The Head of Financial Services presented a report which outlined the quarter 3 (October to December 2015) performance against the Directorate Plan for 2015/16.

Whilst the Corporate Plan 2015/16 (and supporting Directorate Plans) had been superseded by the Wirral Plan 2020 Vision, they still formed the basis of the in-year performance management framework. A new Performance Management Framework would be developed for the Wirral Plan once the associated delivery plan had been finalised.

Of the 19 reportable indicators, 12 were rated Green, 2 were rated Amber and 5 were rated Red. For indicators rated Amber and Red, the responsible officer had indicated the corrective action being put in place to get performance back on track. The five measures rated red were:

·  Percentage of Performance Appraisals (PAs) completed by September 2015 (TRCP03)

·  Sickness absence: the number of working days / shifts lost due to sickness absence (TRCP04)

·  Percentage of client finance recovered by end of month following billing (TRDP13)

·  Percentage spend allocation of Discretionary Housing Payment (TRDP16)

·  Percentage grant income achieved (TRDP24)

He gave details of the current status of the red indicators and how the issues were being addressed.

Responding to Members’ comments, the Head of Financial Services made a number of points, including:

·  The decision whether a target was amber or red was purely based on the percentage variance and the commentary identified the actions and how the indicator had performed previously.

·  He would pursue with the Transaction Centre how the flaws in the data collection in respect of the ‘Local SME suppliers paid within 10 days’ could be addressed. He was not aware of any complaints with regard to local SME suppliers being paid within 10 days and would ask the Transaction Centre to clarify this.

·  With regard to TRDP24 and the grant for Housing Benefit spend which was in the order of £140 million he outlined the critical thresholds and how these affected the rates of subsidy from the Government.

·  With the ‘projected delivery of Council budget savings’ indicator it was not feasible to set interim targets as some savings could be delivered immediately whereas some occurred throughout the year. There were approximately 70 different saving headings monitored on a monthly basis.

·  With regard to the ‘identification of fraud and error’ indicator this was requested by the Department for Work and Pensions but not analysed further. He would ask that a breakdown distinguishing between the two be provided by the Transaction Centre.

·  In respect of the changes to Business Rates by 2020 a series of consultations would be undertaken by the Government during 2016. The Government had advised that local authorities would be compensated for the loss of income through recent Government announcements up to 2020. In respect of earlier compensation through Section 31 Grants the precise details were awaited.

·  By 2020 all Councils would only have income from Council Tax and the 100% Retention of Business Rates. The Liverpool City Region had been selected as one of the pilot areas for the Retention scheme and this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42