Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Business, Planning and Performance (copy enclosed) which provided an update on the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2012-17 at the end of Quarter 2 of 2013/14.

                                                                                                          11.30 a.m. 

A copy of a report by the Head of Business, Planning and Performance, which provided an update on the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2012-17 at the end of quarter 2 of 2013/14, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The Corporate Improvement Officer (CIO) and Corporate Programme Office Manager (CPOM) introduced the report and informed Members that regular reporting was an essential monitoring requirement of the Corporate Plan to ensure that the Council exercised its duty to improve.  The Appendix to the report presented a summary of each outcome in the Corporate Plan.  Overall, the report indicated that acceptable progress had been made in delivering the Corporate Plan.  It had been recognised that some areas for improvement would take longer to achieve than others.  However, it would be important to understand what the improvement journey should look like and this had been incorporated into the analysis within the report.

The key performance aspects of the Corporate Plan for quarter 2 had been summarised and included in the report, and the CIO provided a detailed summary of each of the Outcomes in the Performance Report.  The Committee acknowledged that it was still early in the Corporate Plan's life to achieve significant progress in delivering elements of some of the priorities.  However, Members highlighted the following concerns relating to four following priorities:-

Developing the Local Economy:

·  Outcome 5, 'Vibrant Towns and Communities', the Committee suggested that consideration be given to using the most up to date data available as indicators for measuring 'Tackling Deprivation and Poverty, particularly in parts of Rhyl and Upper Denbigh'.  For accuracy purposes it may therefore be useful to use the 2012 median income figures for these indicators.

·  Outcome 6, 'Well-promoted Denbighshire':  having regard to the number of new build housing completions for the first half of 2013/14 the Committee did have concerns with respect to the Council's ability to deliver its LDP within the expected timeframe

Improving Performance in Education & Quality of Our School Buildings:

·  the Committee had a number of concerns with respect to the use of mobile classrooms across the County.  Consequently it asked for a comprehensive report to be submitted for its consideration in January on the number, location, age and condition of mobile classrooms as well as on the condition of school buildings in general and on pupil projections and capacity assessments to deal with the projected pupil numbers at the county's schools

Clean and Tidy Streets:

·  Outcome 11:  the performance against the indicator on clearing fly tipping incidents had been a cause of concern for the Committee since September 2013.  The Committee also had concerns with respect to the accuracy of the Authority's statistical reporting of this PI and had asked that a report on this matter be presented to members at January's meeting and that the report should also contain a definition on what exactly "excellence in relation to reducing fly tipping" would look like.

·  Members also expressed concerns on the number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued and enforcement action taken with respect to dog fouling across the county, particularly in comparison to the action and number of FPNs issued for littering.  Similar concerns were raised by Communities Scrutiny Committee when it considered the progress report on the Anti Fouling Strategy at its meeting on 25 November.

Ensuring Access to Good Quality Housing:

·  The Committee queried the Council's performance against the performance measure relating to the % of householder planning applications determined within 8 weeks.  Officers had already reported on this matter to the Committee in October and whilst members were satisfied with the information imparted the Chair confirmed that he would arrange to meet the Head of Service to discuss this matter further and to see whether any steps could be taken to improve performance in this area.

Modernising the Council to be efficient & improve services for customers

·  Outcome 14:  the Committee had concerns on the % of performance appraisals that had been completed which was well below the acceptable level of 95%.  Whilst acknowledging that there may be data inaccuracies Members expressed an interest in monitoring the situation going forward.

Details of the financial aspects, consultations undertaken, the Chief Finance Officer Statement and the risks and actions implemented to mitigate them had been included in the report.

Following further discussion and the receipt of responses provided to questions from Members, it was:-

RESOLVED – that the Performance Scrutiny Committee:-

(a)   receive the report, and

(b)   note the concerns highlighted by Members relating to five of the corporate priorities.