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Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Eleanor Mulligan  Email: eleanor.mulligan@newport.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

None received.

2.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None received.

3.

Minutes of the Last Meeting: 12 December 2018 pdf icon PDF 112 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2018 were confirmed as a true record by the Cabinet.

4.

Mid Year Analysis of Performance Indicators pdf icon PDF 262 KB

Minutes:

The Leader introduced the report and gave a brief overview of the information contained therein: 

 

·        This is a half-yearly position and the overall position is encouraging. 

·        We are year on year continuously improving. 

·        At the Cabinet meeting in December, we reported the Wales Audit Office Second Certificate of Compliance.

 

The Leader explained the purpose of the report is to provide an overview on the progress of delivery against the service plans, part of the Corporate Plan Golden Thread, and performance measures for the first six months of this financial year (2018/19).

 

The report includes the feedback and recommendations of the People Scrutiny Committee and Place & Corporate Scrutiny Committee following the presentation of the service plans in November and December 2018.

 

In 2017, the Council’s five year Corporate Plan was successfully launched which set out this Administration’s vision and goals for delivering Council services and delivering its Well-being objectives for the citizens of Newport.

 

To ensure those goals are achieved Newport Council’s Corporate Plan 2017-22 identified four themes (Thriving City, Aspirational People, Resilient People, Modernised Council) and 20 commitments to deliver.

 

To support the delivery of the Corporate Plan, the Council’s eight service areas have developed their service plans for the period 2018-22, which outline how they will support and deliver the Council’s

commitments.     

 

To ensure these objectives are achieved over the next five years, each service area in the Council developed supporting individual service plans, which were approved by each of the Cabinet Members.

 

The report showed that for the first six months of this financial year:

·        84% of the actions (205/245 actions) identified in the service plans were reported as being ‘In Progress’;

·        7% of actions (17/245 actions) reported as being ‘Completed’; and

·        9% of actions (23 out of 245 actions) awaiting to be commenced.

 

As this is the first year of delivering against the service plan objectives, the expectation was not for service areas to have reported that they had successfully delivered a significant proportion of these objectives.

 

However, what the report does highlight is the notable developments in the delivery of the Corporate Plan, which has seen the Council taking bold decisions against the backdrop of ongoing financial pressures.  This period of austerity is beyond compare and the Leader thanked cabinet colleagues for taking up their positions and taking forward some very difficult decisions.

 

The full detail of the developments are included in the report, but the Leader highlighted some of the progress made to date:

·        The purchase of new homes to bring back children in out of county placements, which will ensure their care and support is delivered within the Newport area; the first child moved in today!

·        Preparation work for civil parking enforcement is on course for delivery in 2019/20 which will improve the desirability of Newport and in particular the city centre; this will assist in helping to  ‘sell’ our city to developers and external partners and make it a safe place for citizens;

·        The regeneration of Newport City Centre is continuing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Education Pupil Performance Data pdf icon PDF 382 KB

Minutes:

The Leader introduced the report and confirmed that Cabinet will be aware that there have been a number of significant changes to Key Stage 4 and 5 performance measures and the programmes of study that sit behind each examination in Wales. 

 

The Leader explained the examinations require a different skill set and knowledge than in previous years, therefore it is not appropriate to compare 2018 verified results with former years.

 

The Leader was pleased to report that Newport secondary schools have been well prepared for these changes and this has resulted in strong results in the Level 2 Inclusive measure, which sits at 57% compared to an all Wales average of 55.1%.  Newport ranks 8th in Wales, which is well above its current Free School Meals position of 13th.

 

Other additional successes include:

 

·        English A*-C which is verified at 65% for the City. This is above the all-Wales average for the second consecutive year; and

·        Maths A*-C which is verified at 65.2% which is above the all-Wales average for the first time since 2011.

 

These are strong results, which have required hard work, coordinated and bespoke support.

 

The Leader also reported on those young people in the City who did not gain the level 2 inclusive measure, but did successfully reach their potential and gain the level 1 or 2 measures by acquiring a range of GCSE qualifications or equivalent. 

 

The Leader expressed her congratulations to all these pupils and the expertise of the teaching staff who guided them through this challenging time.

 

The Key Stage 5 indicator for Wales is exceptionally broad. The Level 3 threshold definition is: ‘a volume of qualifications equivalent to 2 A Levels A*-E’.

 

This year 95.7% of Newport’s 732 post-16 students gained that performance measure.  Whilst this is commendable, it does not tell the story of the many young people who have been highly successful in gaining a place in their University of choice or who are now thriving in employment.  The Leader congratulated all of those young people who are taking the next important steps in their careers.

 

The Leader introduced the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills.

 

The Cabinet Member reported that whilst collectively, Newport has achieved some excellent results, specific praise was warranted for two secondary schools who have accelerated their key stage 4 outcomes;

 

·        St Julian’s School demonstrated a 5.5% rise in the Level 2 inclusive indicator and a 4.7% increase in A*-C Maths. This is good progress.

 

·        Newport High School demonstrated a 10% rise in the Level 2 inclusive indicator, a 10% improvement in the level 2 indicator and a 12% improvement in A*-C English. This is excellent news.

 

Whilst variability in secondary school performance is a theme across Wales, these types of improvements in individual secondary schools help to reduce this issue.  The Cabinet Member congratulated the pupils, staff, governors and parents in the Newport High and St Julian’s school communities.  

 

Although not part of this report, this aligns to the continuing picture of inclusivity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader of the council presented the latest update to the work programme.

 

Decision:

Cabinet agreed the updated work programme.

 

7.

Public Services Board Summary Document (for information/awareness) pdf icon PDF 97 KB

Minutes:

The Leader confirmed this document provides a monthly summary update of business undertaken by the PSB and is for Cabinet’s information/awareness.

 

8.

Date of the Next Meeting: 13 February at 4pm, Committee Room 1

Minutes:

The next meeting will take place on Wednesday 13 February 2019, at 4.00 pm in Committee Room 1, at the Civic Centre, Newport.