Agenda item

Context:

To scrutinise the 2016/17 performance information under the remit of the Economy and Development Select Committee. This includes:

·                Reporting back on how well the Authority performed against the objectives which the previous Council set for 2016/17.

·                Information on how the Authority performed against a range of nationally set measures used by all councils in Wales.

Key Issues:

The Council currently has an established performance framework, this is the way in which the Authority translates its vision - building sustainable and resilient communities - into action and ensures that everyone is pulling in the same direction to deliver real and tangible outcomes. 

Over the coming years the shape of public services in Wales is likely to change significantly influenced by two very significant pieces of Welsh legislation, The Well-being of Future Generations Act and The Social Services and Well-being Act, as well as financial pressures, demographic changes, changes in customer needs and expectations and regulatory and policy changes. Services need to continue to think more about the long-term, work better with people and communities, look to prevent problems before they arise and take a more joined-up approach.

The Council has recently completed two substantial assessments of need as a result of this legislation. This information has provided a much deeper evidence base of well-being in the County and, as required by the Future Generations Act, this has been used to produce the Council’s well-being objectives and statement 2017.

The shift in focus in the well-being objectives means that activities will need to be focused on longer term challenges at a community level rather than some of the internal process issues and outputs that could sometimes be found in its predecessor, The Improvement Plan. When dealing with more complex societal challenges it will take longer for measurable change to come about and longer still to be able to evidence those changes in a meaningful way. In the short-term there will continue to be milestones that can be used to track the Authority’s improvement journey. This will be supported by a range of performance reports select committee can request as part of its work programme and the structure of performance reports received by committee will be revised to reflect this emphasis.

Appendix 2 of the report sets out performance achieved in 2016/17 against the actions and performance measures approved by Council in May 2016 as part of its Improvement Plan. As well as being presented to select committees, the objectives will be included alongside a further evaluation of performance in 2016/17 that will be reported to Council and published by October 2017. The Welsh Government has recently consulted on plans to repeal the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 which means this is likely to be the final plan and report in this format. 

Appendix 3 of the report sets out further key performance indicators from the national set that are under the committee’s remit. Benchmarking data compared to other Council’s in Wales will be published in September 2017.

Activity that contributes to the delivery of some objectives cross cuts select committee remits and these have also been reported to the other relevant committees. 

Member Scrutiny:

·         Monmouthshire Public Service Board (PSB) has its own wellbeing objectives. The Council also has its own set of objectives.  The Future Generations Act legislation requires the Authority to produce its own wellbeing objectives which were required to be published by March 2017. The PSB is required to publish its wellbeing objectives by March 2018.  It is anticipated that there will be alignment between the two wellbeing objectives, as this would make sense.

·         Some projects are behind the original timescale and there is no reviewed timescale or reviewed plan for completion against these projects. This was noted and could be implemented in future performance reports to the Select committee.

·         In response to a question raised regarding how agile the report is and its ability to adapt to changes to the population, e.g., the proposed removal of the Severn Bridge tolls and the affect that this will have on house prices in Chepstow, it was noted that the framework is being updated in Council planning with a view to being in a position to address these issues that are likely to arise in the near future. The wellbeing assessment has identified house prices as being an issue and the Public Service Board is investigating ways in which to respond to the assessment.

·         The Future Wellbeing Plan will identify potential changes and looks to establish ways in which to address these issues.

·         Appendix 2 of the report, Objective 3 – there is an issue that needs to be addressed regarding affordable housing, Monmouthshire is falling behind in relation to some of its affordable housing targets.

·         Cabinet approval of the Local Development Plan needs to be identified.

·         More information regarding the Vibrant and Viable Places plan was required.

·         Due to the decline in footfall in the County’s libraries, a question was raised whether the Select Committee needed to review the remodelling of Community Hubs.

·         Due to the decline in the numbers of people accessing leisure centre services within the County there might be a need to review this matter with a view to ascertaining the financial impact that this might be creating.

·         Tourism targets had not been met.