Agenda item

To receive a report which sets out the progress made against targets set for Key Performance Indicators within Strategic and Corporate Services.

Mrs Beer (Corporate Director Engagement, Organisation Design & Development), Mr Godfrey (Strategic Commissioner – Public Health), Mrs Spore (Director of Infrastructure) and Mr Watts (General Counsel) were in attendance for this item.

1.          Miss Carey (Cabinet Member for Customers, Communications and Performance) and Mr Godfrey introduced the report which set out the progress made against targets set for Key Performance Indicators within Strategic and Corporate Services.

Mrs Beer, Miss Carey, Mr Godfrey and Mr Watts then responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following: -

a)    Miss Carey confirmed that the number of visits to the Freedom of Information section within Kent County Council’s website had increased and said that there was more information on the Council’s website in relation to Freedom of Information than ever before.

b)    Miss Carey explained that many Freedom of Information enquirers did not wish to be referred to the Freedom of Information section of Kent County Council’s website and expected Kent County Council to provide information in a format which suited them, despite the requested information being available on the website.

c)    Miss Carey said that some Freedom of Information requests contained more than one question within a request.

d)    Mr Watts confirmed that Kent County Council had seen an increase in the number of Freedom of Information requests by more than 10% since 2017 and referred to the complexity and the multi-departmental nature of the requests. He referred to Kent County Council’s Freedom of Information page on the Council website and said that information relating to the types of Freedom of Information requests that Kent County Council received was available.

e)    Mr Watts said that whilst guidance in relation to Freedom of Information was under review, it was a statutory entitlement for individuals to make Freedom of Information requests.

f)     Mr Watts confirmed that a further report would be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee in relation to addressing the ever-increasing number of Freedom of Information requests that the Council received.

g)    Miss Carey said that the increase in Freedom of Information requests was an issue which affected many other Council’s in the country.

h)    Mr Godfrey and Mrs Spore said that the number of calls to Kent County Council’s ICT Help Desk had increased due to new ICT change programmes and software being installed.

i)     Mrs Beer talked about health and wellbeing within the workplace and said that it was a priority within HR. She referred to the HR cases that were supported by the HR team and confirmed that these cases covered staff that were unfit to work, disciplinaries and other capabilities.

j)     Mrs Spore referred to the Finance and Infrastructure ratings within the report and confirmed that she had been liaising with colleagues within Kent County Council’s Finance department to ensure that data provided to Members was as clear as possible.

k)    Mrs Spore talked about the costs that were incurred by Property and Infrastructure within Kent County Council.

l)     Mr Godfrey reassured Members of the accuracy of the data within Performance Scorecards and said that he could provide further information to Members of the Committee in relation to how data within the Performance Scorecards is obtained.

2.          RESOLVED that the report be noted.