Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Business, Planning and Performance (copy enclosed) on the Council’s draft Annual Performance Report for 2012-13.

A copy of a report by the Head of Business, Planning and Performance (HBPP), on the Council’s draft Annual Performance Report for 2012-13, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.  An update pertaining to the Annual Performance Review 2012/13 had been circulated prior to the meeting.

It was explained by the HBPP that the Council were required to publish an Annual Report of its performance by the 31^st October each year.  A decision had been required to approve the draft 2012-13 Annual Performance Review, Appendix I, to the report.

The Council’s Corporate Plan 2012/17 set the strategic direction for the Council and its priorities for the five-year period.  The detail about what the Council intended to do each year to help deliver the priorities had been set out in Annual Service Plans and the Corporate Plan Annual Delivery Document.   The Council had a number of equality objectives within its Strategic Equality Plan, and a set of Outcome Agreements with the Welsh Government.

The Annual Performance Report provided a retrospective evaluation of the Council’s success in delivering against the plans during 2012-13, and provided an indication as to whether or not it had successfully fulfilled its obligation to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement.  Members were reminded that this was the first year of the Plan and next year’s figures could be utilised for comparison purposes. 

An Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) had not been required for this report as it provided a retrospective evaluation of the Council’s performance, and the decision to approve the report had no potential impact on people sharing protected characteristics.  However, an EqIA, Appendix 1, had been undertaken on the Corporate Plan itself and had been presented to Council when approved in October, 2012.

The report had been developed by the Corporate Improvement Team, in consultation with other Council services.   The performance information contained within the document had been provided by services, and had been drawn from the Ffynnon performance management system.   Consultation had taken place with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the Performance Scrutiny Committee in September, 2013 prior to being submitted to County Council for approval.

In response to questions from Councillor H.Ll. Jones, it was explained that the presentation of percentage figures relating to female Councillors in Denbighshire and Nationally could be more user friendly.  It was confirmed that work to develop a strategy for dropped kerbs was currently being progressed and would be reported to Council when finalised.   

Councillor H.H. Evans explained that there were issues which required clarification and a clearer picture would emerge from the economic development prospective following consideration of the impact of the priorities by the Task and Finish Group.  He confirmed that detailed information regarding the development of a strategic approach would be presented to Council.  Members were informed that the targets set had been more challenging which had produced a higher level of expectation and an improved level of performance.

The Chief Executive responded to a question from Councillor C. Hughes regarding the anticipated reduced settlement from Welsh Government and made reference to the Council’s adoption of an ambitious Corporate Plan.  He explained that the Council had raised its expectations and moved away from traditional targets and it was felt that the budget proposal to be presented to Members would assist in protecting the chief aims of the Corporate Plan.  However, he explained that there could be a degree of uncertainty due to a lack of clarity over future settlement agreements.

In reply to concerns raised by Councillor H. Hilditch-Roberts, the HBPP referred to the adopted method of presentation.  He explained that the colours provided in the report indicated the direction of travel and could be utilised for analysis purposes, while the figures produced depicted trends.  He also responded to further questions from Members and provided details of the Residents Survey which had received over 18,000 responses. 

RESOLVED – that CounciI agrees the draft 2012-13 Annual Performance Review to enable translation and publication before 31^st October 2013.