Agenda item

The Leader presented the report and confirmed that:

·           In 2017 the Council’s 5 year Corporate Plan was successfully launched which set out the vision and goals for delivering Council services and delivering the Well-being objectives for the citizens of Newport.

·           To support the delivery of objectives over the next 5 years, each of the service areas that Cabinet Members are responsible for have developed their own service plan.

·           The purpose of the End of Year Review Report is to provide an overview on the delivery of service plans and performance measures for 2018/19.

·           The report includes the feedback and recommendations of People and Place Scrutiny Committees following the presentation of the service plans in June.

The Leader commented in detail on the following:

·           As this was the first year of delivering against the service plan objectives, the expectation was that not all of the service areas reported that they have successfully delivered a significant proportion of their service plan.  But what the report has highlighted is the notable developments in the delivery of the Corporate Plan which has seen the Council taking courageous decisions against the backdrop of ongoing financial and service pressures. 

·           As outlined in the paper, each service area has reported good progress towards the delivery of their objectives with:

o   36% (91 / 256) of actions completed by the service areas;

o   59% (152 / 256) of actions ‘In Progress’ and will be carried forward into 2019/20 plans;

o   2% (5 / 256 actions) no longer being delivered for operational reasons;

o   3% of actions (8 out of 245 actions) are ‘awaiting to be commenced’ in 2019/20.

·           The full detail of these developments is included in the report, some highlights of the progress made are:

o  The purchase of new homes (Rose Cottage) to bring back children in Out of County Placements to Newport and improve their care and support;

o  Completion of the Civil Parking Enforcement that are now bringing changes to habits in parking within the city centre;

o  Implementation of new bins that will improve the Council’s recycling rates and reduce the waste taken to landfill. (The Cabinet Member thanked the citizens of Newport for their support with this).

o  The regeneration of Newport City Centre is continuing at a good pace with sites such as Chartist Tower, Newport Market and Market Arcade.  This is also supported by the development of the new Convention Centre and approval of Heritage Lottery Funding for the Transporter Bridge. 

o  The ongoing delivery of the new Hub in Ringland will see changes in how the Council delivers its services and the partner organisations to the communities of Newport this year and beyond.        

Performance Measures

·         The report also highlighted the end of year performance measures that support the delivery of the Corporate Plan. 

·         The Leader noted it is encouraging to see at the end of the year, 50 of the 86 (58%) corporate performance measures reported had either achieved or exceeded their target for the year.

·         However, 36 performance measures had reported as being short of meeting their target (19 measures in total) or as being ‘off target’ from their target figures. 

o  The Report includes a summary from the service areas explaining the reason(s) for the performance and actions being taken to improve performance for Amber and Red performance measures, and this has also been the subject of discussion at Scrutiny.

·         The Council’s Cabinet and individual Cabinet Members must collectively acknowledge where service areas have achieved or exceeded their goals and the hard work that has been undertaken.

·         Likewise, there must be recognition of the need to ensure that where service areas are not meeting targets set that these are closely monitored, support and challenge the services to ensure that the necessary action(s) are being taken to improve performance.

Scrutiny Committee Feedback and Recommendations

·           The end of year performance updates had been presented to the Place, Corporate and People Scrutiny Committees in June 2019 and the feedback and recommendations detailed in the report for Cabinet to consider.  The Leader noted that:

o    People Scrutiny Committee recognised the hard work staff and supporting services were making in Social Services in light of the difficult and increasing demand and financial pressures faced;

o    Comments from the Place & Corporate Scrutiny Committee were sent onto the Partnerships’ Scrutiny Committee in relation to the Economic Growth Strategy;

o    The commendation for City Services on reaching Welsh Government targets for recycling and further information required on the delivery of the Waste Strategy Action Plan.

In conclusion the Leader confirmed:

·           A further report will be presented to Cabinet in October 2019 where Cabinet will be presented with the all-Wales picture of the Council’s performance in comparison with other Welsh local authorities.

·           Cabinet must continue to support and challenge each service area in the Cabinet Member’s portfolios and that where good progress is being made that work is recognised.  

·           Equally, Cabinet must take responsibility and ensure that where improvements are needed that the service areas take the necessary action and provide the necessary assurance for Cabinet and the Administration and the constituents of Newport.

Decision:

Cabinet noted the content of the report and agreed to take action in conjunction with the Directors and Heads of Service to address areas of poor performance.