Agenda item

Purpose:

To present the 2017/18 performance information under the remit of Economy and

Development Select Committee, this includes:

 Reporting back on how well we did against the well-being objectives which the previous Council set for 2017/18 (appendix 2)

 2017/18 performance information on how we performed against a range of nationally set measures used by all councils in Wales (appendix 3).

Recommendations:

Members are invited to scrutinise how well the authority performed against the objectives it set for the previous financial year and scrutinise performance measured using a range of nationally set indicators that fall within the remit of the committee.

Key Issues:

1. The council currently has an established performance framework, this is the way in which we translate our vision - building sustainable and resilient communities – into action and ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction to deliver real and tangible outcomes. This is shown at appendix 1. Further information on the council’s performance framework is available on the council’s intranet, the hub.

2. The information contained within the report, in many cases will cover the performance of service areas already scrutinised as part of the Select Committee’s work programme. The purpose of bringing the information together is to allow Select

Committee to understand performance in the context of the strategic plan or performance framework within which it is set. Committee members are encouraged to utilise their time appropriately in consideration of the scrutiny the committee has already undertaken in service areas and has planned on the committee’s work programme. The report may identify further areas of scrutiny that committee may want to consider for inclusion on the forward work programme. Activity that contributes to the delivery of some objectives cross cuts select committee remits.

Therefore it is suggested members particularly focus their scrutiny on the activity relevant to the committee with consideration of its contribution to the objective as a whole.

3. In March 2017 full Council set Monmouthshire County Council’s well-being objectives for 2017/18. These objectives were set just prior to local government elections in May 2017, in order to meet the legislative requirement of approving and publishing Wellbeing Objectives by 31st March 2017. Given the timing of the publication the latest available evidence from the Monmouthshire well-being assessment, as well as policy and legislation was used to set the Objectives.

4. The approval of the Corporate Plan ‘A Monmouthshire that works for everyone’ which sets five priority goals the Council will be working towards by 2022 supersedes the Council’s well-being objectives set in March 2017. Despite these objectives being superseded by the Corporate Plan it is important, and we have a duty, to report back on the progress we made in 2017/18 against the well-being objective set in March

2017. The report in appendix 2 provides the progress with the objective that is under the remit of the select committee. This includes progress against areas of work related to the objective, an understanding of key performance information and future activity the Council has agreed as part of the Corporate Plan. As well as being presented to select committees the objectives will be included alongside a fuller evaluation of the Council’s performance in 2017/18 that will be reported to Council in

September 2018 and published by October 2018.

5. Performance data and information is essential to our performance framework to track and evaluate the progress being made. One important nationally set framework used to measure local authority performance is ‘Public Accountability Measures’ set by Data Cymru. Appendix 3 shows the performance in 2017/18 for the performance indicators that are part of this framework and are under the committee’s remit.

Benchmarking data compared to other Councils in Wales will be published in August

2018 and will be made available to members as part of the report mentioned in paragraph 3.4

6. Future performance reporting will be based around monitoring and evaluating progress against the actions set in the Corporate Plan. It is important to consider the information in this report supported by a range of performance information that is part of our performance framework and performance reports that select committees receive and can request as part of their work programme. 

Member Scrutiny:

The Performance Manager introduced the report.

A member referred to the deliberations of the Public Service Board about how to meet the aspirations of the Wellbeing and Future Generations Act and enquired when the action plans will be available, and how targets and performance will be regularly monitored.  It was noted that Lead Officers for the various steps will provide updates and the Public Service Board Select Committee will have a scrutiny role.  It was added that some of the actions the Council will be undertaking are also set out in the Corporate Plan.  Scrutiny of the Council’s role in the work of the Public Service Board will also be through a framework in the Corporate Plan.  Service Delivery plans are also available.

The Chair asked what significant risk areas have been identified and it was responded that the first annual report will be produced that covers nine expectations from the Future Generations Commissioner, and performance will be evaluated accordingly.  The scrutiny role will be to look at celebrating good progress and scrutinising areas for improvement.

Wellbeing objectives set in the Corporate Plan will also be evaluated against suitable measures.  The Future Generations Act will look at longer term improvements and continuous improvement.  Measures will be put in place to evaluate performance against suitable milestones.

In terms of performance indicators, a Member asked if the downturn was due to the rebuild at Monmouth and the depreciation of leisure assets questioning if people are not happy with offer.  It was explained that the leisure team are confident the analysis reflects that the impact of closure on visitor numbers has been less than thought.  It was pointed out that there are three other leisure centres in the county that also contributes to the visitor data.