Highland Council to scrutinise report of Statutory Performance Indicators

Members of The Highland Council committee are to be presented with the Annual Report of Statutory Performance Indicators and Best Value for financial year 2019/20 when they meet tomorrow (25 March).

The report shows that of the 99 indicators analysed against set targets 72% are on target or within agreed performance threshold.

Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) are locally determined and are drawn from local performance indicators and the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) indicators used in the Council’s Corporate Plan which also sets targets for improvement on which performance is measured.

Of these, there are 27 SPIs which the Council considers to be Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  KPIs provide a high-level overview of the Council’s performance overall and have been selected considering their weighting in terms of evidencing effective service delivery of key Council functions.

The performance analysis of the Council’s KPIs in 2019/20 shows that 67% are on target of within an agreed performance threshold.

Some of the key areas of local improvement or improvement against target to be highlighted to members tomorrow are:

Children’s Services

• The average number of Looked After Children accommodated by the Council out with Highland decreased from 39 to 30.
• The percentage of Looked After Children in kinship care increased from 18.4% to 20.5%.
• Attainment (5+ awards at SCQF Level 6) by all children increased from 30% to 35%.
• Attainment (5+ awards at SCQF Level 6) by children from deprived backgrounds increased from 12% to 15%.

Cultural and Leisure Services

• Library visits per 1,000 population (in person and virtual) increased from 13,879 to 15,884.
• Library virtual visits per 1,000 population increased from 4,470 to 6,533.
• Cost per visit to libraries decreased from £1.52 to £1.33.

Road Services

• Street Cleanliness score was 95.7% compared to 92.3% nationally.
• The cost of maintenance per street lighting unit decreased from £14.82 to £12.67.
• Street lighting failures completed in 7 days increased from 62% to 69%.
• Street lighting energy consumption decreased from 13,734,725 kWh to 11,878,227 kWh.

Housing Services

• Highland gross rent arrears as a percentage of total rent due was 4.6% compared to 7.3% nationally.
• The average time taken to re-let homes decreased from 36.8 days to 31.9 days.
• The average duration of a homelessness case decreased from 48 weeks to 43 weeks.

Corporate Services

• Staff sickness absence rate (non-teachers) was 9.7 days compared to 11.9 days nationally.
• Spend with small and medium sized enterprises was 47.3% compared to 28.5% nationally.
• Our council tax collection rate was 96.3% compared to 95.8% nationally.

The Council’s Corporate Plan sets out its strategic and operational priorities along with relevant local and LGBF indicators and targets to monitor progress.

The indicators selected and their respective targets frame the Council’s ambition to be a high performing council; evidence the sustainability of the Council and its effective use of resources through cost indicators; and connect the Council to its communities through understanding public satisfaction with Council Services.

The Council collates performance statistics for the previous financial year and retrospectively reports on it publicly with a focus on the Council’s values of being ambitious, sustainable and connected.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Margaret Davidson, expressed her thanks to staff for the continued improvement. She said:  “I am heartened to see that a number of areas which are key for the organisation have seen marked improvement.  I’m particularly pleased to see attainment for our young people within education for 2019/20 is moving in the right direction, particularly attainment in education at level 6 and for pupils in deprived areas which has shown clear improvement.  We consistently remain ambitious to increase this further still.”

She continued:  “One area of concern where we know we can do better is to address the number of households and families residing in temporary accommodation provided by the Council.  Tomorrow’s committee report highlights that the number of households in temporary accommodation increased from 560 (2018/19) to 625 in 2019/20.  While I am confident that efforts are underway to address this increase – when the 2020/21 report is prepared and published next March – we must also remain mindful of the extraordinary factors presented by COVID-19.”