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South Northamptonshire Council
Cabinet
10 June 2019
Monthly Performance, Risk and Finance Monitoring Report – April 2019
Report of Assistant Director: Customers and Corporate Servicesand Assistant Director: Finance, Procurement and Property
This report is public
Purpose of reportThis report summarises the Council’s Performance, Risk and Finance monitoring position as at the end of each month.
1.0 Recommendations
The meeting is recommended:
1.1 To note the monthly Performance, Risk and Finance Monitoring Report.
2.0 Introduction
2.1 The Council is committed to performance, risk and budget management and reviews progress against its corporate priorities on a monthly basis.
2.2 This report provides an update on progress made so far in 2019-20 to deliver the Council’s priorities through reporting on performance, the Leadership Risk Register and providing an update on the financial position.
2.3 The Council’s performance management framework sets out the key actions, projects and programmes of work that contribute to the delivery of the 2019-20 business plan and the priorities of the Council. These measures and key performance indicators are reported on a monthly basis to highlight progress, identify areas of good performance and actions that have been taken to address underperformance or delays.
2.4 The Council maintains a Leadership Risk Register that is reviewed on a monthly basis. The latest available version of the risk register at the date this report is published is included in this report.
2.5 The Report details section is split into three parts:
Performance Update Leadership Risk Register Update
Finance Update
2.6 There are four appendices to this report:
Appendix 1 – 2019/20 Business Plan Appendix 2 – Monthly Performance Report Appendix 3 – Leadership Risk Register Appendix 4 – Capital programme
3.0 Report Details
Performance Update
3.1 The Council’s performance management framework sets out the key actions, projects and programmes of work that contribute to the delivery of the 2019/20 business plan (Appendix 1) and the priorities of the Council.
3.2 The 2019/20 business plan sets out three strategic priorities: Protected, Green and Clean; Thriving Communities and Wellbeing; District of Opportunity and Growth.
3.3 This report provides a summary of the Council’s performance in delivering against each strategic priority. To measure performance a ‘traffic light’ system is used. Where performance is on or ahead of target it is rated green, where performance is slightly behind the target it is rated amber. A red rating indicates performance is off target.
Priority: Protected, Green and Clean
3.4 The Council is committed to protecting the natural environment and ensuring the character of the district is preserved and enhanced. Our commitment includes working to ensure the district has high standards of environmental cleanliness and greater waste and recycling services. Maintaining the district as a low crime area is another key part of this priority and the Council is committed to working in partnership to deliver against this objective.
3.5 Overview of our performance against this strategic priority:
Waste and recycling is ahead of target at the start of this financial year, collecting lots of garden waste from green bins. We are reporting 63.36% against the target of 60% for April.
We (SNC) are supporting a grass roots recycling group who have set up a community Facebook group which aims to share tips on how to reduce waste or rule it out altogether.
The Low Waste Living (Daventry and Towcester Area) Facebook group was set up by Daventry resident and SNC Principal Planning Officer Clare Whitehead at the end of 2018 and already has nearly 900 members.
Fly tipping investigation and information gathering has taken place during April. The Number of fly tips is currently not of concern, however we are going to be launching the ‘Lets scrap Fly Tipping’ over the next few months. We will be promoting this campaign over social media using the Northamptonshire Waste Partnership material.
Reducing Anti-social behaviour across the district, during April we have continued to work with other statutory partners to reduce anti-social behaviour, this included the Police attending the Brackley Fun Day Community Event. There are good relationships and working arrangements between the council and other agencies. Northants Police are changing the personnel in the Local Neighbourhood Policing Team so the team are focusing on building relationships to ensure good joint working continues at community events like this. On a day to day basis we continue to work with other agencies to resolve some specific anti-
social behaviour cases and an increasing trend of young people verbally abusing members of the public.
