"Performance" reports of Chief Exec

We haven't had any performance, or lack of, reports for a while so here we are, two at once, for the 6 months from October 2011 to March 12. The latest quarter has been changed and should be on the website soon. Considering that over £700,000 was spent on the new website and that over 100 people have been trained in the CMS software, it is disappointingly slow in being updated.

Performance report of Chief Executive of Barnet Council for Q3 2011/12

Do you think this is an achievement? "We gave away £200,000?". If that is one of non-stick Nick's top three achievements the bar is not set very high.

Yet more transformation managers being appointed:

The Contact Centre Transformation Manager - Iain Hamilton -  all the way from Cheshire.

Head of Customer Services Transformation manager - Andrew Cox - a rare appointment of an interim who has come from inside the council.

Libraries - interim project manager - Heather Wills - who had her own bog post last week.

The Chief Executive's service is unable to manage the simplest task. They can only manage to pick up the phone within 20 seconds 62.3% of the time. What putrid service.

Channel shift is being pushed faster than people want to go. Of course more payments are being done on-line as opportunities to pay by any other method get removed.

Benchmarking is still utter rubbish. The marks chosen are not challenging ones at the top of the range which is what they are meant to be. It is of no help to know that Bolsover DC are marginally more cr*p than Barnet Council at answering the phone.

Adult Social Services were unable to find temporary recruits for 2 posts. Perhaps word has spread about what a joy it is to work for Barnet Council.

The final sentence of page 5 is very worrying. E-mail is the most useful form of communication for many people and Barnet Council are going to try and straightjacket us into webforms where the subject about which you want to write has to be presented in a certain format and you don't automatically get a copy, you are reliant on the council to send you one afterwards if they choose to. This has already happened with parking ticket appeals where your choices are a letter (snailmail) or a webform. Not email which is an utter disgrace. Anyone would think that the council don't want to make it easy to appeal.

Performance report for Chief Executive of Barnet Council Q4 2011/12

Well done to Friern Barnet library campaigners. You are one of the top 3 issues (issues = problems). Keep on going. The council will crack in the end.

Brian Coleman has been complaining in his blog (you will have to find the rotten thing yourself, it is too turgid for words) about spelling mistakes in the local papers. Well Brian, take a look at the top of page 2 

"4 where on target" that should have been "4 were on target" and then further down

"predominantly by with our face to face service".

Also, the triangles which indicate the DoT, Direction of Travel, have turned into empty rectangles. There is a lack of attention to detail at the council and no-one cares.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard