Agenda item

The Mayor submitted a report for Executive’s consideration, the purpose of which was to advise the Executive of corporate performance at the end of Quarter One 2025/2026, and where appropriate, sought approval of any changes, where those were within the authority of the Executive. The primary purpose of the report was to set out how effectively the Council was delivering activity to deliver against each of the Council Plan priorities, aims and underpinning workplan activities.

 

The Council’s Scheme of Delegation gave the Executive collective responsibility for corporate strategic performance, together with associated action.

 

The report provided the necessary information to enable the Executive to discharge its performance management responsibilities, setting out progress against priority performance disciplines and other key associated items, together with actions to be taken to address any issued identified.

 

The projected financial outturn at Quarter One and 2025/2026, was presented separately at the meeting and was not repeated here. There were plans in

development to integrate performance, risk and financial reporting for future financial years.

 

As part of continuous improvement in performance and risk management, the Council’s Leadership Management Team (LMT) had implemented monthly reviews of corporate performance utilising a Directorate Performance dashboard, drawing data from a range of performance feeder systems.

 

The output from these sessions was reflected through quarterly updates to the Executive and covering, in addition, progress in delivering actions agreed by the Executive, key Directorate performance issues and other performance-related matters.

 

The Council’s overall performance at the end of Quarter One 2025/26 saw progress towards expected performance standards, as set out in the Council’s risk appetite, achieved in two of the five corporate performance disciplines.

 

As activity within the Council Plan workplan had rolled over from Quarter Four 2024/25 to Quarter One 2025/26, trend data had been carried forward to demonstrate progress.

 

It was noted that performance against Council Plan outcomes for Quarter One 2025/26 was measured by tracking progress against baseline key performance indicators, as outlined in the Council Plan 2024-27 and its associated workplan. It was expected that over time, 90% of the outcome measures would be achieved.

 

The Mayor commented that future reports of this nature needed to be more explicit that overspends were predictions in most cases. There was a need to take management of public funds seriously and there was a need to review ongoing pressures. The Mayor had seen an action plan for Children’s Services which looked promising and he commented he felt confident about the progress of Children’s Services, despite previous funding cuts and rising costs.

 

The Mayor also commented that he, and the Council as a whole was working with central government to ensure Middlesbrough received a fair funding settlement.

 

The Mayor stated that a Member’s briefing be set up  

 

OPTIONS

 

The Council was required to operate a performance management framework in order to ensure delivery of its best value duty; to not do so would place the council at risk of failing in its statutory responsibility in this regard.

 

ORDERED that Executive

 

1.    Approves the proposed changes to the Executive actions, as detailed at Appendix 1 of the report.

2.    Approves the proposed changes to the Council Plan 2024-27 supporting workplan actions, as detailed at Appendix 3 of the report.

 

AGREED that Executive

 

1.    Notes the progress and position of the corporate performance disciplines, including the Transformation Portfolio.

2.    Notes the delivery status of the Council Plan 2024-27 supporting workplan at Quarter One, detailed at Appendix 2 in the report.

3.    Notes the Strategic Risk Register, at detailed in Appendix 4 of the report.

 

REASONS

 

To enable the effective management of performance and risk in line with the Council’s Local Code of Corporate Governance.