Priority: Thriving Communities and Wellbeing
3.6 The Council is committed to supporting our communities to thrive and to promoting the wellbeing of our residents. This priority includes supporting health and wellbeing, improving leisure facilities and delivering leisure activities and working in partnership with voluntary organisations to deliver services in a manner that safeguards children, young people and vulnerable adults. Another key aspect of this priority is preventing homelessness, the delivery of affordable housing and improving the condition of residential properties.
3.7 Overview of our performance against this strategic priority:
Average time taken to process Housing Benefit change events is reporting Red for April and YTD. The team have worked hard in April to meet the expected additional demand at year end including rent increases, benefit and income changes. In addition, we identified a number of changes that had not previously
been applied to cases and this unfortunately had an adverse effect on the overall performance. At present we are exploring the opportunities presented by automation for Universal Credit cases and expect this to start having a positive impact by the end of Q1.
Promote Health & Wellbeing - Partner organisations within the South Northants Health & Wellbeing Forum worked together to submit 3 bids for Public Health Grant monies. The projects include projects relating to community healthy eating and cooking, Towcester Wellbeing Cafe and money advice provision in GP practices for patients experiencing mental health issues relating to debt and money matters. A draft SNC Workplace Wellbeing Plan is currently being developed.
Homelessness Prevention - The Shelter Health check report has been received and we have met with Shelter to discuss the findings. We will be thinking about how to use these findings to keep doing what we are doing well and to continually improve the service. The scope of the LEAN project has been agreed and the LEAN team are meeting in the coming weeks to map out the current process and start to identify where improvements can be made.
The Housing Strategy is currently open for residents to have their say on housing delivery. The consultation is live until 15/05/19 and the results will support how we deliver our Housing Service over the next three years. www.southnorthants.gov.uk/HousingStrategyConsultation. Hard copies are available at the Forum, Town Hall and in libraries.
Priority: District of Opportunity and Growth
3.8 The Council is committed to developing the local economy, promoting inward investment and delivering sustainable growth. This priority also contributes towards making great places to live, work, visit and invest through economic development
and working in partnership to deliver strategic transport infrastructure projects.
3.9 Overview of our performance against this strategic priority:
Promote Tourism - The Economic Growth Team attended the Watermeadows Fun Day to promote the SNC Tourism Guides. The Team continue to promote the District as a place to visit, attending a
variety of local events to promote the SNC tourism guides as well as working with local attractions to support the visitor economy in South Northamptonshire.
Promote Inward investment and business growth - SME Northamptonshire Business Awards has been launched. The awards are nationally recognised and offer businesses within the county the opportunity to showcase their industrious and hardworking company to a large-scale audience. This year’s awards consist of 22
different categories, ranging in topic and eligibility criteria. SNC have created a new category – ‘South Northamptonshire Business of the Year’, to celebrate the entrepreneurship and innovation within the district.
Deliver the Local Plan - Response was sent to the Inspector's initial questions. The Inspector has now asked a series of detailed and specific questions. Hearings due to start on Tuesday 11 June, in the Chamber at Forum
Summary of Performance
3.10 The Council reports on performance against 24 business plan measures and 12 key performance indicators on a monthly basis. Performance for this month is summarised in the table below. The full details, including commentary against each measure and key performance indicator can be found in Appendix 2.
Business Plan Measures and Key Performance Indicators (36)
Status Description April % YTD %Green On target 35 97% 35 97%
Amber Slightly off target 0 0% 0 0%
Red Off target 1 3% 1 3%
3.11 Spotlight On: IT Business Service
The IT Business service is one of the council’s core corporate services and performs a key role in enabling service transformation throughout the council.In 2016 Cherwell District and South Northants council initiated a transformation programme for the IT service. Key objectives of the programme were:
Providing secure, resilient, simple infrastructure Enabling future-proofed and flexible arrangements Focussing on service delivery Adapting quickly and running the IT Service at a lower
cost base
The IT transformation programme was completed in March 2019 and has delivered the following projects:
IT Staff re-structure and re-organisation. ITIL deployment for IT Service. Active Directory Migration. Exchange Online implementation. GCSX Migration and closedown. Network refresh. New off-site data centre and applications migrated. Disaster recovery and business continuity. Decommissioning of onsite server rooms. Implemented unified communications solution. Business tools harmonisation. Business systems harmonisation.
