Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) presenting an update on the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2017 – 2022 as at the end of quarter 2 (July to September 2019).

RESOLVED that Cabinet notes the progress in delivering the Corporate Plan as at the end of quarter 2 of 2019/20 and confirms the content of the draft report.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the report updating members on progress in delivery of the Corporate Plan 2017 – 2022 as at the end of quarter 2.

The Corporate Plan set the strategic direction for the council and its priorities for the five year period.  A summary of data and project updates had been provided for quarter 2 together with data tables outlining the current position.  The report also outlined how projects identified in support of each priority were developing.  Performance was as expected for the midway stage of the Corporate Plan and whilst there were fluctuations in individual priority areas, the overall performance summary for both measures and projects showed that all bar one priority had been assessed as ‘acceptable’ and one had been assessed as ‘excellent’.

The Strategic Planning and Performance Team Leader explained the different style of reporting following adoption of the accessibility template.  He guided members through the report and provided an update on progress made against each of the corporate priorities, highlighting key issues and project developments.  There were fifteen items of new data in the quarter 2 update – seven of which had declined and six of which had improved.  Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill added that performance measures were monitored through the Council’s usual reporting mechanisms and all individual projects continued to be monitored by the Programme Boards.

During consideration of the report Cabinet raised the following issues –

·         Councillor Bobby Feeley referred to the amalgamation of the housing and homelessness strategies into one strategy document and officers agreed to reflect that change in the language of future performance reports and consider the potential inclusion of homelessness performance measures as appropriate

·         Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts referred to the comparison tables and queried why so many of the measures did not apply and also highlighted a number of examples where performance had declined or improved which had not resulted in a change in the categorisation status.  Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill responded that the infrequency of some reporting mechanisms meant that there was no comparable data during a particular time period to apply; in terms of the categorisation status a range was set for each measure against each status and therefore performance could decline or improve within the range and result in no change to the categorisation status.  It was also highlighted that the measure for A and B roads was benchmarked against All Wales data and measured within that context.  For clarity it was agreed that future performance reports contain some narrative as to how particular measures had been assessed and their frequency to better reflect their performance within the relevant context together with an explanation of the categorisation status.

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

·         Superfast Broadband and Mobile Networks – Councillor Meirick Davies raised a question regarding broadband coverage and given that there was a political angle to the response Councillor Richard Mainon agreed to provide an answer outside of the meeting in order to comply with pre-election guidance

·         School Nutrition Project – reference was made to the scrutiny of the school meal arrears which had reduced significantly and in response to recent news reports assurances were provided that every child in Denbighshire was always provided with a meal if they had no packed lunch or were in school meal arrears

·         Modernising Education Programme – the position with regard to the Welsh Language Development Centre was elaborated upon together with the separation of the building work to adapt the existing building and the car parking elements of the scheme for which planning permission was required

·         Percentage of the population aged 18 to 24 claiming Job Seekers Allowance – it was explained that the increase equated to 130 more young people but it was too early to tell whether the measure reflected the introduction of universal credit or was due to a downturn in the economy – a more definitive answer was expected by the next quarter.

RESOLVED that Cabinet notes the progress in delivering the Corporate Plan as at the end of quarter 2 of 2019/20 and confirms the content of the draft report.