Council publishes its Annual Report

The Improvement Plan (Part 2) reports the Vale of Glamorgan Council's progress in achieving the Well-being Objectives set the previous year.

Wednesday, 21 October 2020

Vale of Glamorgan

The annual review of progress for 2019/20 has been written at a time of unprecedented challenge, which has required the Council to respond quickly to a global pandemic (COVID-19).

Whilst this has put services under immense pressure and significantly disrupted the delivery of services, the Council has worked closely with partners and volunteers to navigate the crisis.

Resources have been effectively reprioritised, redirected and repurposed to areas in greatest need.

Some of the key achievements outlined in this year's report include:

The Council has complied with the Welsh Quality Housing Standards for all of its 3,900 social housing homes investing £91,518,000 to deliver the improvements.
The £9m project to convert the old railway Goods Shed building and adjoining land at Hood Road, Barry Waterfront, has continued to progress during 2019/20.
70.37% of household waste that was collected in 2019/20 was either prepared for reuse and/or recycled, exceeding the statutory and current target of (64%) for 2019/20.
Top performing local authority in Wales in relation to GCSE results. 27.65% of year 11 pupils achieved 5 or more GCSE A* to A grades compared to 24.79% in the previous year. Nearly 73% got A* to C grades.
100% of schools inspected in 2019/20 achieved either excellent or good ratings in relation to pupil well-being, care support and guidance.
As a Stonewall Diversity Champion the Council is committed to cultivating an inclusive work place for all lesbian, gay, bi and trans staff. The Workplace Equality Index for 2019/20 places the Vale Council in the top half of all organisations in the UK.
The new Wales Safeguarding procedures were launched in November 2019, led by Cardiff and Vale Safeguarding Board with the Chair of the project being the Director of Social Services from the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Council awarded a 10% pay enhancement to key workers, the first local authority in Wales to have taken this action.
A Crisis Support Team within C1V was established and contacted 4,440 of the most vulnerable residents and arranged delivery of 568 parcels each week to those shielding.
The Vale Heroes site was launched in collaboration with the Glamorgan Voluntary Service to help coordinate volunteering within communities and match those offering assistance with those in need. 118 support organisations are now listed on the site.
A new Vale Heroes Crisis Fund was established to offer grants of up to £3,000 to community groups, the voluntary sector, town and community councils and eligible businesses.
The Council also introduced a new appointment booking system for the Household Waste Recycling Sites to allow their safe reopening.
The online Library Services was expanded to provide greater access to materials. A ‘Click and Collect’ Service was also set up to borrow books, audio-books and DVDs. Many other services such as reading groups have also gone digitial.
The Learning and Skills Team processed more than 3,000 food vouchers each fortnight, representing a 96% take up of electronic food vouchers. Demand increased over lockdown by 161 additional claimants.

For more information please read the summary of the report or the full report.

Summary of report

Full report