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Agenda Item No. 12(b)

 

THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN COUNCIL

 

COUNCIL MEETING: 27 SEPTEMBER 2017

 

REFERENCE FROM CABINET:  18 SEPTEMBER 2017

 

C76     IMPROVEMENT PLAN PART 2: ANNUAL REVIEW OF PERFORMANCE 2016/17 AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE 2016/17 (L) (SCRUTINY COMMITTEES - ALL) -

 

Cabinet was presented with the draft Improvement Plan Part 2: Annual Review of Performance 2016/17, which contained performance and improvement information for Improvement Objectives agreed in April 2016. The report also outlined the Council's performance in the Local Government Data Unit's annual bulletin of Local Government Performance for 2016/17.

 

The Council's Part 1 Improvement Plan for 2016/17 was agreed by Cabinet on 25 April, 2016; as required by the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009. The Plan was forward looking, and set five Improvement Objectives for 2016/17.

 

The Part 2 Improvement Plan as attached at Appendix 1 to the report was a document primarily looking back over 2016/17. It contained key performance information which helped demonstrate progress towards achievement of the Council’s Improvement Objectives. The Plan also reported performance against a range of services as measured by national performance indicators collected and published annually by the Local Government Data Unit. It also provided an overview of budgets; what residents and external regulators said about the Council and highlighted progress on strategic collaborative activities undertaken during the year. A copy of the Part 2 Improvement Plan was available online and in the Members' room.

 

The majority of the information contained within the Plan was informed by the quarterly and end of year Well-being Outcome performance reports which were discussed by all Scrutiny Committees throughout the year. The Part 2 Plan brought together the information in one report.

 

The above information would be used by the Wales Audit Office to assess the Council’s capacity to improve, and therefore was of critical importance to the reputation of the Council and to inform how the Council as an organisation planned areas of focus for improvement in the coming years.

 

Based on self-assessment, it was concluded that overall, the Council had been successful in achieving a majority of the positive outcomes intended in its Improvement Objectives for 2016/17, despite challenging financial times and increased demand for services.

 

Four out of five Improvement Objectives set for the year were judged to have been achieved. Objective 3, 'Raising overall standards of achievement' was judged to be partially achieved because whilst standards had improved overall, the standards achieved by children entitled to free schools meals did not yet meet those of other children in all key stages. All five Improvement Objectives, which reflected the Council’s Corporate Plan Well-being Outcomes, remained long term strategic priorities for the Council and the success achieved in 2016/17 represented the start of what would be a long programme of initiatives to continually improve services for citizens of the Vale.

 

Each year, the Local Government Data Unit published local authority performance information on a range of services, highlighting areas where there had been notable changes in the overall level of performance. This made it possible to compare the performance of the 22 Welsh local authorities across those services. 

 

Pages 76-87 of the Improvement Plan attached at Appendix 1 to the report detailed how the Council performed against the 2016/17 national performance dataset in comparison with the previous year and with other local authorities in Wales.

 

Overall the Council was performing well in performance indicators across all service areas and for the past three years had been the top performing Council in Wales in relation to the national indicator set.

 

From data collected on 31 national performance indicators in 2016/17, of these 28 had data that could be compared with the previous year. Much of this data and analysis was considered in the Local Government Data Unit Wales performance bulletin 2016/17 attached at Appendix 2 to the report. The report looked at a range of indicators and assessed the performance of individual authorities. A copy of the Local Government Performance Bulletin was available online and in the Members' room. A copy had also been published on the Council's Staffnet.

 

At the meeting the Leader noted that the Local Government Data Unit Wales performance bulletin 2016/17 attached at Appendix 2 to the report was a draft version, as the final version of the bulletin was published after the Cabinet Agenda. The Leader noted however, that there had been no changes between the published draft and the final version of the Local Government Data Unit Wales performance bulletin 2016/17.

 

This was a matter for Executive and Council decision

 

Cabinet, having considered the report and all the issues and implications contained therein

 

RESOLVED –

 

(1)       T H A T the Improvement Plan Part 2: Annual Review of Performance 2016/17 be endorsed and referred to Full Council on 27 September, 2017 for approval.

 

(2)       T H A T the publication of the Local Government Data Unit Wales bulletin on Local Government Performance 2016/17 which ranked the Vale of Glamorgan Council as the highest performing local authority in Wales for the third year running be noted.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       To meet the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure to publish an annual review of Council performance and ensure that action was taken to continually improve.

 

(2)       To note the performance of the Vale of Glamorgan Council relative to other Welsh local authorities during 2016/17.