Agenda item

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

The report of the Head of Profession (Human Resources and Transformation incorporating the Self-Assessment Improvement Actions 2022 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Business and Customer Experience said that this is the first report of its kind recognising accomplishments against the self-assessment improvement actions for 2022.  It provides an update against the relevant improvement actions agreed by the County Council at its meeting in October 2022.  He noted that 2022 has been a challenging year with the Council having a new administration, a new leadership team and a new Strategic Plan for 2023-2028.  Despite all the changes and development over the past 12 months, the Council continues to perform consistently, is meeting its expectations against the majority of the 2022 self-assessment improvement actions and is fulfilling its duties under the new Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.  He noted that the indicators within the Corporate Scorecard are also performing well. Staff compliance with the Authority’s policies have improved together with e-learning training and the annual appraisal have been undertaken with staff.  The Corporate Safeguarding Board has received the outcomes of the service reviews and expected improvements.  The main meetings of the Council are now hybrid meetings which are webcasted on the Council’s website.  The Portfolio Member further said that the work streams noted in the report at 1.4 will be considered by the Executive and should be included in the Corporate Self-Assessment for 2023.

In considering the report, the Committee discussed the following:-

·      Questions raised as what role does the self-assessment play as part of the governance arrangements?  The Committee was advised that the Self-Assessment fills its duties under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 and states that public bodies should continuously reviews its performance effectively.  The expectations of the Act is that an annual Self-Assessment report is created which addresses the matters that need to be improved.  It was noted that over the last twelve months work has been undertaken to develop the Self-Assessment by submitting the document to the full Council on 30 September 2022 before inviting further comments by the Governance and Audit Committee on 20 October, 2022 and the final version was adopted by the County Council at its meeting held in October 2022. 

·      Questions raised as to whether amendments will need to be made by the Council to the Quarterly Monitoring Performance Scorecard to ensure it is aligned with the Self-Assessment?  The Committee was advised that it is important that the Corporate Scorecard is developed continuously and a plan is in place to revise the Scorecard and comments will be sought from the Senior Leadership Team and Elected Members through the Group Leaders’ meetings together with Elected Members Briefing Sessions.  It was noted that there will be a need to identify the requirements for self-assessment and it is important to recognise that the Scorecard will need to include how the Council is meeting its expectations which arises from the Act.

·      Reference was made that the self-assessment referred to a number of areas that need to be further developed.  Questions raised as to how will these streams be prioritised?  The Committee was advised that the performance streams are monitored on a quarterly basis through the Programme Boards, Senior Leadership Team and the Executive.  It was noted that this Committee has also a scrutiny role in measuring continuous performance within the work streams identified.  

It was RESOLVED that the work streams at 1.4.1 – 1.4.8 within the report are still valid and should be included in the Corporate Self-Assessment for 2023.