Performance Improvement Self-Assessment Report

2020-2021

Not all of the indicators published by the council are measured annually, but for those that are, it would be useful to present any historical data that is available to illustrate data trends and to more fully comply with the requirement of the Section 92 of the Act.

Completed in 2021-2022 Year End Performance Improvement Self-Assessment Report.

As we noted in the previous s95 report milestones are published in the Self- Assessment report under each Improvement Objective however these do not appear in the associated Improvement Plan. Whilst milestones are within the Operational Plan, this is not a published document. It is therefore difficult to understand how these link between the Improvement Plan and the Self-Assessment report.

Completed

Milestones included in 2023-2024 Improvement Plan and 2023-2024 Year End Self-Assessment Report.

2021-2022

The council should consider ways to ensure that Self-Assessment reports provide a comprehensive and useful overview of how the council has performed across its wider corporate activities.

Completed

This report provides an overview of our wider corporate performance.

It is desirable that when the council publish their self-assessment of their performance against the plan for 2021-2022 that this report provides a comprehensive overview of performance against the full range of activities that are detailed in the Improvement Plan.

Completed

A comprehensive overview of performance against the full range of activities that are detailed in the Improvement Plan is provided in this report.

Where council have not met its statutory performance standards during the year, council should explain why that could not be achieved and what steps have been taken to rectify any issues as per the requirement under Section 89(5) […] it is important for the council to provide adequate meaningful explanations where performance targets have not been met.

Completed

Explanations provided within this report where targets have not been met.

2022-2023

In order to provide the reader with a better overview of why objectives have been removed or merged, it would be beneficial if council provided adequate explanations for doing so.

Whilst our improvement objectives were reworded in the 2023-2024 Performance Improvement Plan there was no material change.

Within the 2023-2024 Performance Improvement Plan each improvement objective includes the following section:

• Why is this an improvement objective?

Within this report, the self-assessment of each improvement objective contains the following section that clearly links the 2023-2024 Improvement Objective to the 2024-2025 Improvement Objective:

• Next steps.

Although the PIP includes a summary table which clearly shows which improvement objective met each of the seven statutory criteria, it would be beneficial for the council to include more narrative in the PIP on how this statutory criteria has been met to enable to reader to more clearly link each improvement objective to the statutory criteria.

Completed

Each improvement objective has been clearly linked to the statutory criteria in this report.

Continue to encourage participation in order to ensure improvement objectives meet the needs of the community as a whole. Alternative methods to encourage engagement should be explored by the council to ensure that it is able to achieve a balanced assessment of the needs of the community as a whole.

Completed for the 2024-2025 Performance Improvement Plan. We received more than double the responses from the preceding year. The 2024-2025 consultation and engagement process is set out here:

Performance Improvement Plan 2024 - 2025 - Identifying our performance improvement objectives for 2024-2025 (belfastcity.gov.uk)

A summary of the consultation exercise and its findings were reported to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on 21 June 2024 on pages 7 and 8 of the SP and R Committee report.

2023-24

The council should continue to explore alternative methods to encourage engagement on the performance improvement objectives, to allow the objectives to better reflect the views of the city as a whole.

Completed

The process for consultation and engagement for the development of the 2024-2025 Performance Improvement Plan is detailed on our website.

The council does not comment on its assessment of the performance of each performance objective.

The council has not included explanations why performance indicators have not been achieved or milestones have been delayed.

Completed – comments and explanations contained within this report.

1. The Self-Assessment Report should provide an explicit statement of whether each individual the Improvement Objective has been “achieved”, or “not achieved”, and should provide an indication of the next steps for the council in each area.
2. Council should ensure that adequate explanations are consistently provided in the Report where targets have not been met, or where negative trends are identified.
3. Any targets set out in the Improvement Plan should also be included within the Self-Assessment Report. This would enable the Self-Assessment report to be used as a standalone document.
4. Milestones should be accompanied by narrative/additional information explaining the status of the performance activity, i.e. whether it has been completed or not.
5. Progress of implementation of the proposals should be monitored by the Audit and Risk Panel.

Completed

Points 1-5 have been actioned within/by way of this report.

Whilst explanations are provided in respect of those statutory indicators which are not achieved, we consider these should be enhanced to provide more information. 

Completed

Explanations have been enhanced within this report to provide more information.