Lead Member – Councillor Rob Wilson, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Economic Growth

Lead Officer – Billy Webster, Service Director - Strategy

RESOLVED:

To note progress to date in achieving the outcomes of The Shropshire Plan (TSP).  

To confirm that the KPIs currently agreed remain the same for 2025/2026 until aligned to the refresh of TSP in 2025/26. 

The Leader introduced the report which evaluated Shropshire's performance against its strategic objectives for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2024-2025. It highlighted the use of the interactive performance dashboard, updated quarterly and including details of key performance indicators (KPIs), trends, and benchmarking against other councils. The report notes that 54 measures were updated, with 53.7% of the 41 newly reported KPIs meeting or exceeding their targets. 

Positive outcomes include increased community service support for adults, lower youth unemployment compared to the West Midlands, and greater renewable energy generation. However, there were significant concerns highlighted, such as underperformance in processing educational healthcare plans within the required timeframe and a decline in recycling rates following the introduction of garden waste charges. The report also emphasised the importance of staff morale and the need to address high turnover and sickness absence rates as changes were implemented to address ongoing financial challenges.

The Portfolio Holder for Social Care and ED answered questions about permanency planning for children who are looked after.

The Leader reported that she had asked that all members be offered training on accessing and using the interactive performance dashboard and that this would be arranged shortly. 

RESOLVED:

To note progress to date in achieving the outcomes of The Shropshire Plan (TSP).  

To confirm that the KPIs currently agreed remain the same for 2025/2026 until aligned to the refresh of The Shropshire Plan in 2025/26. 

To note progress to date in achieving the outcomes of The Shropshire Plan (TSP) and confirm that the KPIs currently agreed remain the same for Q1 of 2025/2026 and thereafter, be aligned to the refresh of TSP in 2025/26.

REPORT TO FOLLOW

The Assistant Director – Transformation introduced the report explaining the continuing work to refine Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) , set targets, and improve benchmarking, and drawing attention to the interactive dashboard.  He referenced areas of success and challenge and reiterated that the Council’s highest priority remained balancing the budget while protecting vulnerable populations.

Members asked questions regarding Shropshire’s performance in timeliness of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and expressed concern about the backlog and the radical restructure in the team and the 40% deficit in staff, with those remaining being less experienced. The Executive Director - People explained there had been a variety of reasons for the reduction in staff during quarter 4 but reported that the team was now fully staffed with a recovery plan in place to address the backlog and at least achieve the England average time - of 50% completion in 20 working days by quarter 3.  There had been a national increase in demand for EHCPs which related to a range of complex issues, including the covid pandemic.  EHCPs had been suggested as a work programme topic for the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Executive Director offered to arrange a briefing for all councillors if this would be helpful.    

Members also expressed concern about the drop in performance for household waste sent for re-use, recycling and composting in quarter 4, and asked about impact of the garden waste collection charge and introduction and then cancellation of the need to book a timeslot for household recycling sites.  Questions were also asked about the underlying reasons for an increase in households in B&B accommodation and given this trend, plans for temporary accommodation into the future.  The Service Director said he would arrange responses to these questions from the relevant service manager (please see this briefing information at the end of the minutes)

Members asked where responsibility lay for agreeing updated metrics and queried indicators used in the report as the definition of ‘green’ performance appeared to include those less than 2% below target, and some such as the rural deprivation index were significantly out of date.  Member discussion also covered recycling target challenges, positive progress in community services, and numbers in education employment or training.  The impact of National Insurance increases, and reasons why identified savings had not been achieved was also discussed. 

The Service Director explained that the 2% margin for reporting ‘green’ performance was a national standard.  He acknowledged feedback on metrics and confirmed that KPIs would be agreed by Cabinet going forward with input from scrutiny committees.  He thanked members for the useful discussion and reiterated that suggestions and feedback on the dashboard were welcome at any time.