To receive any declaration of interest by any Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

No declaration of interest was received.

To present the minutes of the previous meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on 11 September, 2019.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on 11 September, 2019 were presented and were confirmed as a correct record.

Arising thereon –

With regard to the second bullet point under item 3 the Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that the Local Planning Authority is required to notify town and community councils of every planning application in their area; the LPA’s new administrative system has been adapted to ensure that this happens and planning officers have been advised of the need to comply with this requirement. Town and community councils are now able to track the progress of applications by ward on the Council’s website and there is a standing offer to town and community councils to provide training and/or guidance to the councils’ clerks or  members should that be their wish.

The Chair thanked the Officer for the update and asked that the information above be publicised.

To present the report of the Head of Profession (Human Resources) and Transformation.

The report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation incorporating the second Scorecard of the 2019/20 financial year portraying the Council’s position against its operational objectives at the end of Quarter 2 was presented for the Committee’s consideration and scrutiny.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Business reported that since the Quarter 1 Scorecard report was discussed by the Committee in September, 2019 further Public Accountability Measures (PAMs) have been published by Data Cymru specifically with regard to Waste Management and that he was pleased to be able to confirm that once again the Authority in Anglesey has the highest recycling rates in Wales, putting it amongst the world leaders in the volume of household waste which is recycled. The Portfolio Member said it was also encouraging to be able to report that the majority (71%) of the corporate health indicators monitored are continuing to perform well against targets (Green or Yellow RAG) as was the case at the end of Quarter 1. Some points to note include –

•           Attendance at work where performance at the end of Quarter 2 is Green against its target at 3.96 days lost to absence per FTE against a target of 4.48 days per FTE. This is an improvement both on Q2 2018/19 levels and Q2 2017/18 levels which was the best performing year for absence since monitoring was undertaken in this way.

•           The digital strategy continues to make progress; the majority of indicators under the digital service shift subheading are on an upward trend compared to Q2 2018/19 with 83% of the indicators showing an increase. The number of registered users has more than doubled from 5,000 at the end of Q2 2018/19 to 11,000 which is a positive development since studies have shown than digital transactions are more cost effective than face to face contact.

•           The majority (75%) of indicators are performing well against targets under the customer service charter sub-heading. The only indicator which is Red against target is Indicator 04b – the percentage of written complaints responded to by Social Services within 15 days.

•           On the basis of the financial position at the end of the second quarter, the Council will overspend its revenue budget for the year ending 31 March, 2020 by £1.410m due mainly to cost pressures and growing demand especially in Adults’ Services. The late announcement of the 2020/21 provisional budget settlement for local authorities is making planning ahead more difficult. More detailed budget reports on Quarter 2 financial management performance are to be presented to the Executive at its 25 November, 2019 meeting.

•           The majority (85%) of performance indicators continue to perform above target or within 5% tolerance of their targets with only 5 indicators underperforming across the three strategic objectives (in Housing, Children’s and Planning Services).

The Portfolio Member concluded that the data indicates that in terms of overall performance, Quarter 2 2019/20 represents a high point since the Council began to systematically review and monitor the performance of its  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To present the report of the Scrutiny Manager.

The Forward Work Programme was presented and was noted without amendment.