Issue - meetings

To consider a report providing a retrospective summary of the Council’s performance at the end of Quarter 3 (April – December 2023) against the strategic priorities and Areas of Focus set out in the Council Plan 2022-2027. The paper sets out a combined picture of the Council’s delivery, performance, HR and risk.

Councillor Yousef Dahmash, Portfolio Holder for Customer & Transformation, introduced the report which provided a retrospective summary of the Council’s performance at the end of Quarter 3 (April – December 2023) against the strategic priorities and Areas of Focus set out in the Council Plan 2022-2027.

Councillor Dahmash encouraged Members to look at the PowerBI Dashboards for more detailed information and outlined some key highlights including childcare entitlement for 3 to 4 year olds being above average and economic growth which continued to do well.

Challenges included the increased costs in SEND and Home to School Transport services, data relating to the number of overweight children in year 6, increased demand in social care and an increase in sickness absence figures from HR.  However, Council vacancies were reducing as a result of successful recruitment activity.

Councillor Roodhouse acknowledged the pressures experienced by the Child Friendly Warwickshire teams with demand increasing.  He also felt more could be done to address the number of hospital admissions as a result of self-harm as well as children being admitted as a result of alcohol related issues.  He recognised how hard officers were working to address the challenges.

Councillor Seccombe agreed with the comments and reiterated how important services such as Rise were.  She assured that officers and Cabinet Members were fully aware of the impact that demand led pressures brought and noted the comments made regarding obesity in children.  She advised that Councillor Bell would be taking this issue forward with Public Health colleagues.

Councillor Dahmash proposed the recommendations.

Resolved

That Cabinet

1)    Considers and comments on the Quarter 3 2023/24 organisational performance; and

Agrees to refer the report to Overview and Scrutiny Committees to consider, in detail, the information relevant to their individual remits.