Issue - meetings

To consider a report containing a retrospective summary of the Council’s performance at the end of the financial year (April 2023 - March 2024) against the strategic priorities and areas of focus set out in the Council Plan 2022-2027.

Cabinet Portfolio Holder – Councillor Yousef Dahmash

Councillor Isobel Seccombe, Leader, introduced this report on behalf of Councillor Yousef Dahmash (Portfolio Holder for Customer and Transformation) who had given apologies for the meeting.  Councillor Seccombe noted that this report was part of Cabinet’s regular programme of performance reports and summarised its key elements, particularly drawing attention to paragraph 2.4 which set out notable aspects of positive performance relating to: the percentage of children and young people with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) attending a mainstream school reaching the highest figure reported for 5 years, the percentage of Adult Social Care users with long term support who had received an assessment or review in the last 12 months continued to exceed the target of 80%, low levels of people awaiting a domiciliary care package to be commissioned despite increased referral numbers, and an increase in both engagement scores and our completion rate following the YourSay survey.  She went on to note that there were also some areas of concern, detailed in paragraph 2.5 of the report, and particularly drew attention to challenges posed by demand for social care for those over age 65 and rising levels of staff sickness absence, which mirrored national trends.

Councillor Sarah Feeney focussed on the measures reported regarding the delivery of the Child Friendly Warwickshire Strategy, noting that 5 out of 7 measures were not on track.  In particular she expressed concern for rising numbers of young people (under 18) hospitalised for alcohol and an increase in overweight (including obese) children aged 10-11.  Councillor Margaret Bell responded that the Public Health team were seeking to address these issues.  She noted that work was underway to utilise the data to target resources with a degree of sensitivity in relation to sending weight status letters to the parents of those children who measured as overweight/obese.

Resolved

That Cabinet:

1.     Notes the Year End 2023/24 organisational performance; and

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