Issue - meetings

RESOLVED: (i)         That the performance out-turn for 2005/06 be noted and that the Executive’s thanks to Officers for their efforts in achieving yet another year of improved service quality standards for York residents be put on record.

REASON:      To acknowledge the achievements of the past year.

                        (ii)        That the progress made on drafting the Council Plan be noted and that authority be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to produce the final version of the document for consideration by full Council.

                        (iii)       That Officers be requested to amend the Safe City section of the draft Plan to give a higher priority to reducing public concerns about excessive vehicle speeds in the City (pages 48-51).

REASON:      To clarify and upgrade the draft Plan before its referral to Council.

                        (iv)       That Officers be requested to ensure that a single page summary of the Council Plan is made available for more widespread distribution.

REASON:      So that the essential contents of the Council Plan are communicated as widely as possible.

[See also under Part B minutes]

Members considered a report which presented an overview of the Council’s performance during 2005/06 and a draft Council Plan for 2006/07, setting out aspirations for further improvement over the next 1-3 years.  It was a statutory requirement to publish the Council Plan before 30 June.  The draft Plan had been made available on the Council’s website and copies had been circulated separately to Members.

The draft Plan included a total of 289 performance indicators (PIs), of which just over half were statutory Best Value PIs.  A joint Executive and Management review session held on 12 June had looked at all areas of the Council’s performance during 2005/06 and the report set out headline performance from this session, under the Council’s 8 corporate aims.  Overall, these indicated significant improvements across all the corporate aims, particularly the perception of crime, waste collection and management, planning services and parts of the benefits services.  Areas for concern included performance on road safety and customer satisfaction with waste collection and recycling.  The full range of customer satisfaction and perception results were set out in Annex A to the report.  Annexes B, C, D, E and F detailed performance against York Pride, Safer City, staff-based, CPA and Customer First targets respectively.

Members commented with approval on progress made during the last financial year, particularly with regard to the York Pride and Safe City measures.  The Chair announced three major initiatives aimed at addressing the issue of residents’ satisfaction with the amount of information they received from the Council.  These included publishing a Press supplement, circulating information on waste management and re-publishing the A-Z guide to Council services.

It was noted that the Council Plan would require some drafting amendments prior to its referral to full Council and it was suggested that these be delegated to the Chief Executive and Council Leader.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the performance out-turn for 2005/06 be noted and that the Executive’s thanks to Officers for their efforts in achieving yet another year of improved service quality standards for York residents be put on record.

REASON:      To acknowledge the achievements of the past year.

                        (ii)        That the progress made on drafting the Council Plan be noted and that authority be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to produce the final version of the document for consideration by full Council.

                        (iii)       That Officers be requested to amend the Safe City section of the draft Plan to give a higher priority to reducing public concerns about excessive vehicle speeds in the City (pages 48-51).

REASON:      To clarify and upgrade the draft Plan before its referral to Council.

                        (iv)       That Officers be requested to ensure that a single page summary of the Council Plan is made available for more widespread distribution.

REASON:      So that the essential contents of the Council Plan are communicated as widely as possible.