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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED – That the work programme as attached at Appendix 1 to the report COGC/04/25 be agreed, subject to the aforementioned changes.
AGREED – (i) That Officers and Lead Members be thanked for the report. (ii) To recommend to the Lead Member for Finance & Performance that (a) Consideration be given to including numbers of successful prosecutions in respect of environmental enforcement actions as one the performance measures for ‘Delivering Efficient Streetscene Services and Decarbonising the Environment’ Priority. (b) That consideration be given to the inclusion of school performance in Wrexham as one of the performance measures for ‘Improving Education and Learning’ priority. (c) That the Quarter 4 performance outturn report to the Executive Board details the priority interventions the Officer & Lead Member have put in place to secure the targeted end of year outturn.
AGREED – That the Committee thank Officers and Lead Members for the work done and await the more detailed report on the proposals for the 2025/26 Revenue Budget.
Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bryan Apsley and Alison Tynan.
AGREED – To sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2024.
Decision as recorded
AGREED – That the work programme as attached at Appendix 1 to the report COGC/04/25 be agreed, subject to the aforementioned changes.
The Chief Officer Governance and Customer submitted a report COGC/04/25 which allowed Members to consider the work programme of the Customers, Performance, Resources & Governance Scrutiny Committee attached at Appendix 1. The Scrutiny Facilitator referred the Committee to the changes that had been made to the work programme since the last meeting. The following proposals were put forward and subsequently agreed: · Q3 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report- to be deferred from February to March 2025 meeting. · Committee Workshop Session – Workforce Monitoring Data – to be deferred from March to May 2025 meeting. · Change Programme – next report to be provisionally scheduled for the April 2025 meeting. AGREED – That the work programme as attached at Appendix 1 to the report COGC/04/25 be agreed, subject to the aforementioned changes.
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Decision as recorded
AGREED – (i) That Officers and Lead Members be thanked for the report. (ii) To recommend to the Lead Member for Finance & Performance that (a) Consideration be given to including numbers of successful prosecutions in respect of environmental enforcement actions as one the performance measures for ‘Delivering Efficient Streetscene Services and Decarbonising the Environment’ Priority. (b) That consideration be given to the inclusion of school performance in Wrexham as one of the performance measures for ‘Improving Education and Learning’ priority. (c) That the Quarter 4 performance outturn report to the Executive Board details the priority interventions the Officer & Lead Member have put in place to secure the targeted end of year outturn.
The Lead Member for Finance and Performance submitted a report CE/01/25 which provided Members with a summary update on progress against the Council Plan as at quarter 2, 2024/25, as reported to the Executive Board. The report also set out a summary of performance against the Well-being Objectives – our Council Priorities - at quarter 2, 2024/25, which was the second year of the Council Plan 2023-2028. The Lead Member introduced his report and responded to questions accordingly thereafter, with input from the relevant officers and other Lead Members. During the ensuing debate a number of issues were raised, including: · The Council had previously been one of the best performing Local Authorities in Wales in terms of meeting recycling targets. · The reduction in investment i.e grant funding and Welsh Government contribution, had contributed to the recent decline in some target outcomes. The recent industrial action within the Enviroment Department would also have affected the figures to some degree. · Suggestion that the target outcomes relating to waste recyling would improve once residents received the appropriate tools i.e. new caddy bins. It was noted that a report on the Council’s Waste Strategy was scheduled for the meeting of Homes & Environment Scrutiny Committee in March 2025. · The need for greater investment in the Wrexham Streetscene service from the Local Authority when considering its internal budget allocation. · Acknowledgement that there was a large element of outside control and a change in behaviour was required to improve attitudes towards recyling. Work to educate residents would be carried out by the Local Authority and schools. · The need to ensure the current bin collection service was effective before any consideration was given to changes in the recycling round and collection frequency. · The need for a greater level of enforcement from the Local Authority. It was suggested that all areas of enforcement i.e. dog fouling, illegal parking, fly-tipping etc. should be tackled under the same umbrella through a multi skilled team approach. · Suggestion that some performance measures would not be effective as they relied on individuals reporting incidents. Officers recognised that some measures were subjective, but stressed that they were bound by the data that they had available to them. · Possibility of Estyn catagorisation of schools being used as one of the interim and annual measures regarding the priority outcome of ‘Improving Education and Learning’. · It was noted that measures and targets were generally reviewed on an annual basis as year end approached. Opportunities for better data capture were always being considered. · It was anticipated that gully emptying would increase to 2 rounds per year. · In discussing the reduction in the Council’s gender pay target to 4.8%, Officers advised that targets had to be realistic and whilst a ‘0’ target was the ultimate aim, an incremental approach was important. · In response to a question about the timeliness of reporting and the unavailable mid-year performance data in some areas, Officers provided an explanation of the process that led to the overall RAYG ratings including the role of the Priority Boards, use of more detailed sub-data which was included in Appendix B, which aimed to provide a level of assurance to Members on whether actions were being delivered. · The importance of celebrating areas of improved performance was emphasised, eg the number of new job outcomes through Communities for Work Plus which had exceeded the half way target for the year at 74 job outcomes. AGREED – (i) That Officers and Lead Members be thanked for the report. (ii) To recommend to the Lead Member for Finance & Performance that (a) Consideration be given to including numbers of successful prosecutions in respect of environmental enforcement actions as one the performance measures for ‘Delivering Efficient Streetscene Services and Decarbonising the Environment’ Priority. (b) That consideration be given to the inclusion of school performance in Wrexham as one of the performance measures for ‘Improving Education and Learning’ priority. (c) That the Quarter 4 performance outturn report to the Executive Board details the priority interventions the Officer & Lead Member have put in place to secure the targeted end of year outturn.
Decision as recorded
AGREED – That the Committee thank Officers and Lead Members for the work done and await the more detailed report on the proposals for the 2025/26 Revenue Budget.
The Lead Member for Finance and Performance submitted a report COFI/03/25 which informed Members of the Council’s progress against savings agreed at Quarter 2 2024/25 and to update on the Provisional Local Government Settlement 2025/26. The Lead Member introduced his report and responded to Members questions accordingly thereafter, within input from the relevant Officers. During the ensuing debate, a number of issues were highlighted, including: · The medium term financial planning process involved forecasting over a 3 year period the future funding position. This included an estimate of unavoidable costs such as pay inflation. · Confirmation that alternative in-year funding had been agreed in respect of the two ‘red’ rating 2024/25 budget savings outlined in Appendix 1 (libraries and Governance & Customer Department). · Confirmation there was a risk that the delivery of the ‘amber’ rated 2024/25 budget savings outlined in Appendix 1 may not be achieved. · It was important to have the most up to date information available to inform future budget assessments. Regular reviews and assessments were also necessary to ensure that budget predictions remained on track. · Details around the overall outurn forecast as at Q3 would be circulated to Members via an Information Report and presented to Executive Board in March. · The ongoing pressures within adult and social care were difficult to predict and forecast. · Preventative measures regarding social care were at the heart of the Council Plan. Officers agreed to share more detail around the preventative measures in place with Members outside of this meeting i.e. Kickstart, telecare etc. · The need to improve demand management and mitigation within social care. · A more detailed analysis of the social care budget would be included in a future report already scheduled for consideration by the Safeguarding, Communities & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee. AGREED – That the Committee thank Officers and Lead Members for the work done and await the more detailed report on the proposals for the 2025/26 Revenue Budget.