Chris Lee provided an introduction to the performance monitoring data set for the Environment & Regeneration Department, highlighting the following items:

·         The figures on page 51 of the agenda pack demonstrate that Merton is winning more parking tribunal cases than expected with a very small proportion of all  cases ending up at tribunal;

·         SP 494 – air quality monitoring: this is a target that will not be met. This is the same for the rest London as it is for Merton; and

·         SP 020 – new homes: the figure for 2017/18 is now available with 648 new homes having been built against a target of 435. This is therefore a significant achievement but the London Plan is likely to include an annual target for new homes in Merton that is twice this figure. This will be a significant stretch; and

·         CRP 051/052/052 – determination of planning applications (major, minor and other): all are ahead of target.

Cllr McLean, the performance monitoring lead for the Panel, had held a pre-meet with officers to look at the data set in more detail.  As a result of this he made the following comments:

Community & Housing:

·         Housing Needs stats: as anticipated the service is seeing an increase in clients as a result of the new Housing Reduction Act but currently this isn’t having an impact on service performance.  It is still very much early days in terms of the Homelessness Reduction Act with officers continuing to monitor;

·         SP280/no of active volunteers in libraries: whilst this is achieving above target, there is still a focus on increasing the breadth of volunteers and addressing the east/west divide. A targeted campaign will take place during the autumn; and

·         SP480/visitor figures: this figure is incorrect and is currently around 15,000 visitors below the year to date target. This is something for the Panel to potentially keep an eye on throughout the year.

Environment & Regeneration:

·         SP494/monitoring sites exceeding national levels: these figures are for the new way of measuring air quality. We look forward to understanding these new figures better and monitoring as we move forward. Obviously, this is an important measure given the known impact of poor air quality on health outcomes for residents;

·         LER OS 01 Park Quality Management Score: this is a new measure that it is good to see being included in the performance monitoring as it gives the Panel another way of scrutinising the Idverde contract; and

·         CRP 051/052/053 processing of planning applications: performance on these seems to be improving. This is welcome and assumed to be as a result of additional resource being provided through Capita.

In response to member questions, the following clarification was provided:

·         (Chris Lee) It is the Council’s role to enforce the contract with Veolia. This allows for deductions to be made where the service delivered isn’t as specified. Deductions for 2017/18 and this year are currently. This information will be shared with the Panel once the deductions are agreed;

·         (Cathryn James) There has been an increase in longer term sickness amongst parking staff due to two genuine cases with a return to work in both cases anticipated shortly. There has been a decrease in short term sickness amongst parking staff;

·         (Cathryn James) The perceived shortfall in the income from the Regulatory Services Partnership is a phasing issue. Income is received in large tranches rather than being uniformly phased throughout the year. This position will be recovered during the year;

·         (Charles Baker) The increase in weeds has been caused by Veolia spraying too early (with snow falling subsequently limiting effectiveness). The Neighbourhood Client Officers are monitoring the situation and reporting. Veolia is then manually weeding with a hoe. This takes longer and isn’t as effective;

·         (Charles Baker) Litter being above target every month since the contract with Veolia commenced in April 2017 is a concern. The introduction of wheeled bins will address some of the issue as these will better contain litter. However, litter is also caused by this being dropped by residents and visitors to the borough. Fines need to be used to generate behaviour changes and enforcement; and

·         (Chris Lee) It is assumed that the drop in leisure centre users may reflect that the facilities are now aged and because of the hotter weather. The Council is working with GLL, the operator, to encourage greater use.

A question was received from a resident in advance of the meeting to which the chair gave her permission for this to be asked at the meeting:  Is the Panel aware that Waste Services have been failing to address errors in the processing and reporting of CRM data for waste services collections, that impact the reporting of KPIs (RE complaints  ER18S1070  and ER18S2025 unanswered)? What action will the Panel take to enforce scrutiny and corrective actions? 

Charles Baker gave the following response:

All reports of missed collection are captured in our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This is reliant on resident reports made on-line or by phone to LBM’s contact centre. The system integrates with Veolia’s ECHO system and tasks are created for the collection crews to complete.

It is important to note that when reporting on the level of performance for waste collection we use the raw data extracted from the CRM.  This is different to our data set when measuring Veolia’s efficiency and the time taken in rectifying areas of missed collection.

We are aware that the  quality of the CRM data relies on the collection crews updating the system accurately and only closing tasks once completed. In order to monitor the accuracy of this data our Neighbourhood Client Officers (NCO’s) undertake spot checks and monitor the level of compliance.  Any area of discrepancy that is identified is investigated and the data amended or a new task created.  

Note - The time allocated to these spot checks has been limited. In order to address this additional resource has been secured and the level of inspections will increase once the relevant induction/training has been completed.