11 - FARS Service Improvement Outturn Report 2022-25
Renfrewshire Council · 8 June 2023
Back to Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board — 8 June 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 ___________________________________________________________________ To: Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board On: 08 June 2023 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Finance and Resources ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Finance and Resources Service Improvement Plan Outturn Report 2022/25 ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 The Finance & Resources Service Improvement Plan 2022-25 was approved by the Finance, Resources & Customer Services Policy Board in June 2022. The plan outlined the priorities for the development of the service over a three- year period. 1.2 Following the approval of the new Council Plan 2022-2027 in September 2022, work has been undertaken to review the format of Service Improvement Plans to make these more accessible, easier to understand, and to clearly demonstrate how the service will work to support the delivery of the strategic outcomes of the Council Plan. 1.3 This report provides a summary of the Finance & Resources service’s performance against the actions and performance indicators agreed within the Service Improvement Plan for 2022/25. A detailed outturn report is attached to this report and will conclude the Service Improvement Plan for 2022-25. 1.4 A new Service Improvement Plan for 2023-26 is being presented to this Board for approval, aligned to the priorities of the new Council Plan.
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2 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board: a) Notes the progress made in delivering the Finance & Resources Service Improvement Plan 2022/25. 3. Background 3.1 The Finance and Resources Service is one of the largest services within Renfrewshire Council and employs approximately 1,100 employees. The service enables and supports the smooth running and strategic management of the Council’s financial, legal, procurement, property, ICT, human resources, and customer and business services as well as maintaining sound audit and governance across the Council. 3.2 The Service also leads on the delivery of strategic change and organisational development across the Council including the Financial Sustainability programme and digital transformation. It also supports the delivery of strategic and operational initiatives across the Council. 3.3 Importantly, the Service Improvement Plan also links the Council Plan and Community Plan priorities to strategic and operational activity within the service, which supports employees to understand how their role contributes to the Council delivering on its objectives. 3.4 In addition to being the link between service delivery and the strategic goals of the council, the Service Improvement Plan is one way in which elected members can scrutinise the work of the Finance & Resources Service and consider and revise policy options as necessary. 3.5 Service Improvement Plans run for a three-year period to allow services to plan but are refreshed annually in order to consider the context in which they operate and revise plans where appropriate. 4. Key achievements in 2022/23 4.1 The Service Improvement Plan 2022/25 reflected the specific tasks councils would have to undertake in order to support communities and businesses through the ongoing effect of the pandemic and also into a recovery phase.
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3 Services carried out a range of tasks directly related to the pandemic as well as continuing to progress with both ‘business as usual’ and strategic priorities. 4.2 Teams across Finance and Resources continue to support the Council’s Financial Sustainability programme and the associated transformation programmes. Savings of £9.1m were agreed in setting the 2023/24 budget, and this work will continue into 2023/24 and beyond. A portfolio approach to transformation has been adopted and updates are reported regularly to the Corporate Management Team. 4.3 The Human Resources and Organisational Development team have had a strong focus on employee wellbeing over the last two years, particularly in relation to mental health and during 2022/23 a number of policies have been reviewed and approved at Board including an updated absence policy and a new menopause policy. Work is ongoing with unions and the CMT to review terms and conditions, and this will continue into the next year. The team is also piloting a new approach to recruitment to strengthen our position in the employment market as part of wider work to deliver a new recruitment, retention and talent management strategy. 4.4 Digital services remain a key part of transformation work and the Council continues to develop digital solutions for customers. In 2022/23, our ICT services also successfully managed a transition to a new cloud provider with virtually no disruption to the network, and implemented additional measures to protect the Council from the risk of cyber-crime. The Connectivity as a Service (CaaS) programme is nearing completion and gigabit connectivity should cover more than 80% of the Council’s geographic area by August 2023. ICT are continuing to investigate options for connectivity in those areas not able to be covered by this programme. 4.5 As part of the contribution to Net Zero, Property Services are part of the Council’s Climate Change Working Group and routinely consider alternative energy options as part of any major project. Property Services continue to provide professional technical advice and support to the ongoing cultural infrastructure investment programme along with other key property investment proposals such as the new Paisley Grammar Community Campus. Over the course of 2023 Property Services will transition under the management of the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure department as recently agreed by Council. 4.6 Democratic Services successfully delivered the Scottish Local Government elections in May 2022. Delivering an election requires months of preparation and support from all council services.
