Agenda item

The next report introduced by the Leader was the Council’s Annual Corporate Plan Self-Assessment Report 2022-2023.

The purpose of the report was to provide an overview on the progress of delivery against the Council’s Corporate Plan 2022-2027 and the effectiveness of the Council’s governance and performance arrangements.

The report was prepared to comply with the requirements set out in the Well-being of Future Generations Act and the Local Government and Elections Act.

Cabinet Members noted that the report was presented to the Council’s Governance and Audit Committee and the Overview Scrutiny Management Committee. The feedback and recommendations from both committees were fully considered by officers.

In summary, colleagues recalled that the Council approved its five-year Corporate Plan to deliver an ‘Ambitious, Fairer and Greener Newport for everyone’.

This annual report reflected on 2022-2023 and the achievements made by the Council as well as highlighting the challenges faced as an organisation.

Looking back at the last year it was an extremely challenging time for the Leader and Cabinet Members and officers across the Council, responding to the cost-of-living crisis, and the continuing pressures across front-line service.

Cabinet was committed to improving the delivery of services for communities and acknowledged that the challenges across our housing, social services, education, and highways needed a collaborative approach with partners, residents, and businesses.    

This was even more challenging in the current financial climate, with the need to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Council’s finances provided best value for its residents and businesses.

This was also supported by the continued commitment from the Chief Executive, her senior leadership team, and officers across the 11 service areas to respond and continue to improve the services delivered to residents across Newport.

As the report highlighted, a good start was made in 2 of the 4 Well-being objectives with the remaining 2 Well-being objectives needing further improvement.

The report also showed that the Council made significant progress in key areas such as Education, with no schools in Newport being in special measures following the improvements made by Newport High School and Malpas Church in Wales Primary School.

The Council continued to perform well across its waste services and the Leader was pleased to note a good start was made in reducing carbon emissions to achieve a target of being a net zero Council by 2030.

For the first time, the pay gap between men and women closed along with a range of important equalities work that was also covered with the next item of our agenda. 

Within the Leader’s portfolio for regeneration and economic development, the work that the Council was doing was acknowledged and its contribution with Cardiff Capital Region and Western Gateway to secure long-term, significant regeneration and economic development in Newport and the wider region. 

Newport was securing its place as a leader of high-tech, semi-conductor industries in the region and the KLA semi-conductor plant development was just one of many examples, where 750 jobs were secured. 

Even in the last month, Newport has welcomed Microsoft who will be setting up a data centre at Imperial Park. 

Cabinet was fully aware of the challenges which city and town centres across the United Kingdom faced.  Newport was in a period of transition as technology and society was changing in the way it shopped and interacted with each other. 

The Leader was delighted to welcome the Minister last week who was pleased with the investment made in partnership with Welsh Government.

Cabinet was working towards ensuring that Newport’s city centre was a place which would offer retail, accommodation, office space and a wide range of events for residents, businesses, and visitors. 

Newport Market was making a positive impact, offering opportunities for small to medium sized retailers and food outlets.

Events such as the Newport Marathon, Newport Pride, Armed Forces Day, and the Food Festival showed Newport was a welcoming place which attracted people from across the country to visit and enjoy what Newport had to offer as a city.  There was strong evidence that there was an increase of footfall due to these events.

Comments of Cabinet Members:

§  Councillor Davies mentioned that it was a year since Council approved the wellbeing plan with the four clear objectives. None of the Newport schools were in special measures, there were only two other Local Authorities in Wales whose schools were not in special measures.  Children were safe in Newport schools, and it was recognised where mental health was a challenge, that schools had worked to overcome this, providing bespoke provision for pupils. The schools were a credit to Newport and their best practice was emulated across the consortia and in Wales. Llanwern High received a professional teaching award under the Betty Campbell Category and Councillor Harvey should be especially proud of this award, as ward member.

§  Councillor Forsey highlighted the excellent work on climate change and biodiversity, with improvement in electrical vehicles (EV) such as buses and refuse lorries and the reduction of carbon footprint within Council buildings.  More consideration was given in relation to the Council’s procurement systems as well as engaging with a wider community, regarding active travel routes and EV charging stations. Councillor Forsey thanked the biodiversity team for all their work and also thanked the Dragons RFC for their work on carbon footprint and wished them all the best for their match with Edinburgh on the weekend.

§  Councillor Harvey mentioned that it was a good report and thanked all staff involved, who were not taking their foot off the pedal. Councillor Harvey agreed with Councillor Davies’ comments and was pleased with Llanwern High and thanked all the staff within Newport City Council who provided 800 services within the city.

§  Councillor Batrouni highlighted wellbeing objective four, listing the benefits of the work in the area. There was work to do with the digital strategy to support individuals in the community. The Council should be proud that 65% women occupied the highest paying jobs, which was no mean feat. Work needed to be developed in other areas such as LGBTQ+ communities and the Council website, which would see improvements in the near future.

§  Councillor Clarke echoed the comments of his colleagues and also referred to the health and safety and public protection aspect, seizing of tobacco, assets, vapes and investigation into underage sales, was ongoing and there were positive stories in the report.

The Leader thanked colleagues for their comments and officers for the progress they made over the past year.

Decision:

Cabinet agreed the annual Corporate Plan self-assessment report and recommended that the report to be presented at full Council.