPE input can commence. A6136 These works are now completed, however car parking charges for the Hildyard Road car park will remain suspended until the end of March 2018 as per the Leader’s instructions. Officers have made colleagues at NYCC aware that we would wish to be involved in any lessons learned meetings and we await further details about the date for this meeting. Richmond Brown Signs on the A1 Following lengthy discussions with Highways England we have been informed that there are no plans at present to replace the brown signs on the north and south bound carriageways directing motorists to Richmond as a Georgian Market Town. Highways England have informed us however that local MP Rishi Sunak is pursuing the matter directly with the Secretary of State for Transport and seeking to make the Richmond case an exception to policy. We will keep Members updated with progress through the Member’s bulletin. Development Management Current major development proposals of particular interest and still to come before Planning Committee that are being dealt with are:

• Proposed mixed use development for 45 Homes, a Village Hall and a Village Green at Moor Road, Melsonby – awaiting response from applicants/agents as to their intentions.

• Outline application for residential development (up to 70 dwellings) on land to the west of St. Alkeldas Road, Middleham – likely to be considered by Planning Committee in February.

• Outline application for up to 10 dwellings on land to the west of Curlew Close, Harmby – awaiting response from applicants/agents as to their intentions.

• Full planning permission for 64 dwellings on land to the north of the Medical Centre at Scorton – likely to be considered by Planning Committee in February or March.

• Outline application for up to 80 dwellings on land to the west of Scorton – likely to be considered by Planning Committee in February or March.

• Outline application for up to 50 dwellings at Rose Villa Farm, Barton – likely to be considered by Planning Committee in March or April.

• Outline application for up to 60 dwellings at The Ashes Farm, Barton – likely to be considered by Planning Committee in March or April.

2. Democratic Services and Elections Mercury House - Lower School Project

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Meetings have been held between Officers and the Richmondshire Building Preservation Trust who have inherited this project from the RCVA. In the run up to submission of their second stage funding application to the Heritage Lottery some upkeep and maintenance of the Lower School building is under discussion and steps are being taken to formalise the RBPT’s need for access to the building to take into account recommendations from our insurers and H&S advice. Electoral - Boundary Review The LGBCE has issued its draft recommendations following the consultation responses and the current period for comment runs from 31st October to 15th January 2018. The proposals are for 24 councillors, 10 fewer than present, with 17 wards which is 7 fewer than there are now. The boundaries of all wards should change and none will stay the same. Final recommendations will be published on 3rd April 2018. As Members will recall from the debate at Full Council in December the Council is not submitting any further response to the Commission although Officers are discussing some technical queries raised by the Commission. Emergency Planning - Plan Review 2017 Our internal BCP review has been completed and reported to SMT on 19th December and the Major Incident Plan review is also complete following SMT approval of staff roles and responsibilities. A Re-issue of the plan will follow early in 2018. 3. Business and Communities Economic Action Plan Q2 contained the annual report on the progress made against the actions identified in our Economic Action Plan and we continue to monitor both the individual actions and also the outcomes of any specific projects with an economic focus such as the Tour de Yorkshire. Tour de Yorkshire Following the formal announcement in Halifax on 5th December, Richmond is to be a start town for the Tour de Yorkshire on 5th May 2018. Richmond is to host stage 3 of the route which will see riders cycle from the Market Place in Richmond, through Catterick and on to Leyburn before the stage ends 184 km later in Scarborough. Richmondshire is also involved in stage 4 as the route passes through Middleham and East Witton. An event management team, Gladstone Event Management Limited (GEM) has now been appointed to assist Officers in delivering the project and B&C officers will work alongside them and our partners at NYCC and MoD to finalise the preparations and also engage with all communities along the route. A report has been taken to Corporate Board outlining the estimated cost of hosting the event and also for some additional costs such as a fund to allow contributions to associated community events and setting out the timetable for the consultation roadshow hosted by Welcome to Yorkshire. Lifestyle Programme - Step by Step Following the decision in April 2017 by the County Council’s Public Health Team not to award the new 5-year contract for delivery of the Tier 2 Weight Management programme to six of the 7 District Council applicants, a further tender opportunity was advertised. The RDC tender

