Agenda item

Report on the performance against the 5 goals

Emma Davies presented the report and answered the members’ questions with Carl Touhig and Frances O’Brien.

Challenge:

We have a Progress Evaluation of 3, which is ‘adequate’ – what is the top rating possible?

Ratings range from 1-6, with 6 being ‘excellent’, where all performance measures have achieved the targets set, and all actions have been delivered. Reaching 6 is possible, and therefore a potential aim.

How are we faring with recycling?

Last year we achieved 68.4% recycling, which is 4.4% ahead of the target. The re-use shops in Llanfoist and Five Lanes are now open and doing very well. Re-use is growing in the county and is making an improvement in keeping materials separate when people use the sites.

Newport City Council have received a national award for their recycling centres – were we in the running for this?

We didn’t put ourselves forward for any awards this year due to the resources in the team, and trying to keep the services running. We focussed on getting shops open and applying for bids. We also started the Library Of Things and Repair Cafes this year, so didn’t have the capacity to also apply for awards.

On p12, the report mentions the percentage of roads in poor condition, which is always a concern for the public. How are the percentages qualified/measured?

This is one of our national performance indicators, so there is a range of areas included that are stipulated to us.

How are we measuring the council’s reduction in carbon emissions?

There are no officers from MonLife in this meeting so we will request that the Green Infrastructure team provides a response to members after the meeting.

The My Monmouthshire app is brilliant. Can we follow up on the reports we put on there, if work hasn’t been done?

We are currently seeing an unprecedented demand coming through all channels: call centre, My Monmouthshire, letters, etc. The volume of enquiries has been phenomenal. We are going to undertake a review of that with the Digital Programme Office as we are finding that people are coming to us through lots of different mechanisms, and we are struggling to respond to all of them or close them down. The mechanism for providing closure and feedback in My Monmouthshire needs to be improved. We will pick a few key areas relevant to the Strong Communities portfolio such as Highways and Waste to see if we can start to improve that communication and customer engagement.

There is a reference to new working arrangements – do we have any feedback on that?

Chief Officer for People & Governance, Matt Phillips, is overseeing this project, which we are still working through. Staff engagement sessions are ongoing to feed into that process. In the forthcoming period, we will test out different places and spaces, and how we can work in a different way. We are thinking about how we can have collaborative working spaces, project-working spaces. Our workers fall into different categories: ‘on the go’ workers who aren’t fixed in one location, fixed workers who are place-based, and ‘anywhere’ workers. These all need to feature in how we operate in the future. The work is ongoing but not yet concluded.

Regarding communication with community and town councils, is there a specific officer dedicated to dealing with concerns?

It might be useful if a committee member were part of those conversations – it would be valuable to have that input as we review and refresh how customer engagement works.

Do our staff sickness figures include Covid-related issues – isolation days etc.?

Sickness recorded for Covid-19 has only been for associated illness, so not due to shielding or non-symptomatic absences e.g. self-isolating.

If shielding isn’t included in the sickness figures, how do we relate that to work performance?

We don’t know at this time what the HR mechanism has been for recording shielding information but can check and feed back to the member after the meeting. Coronavirus strategy is being considered in September, so this matter can be discussed in that context too.

Chair’s Summary:

Councillor Webb volunteered to be the member representative to community and town councils.

This report has been brought to the committee in order for us to consider the Council’s progress in meeting its five priority goals as set out in our Corporate Plan. We recognise that the pandemic has led to some delays on projects and some work having been paused temporarily, as the Council focussed its attention on delivering key services in challenging times. We developed a Coronavirus Strategy that was adopted by the cabinet and has ensured that activities have been focussed and coordinated. This committee will consider a detailed analysis of the Council’s response to the pandemic and the lessons learnt that will shape our future service delivery at our next meeting on 30^th September. Thank you to Emma for preparing this report. Unless there are any specific recommendations members wish to make, I am content that the committee is satisfied with the performance of the services that fall within our remit.