The following benefits have been achieved as a result of the IT transformation programme:
£730k saving per annum (£500k target). Modern IT service which is aligned to industry best practice such as ITIL Increased resilience of infrastructure estate. Increasing application of modern technology solutions (off-site data
centre, cloud services).
Stronger leadership and ownership within the service. Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation. Enabling channel shift (e.g. Bartec delivery of online waste services). Increased reliability, through simple solutions. Enabling agile working e.g. Office 365. Overall reduction in ongoing infrastructure costs.
The IT Transformation has been a success for Cherwell and South Northants councils. The critical success factors have been: Establishment of effective governance at all levels. Maintained connection and cohesion between business areas, IT Service and
programme. Business involvement at all times, with strong consistent internal leadership. Ongoing engagement across the IT Service. External committed partner with good culture fit. Effective, flexible use of external resource with blended team. Provision of funding throughout based on robust business case. Sustained commitment and proactive issue management. Programme delivery principles applied throughout but fine-tuned to needs of
CDC/SNC.
The IT transformation has completed, however, there is still work to do. The IT service have established a culture of continuous improvement, identifying opportunities to refine and improve services. Key projects planned for 2019/2020 include: Working in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council. Supporting the transition of South Northants Council into a unitary authority. Finance system replacement (Cherwell
District only). Planning system replacement (Cherwell
District only). Environmental Health and Licencing
system procurement/replacement (Cherwell District only).
HR/Payroll system replacement. Revenues and Benefits document
management system replacement.
Risk Update
3.12 The Council maintains a Leadership Risk Register that is reviewed on a monthly basis. The latest available version of the risk register at the date this report is published is included in this report.
3.13 The heat map below shows the overall position of all risks contained within the Leadership Risk Register – Appendix 3.
3.14 The table below provides an overview of changes made to the Leadership Risk Register during the past month. Any significant changes since the publication of the report will be reported verbally at the meeting.
Leadership Risk Res Score D’tion Latest UpdateL01 Financial Resilience 9 Low risk ↔ Full review completed
L02 Statutory functions 9 Low risk ↔ Full review completed
L03 Lack of management Capacity 9 Low risk ↓ Full review completed, residual score reduced to 9 from 12.
L04 Local Plan 8 Low risk ↔ Full review completed
L05 Business Continuity 9 Low risk ↔ Full review completedL06 Strategic Community Partners
- Used to be partnering12 Medium risk
↔ Full review completed, all fields updated to reflect new risk.
L07 Emergency Planning 12 Medium risk
↔ Full review completed
L08 Health & Safety 12 Medium risk
↔ Full review completed
L09 Cyber Security 15 Medium risk
↔ Full review completed
L10 Safeguarding the Vulnerable 9 Low risk ↑ Full review completed, residual score increased from 8 to 9.
L11 Income generation through council owned companies
9 Low risk ↔ Full review completed
L12 Financial sustainability of third- party suppliers
8 Low risk ↔ Full review completed
L13 Local Government Reorganisation
9 Low risk ↔ Full review completed
L14 Corporate Governance 9 Low risk ↔ Full review completed
The full Leadership Risk Register update can be found in Appendix 3.
There are two score changes in April, all risks reviewed with updates in mitigating actions and or comments etc.
Finance Update
3.15 We are continuing to develop the way we report and the ease of access and understanding of information we provide to ensure Members, and the public, are fully aware of the financial position of the Council.
During 2018/19 we have assessed the Budget Monitoring process and developed a “Dashboard” to engage the customer. This improvement in reporting will improve our 2019/20 reporting and continue to provide budget managers, senior leadership and members with more up to date information regarding the financial position and outlook for the Council.