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reached interview stage but we were not successful in being awarded the contract. We will continue to deliver the contracted extension of the current programme until 31st December 2017. Dementia Update As a member of the Dementia Action Alliance, we have submitted a three-point action plan that sets out our ambitions to work towards becoming a ‘Dementia Friendly’ Council. The work of the Richmondshire DAA aims to work towards Richmond becoming a Dementia Friendly town and Richmondshire becoming a ‘Dementia Friendly Community’. RDC are working closely with the Richmondshire DAA towards achieving this. What we have done so far -

• Developed an achievable three-point action plan • Submitted a draft action plan to the National Dementia Action Alliance, we are now

officially recognised as ‘Working to become Dementia Friendly’ and can publicise this achievement

• Accepted the invitation to become an active member of the Richmondshire Dementia Action Alliance and Hambleton and Richmondshire Dementia Partnership

• Worked with our County Sports Partnership, North Yorkshire Sport in their ambition to create a network of Dementia Friendly swimming pools in North Yorkshire which has seen Richmond Pool become the first in North Yorkshire to achieve this status

• Worked with our museums to enable as many cultural/community venues as possible to become Dementia Friendly

MoD Covenant and Aged Veterans Fund The North Yorkshire and York Covenant Fund Working Group, who are leading on the ‘Strengthening Local Government Delivery’ of the Covenant, have recently appointed a project worker employed by York City Council to oversee the assignment. The project worker will hot desk at RDC whenever they need a presence in Richmondshire and B&C Officers are participating in the working group meetings. The District Council’s element ‘Healthy Horizons’ programme, which is part of the wider Ex-Forces Support in North Yorkshire project started in October 2017 with the setting up of a ‘pop up shed’ based at the RDC Depot. This has allowed project workers to host a group of veterans to undertake a number of skills training courses involving wood working and photography. Recruitment to the RDC delivery officer post has been completed and we are happy to welcome Chris Childs and Ryan Rutherford to the team in their new roles. Further promotion of the service will be taking place to ensure the programme is well subscribed. Social Fund Q3 saw one Social Fund bid approved as £19,505 was awarded to Leyburn Bowls club for improvements to their pavilion, club house and equipment shed.

PREVENT Following a meeting with our local Counter Terrorism representative we will be undertaking WRAP (Workshop to Raise Awareness of PREVENT) training in February with a second session in April. The training will focus on selected front and back office staff and there will be a follow up session to cater for anyone unable to attend the two scheduled dates

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CCTV Corporate Board recently gave formal approval for the capital contribution to the Richmond Town Council CCTV and the Town Council have been notified of that decision. Discussions will take place between Officers to establish the likely time frame for implementation of the project and whether the cameras will be available to support delivery of the Tour de Yorkshire event in May. 3. Environmental Health and Housing Options Following the amalgamation of the Housing Options and Environmental Health Teams the EH&HO Manager has continued to evaluate the service with the result that a restructure of service delivery will be undertaken to take effect from April 2018. The combined use of Environmental Health and Housing Officers to deal with issues in relation to private sector housing for example has allowed managers to evaluate capacity within the team and the proposals will be outlined early in Q4. Generally the Housing Option Team is operating well in terms of service delivery, although in terms of performance data a need to adopt a different approach to measuring homelessness prevention has been identified and steps have been put in place to remedy this for April 2018. As mentioned in the performance section of this briefing the new Homelessness Reduction Act has led to a number of preparations needing to be made and the EH&HO Manager has drawn up an Action Plan with a schedule of priorities and timetables. One of these actions has been the procurement of a new IT software system called Housing Jigsaw, to enable staff to assess and provide meaningful assistance, including a personalised housing plan, to anyone in their district who is homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days. Housing Jigsaw is a customer focused online tool, a full case management system, which combines practical support and advice covering all aspects of housing options including homelessness and accommodation options furthermore it will provide a full reporting system allowing Officers to present a complete picture of how the District Council is performing against the new Government targets. In Licensing following National high profile cases of child sex exploitation involving taxi drivers, all licensed personnel within Richmondshire have undertaken Safeguard Training and been accordingly certified. There have been a number of modules added to the exiting Uniform IT system, which continues to be developed and training implemented for staff to enhance and improve our systems and service delivery thus ensuring greater compliance of statutory duty. The new Policy and Protocol for Animal Boarding Establishments has been incorporated within the annual inspection regime, which has seen an improvement of premises and service delivery in dog and cat boarding establishments. 4. Legal Services The delivery of the legal service by Darlington Borough Council continues to be to a high standard with all service users happy with performance.

