Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Head of Profession - HR and Transformation.

It was resolved to accept the Corporate Scorecard report for Q4 2022/23 and to note the areas which the Leadership Team are exploring and investigating to manage and secure further improvements into the future as outlined.

The report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation incorporating the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 4 2022/23 was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The scorecard report portrayed the Council’s end of year position against matters relating to customer service, people and financial management and performance management.

The report was presented by Councillor Carwyn Jones, Portfolio Member for Corporate Business and Customer Experience who provided a summary of the contents confirming that 91% of indicators were performing to, or within 5% of target. The report highlighted a number of positive performance stories in relation to homelessness prevention, Adults’ Services, timeliness of planning decision-making, improvements in road condition, street cleanliness, the number of empty homes brought back into use and the recovery of visitor numbers to leisure centres to pre- pandemic levels. The contribution made by the Council’s staff to this positive performance over the year is recognised and commended. Where performance remains off target, those areas, specifically the percentage of FOI requests dealt with within timescale, average number of days taken to deliver Disabled Facilities Grant and percentage of planning appeals dismissed are being investigated and monitored by the Leadership Team to secure improvements into the future. Equally important going forward into the new Council year is monitoring trends and the direction of travel of performance against indicators be they rated Green or Yellow especially in view of the ongoing challenges around funding and expenditure, staff recruitment and capacity. Keeping an eye on trends will help maintain the current level of good performance and contribute to continuous improvement over time. In closing remarks Councillor Carwyn Jones said that he hoped the report provides assurance that performance is important to the Council, that it is being managed robustly and is being given due attention both politically and operationally.

Due to connection issues being experienced by the Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee at this juncture, the Head of Democracy stepped in to report from the Corporate Scrutiny Committee’s meeting on 20 June where the Quarter 4 2022/23 Corporate Scorecard was considered and debated in detail. Several issues were raised and discussed including the arrangements for raising awareness of the positive performance, customer service in relation to telephone call monitoring and quality of responses, the delivery of Disabled Facilities grants and adaptations, management of children on the Child Protection Register (CPR) – specifically performance against Indicator 23 and how this can be reported to give a more meaningful account of performance with it being agreed that the indicator be examined by the Social Services Scrutiny Panel. The projected underspend on the 2022/23 budget was considered in terms of how it might help the Council in address expected additional service pressures in 2023/24. Questions about how actions to tackle underperforming areas/indicators are monitored to ensure they are meeting performance aims and objectives were also raised. Having considered these matters and the response to them, the Committee had resolved to recommend the Q4 Scorecard report and mitigation measures therein, to the Executive.

The Executive’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5