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4 4.7 The service has developed an innovative new approach to how we manage business-as-usual risks, and an ICT solution is now in place to allow tracking of the new approach. The new approach went live on 1 April 2023. 4.8 As well as strategic initiatives and customer-facing work, Finance & Resources delivered support services to all other parts of the council including: Payroll; Support with recruitment; Training and organisational development; ICT Servicedesk; Provision of ICT equipment; Invoicing and Payments; Administrative support; Project and programme management; Property services; Legal and information governance advice; Accountancy services; Internal audit and risk management. 5. Actions which have been delayed or cancelled 5.1 There are a number of People & Organisational Development actions which have been delayed and will carry over into the new Service Improvement Plan. These relate to a new strategic recruitment and talent management plan, a new Wellbeing Strategy, and a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. The two new strategies will be delivered in summer 2023. A planned service redesign within People and OD has resulted in the timescale for the new recruitment and talent management plan slipping. 5.2 The due date for the review of the lifecycle replacement programme for council buildings has been moved to 31 March 2024 to allow alignment with the ongoing strategic property review. 6. Progress against performance measures 6.1 Finance and Resources measured 21 performance indicators as part of the 2022/23 Service Improvement Plan. It should be noted that one indicator (FCSICT004) is no longer being collected as agreed by the Head of Digital, Transformation and Customer Services. Of the 20 active performance indicators, 19 are measured quarterly and 1 is only measured annually.
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5 All performance indicators included have targets. Data is not yet available for one indicator. 6.2 In 2022/23, nine indicators met or exceeded the target set, seven narrowly missed the target set, three did not achieve the target and one outstanding target is still to be updated. 6.3 Services which enable financial support to residents failed to achieve target for both processing and change of circumstance of housing benefits applications. This was mainly due to the high volume of Self-isolation Support Grants at the start of the calendar year and substantial changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, which resulted in significant manual intervention being required to enable processing. This manual intervention was temporary, and the previous automated solution was resumed, resulting in significant progress being made in recovering the position. This progress should be evident in 2023/24 performance reporting. 6.4 The performance indicators for the Scottish Welfare Fund which include average speed of processing a crisis grant and average speed of processing a community care grant both performed well and both achieved target for 2022/23. 6.5 The Customer Service Unit answered 96% of all calls during 2022/23, achieving target set as 90%. 6.6 The ICT team resolved 85% of all IT incidents within the target time during the year, achieving target. The service is focused on continuous improvement and this is reflected in the data trend. The percentage of IT service requests fulfilled within target fix time dropped to 77% against a target of 85%. The service have been transitioning to a new structure and with a number of staff recruited, this should ensure service performance improves going forward. 6.7 The average days small and medium sized businesses invoices paid performance indicator again performed well with the average number of days to pay an invoice reported as 13.06, well within the 28 days target. The number of invoices paid within 30 days of receipt, as a percentage of all invoices paid council wide (cumulative) has fallen, partly as a result of increased volumes. With 90.21% of all invoices processed against a target of 96% it is expected with the recruitment of new staff this position should improve.
