The Head of Corporate Strategy has submitted a report to seek approval of the strategic key performance indicators for the Council Strategy 2024-28.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.       Agree the draft Oxford City Council key performance indicators (KPI) at Appendix 1 as measures for the Council Strategy 2024-28;

2.       Note the benchmarking and annual targets for each 2024-28 KPI; and

3.       Delegate authority to the Head of Corporate Strategy in consultation with the Council Leader to make any further minor amendments to the draft KPIs 2024-28 before implementation and publication, provided that such amendments do not materially affect the substance of the KPIs.

The Head of Corporate Strategy had submitted a report to seek approval of the strategic key performance indicators for the Council Strategy 2024-28.

Councillor Susan Brown, Leader, highlighted that a significant amount of work had been undertaken in order to seek to ensure that the indicators addressed the recommendations of scrutiny and the LGA peer review challenge and input from Group Leaders; that they were specific to the Council (i.e. they addressed only those areas over which the Council had direct influence); and that they were not too numerous.  The new indicators aimed to provide a clear measure of performance against the Council’s overall aims and objectives as set out in the Council Strategy.

A Cabinet Member noted that the indicator ‘Oxford greenhouse gas emissions measured by government tracking towards zero by 2024’ showed a benchmark of 610.2kt and targets for 2024-25 of 453.7kt and for 2025-26 of 411.2kt.  It was questioned whether the first year target was achievable, given the significant drop required. 

Officers responded that it was thought that the data published by the government involved a two-year time lag; therefore the 2024-25 outcome would only be known in 2026-27.  The Head of Corporate Strategy undertook to provide Cabinet Members with more detailed information relating to the calculation of this target, its achievability, and whether the targets covered the actual performance over the year or just the data which was published in that year, in order to ensure there was clarity on what was being reported.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.       Agree the draft Oxford City Council key performance indicators (KPI) at Appendix 1 as measures for the Council Strategy 2024-28;

2.       Note the benchmarking and annual targets for each 2024-28 KPI; and

3.       Delegate authority to the Head of Corporate Strategy in consultation with the Council Leader to make any further minor amendments to the draft KPIs 2024-28 before implementation and publication, provided that such amendments do not materially affect the substance of the KPIs.