Issue - decisions

The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets, Councillor Gwyneth Ellis, introduced the Performance Self-Assessment Update Quarter 2 report (previously circulated).

 

The report presented an update on the Council’s performance against its functions as at the end of quarter 2, 2022 to 2023, including Corporate Plan and Strategic Equality objectives, and the seven key areas of governance.

 

Regular reporting was an essential monitoring requirement of the council’s Performance Management Framework. Quarterly performance reports were routinely shared with the Senior Leadership Team, Cabinet and Performance Scrutiny Committee to support constructive discussion regarding performance and the identification of interventions where necessary.

 

The report was presented in two parts to outline progress against the following key areas –

·         Performance Objectives – comprised of the Corporate Plan / Strategic Equality Objectives

·         Governance Areas – Seven governance areas predetermined by the Statutory Guidance on performance under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.

 

The summary evaluation provided had been determined by the status of measures and projects for each of the following priorities: the following projects –

·         Housing: Everyone was supported to live in homes that met their needs

·         Connected Communities: Communities were connected and had access to goods and services locally, online and through good transport links

·         Resilient Communities: The Council worked with people and communities to build independence and resilience

·         Environment: Attractive and protected, supported well-being and economic prosperity

·         Young People: A place where younger people would want to live and work and had the skills to do so

Corporate Health: The Council was efficient, well-managed and environmentally sustainable

 

Members were advised that the report presented to them was the final report on the 2017 – 2022 Corporate Plan.  From now on the performance reports would be focussing on the introduction and implementation of the new Corporate Plan, from 2022 – 2027.

 

The following were summarised during the discussion –

 

·         A large number of the housing units earmarked for development under the 2017-22 Corporate Plan were now nearing completion towards the end of the Plan’s lifespan.

·         Damaged roads and pavements were not within the report as the issue was to be addressed by the relevant service.

·         Domestic Abuse – Denbighshire saw a 34.3% decrease in the number of repeat victims of domestic crime for July, August and September 2022 in comparison to the same period last year. Figures reduced from 405 to 266. As a whole, North Wales had seen a 7.5% decrease in repeat victims of domestic violence for July to September. The number of repeat offenders of Domestic Abuse had also decreased in Denbighshire from 33 this time last year to 28 this year, equating to a 15.2% reduction. The overall picture for North Wales was a reduction of 8.1% for same period. 

·         100 carer assessments had taken place between July and September, bringing the financial year total to 197 (cumulative since April). The figure was, however, a decrease of 11% for the same period last year (221).  Officers advised that members may wish to consider scrutinising this particular area in the near future.

·         Data for the average length of time adults (aged 65 years or over) were supported in residential care homes had decreased from 1,059 (April to June) to 1,043 for July to September. This figure was 1,050 days for the same period last year.

·         Recently published data for the total economic impact of tourism in Denbighshire had seen a dramatic increase from £213m in 2020 to £432m in 2021. This remained lower than pre-pandemic figures (£552m in 2019), but this increase was encouraging and indicated the resilience of the tourism sector and its continued economic significance to the county.

·         Young People Priority - There was only one update to give within the report to the data framework for Young People. This related to the 18 to 24 claimant count. Data for July to September revealed a slight increase in Denbighshire's claimant count, at 5.3% (up from 4.9% in June). The increase appeared to reflect national trends, with both the Wales and UK averages also rising. DCC remained behind the Wales average at 4.3% (up from 4.1%). The UK claimant count had not recovered its pre-pandemic levels (which was historically lower than Wales), now at 4.6% (up from 4.3% in June).  The new Corporate Plan would be focussing on ways of getting young people into the right type of work and career paths.

·         Workstart had changed to “at risk”.  The project was at risk as there were continued delays to the announcement of the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.  This had been due in August but was now not expected until the end of October. No further funding has been agreed to support the project beyond December, which placed staff at risk of redundancy.  However, delivery of current targets were on track to be delivered until the end of December 2022.  The Council’s Corporate Executive Team (CET) had agreed to bridge the funding gap in the interim, until future funding streams had been secured.

·         The second part of the report explained corporate health pressures on finance.

·         Recruitment and retention of staff was an ongoing issue.  The report demonstrated the productivity and progress by the Council.  The Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group had already requested an information report following the end of the current financial year on recruitment and retention in Denbighshire, with a view to determining if this area merited in-depth scrutiny.

·         Connected Communities – BT Openreach had attended a Scrutiny Committee meeting in the past and it was suggested that the Denbighshire Digital Officer attend a future meeting.

·         Regarding DVSC, it was confirmed that the Managing Director of DVSC would be attending Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 15 December 2022 to discuss its relationship and work with Denbighshire County Council.

·         Officers agreed to provide members with more information on the suspension of the Allocations Policy for Social Housing and on the Council’s recent percentage spend with suppliers based within Denbighshire.

 

The report authors explained that illustrations and graphs etc. could not be used within the report due to accessibility rules.  However, the new performance framework that is currently being developed to support the new Corporate Plan is an opportunity for officers to explore with communications colleagues alternative ways of reporting data, such as reintroducing coloured statuses and trend analysis.  We will seek Member input through future reports.

 

At the conclusion of an in-depth discussion on the matters raised within the Performance Self-Assessment update report, the Chair encouraged members to refer areas which were a cause of particular concern to them to the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group for consideration as potential future topics for thorough scrutiny.  The Committee:

 

Resolved: - subject to the above observations and advice –

 

(i)   to receive the contents of the Performance Self-Assessment Update report for Quarter 2 2022 to 2023; and

(ii) that members complete scrutiny proposal forms on any areas of concern and submit them to the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group for consideration for inclusion on a scrutiny committee forward work programme for future detailed examination.