The Council has decided to approve recommendations on their performance against the 'Play your part in a stronger future' Borough Plan 2024-2028.

URL: https://cmttpublic.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=1979

Decision Maker:

Outcome: Recommendations Approved

Is Key Decision?: No

Is Callable In?: Yes

Purpose:

Content: Cabinet considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive which set out the council’s performance in relation to the missions set out in the ‘Play your part in a stronger future’ Borough Plan 2024-2028.  This was the fourth performance report against the Borough Plan and focused on performance over the last period of the financial year, from December 2024 to March 2025.   Councillor Karen Shore, Deputy Leader of the Council, led the discussion on the item as proposer and the item was seconded by Councillor Nathan Pardoe, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Economy, Regeneration and Digital Transformation.   Councillor Shore explained that the report set out the performance against key indicators as shown in the report in graph 1 (section 4.2) with 31 indicators showing as green, 16 showing as amber and 28 showing as red.  There were five new measures yet to have a target set for this year whilst a baseline is established and there were also seven measures not reporting in this period.  In addition, graph 2 (section 4.3) set out performance against activity, with 54 actions on track or completed, 7 actions delayed by up to 3 months and 2 actions delayed by more than 4 months.  It was also reported that there had been a detailed discussion on the corporate performance report at Cheshire West and Chester Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 2nd June.   Councillor Shore highlighted some positive areas of performance, in particular the significant improvements continuing to be made around homelessness.  It was noted that at the end of March 2023 there had been 212 households living in temporary accommodation in the borough and by March 2024 this had fallen to 174 and at the end of March 2025 this had fallen significantly to 90 households.  She also highlighted positive performance in the timeliness of completion of Education Health Care Plans (EHCPs), recognising that continued improvement was needed; success in the work to allow people to continue to live independently; the varied and significant regeneration works taking place across the borough in Chester, Ellesmere Port, Northwich, Winsford and Frodsham; significant improvements in the cleanliness of local streets; strong performance in supporting households to reduce the amount of waste they produce and to recycle more; and the council was one of only eight in the country to be awarded gold in the Investors in People award.   Visiting Members:  Councillor Charles Hardy spoke in relation to the item.   Cabinet Members took the opportunity to highlight some of the key headlines, achievements, areas of positive performance and also challenges within their individual portfolios.  Briefly areas of strong performance included an increase in the number of businesses supported by the council; the redesign and work of the Occupational Therapy reablement team and investments in the care market; and improvements in the tackling hardship and poverty mission.  Challenges continued to be in the Starting Well mission with increased need and increased complexity around social care, despite the rate of children in need falling to its lowest level in a number of years.   Councillor Shore took the opportunity to promote a new interactive corporate performance webpage which had just been launched that day and thanked council officers for their continued hard work in challenging times.   DECIDED:    That   1)            the performance of the Council at year-end (December 2024 to March 2025) be noted, against the missions set out in the ‘Play your part in a stronger future’ Borough Plan 2024-28; and 2)            Overview and Scrutiny Committees be provided with the performance information set out in the report so that they can understand and challenge performance and consider using it to inform scrutiny work programmes across all committees.   Reason for Decision   To ensure that up to date performance information is available to enable the Cabinet, wider Members, senior Council officers and the public to understand progress against the Borough Plan. This includes work being undertaken to address any areas of challenge, and to support any necessary discussions about reallocating resources to better achieve the missions set out within the Borough Plan   Alternative Options   The report includes recommendations. Members could choose not to approve the recommendations. However, this could adversely impact future performance.

Date of Decision: June 11, 2025