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6 6.8 The percentage of calls answered by the Customer Service Unit within target (40 seconds) performance was impacted most in the 3rd quarter of the year, with the call centre having to deal with increased demand caused by winter weather, particularly the coldest spell the country has seen in a decade which significantly increased call volumes compared to the year before. Overall the performance for the year was 64% against a target of 70%. 6.9 The collection of non-domestic rates are up by over 3% from the 2021/22 position. This follows the introduction of new legislation which largely aligned business rates recovery procedures to those for Council Tax, however collection has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels and achieved 95.67% against a target of 98%. 6.10 FOI requests for the service failed to achieve target with 424 single service requests received and 412 completed within timescale achieving 97.2% against a target set as 100%. Implications of the Report 1. Financial - The Service Improvement Plan highlights resourcing pressures arising from increasing demand for services and the current financial environment. Finance & Resources will lead on work relating to financial stability and sustainability. 2. HR & Organisational Development – All council services are reviewing ways of working in light of the changes resulting from the pandemic. Any changes will be reflected through reports to elected members. Finance and Resources will support this work. 3. Community/Council Planning – the report details a range of activities which reflect local council and community planning themes. 4. Legal – none 5. Property/Assets - All council services are reviewing ways of working in light of the changes resulting from the pandemic, and this includes how buildings are utilised. Any changes will be reflected through reports to elected members. Finance and Resources will support this work. 6. Information Technology – Digital resources are now key to the delivery of services and strategies are in place to manage this.
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7 7. Equality & Human Rights - The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. Workstreams and projects arising from this report will carry out impact assessments in line with council policy. 8. Health & Safety –none 9. Procurement – The report continues a number of actions impacting procurement. 10. Risk – Risks related to the delivery and management of services are regularly monitored and included in Renfrewshire Council’s Corporate and Strategic Risk Registers. 11. Privacy Impact - none 12. COSLA Policy Position – none. 13. Climate Risk - The report continues a number of actions directly related to addressing the impact of climate change. The actions detailed within the report should contribute to an improved position. List of Background Papers: None ___________________________________________________________________ Author: Pamela McDonald, pamela.mcdonald@renfrewshire.gov.uk
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8 Finance and Resources Service Improvement Plan 2022-25 Action Plan Outcome 1: Place Code Title Status Assigned To Progress Due Date Latest Note FR.SIP.22.01.01 Work with Children’s Services to deliver the new Paisley Grammar Community Campus Head of Property Services 10% 31-Jul-2026 Multi-Disciplinary Design Team (MDDT) appointed and progressing Stage 3 design. Contractor appointed for pre-construction services. Action deadline date changed from 31 Dec 2025 to 31 July 2026 FR.SIP.22.01.02 Implement the actions arising from the Council’s financial sustainability workstreams Head of Finance and Procurement 25% 31-Mar-2024 There are a range of financial sustainability workstreams underway, each led by a Council director. So far savings of £9.1m have been identified and included in the 2023/24 base budget. Initial conclusions on some workstreams have confirmed there is limited prospect of the potential to deliver savings at scale and therefore these workstreams will be closed in order to prioritise management resource to those areas where there is more potential. Further work to progress existing workstreams and develop new ones will continue during the year with proposals
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9 Code Title Status Assigned To Progress Due Date Latest Note being brought to Council and / or Policy Boards for approval. Outcome 2: Fair Code Title Status Assigned To Progress Due Date Latest Note FR.SIP.22.02.01 Under Connectivity As A Service (CaaS) complete the rollout of Fibre To The Premise (FTTP) across 75% of Renfrewshire as a geography by the summer of 2023 Head of Digital, Transformation and Customer Services 90% 31-Aug-2023 City Fibre continue to roll out gigabit connectivity across pan Renfrewshire as part of the Connectivity as a Service (CaaS) programme. This roll out will be completed by August 2023 and is now expected to cover 80%+ of the Council area. ICT continue to investigate options to address any shortfall in coverage. Outcome 3: Green Code Title Status Assigned To Progress Due Date Latest Note FR.SIP.22.03.01 Input to and implement the climate change working group recommendations, specifically to: work with the Council’s Energy Management Unit as well as national and local partners to explore alternative energy options for Council buildings Head of Property Services 15% 31-Mar-2024 Regular liaison/contribution to CCWG. Energy options considered as part of all major projects.
