Report on Statutory Performance Indicators to be scrutinised by Highland councillors

Members of The Highland Council are to be presented with the Annual Report of Statutory Performance Indicators, Benchmarking and Best Value for financial year 2034/24 when they meet on Thursday, 27 March 2025. 

Leader of the Council, Cllr Raymond Bremner thanked staff for their continued efforts to support service improvements. He said: “I am pleased to see improvement across a number of areas of the Council including those that support the vulnerable in our communities, especially for children and young people, and in Housing Benefit and Council Tax services.” 

Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "It is encouraging to see the overall evidence of improvement in the Council’s key performance indicators when compared to what was reported at the same time last year. These results are evidence of the positive impact that our services can have on our communities such as the increase of community payback order supervision and the reduction in the time taken to process homelessness applications.” 

The report explains that data is currently available for analysis of 70 indicators out of a total 81. Fifty five (79%) of the 70 indicators analysed are on target or within agreed performance threshold. This compares to a 2% increase on target or within threshold as reported at the same time last year. 

Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) are locally determined and are drawn from local performance indicators (LPI) and the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) indicators used in the Council’s Performance Plan. 

There are 34 SPIs which the Council considers to be Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  KPIs provide a high-level overview of the Council’s performance overall and are selected considering their weighting in terms of evidencing effective service delivery of key Council functions. 

The performance analysis available for 27 of the Council’s KPIs in 2023/24 shows that 85% are on target or within the performance threshold. 

Some of the key areas of improvement to be highlighted to councillors are: 

Children’s Services:  

• The average number of children and young people accommodated out with Highland (Annual) decreased from 20 to 13.

Adult Services: 

• Criminal Justice - % offenders on new Community Payback Orders (Supervision) seen within 5 working days increased from 46% to 62.6%.

Corporate Services: 

• Benefits Administration costs – Gross cost per case decreased from £30.76 to £28.99  

• Average Days to Process Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction Claims - Changes of Circumstances decreased from 1.9 to 1.6 days.

Business Development Services: 

• Average Time Planning Applications - All Majors decreased from 75.2 to 38.6 weeks. 

Housing Services: 

• Homelessness – case duration for all applications (weeks) decreased from 45 to 35 weeks.

Cultural and Leisure Services:

• Net cost per visit to libraries decreased from £1.31 to £1.07 per visit. 

The Council’s Performance Plan sets out its strategic and operational priorities along with relevant Local Government Benchmarking Framework indicators and targets to monitor progress, with the Council’s Delivery Plan being a key mechanism through which the priorities are delivered. These LGBF indicators along with locally determined indicators are now the focus of the Council’s SPI reporting.