Agenda item

To consider a report by the Corporate Improvement Manager (copy enclosed) which provides an update on the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2012-17 at the end of quarter 4 of 2013/14.

10.10 a.m. – 10.45 a.m.

A copy of a report by the Head of Business, Planning and Performance (HBPP), which provided an update on the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2012-17 at the end of quarter 4 of 2013/14, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The CIM introduced the report which emphasised the need for members and officers  to understand the progress made with the delivery of the Corporate Plan (CP) outcomes.  Regular reporting was an essential monitoring requirement of the CP to ensure that the Council exercised its duty to improve.

A summary of the fourteen outcomes in the CP had been presented in the Appendix to the report.  The report showed acceptable progress was being made in delivering the CP.  This was the third year of the 5-year CP and it had been recognised that some areas for improvement would take longer to achieve than others.  However, it was understood what the improvement journey should look like and this had been incorporated into the analysis within the report.

Some of the key performance exceptions to be found in the CP for Q4 had been included in the report and were summarised for the Committee.  A full report of all 7 Priorities in the CP had been included in the Appendix.

Members discussed the Council's performance in delivering its Corporate Plan up to the end of the 2013/14 financial year.  Discussions took place around the Economic and Community Ambition Board's decision to streamline the number of projects and indicators relating to developing the local economy.  The rationale being that it would be better to focus efforts and resources towards delivering good quality sustainable projects rather than a greater number of smaller less effective projects. 

Officers advised that large scale transport projects, such as the electrification of the North Wales coast railway were now being driven by Welsh Government (WG) and therefore it would not be a good use of scarce resources to duplicate this work, particularly as the Leader of each Council served on the WG's Taskforce.  Dialogue had also taken place around the sites earmarked for development in future and current brownfield sites. 

Members raised concerns with respect to the drop in the Council's performance in reducing the number of young people not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).  Whilst this had been given a priority status the Committee felt that it would be important to examine the matter more closely. 

The quality of the Council's highways was discussed, particular reference being made to rural roads and the implementation of its dropped kerb strategy.  With regards to the perceived performance in dealing with incidents of fly tipping the HIA explained that he had contacted Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to discuss the anomaly relating to the recording of these incidents, NRW had confirmed that they would look at the matter.  The Chair had also written to NRW on the matter. 

Councillor R.L. Feeley advised that as Lead Member she had already arranged a meeting with the Head of Children and Family Services (HCFS) to discuss the performance relating to holding child protection conferences.  It was emphasised that whilst the indicator may not have been met on every occasion that did not necessarily mean that the child's needs had not been met.  Councillor Feeley agreed to feedback the result of her meeting with the Head of Service to Members. 

A Working Group had been established with a view to increasing the availability of affordable housing in the County, and the recent implementation of a new sickness absence policy was anticipated to further improve performance in this area.  For future reports Members asked that it be made clear that the report presented to them was in draft format and that sections in the main report referred to in the covering report be cross referenced accordingly. 

Following detailed discussion the Committee:-

RESOLVED – that subject to the above observations, to receive the Corporate Plan Performance report Quarter 4 2013/14 and request that a report  be presented to it on the measures being taken by the Council with a view to reducing in future the number of young people classed as NEETs.