The Panel is asked to receive a presentation followed by an opportunity for discussion; and to agree any recommendations.

Cllr Susan Brown, Leader of the Council, Mish Tullar, Head of Corporate Strategy and Sally Hicks, Business Intelligence Unit Lead have been invited to present this item and answer questions.

Cllr Latif joined the meeting.

Cllr Brown, Leader of the Council introduced the item; the development of corporate key performance indicators (KPIs) was in the very early stages and the Panels views on the initial proposals were welcomed.

Mish Tullar, Head of Corporate Strategy and Sally Hicks, Business Intelligence Unit Lead delivered a presentation which provided an overview of the development of the Council’s updated Corporate Strategy and associated KPIs. A copy of the presentation slides is included in the minutes pack.

The Panel raised a number of points, including:

·       Good, Affordable Homes priority:

o   Combining the number of rough sleepers without an offer of accommodation with the number of people in Temporary Accommodation into one KPI would give a better understanding of the local picture.

o   It would be helpful for the total number of affordable homes completed in Oxford in the year by Oxford City Council to be split into total number of affordable homes and total number of social homes; it would also be useful to expand the KPIs to include specific figures for direct delivery of those homes by Oxford City Council and total delivery across the city, as the Council had substantial levers to influence the delivery of homes.

·       Strong, Fair Economy priority:

o   The number of Oxford Living Wage employers KPI would benefit from being a percentage figure (e.g. percentage of total employers) or having a specific denominator, rather than being an abstract figure which did not provide context.

o   Consideration should be given to how useful/measurable the KPI related to the Council’s percentage spend with SMEs was, as historically this KPI had proved difficult to measure and performance was always accompanied by a lengthy explanatory note; it was also not clear how larger companies which had a local Oxford branch were factored into this KPI.

o   The number of Community Employment Plans KPI would benefit from additional drilldown into the number of jobs created, rather than just the number of Plans committed to.

·       Thriving Communities priority:

o   KPIs under this priority should be developed in conjunction with the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership and the Integrated Care System to ensure joined-up thinking.

o   Further consideration should be given to whether the KPI related to the number of children able to swim a length when they leave primary school was the most appropriate measure to monitor tackling inequalities.

o   It may be more useful to monitor the number of children in Oxford living in poverty after housing costs as an indicator of deprivation; the Council should reach out to Oxford and District Action on Child Poverty to explore measures of deprivation which already exist and could feed into the KPIs, noting that addressing the causes of poverty was largely outside the Council’s control.

·       Zero Carbon Oxford priority:

o   The KPI related to Oxford greenhouse gas emissions measured by the Government tracking towards net zero by 2040 was influenced by a number of different things, not all of which were within the Council’s control; it would be useful if these were separated out into the Council’s own emissions, emissions within the city that the Council had a degree of influence over and emissions within the city which were outside of the Council’s control.

o   Given that air quality was something the Council could influence, there should be a corporate level KPI related to air quality.

·       Well-run Council priority:

o   The KPI related to the percentage of ethnic minority staff in the workforce would be better expressed in terms of pay gap; it was suggested that this KPI should also be broader in relation to a wider range of equality, diversity and inclusion issues.

o   Careful consideration should be given to the ‘efficiencies against the Plan’ KPI, to ensure the Council was measuring something meaningful.

The Panel agreed to recommend to Cabinet that:

1.    The Council splits the KPI related to ‘number of affordable homes completed in Oxford in the year by Oxford City Council’ into number of social homes completed and number of affordable homes completed; and expands the measure to include number of homes completed by the Council (direct delivery) versus the number of homes completed overall across the city (total delivery).

2.    The Council contextualises the KPI related to ‘number of Oxford Living Wage employers’ by presenting that figure as a percentage or including a specific denominator.

3.    The Council expands the KPI related to ‘number of Community Employment Plans which third parties commit to’ to also include the number of jobs created as a result of those Community Employment Plans.

4.    The Council engages with Oxford and District Action on Child Poverty to explore appropriate measures of deprivation which already exist and could feed into the KPIs under the ‘Thriving Communities’ priority, noting that addressing the causes of poverty is largely outside the Council’s control.

5.    The Council splits the KPI related to ‘Oxford greenhouse gas emissions measured by Government tracking towards net zero by 2040’ into the Council’s own emissions, emissions within the city that the Council has a degree of influence over and emissions within the city that are outside the Council’s control.  

6.    The Council includes a corporate KPI related to air quality.

7.    The Council reframes the KPI related to ‘percentage of ethnic minority staff in total workforce’ to focus on pay gap; and broadens out the KPI to focus on a wider range of equality, diversity and inclusion issues.

Cllr Brown, Leader of the Council, Mish Tullar, Head of Corporate Strategy and Sally Hicks, Business Intelligence Unit Lead left the meeting and did not return.