The Scrutiny Committee has a role in monitoring the Council’s performance.  Quarterly reports are provided on a set of selected corporate and service performance indicators. This item provides an opportunity for the Committee to identify any areas for further review, and to note and comment on Council performance at the end of quarter 1 of 2018/19.

The Committee considered the Quarter 1 Council Performance report setting out performance measures to 30 June 2018 and a supplementary paper setting out performance data for Fusion Lifestyle.

Councillor Fry asked for the reinstatement of the following performance measures included in the Quarter 4 report for 2017/18, or if these were annual targets or an explanation of the reasons for removing these:

·         BI002a: The number of training places and jobs created as a result of Council investment and leadership

·         FN033: Delivery of the council’s cost savings and income targets

·         CS001: The % of customers satisfied at their first point of contact

·         BI001: The % of Council spend with local business

·         LP187: Effective delivery of the capital programme: development milestones achieved

·         WR002: Customers supported to remove barriers to employment

·         WR003: Customers supported to improve financial capability

·         NI 191: The amount of non-recyclable waste produced in the city per household decreases each year

·         NI192 Household waste recycled and composted (YTD)

·         NI 157a, NI 157b, NI157c: targets for processing planning applications

·         PC027: Increase the number of people engaging with the Council’s social media accounts

The Committee commented that it was of concern that both performance against target BIT019i (% of contact carried out online) and CS003 (customer calls answered on the Council’s main telephone service lines without hanging up) had decreased.

The Committee noted that performance against recycling targets (including NI 191 and NI192 referenced above) was now the responsibility of Oxford Direct Services Company and would be reviewed through the Companies Scrutiny Panel.

Fusion Lifestyle Partnership

The Committee considered the Fusion Lifestyle Partnership Board Presentation and accompanying briefing note concerning visitor numbers and financial performance up until July 2018. This information was provided following the Committee’s request to continue monitoring the performance of Fusion Lifestyle on a quarterly basis. The Committee previously made recommendations to the City Executive Board on 13 June 2018 concerning visitor number targets, data monitoring and associated action plans to address the reduction of 340,000 leisure visits between 2016/17 and 2017/18.

The Committee expressed concerns about the reliability of the data it was presented with. In preparing for the meeting, Committee members had cross-referenced the financial performance information with the participation numbers for each leisure centre. In reviewing the data, the Committee was not able to ascertain how in some circumstances, a decrease in participation correlated with an increase in revenue for the same period. The Committee was unable to account for the scale of the increase in participation numbers July and questioned whether the figures were feasible and accurate. The Committee noted that the information provided by Fusion Lifestyle was requested and made available at short notice, which may have been a factor.

The Committee decided to recommend that an independent audit of Fusion Lifestyle’s financial and participation accounting should take place to help distil apprehensions about the accuracy of the data.

The Committee recommended to the City Executive Board:

That the Council, through the City Executive Board, commissions an audit of Fusion Lifestyle’s financial and participation data, and the associated data collection methods, to assure itself of the reliability and accuracy of the quarterly performance information.

The Committee resolved to

1.    continue to request performance dashboards from Fusion Lifestyle at quarterly intervals, with a relevant council officer present at each of these meetings, to explain and provide the context for the data;

2.    reiterate its interest in viewing participation data for specific groups including u17s, older people, and members of the BAME community;

3.    request a comprehensive set of data on Fusion Lifestyle’s performance by the next quarterly meeting on 6 December 2018, with an officer present to advise the committee and answer any questions;

4.    ask for the reasons for the removal of targets listed above from the quarterly performance report, and for their reinstatement.