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Re-Structure We now have formal notice that two long standing members of staff will be leaving us in Q4. Peter Featherstone has now commenced his phased retirement and will retire on 15 March 2018 and Michael Dowson has given notice of his intention to retire and his final day in work will also be in March. Announcements will be made regarding both Peter and Michael at Council meetings but all staff and Members will wish these two highly respected Officers a long and happy retirement after their years of dedicated service. Recruitment to the vacant Business and Communities Managers post has taken place. The successful applicant is currently going through the relevant checks and we are expecting a start date for the first week in March. As described in the Environmental Health and Housing Options Section we are about to undertake a restructure in this service area with all options and proposals subject to full consultation with staff. 5. Links to Council Plan Objectives Enabling Growth

• A6136 • Economic Action Plan • Managed Workspace Disposals • Joint working with NYCC on local infrastructure • Scotch Corner new development • Small Business Grants • Tour de Yorkshire host town status confirmed

Healthy Environment

• Healthy Horizons – Ex-Forces project • Cllr Grose has recently been appointed as the Council’s Dementia Friendly Champion

and will be starting to attend meetings in his new role.

Helping Vulnerable People

• Multi Agency Policy for Safeguarding • Richmondshire Dementia Action Alliance Steering Group • Aged Veterans Project

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Strategy & Regulatory Q3 – 1 April 2017 – December 31 2017 Financial Report

REVENUE (Summary by Service)

Service 2016/17 Actual




Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017

Q2 VarianceReported

CB 14/11/2017

Q3 Variance2017/18

Projected Outturn


DeficitAdmin Buildings 128,755 119,800 121,100 1,300 121,100 0Building Control 41,168 48,500 48,500 0 48,500 0Communications 45,464 46,600 48,100 1,500 48,100 0

Democratic Representation & Members 317,620 340,300 346,200 5,900 (11,000) 335,200 (11,000)

Development Management 113,732 15,100 40,900 25,800 19,000 (81,000) (21,100) (62,000)Elections 55,554 55,500 55,500 0 55,500 0Emergency Planning 15,483 15,600 15,600 0 15,600 0Environmental Health Services 356,787 359,500 355,800 (3,700) (3,000) 352,800 (3,000)Environmental Protection (12,332) 400 400 0 400 0Food Safety & Commercial 434 (700) (700) 0 (700) 0Health & Safety at Work 0 0 0 0 0Housing Services 22,602 19,200 19,200 0 19,200 0Housing Standards 45 0 0 0 0Infectious Diseases 4,655 0 0 0 0Land Charges (42,413) (58,700) (60,300) (1,600) 21,000 (39,300) 21,000Legal 62,800 84,000 84,000 0 (7,000) 77,000 (7,000)Licensing (117,633) (125,700) (125,700) 0 (125,700) 0Planning Policy (Comm Dev Team) 155,546 159,200 137,080 (22,120) (35,000) 5,000 107,080 (30,000)Private Sector Housing Renewal 14,000 14,000 14,000 0 14,000 0Public Transport 0 0 0 0 0Water Safety (8,634) (12,500) (12,500) 0 (12,500) 0Community Development 324 900 900 0 900 0Community Safety Partnership 120 (20,100) 20,100 0 0Cultural Services 268,206 267,400 267,400 0 267,400 0Economic Development 8,158 20,300 20,300 0 20,300 0Grants to Vol Bodies (987) (9,500) (8,600) 900 (8,600) 0Partnerships (Business & Community) 123,570 143,100 143,600 500 (25,000) (4,000) 114,600 (29,000)Support to Business & Enterprise 48,989 46,000 46,000 0 5,000 51,000 5,000Tourism 14,500 10,000 10,000 0 10,000 0Workspace Management (10,060) 5,900 (5,900) 0 0Homelessness 232,200 232,200 (44,000) 3,000 191,200 (41,000)Net Revenue Expenditure 1,606,451 1,544,100 1,798,980 254,880 (7,000) (67,000) (83,000) 1,641,980 (157,000)