The finance team has aligned itself with the restructured business areas to provide better support and consistency and continuity of advice moving forward across both revenue and capital budget areas in addition to monitoring any over funding levels.
The risk based monitoring undertaken to date has highlighted areas of risk at this stage. The variances to date are set out below. All services are reviewing their forecasts to identify savings and efficiencies which may mitigate some of the risks being identified. Further risk to this position will be highlighted and detailed in future reports.
3.16 Revenue Position
The Council’s forecast financial position is set out in the table below.
Revenue Monitoring
(Brackets denotes an Underspend)
Budget£000
Forecast£000
Current Month
Variances£000
Prior Month
Variances£000
Wellbeing 978 978 - -
Environmental 3,615 3,641 26 -
Planning 1,505 1,744 239 -
WELLBEING, ENVIRONMENTAL & REGULATORY SERVICES TOTAL 6,098 6,363 265 -
Environmental Services £26k This increase is due to the increase in the price charge per tonne (Gate Fees) for dry goods recycling £76k. Officers are keeping the market under close review. There is an anticipated savings in salary costs of (£50k) due to staff vacancies.
Planning Policy and Development £239k comprises £203k under recovery of planning income due to the volatility in the number of expected planning applications. However, we are currently recruiting 2 Trainee Surveyors to reduce the reliance on agency staff. In addition, there is an earmarked reserve to assist with managing this risk. £36k on Building Control due to continued engagement of agency staffs caused by shortage of skilled personnel to fill the vacant roles.
Corporate Services 564 564 - -
CORPORATE SERVICES TOTAL 564 564 - -
Revenue Monitoring Budget£000
Forecast£000
Current Month
Variances£000
Prior Month
Variances£000
Law and Governance 922 922 - -
Finance and Procurement 2,135 2,148 13 -
Property Investment & Contract Management 596 596 - -
IT Services 1,579 1,579 - -
HR OD and Payroll 343 343 - -
Performance and Transformation 444 444 - -
RESOURCES TOTAL 6,019 6,032 13 -
Finance and Procurement £13k comprises £50k overspend due to the Local Government Reorganisation costs which will be funded from reserves. (£36k) underspend in Benefits due to more claimants moving on to Universal Credit which is paid for by Department of Works & Pensions instead of South Northants.
TOTAL DIRECTORATES 12,681 12,959 278 0
Compensatory Pensions And Pension Strain 165 165 - -
Interest Receivable Gf (492) (492) - -
Appropriations For Transfer To Reserves 2,295 2,295 - -
Appropriations For Transfer From Reserve (18) (18) - -
Capital Charges 0 0 - -
Accumulated Absences Adjustment 0 0 - -
EXECUTIVE MATTERS TOTAL 1,950 1,950 - - COST OF SERVICES 14,631 14,909 278 -
Funding
(Brackets denotes an Underspend)Budget
£000Forecast
£000
Current Month
Variances£000
Prior Month
Variances£000
Rural Services Delivery Grant (189) 0 189 -
FORMULA GRANT EQUIVALENT (189) 0 189 -
South Northants is now part of the 75% Business Rates pilot in Northamptonshire - Rural Services Delivery Grant has now been incorporated into the Business Rates.New Homes Bonus (2,757) (2,757) - -
GRANTS AWARDED TOTAL (2,757) (2,757) - -
BUSINESS RATES GROWTH TOTAL (4,647) (4,836) (189) -
South Northants is now part of the 75% Business Rates pilot in Northamptonshire - Rural Services Delivery Grant has now been incorporated into the Business Rates.