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10 Code Title Status Assigned To Progress Due Date Latest Note FR.SIP.22.03.02 Review lifecycle replacement programme for Council buildings Head of Property Services 50% 31-Mar-2024 Property Services undertaking elemental replacement projects as instructed by Facilities Management. Action deadline date changed from 31 March 2023 to 31 March 2024 Outcome 5: Living our Values Code Title Status Assigned To Progress Due Date Latest Note FR.SIP.22.04.01 Implement the next phase of transformation. Head of Digital, Transformation and Customer Services 25% 31-Mar-2025 Transformation updates (i.e. spotlight on a specific portfolio e.g. financial sustainability) are taken to the CMT by the Programme Management Unit (PMU) on a weekly basis. FR.SIP.22.04.02 Develop and implement a new assurance model for business as usual risks Risk Manager 100% 31-Mar-2024 The development and testing of the new risk assurance model, for business as usual risks, and the inhouse development of an ICT solution to support the new model, was fully achieved by 31 March 2023, meaning that go live/ implementation was ready for end March 2023. This action is now 100% complete and in 2024 we can focus on monitoring implementation. FR.SIP.22.04.03 Support the Council in developing New Ways of Working Head of People & OD 90% 31-Mar-2023 We have prioritised policy to support the new ways of working with 5 being approved at FARS board over the last 9 months. We will continue to work on the remainder of the policies in agreement TUs in 2023. The term and conditions
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11 Code Title Status Assigned To Progress Due Date Latest Note review project has commenced with options being development for discussion with TUs and CMT. Pilots of new recruitment adverts have been undertaking. This action will be carried over into the refreshed Service Improvement Plan with a new due date of 31 March 2024. FR.SIP.22.04.04 Support the Council with improving attendance and reducing absence Head of People & OD 40% 31-Dec-2023 The absence policy was presented at the Nov 22 FARS board and was approved. The implementation is underway, however, at the same time we are reviewing absence recording processes to aid the successful implementation of the policy. Training and guidance on the new policy is in final draft and will be ready to launched when the process review is concluded. FR.SIP.22.04.05 Develop a Wellbeing Strategy that meets the needs of our workforce as we emerge for the pandemic and look towards the future Head of People & OD 60% 31-Dec-2022 The wellbeing strategy is to be put forward to the FARCS Board in 2023; the action will be carried over into the refreshed Service Improvement Plan with a new due date of 31 December 2023. FR.SIP.22.04.06 Develop an overall strategic recruitment and talent management plan to enable us to meet future workforce demands Head of People & OD 30% 31-Oct-2022 Due to the planned re-design within the People & OD team this will likely take longer to implement. However, innovative recruitment approaches continue to be explored, developments within talent link have commenced with others planned, we have piloted some new types of adverts, work is ongoing but the People & OD team re-design will also impact on the final outcomes of this. This action will be carried over into the refreshed Service Improvement Plan with a new due date of 31 March 2024.
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12 Code Title Status Assigned To Progress Due Date Latest Note FR.SIP.22.04.07 Develop and new equality, diversity and inclusion strategy for the council Head of People & OD 60% 31-Dec-2022 The programme is well underway, with ED&I roundtables carried out in November 22, feedback provided to CMT in March 23, further work is planned for June 23 to gain more insight from our colleagues and how they feel about ED&I, this is planned for June 23, a final strategy will be delivered summer 2023. This action will be carried over into the refreshed Service Improvement Plan with a new due date of 31 December 2023.
