Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive which presented progress against the council’s corporate basket of performance indicators (PIs) and reported other significant performance issues for the second quarter of 2013/14. A presentation was given by the Head of Planning and Performance (for copy of report and slides, see file of minutes).

Referring to youth employment, Councillor S Wilson had asked at a previous meeting, as referred to in item 3, whether there was any information relating to the types of employment young people go into. The Head of Planning and Performance responded that there had been a fall in those claiming JSA, but that fall could be due to people no longer being eligible to claim JSA. Overall there wasn’t a strong picture of what type of employment young people are going into, but an example in relation to apprenticeship schemes was given.

Councillor Boyes added that qualified young people and high achievers move away to other parts of the country where there are more job opportunities. He asked if there was any information regarding migration levels. Members commented that partners need to work more closely together to ensure the courses provided match the job opportunities in the area.

The Principal Partnership and Local Councils Officer advised that County Durham Economic Partnership reports have been produced on young people and unemployment levels, and was requested by the Chair to bring a report on this to a future meeting.

Referring to the smoking target, Councillor Hopgood asked at a previous meeting, as referred to in item 3, if it was possible to have figures for young people who have started smoking to compare with the number of people who stop. The Head of Planning and Performance advised that information isn’t available on smoking starters, but there are annual estimates of smoking prevalence. These show that 20.9% of adults in County Durham are estimated to smoke regularly, equating to around 89,500 smokers aged 16 or over. This reflects good progress over the last couple of years with prevalence estimated by FRESH to have fallen by more than 5% since 2009/10, equating to an estimated 22,000 fewer smokers in the county.

Councillor Shield referred to the higher rate of improvements of Private Sector Properties and queried whether this was linked to changes in council tax charging for empty properties. The Chair asked that this be referred to the appropriate Scrutiny Committee for it to be looked into.

Councillor Shield referred to the crime PI’s and asked if there where any crime statistics available on areas without CCTV, and whether any information was available on any link to CCTV removal. A number of Members commented on the shift in crimes being reported. Previously alcohol was the major target for shoplifting, currently the items being targeted now include food, toiletries and baby items.   

Councillor Hopgood referred to the staff appraisals and commented that 80% was still far too low. She requested the percentage of people absent from work longer than 12 months be made available to support the statistics.

Councillor Hall referred to the homelessness figures and asked what happens to the non statutory applications. The Head of Planning and Performance advised she would pass onto the appropriate officer to respond to Councillor Hall.

Mr Kinch requested that the figures for the number of passenger journeys made on the Link2 service be broken down into individual areas.

In response to a query from Revd Phipps regarding the effect of the Lindisfarne Gospels and the impact it would have on performance targets and reporting for next year, the Head of Planning and Performance responded that Members would have a chance to comment during next years consultation process when considering the performance indicator targets.

Resolved:

That the information contained in the report be noted.