The Interim Head of Finance and S151 Officer submitted a report on behalf of the Chief Executive, the purpose of which, was to consider the Annual Report 2019-19 (Appendix A to the report) and recommend it to Council in turn, for approval.

The report gave some background information which confirmed that the Plan defined 40 commitments to deliver the three well-being objectives and identified 58 outcome-focused indicators for the financial year 2018-19.

The report also confirmed some pleasing news, in that overall it had performed well in 2018-19. Of the 40 commitments, 35 (88%) were completed successfully and the remaining 5 (12%) achieved most of their milestones.

The Corporate Plan identified 58 indicators to measure access. Of the 56 indicators with a target, 37 (66%) were on target, 9 (16%) were off target by less than 10% and 10 (18%) missed the target by more than 10%. Detailed information about the Council’s performance against its commitments and targets was included in Appendix A.

The Interim Head of Finance and S151 Officer confirmed that the Annual Report was an important document, as it provided citizens and stakeholders with detailed information about the Council’s performance against its well-being objectives and outcomes. It also included national comparable measures to give a full picture of how the Council performed across a range of services.

The Leader felt the report and supporting information was very balanced and made for positive reading. He particularly felt that reference to a number of case studies that brought the report to life. He felt that reaching 88% of the Council’s commitments put the Authority in good stead moving forward. He also referred to page 25 of the report where this detailed how the Council’s wellbeing objectives dovetailed with our wellbeing goals. He was also pleased that the report did not hide areas where the Council did not compare so favourably to other authorities.

He felt it notable also to advise that we were ranked 3^rd lowest in Wales in terms of the percentage of Year 11 school leavers that were not in further education, employment or training. There were also a list of actions in the Report that identified how the Council had met its objectives.

The Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help referred to page 28 of the Annual Report and a snapshot of economic, social, cultural and environmental well-being goals achieved across the Bridgend County Borough. He referred to the fact that in 2018-19 there were 81,767 over 60’s free swims recorded for 5,000 individual users, which was the highest participation in Wales out of 22 local authorities.

The Head of Operations – Community Services in response to a question regarding details of the footfall in terms of visits to Porthcawl town centre, advised that these were showing as relatively low in the report. He added that this figure was inaccurate due to the fact that one of the CCTV cameras was not working around the time this figure was collated. This camera had now been both repaired and re-located to a better position and following this in the first quarter of this year, the footfall into the town centre was showing far more favourably than in similar quarters last year.

RESOLVED:                          That Cabinet considered the Annual Report 2018-19 at Appendix A to the report and recommended it to Council for approval.