Agenda item

Sarah McCall, Transformation & Strategic Partnerships, presented the submitted report which summarised RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for June and July, 2010, across the areas of Customer Access, Human Resources and Payroll, ICT, Procurement and Revenue and Benefits.

Key points for this period included:-

Customer Access

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Customer Services had been nominated for the National Customer Service Awards in the category of ‘Front Line Customer Service Team’

-              During June, 6 complaints were closed; 2 closed not upheld, 1 closed partially upheld and 3 closed upheld

-              During July 4 complaints were received; 2 closed not upheld, 1 closed partially upheld and 1 closed upheld

-              To address issues in respect of Registration Service appointment availability, appointment times would be reduced from 45 to 30 minutes from 1^st September, 2010

-              Review of ceremony prices currently being undertaken

Human Resources and Payroll

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Scoping work for the new PSE servers now complete and the Change Request response being considered by the ICT Client

-              Brinsworth and Wales Comprehensive Schools had confirmed their intentions to move to Academy status from 1^st October, 2010.  A meeting had been held with the key stakeholders to ensure progress of such issues as BACS transfers, employer tax reference and payroll timetable changes etc were fully understood

-              Development work Version 11 Yourself release commenced

-              Review of HR Service Centre Management structure now nearing completion

ICT

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Active Navigation being used to analyse the data currently stored on G:/ and H:/ drives

-              6 network suppliers had been invited to bid for the provision of a new network topology in preparation for the move to the new Data Centre in Riverside House

Procurement

-              All performance targets achieved with the exception of PO6 (catalogue orders) in June which achieved 18.57% against a target of 19%.  In July it again missed target achieving 17.06% and PO2 (cheque requests handling time) achieved 98% against a target of 98.46%

-              PO6 had been affected by changes in officer ordering behaviour to address transaction volumes

-              Failure of PO2 during July was due to a clerical error

-              Former BVP18 achieved 94.87% in June, and 94.84% in July, 2010.  The current year to date position was 96.19%, an improvement on the same point during 2009/10 when performance achieved a year to date figure of 95.23%

-              The number of transactions handled by the Procurement Service increased with 208,506 transactions during 2009/10 against baselined volumes of 177,000

Revenues and Benefits

-              Council Tax Collection Rate 37.43% at the end of July, 2010, 0.33% lower than the same point in 2009/10

-              The target for 2010/11 continued to be a Council Tax Collection Rate which placed Rotherham in the upper performance quartile for Metropolitan District Councils with a minimum collection level of 97.0% regardless of quartile position

-              There had been 1,047 Council Tax Liability Orders referred to the bailiff up to the end of July, 3 of which were classed as vulnerable cases

-              Average number of days taken to action a Council Tax Change of Circumstance was 7.25 days.  This was better than the performance level which the service aimed to achieve i.e. 14 days

-              NNDR collection rate was 40.68% at the end of July, 2010, 1.136% up on the same point in 2009/10. 

-              The NNDR collection figure had been adjusted to incorporate the affect of the NNDR Deferral Scheme.  The year end target remained a collection rate which placed Rotherham in the upper performance quartile for Metropolitan District Councils with a maximum collection level of 98.5% regardless of quartile position

-              179 Business Rates Liability Orders had been referred to the bailiff in the current financial year up to the end of July, 2010

-              The number of active cases continued to fall due to a number of businesses who had applied successfully for deferment had actually gone on to pay their accounts in full and some cases where the payer had defaulted on payments and recovery actions had commenced. 

-              There were currently 269 active deferral cases allowing a deferral of £459,926.84

-              Revs and Bens Business Process Reengineering went live on 12^th July.  Staff across the teams had provided positive feedback on improved processes and documentation with improved processing times

-              4 complaints were closed during June; 1 closed not upheld and 3 closed as upheld.

-              12 complaints received during July; 5 closed not upheld, 2 withdrawn, 2 yet to be finalised and 3 closed as upheld

Resolved:-   That RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for June and July, 2010, be noted.

(Councillor Buckley declared a personal interest in the above item – Governor of Brinsworth Comprehensive School)