Agenda item
CORPORATE PLAN - QUARTER 3 2015/16
To consider a report by the Strategic Planning and Performance Officer, which provides an update on the delivery of the Corporate Plan, had been circulated previously
9.35 a.m. – 10.10 a.m.
Minutes:
A copy of a report by the Head of Business, Improvement and
Modernisation (HBIM), which provides an update on the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2012-17 as at
the end of quarter 3 of 2015/16,
had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.
The Lead Member for Finance, Corporate Plan and Performance
introducing the report outlined the key performance summary and stressed:-
·
the importance of the
Council’s performance in meeting its Outcome Agreements with the Welsh
Government (WG);
·
that the Council still
considered improving corporate sickness absence levels as a priority for
improvement, hence the reason for setting such an ambitious target.
Whilst the target had not been met the Council still compared favourably with
other Welsh authorities and would continue to strive for improvement;
·
the information on carbon
emissions should be available in the near future. As the Council was due
to switch its energy supplier in April 2016 this would not be a problem in the
future as the new supplier had undertaken to routinely provide the information.
Denbighshire was not unique in not being able to report carbon emissions
information at present, it affected the majority of Welsh local authorities;
·
the number of staff receiving
performance appraisal reports had now reached 90%
Responding to Members’ concerns in relation to economic
growth and development the Lead Member for Finance, Corporate Plan and
Performance and officers advised that:-
·
the new Procurement Strategy
and revised Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) approved by Council recently should
support economic development. The Procurement Board would be
monitoring the implementation of the Strategy and new CPRs. In addition
it would be ensuring that officers in different services as well as suppliers
would receive appropriate training to deliver the Strategy and support economic
growth;
·
economic growth was one of the
Council’s top priorities. Whilst there was now a smaller team of officers
responsible for economic development corporately, this was a very strong team
who were there to support other officers within the Council’s various services
to deliver the economic development priority. Businesses within the
county were now far more positive about the Council’s prospects of delivering
economic growth. Substantial investment was taking place across the
county, approximately £200m in total, through the building of new school
buildings, improvements to libraries etc.;
·
there was a need to celebrate
the achievements and investments by the Council and businesses realised to
date, in Rhyl and across the county, including the high survival rate for new
businesses in Denbighshire;
·
whilst the local authority had
a role to play in economic development it was only one of a number of
organisation who could influence this area, others such as WG, higher education
and businesses had as much of a role to play as Councils if the ambition was to be fully realised;
·
the Council could support economic development locally, but it could not
control the local economy. There were certain areas of the county which
required a collaborative approach from a number of public and private
organisations in order to improve skills and income levels with a view to
stimulating the local economy and prosperity
·
reference was made to Rhuddlan as an example of where small businesses seemed to
flourish, with retail premises lying empty being a rare occurrence
Members raised concerns with respect to performance in the
following areas:-
·
the perceived lack of WG
support for St. Asaph Business Park and availability
of business units for new businesses to move to once they had established
themselves and were ready to grow. A number of home-grown businesses had
been lost from Denbighshire because of the shortage of suitable premises;
·
council housing –
the period of time that houses lie empty due to refurbishment requirements
before they are re-let;
·
the development of affordable
housing;
·
prioritising highways
maintenance work; and
·
education – pupils’
educational performance since GwE had taken over responsibility for school
improvement and the number of pupils excluded from the county’s schools
Responding to the above the Lead Member and officers advised
that:-
·
if Members had specific
concerns about performance in specific areas they could follow the process
established by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group (SCVCG) to call Lead
Members and officers in to discuss those concerns;
·
the Committee would during the
summer of 2016 commence monitoring the progress made in delivering Theme 2 of
the Council’s Housing Strategy, which related to creating a supply of
affordable houses;
·
with respect to highways
maintenance works the Council, like many other local authorities, faced a
backlog of expensive work which would probably cost in the region of £25m to
rectify satisfactorily and could at present only commit circa £1m annually
towards that work. The work therefore had to be prioritised on a risk
basis;
·
GwE was more than aware that
the Council was not satisfied with the service they had provided to the county
to date, whilst pupils’ performance in the county had not slipped since GwE had
taken over the school improvement function their performance had not kept a
pace with other local authorities. The support given by GwE to the
primary sector had been well received and successful, this was not the case in
the secondary sector and it was this sector that had suffered. Whilst
there was a correlation between economic deprivation and pupils’ performance
this was not the only factor that affected performance, and Denbighshire on the
whole was an affluent area therefore educational attainment should be higher.
At the conclusion of the discussion Members:-
RESOLVED
– that, subject to the above observations, and the completion of ‘scrutiny
proposal forms’ on the areas of most concern highlighted above, to receive the
information provided on the Council’s performance in delivering its Corporate
Plan up to and including the end of Quarter 3 2015/16.
Supporting documents: