How we monitor our performance

Performance and risk information will be reviewed on a regular basis to allow continuous improvement.

The approach will be to:

• focus on the delivery of Council outcomes as set out in Council Plan and related planning framework documents
• use information as up to date as possible
• make the information easily accessible for elected members, managers, customers, and the public

All action plans, key projects, initiatives, and performance indicators are monitored regularly by various means.

Plans are reviewed and revised using the latest information and intelligence available including:

• operational performance (benchmarking where appropriate)
• financial performance
• assessment of risk
• resident and community feedback
• learning from complaints - feedback from staff
• internal audit recommendations
• external audit and inspection findings

Performance data is distributed via reports to the Senior Leadership Team, Directorate Management Teams, quarterly director performance clinics and a quarterly corporate report, which goes to Executive and Overview and Scrutiny Committee and is available publicly.

Requests for ad hoc data and analysis work are assessed on a priority basis and programmed into the work schedule accordingly.

Reporting of performance and risk

Executive members and the Business and Resources Overview and Scrutiny committee monitor performance through formal reports.

Formal reporting of quarterly performance information will include a review of actions in the Council Plan Delivery Plan and corporate performance measures in the Corporate Performance Framework.

This will enable Executive to review performance against the Council Plan Delivery Plan and will also support Overview and Scrutiny in their role.

The Strategic Risk Register will support Audit Committee to have an overview of the risk profile and the effectiveness of risk management actions. It will be presented to the committee every eight weeks.

Performance clinics Performance clinic meetings occur with individual directorates on a quarterly cycle.

These meetings consider each directorate’s performance service metrics, financial performance, and HR performance. These meetings also include content on directorate project and programme activity.

Performance clinics provide the Leader and Chief Executive with an opportunity to have meaningful performance conversations with directors and portfolio holders.

Apart from ensuring directors have ownership of, and understand, their directorate data, the clinics are designed to:

• evaluate and improve the performance of the council's directorates in terms of priorities, budget performance, forecasting, and service performance data
• provide an opportunity to look retrospectively at performance but also identify future priorities and resource prioritisation

Individual officers are responsible for relevant performance indicators and are required to keep this performance data updated in preparation for these regular meetings.

Management information - scorecards and dashboards

Performance indicators and tailored scorecards can be built from management information to provide an overview of how a team, service area, directorate, or corporate priority is performing, depending on the user requirements.

Further to our monitoring, we undertake data quality checks and benchmarking to identify how our services are performing against others.