Council Tax (6,900) (6,900) - -
Collection Fund (138) (138) - -
COUNCIL TAX INCOME TOTAL (7,038) (7,038) - -
TOTAL INCOME (14,631) (14,631) - -
Reserve management (253) -
(Surplus)/Deficit 25 -
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
Wellbeing, Environmental & Regulatory Corporate Services Resources & Executive
MattersBudget 6,098 564 7,969Forecast 6,363 564 7,982
Budget Forecast
265
013
Wellbeing, Environmental & Regulatory
Corporate Services Resources & Executive Matters
Variances in £000s'
The Council is forecasting some variance with its overall expectations. The graph above shows that the forecast overspends do not significantly impact upon the overall profile of spend for the Council.
3.17 Capital Programme
A summary of the capital programme forecast is set out in the table below. The detailed Capital programme is shown in the appendices to this report.
Directorate Budget£000
Forecast £000
Re-profiled into
2020/21£000
Current Period
Variances£000
Prior Period
Variances£000
Wellbeing, Environmental & Regulatory 3,467 3,367 0 (100) 0
Resources 2,952 2,952 0 - 0
Total 6,419 6,319 (100) -
Current Period Variances:Wellbeing, Environmental & Regulatory (£100k) Budgets not required: Empty Homes Work-in-Default (£50k) and Discretionary Grants Domestic Properties (£50k)
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
Wellbeing, Environmental & Regulatory
£000
Resources £000
Budget 3,467 2,952Forecast 3,367 2,952Re-profiled into 2020/21
0 0
£000
Re-profiled forecast expenditure from 2018/19 has now been incorporated into the 2019/20 capital programme, but is still subject to approval.
Wellbeing, Environmental & Regulatory
65%Redeveopment / Refurbishment at
Towcester Centre for Leisure
Community Development Fund
Brackley Pool
Disabled Facility Grants
Resources35%
2 Whittons Lane
Farthinghoe Recycling Depot
Website Development
New Financial Information System
Where a capital project spans more than one financial year or there are delays to the project, re-phasing or re-profiling of expenditure may be needed. Re-profiling and phasing updates to capital projects will be identified in future reports.
The overall capital programme is currently expecting to spend to target. This position will be reviewed by the Capital Programme Working Group. The next
meeting of this group will undertake a line by line review of the capital programme and the output of this meeting will be provided in the next monitoring report.
4.0 Conclusion and Reasons for Recommendations
4.1 It is recommended that the contents of this report are noted.
5.0 Consultation
5.1 This report sets out performance, risk and budgetary information from the previous month and as such no formal consultation on the content or recommendations is required.
6.0 Alternative Options and Reasons for Rejection
6.1 The following alternative options have been identified and rejected for the reasons as set out below.
Option 1: This report illustrates the Council’s performance against the 2018-19 business plan. As this is a monitoring report, no further options have been considered. However, members may wish to request that officers provide additional information.
7.0 Implications
Financial and Resource Implications
7.1 The financial implications are detailed within section 3.15 of this report.
Comments checked by: Kelly Watson, Assistant Director: Finance and [email protected]
Legal Implications
7.2 There are no legal implications from this report.
Comments checked by: Andrew Hunkin, Monitoring [email protected]
Risk management
7.3 This report contains a full update with regards to the Council’s risk position at the end of the previous month. A risk management strategy is in place and the risk register has been fully reviewed.
Comments checked by: Louise Tustian, Team Leader Insight Team 01295 [email protected]
8.0 Decision Information
Key Decision
Financial Threshold Met: No
Community Impact Threshold Met: No
Wards Affected
All
Links to Corporate Plan and Policy Framework
All
Lead Councillors –
Councillor Peter Rawlinson – Portfolio Holder for Finance, Performance and Governance
Document InformationAppendix No TitleAppendix 1Appendix 2Appendix 3Appendix 4
2019/20 Business Plan Monthly Performance Report Leadership Risk Register Capital Programme
Background PapersNoneReport Author Geoff Kent – Assistant Director: Customers and Corporate
ServicesKelly Watson – Assistant Director: Finance, Procurement and Property
Contact Information
Tel: 0300 003 [email protected]
Tel: 0300 003 [email protected]
