9
A report by the Depute Chief Executive (Education, Communities and Organisational Development) presented the Committee with benchmarking performance data for the period 2017/18 following publication of national results and a national report.
Councillor Eagle stated this was the third time he had seen the report and was concerned that some areas were not performing in a way he would have hoped. He sought clarification on what areas the Corporate Management Team (CMT) had identified that were not a priority and were therefore willing to let slip and which ones had CMT identified as priorities.
In response the Head of Strategy, Governance and Performance advised it was Councillors, and not officers, who identified priorities through the Corporate Plan. This would then direct officers to the areas to prioritise and therefore those areas not prioritised would be likely to see a dip in performance.
Councillor Eagle stated it was for Councillors to establish the priorities and for officers to look at targets in the report to identify which ones fit within the priorities identified. He sought clarification on how the report could be made more useful to show how the areas being targeted could be identified to allow specific monitoring. It would then be possible to seek information from officers on the non-prioritised areas to allow consideration of performance and if it was slipping, how far it would be allowed to slip.
In response the Chief Executive advised the role of officers was recognised and the purpose of the report was to allow Committee to identify areas where they may want further scrutiny.
The Head of Strategy, Governance and Performance advised reporting to Service Committees is under review and in future this will have a focus on strategic priorities.
During further discussion the role of Service Committees was discussed and it was advised the structure of Committees would be under consideration at the forthcoming Council meeting on 12 February, where it was hoped more clarity would be provided.
Thereafter the Committee agreed to note the Council's performance in terms of informing potential future agenda items.
Councillor Cowe entered the meeting during discussion of this item.