North Yorkshire Council
Corporate & Partnerships Overview & Scrutiny Committee
15 June 2026
Corporate Services Bi-annual Performance Update
Report of the Assistant Director (Legal and Democratic Services)
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 For the Corporate & Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee to review a summary of the relevant thematic performance data that forms part of the quarterly reports to the Executive and;
1.2 For the committee to consider whether there are any lines of enquiry arising from the information provided to follow up on or to be put forward for the future work programme.
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 North Yorkshire Council is ambitious to provide the best possible services to residents, communities and businesses. Understanding how we are performing is a critical step in identifying how we can continue to improve and achieve the best outcomes. As noted in the North Yorkshire Council Performance Management Framework 2025-26: “As an organisation going through a huge amount of change, monitoring performance, understanding it and learning from that insight is crucial to keep us on track.”
2.2 A key part of the corporate performance management arrangements is the ‘Quarterly Performance and Budget Monitoring Report’, considered by the Executive to show progress against the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) identified against the Council Plan. The report is organised under the five Council Plan themes: Place and Environment, Economy, Health and Wellbeing, People and Organisation, to aid in the monitoring of the overall Council Plan.
2.3 As part of the consideration of this report at the quarterly Performance Monitoring Executive meetings, members of the Scrutiny Board, made up of the Chairs of each of the six Overview and Scrutiny committees, are invited to ask questions to hold Executive members to account, based on the data, trends and narrative presented in the report of any performance challenges or opportunities. There have been two Executive performance monitoring meetings (Q3 & Q4) since this committee received its last bi-annual performance update.
2.4 A summary of the latest (Q4) performance information is presented as Appendix A to this report for consideration at this meeting. This provides all committee members an opportunity to ask questions and provide comments, as well as to identify and interrogate trends in the data presented and identify key lines of enquiry. This scrutiny process of performance could lead to follow up actions from the committee, such as requests for follow-up reports to the committee at a future meeting, informal briefings on particular areas of interest and/or requests for further information to be collated from the directorate to develop the knowledge and understanding of the committee.
3.0 PERFORMANCE REPORT
3.1 At the Q3 Performance Monitoring meeting of the Executive in February 2026, one question was raised hat related to remit of this Committee, in relation to benefit processing times. It was confirmed that the recorded processing delays were largely as a result of a backlog created as a result of the convergence of IT systems which required a six‑week system outage over the summer. It was confirmed that staff had worked overtime to recover the position and processing times had subsequently improved. As of February 2026, local targets were not yet being met, but performance was within the national target set by the DWP.
3.2 This was followed by this Committee at its last meeting in March 2026, when a detailed update on customer services was provided which outlined the huge cultural change within the service and confirmed the new customer service contact centre had gone live. The Committee were presented with performance statistics, and an overview of the ongoing work to address the backlog arising from the migration process and improve response times. A brief overview of the planned new customer platform was also provided.
3.3 At the Q4 Performance Monitoring Executive meeting there were no questions from members of the Scrutiny Board that related to remit of this Committee.
4.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
4.1 There are no direct financial implications arising from this report.
5.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
5.1 All local authorities have a duty to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which their functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
6.0 EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS
6.1 As a wider strategic document, the Council Plan 2025-2029 provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of outcomes in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion across protected characteristic and socio-economic groups, and target action to eliminate discrimination, advance equality (reduce inequalities) and foster good relations in line with our Public Sector Equality Duties.
7.0 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS
7.1 There are no direct climate change implications arising from this report.
8.0 PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
8.1 This report sets out the thematic performance data that forms part of the quarterly reports to the Executive. By presenting directorate-specific KPIs and narrative information for the Overview and Scrutiny committee to review, this will help to improve corporate grip, control and delivery in our drive to improve as an organisation.
9.0 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1 To give committee members an opportunity to ask questions and provide comments on the directorate performance set out in Appendix A and identify key lines of enquiry that could form part of future reports and feed into the work programme.
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10.0 |
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee is asked to note and provide feedback on the performance data and narrative contained within Appendix A, with a view to considering any future lines of enquiry for the committee to explore. |
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APPENDICES:
Appendix A – Q4 Performance Data
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
Barry Khan
Assistant Director, Legal and Democratic Services
County Hall
Northallerton
4 June 2026
Report Author & Presenter – Melanie Carr, Senior Scrutiny Officer
Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.