Agenda item

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

The report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation incorporating the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 3 2022/23 was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The scorecard report portrayed the Council’s position against its wellbeing objectives at the end of Quarter 3, 2022/23.

Councillor Llinos Medi, Leader and Portfolio Member for Economic Development in presenting the report said that with 97% of the Council’s Performance Indicators performing well overall this represents the best performing third quarter against the performance management section target since the creation of the scorecard report. She referred specifically to the performance against the three well-being objectives highlighting that only three PIs are underperforming the reasons for which are documented in the report as are the proposed improvement measures. The report also provides a number of examples of notable performance against the well-being objectives including in Adults’ Services, Housing Services with regard to homelessness and the number of empty homes brought back into use; waste management, and in the Learning Service in relation to the percentage of pupils assessed in Welsh at the end of the Foundation Phase which stands at 100%. Although the Council’s attendance PI is Amber against its target at this stage the data does include coronavirus related absences for the first time without which the performance would have been ragged Yellow. Also, Quarter 3 which covers the months leading into winter can be a challenging period.

·      The Committee welcomed the encouraging picture at Quarter 3 and wanted to know what arrangements were in place to recognise the successes. The Committee was advised that as well as monitoring underperformance, the Strategic Leadership Team also recognises areas of good performance. Y Ddolen – The Link is used for internal messaging including promoting good practice and communicating successes and as regards reporting to a wider audience, Elected Members have a role to play in publicising the Council’s achievements and what it is doing well so as to provide assurance to the Island’s residents that improvements are being made.

·      The Committee in noting that some indicators were underperforming at the end of Quarter 3 sought further information about the progress monitoring arrangements for those indicators to bring performance back on track. The Committee was advised that the Council has well-established and proven performance management arrangements; this includes the Corporate Scorecard and associated report   which consist of a combination of locally and nationally set indicators. The scorecard highlights how the Council’s day to day activities are being delivered and provides the intelligence to enable a proactive approach to be taken to performance management including mitigating actions agreed by the Strategic Leadership Team to deliver improvement. Additionally, Heads of Service monitor performance within their service on an ongoing basis.

·      The Committee noted that the Council’s performance against the attendance at work performance indicator was Amber at the end of Quarter 3 and queried how this compares with the Council’s previous performance. The Committee was advised that the performance for the quarter is a decline on that of the last three years for the same period. However, coronavirus data has been included for the first time and has influenced the outcome. Despite its inclusion it remains a better performance overall at this stage compared to 2021/22 and also the pre-coronavirus period from 2019/20.  Quarters 3 and 4 are also traditionally challenging periods with regard to attendance. A factor also is the role undertaken by staff especially if they are frontline care staff who come into contact with vulnerable clients. The Committee was further informed of the measures the Council has in place to support attendance and promote staff well-being including flexible and hybrid working arrangements and prompt referral to Occupational Health as appropriate. Although the Council’s attendance performance is good when benchmarked against that of other authorities as attested to by recent data, it must not be complacent in terms of attendance monitoring and is committed to further improving the performance of the indicator.  In response to a further question, the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation provided additional information about the Council’s hybrid working arrangements and how they are operating in practice.

·      The relationship between the new Council Plan 2023-28 and the Corporate Scorecard was discussed and the Committee asked about the arrangements to ensure that they are aligned. The Committee was advised that the discussion on reviewing the indicators on the Corporate Scorecard to ensure they are appropriate and relevant and link into the new Council Plan’s objectives is underway and that the process is open, and inputs are invited.

·      The Committee also noted a pattern of underperformance with regard to indicator 09 – the percentage of FOI requests responded to within timescale, and sought assurance that steps are being taken to improve the performance of this indicator. The Committee was advised that the number of FOI requests has increased and although the Council was able to meet the timescale for responding before the pandemic that has changed post Covid. FOI data is collated centrally and published quarterly on the Council’s website on a service-by-service basis and because of the downward trend in performance, a more detailed report is now also presented quarterly to the Strategic Leadership Team. The data shows that the services experiencing the most difficulty in responding within timescale are the Learning and the Resources Services. With regard to the former it is understood that a focus on work undertaken by Estyn in Quarter 1 has impacted on FOI related work and that the underperformance may therefore be an anomaly which can be rectified to bring performance back on target. In the Resources Service prioritising the delivery of the cost-of-living support schemes/grants has created a backlog of FOI requests.

The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that the Director of Education, Skills and Young People has put arrangements in place to address the issue of FOI response times in the Learning Service. The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer clarified that the Officer within the Resources service who deals with FOI requests has been assisting with administering the cost-of-living support scheme and grants; that work is now coming to an end meaning the Officer can re-focus on FOI related work to clear the backlog and restore the normal pattern of operation. He confirmed that no additional capacity is required for the task.

·      In noting that 35% of performance indicators are seeing a declining trend, the Committee raised the issue of monitoring trends as well as targets. The Programme, Business Planning and Performance Manager in confirming that the direction of travel over time is as important as one-year targets in terms of the Council’s performance management explained the process behind two specific indicators – (26) Percentage of households successfully prevented from becoming homeless and (27) Percentage of households (with children) successfully prevented from becoming homeless, to illustrate the point.

·      The decline in the number of reports received by App Môn and number of visitors to the Council’s website competed to 2021/22 was noted. The Committee was advised that App Môn has now been replaced by the CRM system and that visitor numbers to the Council’s website are subject to fluctuation depending on different periods of the year with increased traffic during the pandemic in 2020/21 and 2021/22 having possibly skewed the data at that time.

Having scrutinised the data and noted the additional information provided at the meeting it was resolved –

·         To note the Corporate Scorecard report for Quarter 3 2022/23.

·         To note the areas of improvement along with the areas which the Strategic Leadership Team is managing to secure further improvements into the future and

·         To note the mitigating measures outlined within the report and to recommend the same to the Executive.