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13 Finance & Resources: Service Improvement Plan 2022-2025 Generated on: 03 May 2023 Outcome 2: Fair Code Performance Indicator Current Status Short Term Long Term 2021/22 2022/23 Q1 2022/23 Q2 2022/23 Q3 2022/23 Q4 2022/23 Explanation of performance Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target FCSKPI005a Time taken for processing new housing benefit applications up until the posting of notification of outcome of the application (cumulative) 18.1 24 38.51 24 34.41 24 38.77 24 39.18 24 38.51 24 Processing speed for New Claims was outside of target for the 2022/23 year due to the high volume of Self- isolation Support Grants at the start of the calendar year and substantial changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, which resulted in significant manual intervention being required to enable processing. This manual intervention was temporary, and the previous automated solution was resumed, resulting in significant progress being made in recovering the position, with a much-improved processing time currently being reported for the early part of 2023/24. FCSKPI005c Time taken for processing change of circumstance housing benefit applications up until the posting of notification of outcome of the application (cumulative) 7.94 10 14.35 10 5.56 10 8.83 10 11.42 10 14.35 10 Processing speed for Changes in Circumstance was outside of target for the 2022/23 year due to the high volume of Self-isolation Support Grants at the start of the calendar year and substantial changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, which resulted in significant manual intervention being required to enable processing. This manual intervention was temporary, and the previous automated solution was resumed,
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14 Code Performance Indicator Current Status Short Term Long Term 2021/22 2022/23 Q1 2022/23 Q2 2022/23 Q3 2022/23 Q4 2022/23 Explanation of performance Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target resulting in significant progress being made in recovering the position, with a much-improved processing time currently being reported for the early part of 2023/24. FCSKPI010 Average speed of processing a Crisis Grant (Scottish Welfare Fund) in days 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Processing speed for Crisis Grants was within target for 2022/23 FCSKPI011 Average speed of processing a Community Care Grant (Scottish Welfare Fund) in days 10 15 13 15 7 15 12 15 17 15 16 15 Processing speed for Community Care Grants was well within target for 2022/23 Outcome 5: Living our Values Code Performance Indicator Current Status Short Term Long Term 2021/22 2022/23 Q1 2022/23 Q2 2022/23 Q3 2022/23 Q4 2022/23 Explanation of performance Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target FCSCSU07 Customer Service Unit - % of calls answered 97% 90% 96% 90% 99% 90% 97% 90% 94% 90% 93% 90% Target met for the year FCSCSU03 % of calls answered by the Customer Service Unit within target (40 seconds) 58% 70% 64% 70% 66% 70% 62% 70% 61% 70% 65% 70% Severe weather in the third quarter impacted the service level. There were increased calls following the Christmas /New Year shutdown and Council Tax annual billing which impacted during March. Also the housing Benefits enquiry calls increased following on from Council Tax annual billing. FCSKPI008 Cost of collecting council tax per chargeable dwelling 8.04 11.5 - 11.5 Not measured for Quarters Not measured for Quarters Not measured for Quarters Not measured for Quarters This indicator reports on the cost of collecting Council Tax per chargeable dwelling For 2021/22, the total cost of collecting Council Tax for Renfrewshire Council is £724,132
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15 Code Performance Indicator Current Status Short Term Long Term 2021/22 2022/23 Q1 2022/23 Q2 2022/23 Q3 2022/23 Q4 2022/23 Explanation of performance Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target The number of eligible dwellings in 2021/22 is 90,100. Cost per dwelling is therefore £8.04This is a decrease on the prior year, owing to a full review of the cost allocations attributable to recovery of Council Tax charges. The number of dwellings has increased by 1.0% compared to last year. FCSKPI001 Percentage of Council Tax due in the year, collected by the end of the year (cumulative position to date) 95.48 % 96% 95.3% 96% 36.64 % 32.76 % 61.81 % 60.27 % 87.22 % 87.98 % 95.3% 96% Council Tax collection for 2022/23 was slightly down on the 2021/22 position. One off Cost of Living Awards of £150 were made on behalf of the Scottish Government to 62,130 households to attempt to offset some of the effects of the cost of living crisis, these are reflected in the final position. FCSCOMPYR Total % of investigation (Stage 