Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) presenting the draft Annual Performance Review for 2018-19 prior to submission to Council for approval.

RESOLVED that Cabinet confirms the content of the draft Annual Performance Review 2018-19.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the report together with the draft Annual Performance Review for 2018-19 prior to its submission to Council for approval and publication as required by the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009.

Cabinet was advised of recent changes to the reporting mechanisms leading to the document also including the quarter 4 update and Annual Delivery Document which would usually be submitted separately.  The combined document included progress on delivery of the Corporate Plan together with specific projects for delivery in 2019-2020 and also provided case studies and examples of progress against corporate priorities from the Council’s wider portfolio.  The document had been considered by Performance Scrutiny Committee with no significant issues raised.

The Strategic Planning Team Manager and Strategic Planning and Performance Team Leader explained that the document demonstrated the good progress and achievements to date but also reflected on the opportunity to improve and take appropriate action.  Cabinet was guided through the report and officers provided a comprehensive update on progress made against each of the corporate priorities – whilst good progress was being made overall, performance against measures for Young People was a priority for improvement.  The Chief Executive commended the work undertaken to deliver the Corporate Plan and how members and officers worked together in that regard for the benefit of the county’s residents.

During consideration of the report Cabinet discussed the following –

·         Connected Communities – in terms of practical steps to progressing availability of superfast broadband/mobile networks the Council was working directly with broadband providers and communities; possible funding sources including windfarm monies were being investigated to secure digital infrastructure for rural communities who might not be part of the subsequent rollout of broadband under the Welsh Government Superfast Cymru project, and connectivity was also a priority for the North Wales Economic Ambition Board

·         Resilient Communities – Councillor Bobby Feeley reported upon the success of the Community Resource Teams in delivering community health and social care services collaboratively.  She also reported upon projects to support carers and congratulated the Council on recently receiving an award from NEWCIS in recognition of being a carer friendly employer

·         Welsh Language – at the request of Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts officers agreed to include within the document reference to the new Welsh Language Centre in St. Asaph which would provide an offer for the whole of Denbighshire

·         Resilient Communities – Councillor Tony Thomas reported that approximately £925k per year would be available via the Clocaenog and Brenig Windfarm Community Investment Funds with details of the exact localities to benefit soon to be confirmed.  In response to a question from Councillor Mark Young regarding equalities, assurances were provided that a project was in place to support communities in the initial round of funding applications to ensure all sectors of society could benefit.  Councillor Young also congratulated HR on their Domestic Abuse training but highlighted the success of that training might lead to an increase in the figures recorded as a result of increased awareness

·         Connected Communities – Councillor Brian Jones reported that the condition of Denbighshire’s roads did not necessarily reflect public perception given that there had only been a minor deterioration in the county’s A roads and an improvement in B and C roads – extra funding had been made available for highways for the current financial year and changes to in-house teams would lead to improvements in addressing smaller scale road defects in the county

·         Young People – Public Health had set a measure for the national childhood measurement programme which coupled together children of a healthy weight with those underweight – Councillor Feeley felt that was inappropriate given that being underweight could be a problem and asked that the Council’s own statistics be changed to reflect that point.

The Lead Members and officers also responded to questions from non-Cabinet members as follows –

·         agreed to remove the reference to ‘simple’ Welsh songs in the Welsh Language section of the report

·         clarified that the number (1148) on the Single Access Route to Housing (SARTH) register referred to households and that the Council was on track to deliver their target of 170 additional homes for social rent by 2022

·         acknowledged the priority for improvement of key measures for Young People and the challenges facing the authority in that regard and highlighted a number of factors contributing to that outcome in terms of the changes in both government policy and the curriculum together with the wealth of actions implemented and investment in specific projects in order to meet those challenges and effect improvement.  It was also noted that much work was ongoing within schools and outside of the Corporate Plan and young people were being well served within the county which had been demonstrated by the significant investment in education and reflected in the excellent Estyn inspections of schools and the authority in education services

·         explained there was a schedule of maintenance for gully clearance with hotspots cleared on a more frequent basis and individuals were encouraged to report any blocked gullies or associated issues via the CRM system

·         with regard to absenteeism in schools the issue had been considered by the relevant scrutiny committee and work was ongoing to ensure the correct absence codes were applied consistently across all schools and procedures robustly applied to enable better recording and an accurate picture of absences.

The Leader explained the purpose of the Corporate Plan and reasoning behind including challenging targets and areas for improvement in order to better deal with those issues for the benefit of residents.  If any issues were not progressing as expected then scrutiny members had a key role in scrutinising those matters further.  In response to his question regarding the potential for targeted additional funding the Chief Executive confirmed funding had been set aside for the Corporate Plan and projects were kept under close review and funding reallocated as appropriate to best progress and deliver outcomes.  Whilst acknowledging the Corporate Plan was quite rightly ambitious, she was also confident that a good outcome would be achieved by the end of the Corporate Plan period.  Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill added that the document reported upon historical data and continual progress was being made in terms of the projects within the Corporate Plan which would continue over the lifetime of that Plan and particular issues may overlap into the next Council.

RESOLVED that Cabinet confirms the content of the draft Annual Performance Review 2018-19.