Agenda item

To consider the report on the Council’s progress against the actions outlined in the Corporate Delivery Plan (2024-26) as at the end of Quarter 1 of 2025/26.

The report included with this item was first published as part of the agenda papers for the Cabinet meeting on 16^th September.

In opening the discussion on this item, Cllr White noted that, as with the previous item, the report had also been discussed at Cabinet earlier in the week. He noted that Directors and Cabinet Members were not available to respond to service-related questions, but that they could be scrutinised through the round of Scrutiny Panel meetings.

Margaret Gallagher, Strategic Lead for Data & Business Intelligence, explained that the report provided an update on progress against the Corporate Delivery Plan (CDP) at the end of Quarter 1. There was a different approach to the format, with highlights included in Appendix 1 and exceptions and areas that were not on track set out in Appendix 2. All of the 188 activity lines were detailed in Appendix 3 and the KPIs set out in Appendix 4. The KPIs were particularly pertinent as the government was introducing a new outcomes framework based on accountability for Councils in England with over 100 metrics. Haringey Council had provided a response to the consultation on the new framework.

Margaret Gallagher and Taryn Eves then responded to questions from the Committee:

• Referring to Appendix 1 on page 163 of the agenda pack, Cllr Connor noted the red performance indicator against the number of complaints upheld by the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman. She noted that the letter to the Council from the Ombudsman stated that the Council’s response to the timely compliance recommendation remained poor and continued to add to the frustration and distress caused to complainants. Cllr Connor queried what was being done differently with the process to improve this. Taryn Eves noted that annual feedback & resolutions report was discussed at Cabinet earlier in the week which included some details about the response. Cllr White added that this report would be brought to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 20^th October which this could be discussed in more detail.
• Cllr White referred to the section on page 181 of the agenda pack about remodelling and restructuring customer services to be fit for purpose, noting that this strongly correlated with the negative feedback that the Committee had previously received through the Scrutiny Café consultation event about the experience that residents had in communicating with the Council. He suggested that this line of the CDP could be scrutinised as part of an agenda item on customer services that was scheduled to be brought to the meeting of the Committee on 20^th October. Cllr Connor added that a line about improving access to customer services on page 184 could also be included in this discussion. (ACTION)
• Cllr Small asked about the capacity within the Council to carry out significant modernisation, as referred to earlier in the meeting regarding digitalisation. Taryn Eves observed that the capacity and resource (particularly project support) to do this was now in place with regard to digitalisation, but other areas could always be progressed faster if there was more resource available. It was therefore important to target the resources that were available towards the areas where they would have the greatest impact, such as Adult Social Care and Housing.
• Cllr White queried whether a previous suggestion to integrate the quarterly finance and CDP updates would still be going ahead. Taryn Eves confirmed that this was still the aspiration but that it hadn’t been achieved this quarter as it was a more resource intensive than originally anticipated. She added that the finance updates would proceed on a quarterly basis whereas the CDP updates would be six-monthly (in Quarter 1 and Quarter 3). As this was the final year of the current CDP and with a new local government outcomes framework to be implemented from April 2026, it was more likely that the two update reports would now be integrated in the next financial year with a new CDP and new KPIs. It may then be easier for the Committee to draw linkages between the two areas.
• Referring to Appendix 1 (the CDP progress report), Cllr Connor noted that this was mainly to be dealt with by the Scrutiny Panels as she had various questions but there were no service officers available at the current Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting to respond to these. Dominic O'Brien, Scrutiny Officer, commented that because the report covered the whole Council, it would have been necessary to invite a full range of service officers and Cabinet Members to the meeting. However, with the next CDP update not due until March 2026, there would be opportunities for the Scrutiny Panels to ask questions to their relevant service Directors and Cabinet Members and for the Overview & Scrutiny Committee to follow up on any cross-cutting issues or areas specific to its own portfolio at the December meeting. Taryn Eves added that issues specifically within the remit of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee could also be brought to future meetings for scrutiny.