2) complaints responded to within targets by Finance & Resources (cumulative to date) 87.73 % 85% 84.9% 85% 83.33 % 85% 79.92 % 85% 83.7% 85% 84.9% 85% 345 Investigation complaints were received in total during 2022/23. To date, 293 complaints have been completed within the required timescale, 51 were complaint completed outwith timescale and one case is still being followed up outwith timescale. The service is just below target for this annual reporting period. FCSKPI003 Number of invoices paid within 30 days of receipt, as a percentage of all invoices paid council wide (cumulative) 95.5% 96% 90.21 % 96% 94.55 % 96% 90.11 % 96% 88.04 % 96% 90.21 % 96% At the end of 2022/23 a total of 227,562 invoices were received of which 205,274 were processed within 30 days. Performance has not met target for this annual reporting period. FCSABS01dii Average number of work days lost through sickness absence per employee (F&R) (FTE) 7.77 8.5 - 8.5 1.76 2 2.43 1.9 2.38 2.3 - 2.3 Absence for Qtr 4 2022/23 is not yet available. During Qtr 3 it has been noted that absence performance is above target by 0.08days. Monitoring of absence continues across the service. All service absence stats are presented to CMT and reported to Boa
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16 Code Performance Indicator Current Status Short Term Long Term 2021/22 2022/23 Q1 2022/23 Q2 2022/23 Q3 2022/23 Q4 2022/23 Explanation of performance Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target FCSFOI07 % of FOI reviews completed within 20 days (Councilwide) 100% 100% 87.5% 100% 80% 100% 66% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 16 Reviews were received for 2022/23 of which 14 were completed within timescale FCSFOI08 % of Finance and Resources FOI requests completed within timescale 97% 100% 97.2% 100% 96% 100% 95% 100% 98% 100% 99% 100% There were 424 single service FOIs dealt with by FAR in 2022/23 of which 412 were completed within timescale. FCSICT001 Percentage of IT incidents fixed within target fix time (annual cumulative to date figure) 94.1% 85% 85% 85% 94.2% 85% 83% 85% 87% 85% 85% 85% There were a total of 3,513 incidents during 2022/23 of which 2,970 (85%) were fixed within target. FCSICT002 Percentage of IT service requests fulfilled within target fix time (annual cumulative figure) 87.1% 85% 77% 85% 87% 85% 81% 85% 79% 85% 77% 85% The service have been transitioning to our new structure and 4 staff have left. There is 2 new members of staff recruited and due to start soon. This will allow us to get back on track FCSICT004 Percentage of uptime for key IT systems 99.99 % 99% 99% 99.99 % 99% 99.99 % 99% - 99% - 99% This indicator is no longer being collected as agreed by Head of Digital, Transformation and Customer Services FCSKPI002 Percentage of income due from Council Tax for prior years (cumulative position to date) 97.21 % 97.27 % 97.21 % 97.27 % 97.11 % 97.27 % 97.15 % 97.27 % 97.17 % 97.27 % 97.21 % 97.27 % Follow up continues to be run each month. Both the current year and previous years' collection is monitored and the 2022/23 position was down slightly on that for 2021/22. FCSKPI004a Percentage of Non Domestic Rates due in the year, collected by the end of the year (cumulative to date) 92.61 % 98% 95.67 % 98% 17% 20.17 % 51.26 % 51.4% 80.35 % 81.65 % 95.67 % 98% Business rates collection levels for 2022/23 are up by over 3% from the 2021/22 position. This follows the introduction of new legislation which largely aligned business rates recovery procedures to those for Council Tax, Collection has yet to reach pre- pandemic levels. FCSKPI133 Percentage of Audit Plan 92.1% 95% 93.2% 95% 21.9% 19% 42.2% 42.8% 63.7% 66.5% 93.2% 95% Target was not achieved for 2022/23. This was due to higher than expected
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17 Code Performance Indicator Current Status Short Term Long Term 2021/22 2022/23 Q1 2022/23 Q2 2022/23 Q3 2022/23 Q4 2022/23 Explanation of performance Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target Value Target completed (cumulative) unplanned leave and significant investigative work that had to be undertaken during the reporting year. FRCOMPFL F&R Front Line complaints (Cumulative) 75.87 % 85% 86.6% 85% 83.63 % 85% 85.34 % 85% 83.9% 85% 86.6% 85% 637 Complaints received in total during 2022/23. 552 have been completed within timescale, 79 been completed late and 6 still being followed up outwith timescale. Target has been achieved for this annual reporting period. FRSDP.SME0 1 Average days Small and Medium sized businesses invoices paid 11.84 28 13.06 28 9.08 28 12.63 28 14.12 28 13.06 28 At the end of 2022/23 reporting year (01/04/22 - 06/04/23) 80,501 SME invoices were received of which 65,671 were processed within 28 days with the average days to process an invoice reported at 13.06 days. Target has been achieved.