At the meeting of the Council held on 17 October 2016 (minute 67 (5) refers), the attached Notice of Motion, ‘Performance Management Reporting Arrangements’ proposed by Councillor Phil Gilchrist and seconded by Councillor Stuart Kelly was referred by the Mayor to the People, Environment and Business Overview and Scrutiny Committees for consideration.

In accordance with Standing Order 7 (6), Councillor Gilchrist has been invited to attend the meeting in order for him to be given an opportunity to explain the Motion.

The Assistant Director: Law and Governance reported that at the meeting of the Council held on 17 October, 2016 (minute 67 (5) refers), the following Notice of Motion proposed by Councillor Phil Gilchrist and seconded by Councillor Stuart Kelly was referred by the Mayor to this Committee for consideration –

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT – REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS

“Council notes:

1.  the training session on the arrangements for Performance Management held on 7 September 2016, attended by a wide range of Members across all parties, at which Members were informed regarding the range of indicators chosen for future reports based on the progress with the Wirral Plan;

2.  the concern expressed at that meeting that these reports and proposed indicators do not cover the range of established indicators that Council Members have always followed and expected to see, such as progress with staff appraisals, the level of staff sickness and absence and other issues;

3.  that many Members at the training session made the case for a wider range of indicators to show how Council services are performing;

4.  that the former Families and Wellbeing Policy & Performance Committee received performance monitoring data on a range of indicators that are and remain sensitive and significant in the light of OFSTED’s recent findings.

Council, therefore, requests that:

(i).  as the data is still being collected and analysed by officers, a set of such wider indicators should be presented to Members on a regular basis;

(ii).  accompanying quarterly performance data, there should also be information as to the target expected in that quarter, in addition to the year end and Plan end (2020) target;

(iii).  the choice of indicators needs to be relevant to the 2020 pledge and undertakes to review those indicators chosen to measure pledge success prior to reporting for Quarter 2 performance;

(iv).  officers report to each Overview and Scrutiny committee the ‘added value’ expected for those indicators that have been included within the 2020 Vision Plan and, in respect of indicators flagged as under or over performing, additional information and actions proposed in respect of those indicators.

In order to secure a transparent and open review, Members should be invited to submit details of the key areas that they wish to see reported upon by the end of October.

The Spokespersons of each of the newly created Overview and Scrutiny Committees should be requested to examine these suggestions and ensure a sufficient, timely and readily accessible mechanism for such data in future reports.”

In accordance with Standing Order 7 (6), Councillor Gilchrist had been invited to attend the meeting in order for him to be given an opportunity to explain the Motion.

Councillor Gilchrist elaborated on the motion which had also been referred to the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which had met the previous evening and was going to the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee the following evening. He was aware that the Chairs and spokespersons had met to discuss the matter. He suggested the need to find indicators which remained relevant, were accurate and could be easily assessed.

The Chair commented that the Committee would all echo the sentiments being expressed and on a motion by the Chair, duly seconded, it was –

Resolved –

(1)  That the Notice of Motion be supported.

(2)  That a further meeting of the OSC Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Spokespersons would be welcomed to consider feedback from the OSC Committees on the presentation and content of performance data.