Internal Recharges etc 546,575 476,300 476,300 0 476,300 0

TOTAL BUDGET 2,153,026 2,020,400 2,275,280 254,880 (7,000) (67,000) (83,000) 2,118,280 (157,000)

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REVENUE (Income & Expenditure Summary)

Income 2016/17 Actual




Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017

Q2 VarianceReported

CB 14/11/2017

Q3 Variance2017/18

Projected Outturn


DeficitFees & Charges (706,649) (618,500) (618,500) 0 (7,000) 10,000 (80,000) (695,500) (77,000)Other (277,331) (60,100) (60,700) (600) (60,700) (600)Sub Total: (983,980) (678,600) (679,200) (600) (7,000) 10,000 (80,000) (756,200) (77,600)

Expenditure 2016/17 Actual




Q1 VarianceReported

CB 12/09/2017

Q2 VarianceReported

CB 14/11/2017

Q3 Variance2017/18

Projected Outturn


DeficitSalary Related Costs 1,217,488 1,241,500 1,425,080 183,580 (88,000) 6,000 1,343,080 101,580Building Running Costs 104,180 79,100 131,400 52,300 (10,000) 121,400 42,300Vehicle and Travel Costs 28,948 32,500 32,000 (500) (6,000) 26,000 (6,500)Supplies and Services 1,145,049 772,900 793,000 20,100 11,000 7,000 811,000 38,100Third Party Payments 94,766 96,700 96,700 0 96,700 0Sub Total: 2,590,430 2,222,700 2,478,180 255,480 0 (77,000) (3,000) 2,398,180 175,480

Net Revenue Expenditure 1,606,451 1,544,100 1,798,980 254,880 (7,000) (67,000) (83,000) 1,641,980 97,880

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REVENUE (Details of Major Variances)

Service


Deficit

Democratic Management & Representation (11,000)

Development Management (81,000)

Other Minor Variances 9,000

Total (83,000)

£80k increase in expected income to be received and a £1k reduction on salaries overspend estimated in Qtr 2

Various small amounts saved in year

Reason

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Strategy & Regulatory

Financial Report Q3 – 1 April 2017 – December 31 2017 Financial Report

CAPITAL – General Fund

(Summary by Scheme)


2017/18 Actual to

Date


CB 12/09/2017

Q2 Variance

Q3 Variance



Disabled Facilities & Other Housing Grants 119,000 72,241 154,500 22,590 296,090 177,090

Home Improvement - Heating 0 6,125 7,350 7,400 7,400

Richmond Pool Minor Works 70,000 24,083 70,000

Mercury House 26,000 0 26,000

Increase/(Decrease) in Capital Programme 215,000 102,449 161,850 0 22,590 399,490 184,490


Explanation of Variance Reason Q3 Variance

DFG and Other Housing Grants Additional work to complete requiring £22,590 22,590

22,590

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Strategy & Regulatory Services Performance Indicators 2017/18

Democratic Services Description 16/17

Target 16/17 Actual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 17/18 Final

Outcome Comp vs last year

Produce agenda in accordance with statutory requirements - 5 days prior to meeting

100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Produce decision/minutes within 5 days of the meeting

100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

No. of Registered Electors

36500 36583 36934 36896 36608

Development Management Description 16/17

Target 16/17 Actual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final

outcome Comp vs last year

Time taken to determining planning applications (excluding cases where an extension of time has been agreed with the applicant)

a) Major Applications (13 weeks) 60% 100% 100% 100% 100% b) Minor Applications (8 weeks) 65% 79.77% 78.95% 90.00% 100% c) Other Applications (8 weeks) 80% 94.90% 91.49% 98.41% 100% Less than 33% of planning appeals allowed

33% or lower allowed

10% allowed (10 appeals)

100% dismissed (1 appeal decision)

100% dismissed (2 appeal decisions)

One allowed and one split decision. Two enforcement appeals allowed

Average turnaround time of 9 to 10 days for all searches and

9/10 days 7.57 days 6.27 days 7.13 days 6.56 days

Between 40% – 50% of searches completed within 7 working days

40%-50% 45% 46.73% 53.19% 56.00%

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Community Development Description 16/17

Target 16/17 Actual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final

outcome Comp vs last year

1.1 Preparation of Delivering Development Document

Publication of: Design SPD Development Guidance SPD Open Space SPD

SPD drafts completed and to be rolled into LPR

Member Agreement to commence LPR confirmed

LPR Commenced

Strategic Objectives and Spatial Principles (SP1,2,3,4) discussed at LPWG for inclusion in Issues and Options paper. Employment Land Review (ELR) ITQ issued. Began scoping for STA

1.2 Deliverable Land Supply (A6136 improvements) (Masterplanning)

Improvements completed Masterplanning of Strategic land release at Harley Hill.

A secure and defendable 5 year land supply with a further 10 year supply to meet the development programme requirements.

CFS due to begin August 2017 Due for completion Nov 2017 MoD Planners appointed meeting with RDC arranged

CFS underway RDC/MoD/NYCC met to discuss evidence requirement and begin scoping Strategic Transport Assessment.

CFS complete – assessments to begin in Q4 5 year land supply update complete. Complete Scoping complete

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1.3 Community Infrastructure Levy

CIL charging schedule adopted

CIL implemented so contributions to infrastructure improvements can be collected.

Member agreement to run CIL work together with LPR pending Government announcement

Government announcement due in November

Awaiting consultation on new NPPF due in Q4.

Business & Community Description 17/18

Target 16/17 – n/a Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final

outcome New Targets

All performance targets under Lifestyles Project are met

100% 100% 100% 100% n/a 100% n/a

All performance targets under Aged Veterans Project are met

100% tbc tbc 100% 100%

Environmental Health Description 16/17

Target 16/17 Actual Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 16/17

Actual Final Outcome

Comp vs last year

First response to routine requests for service

90% Within 3 Working Days

Achieved 95% 95% 96%

First response to urgent requests for service

95% Achieved 98% 97% 98%

First response to planning application consultations

90% Within 7 Working Days

Achieved 97% 97% 98%

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Housing Options Description 15/16

Actual 16/17 – Actual

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final outcome

New Targets

Housing enquiries 680 (less 171 DHP = 509)

481 (less 124 DHP = 357)

89 67 97 320

Preventions via LA measures 425* 295* 26 (86)** 10 (44)** 16 (47)** 52 (177)

80 (215)

Homeless applications taken 39*** 47*** 12 4 22 45 Use of B & B accommodation 17.2 weeks 14 weeks 1.2 weeks 2 weeks 4 weeks 8 weeks

* Previously included DHP figures in totals. ** Going forward DHP figures are now separated and included in brackets. *** RDC are currently piloting a prevention statistic’s database (Jigsaw) which will go nationwide from April 2018 and provide accurate performance indicators.

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Scheme 2017/18 Actual Q1 Variance Q2 Variance Q3 Variance Anticipated Cumulative VarianceBudget to Date Reported CB Outturn Over/(Under)

£ £ £ £ £ £ £

Resource Services 445,350 140,184 0 0 (170,000) 275,350 (170,000)

Statutory and Regulatory 215,000 122,370 161,900 0 22,590 399,490 184,490

Operational Services 207,000 313,325 33,000 115,600 (4,000) 351,600 144,600

GENERAL FUND 867,350 575,879 194,900 115,600 (151,410) 1,026,440 159,090

HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT 2,058,000 1,515,750 64,000 26,850 0 2,148,850 90,850

Total 2,925,350 2,091,629 258,900 142,450 (151,410) 3,175,290 249,940

1 April to 31 December 2017

CAPITAL MONITORING STATEMENT 2017/18

Summary

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Documents

200218 Corporate Board Item 7 Performance & Budget ... · for Richmond (Yorks) compared with 43 for the whole of 2016/17. These were dealt with in an average of 11.7 days (7.2 days