This report was introduced by the Chief Executive and the Corporate Policy & Public Affairs Manager. The key points were as follows:

• The report proposed a new one-year Delivery Plan to monitor progress against the Corporate Plan.
• The Delivery Plan addresses criticisms posed by self-assessment 2022, Audit Wales’ review of performance management and internal audit findings from a Performance Indicators (PI) audit.
• The main changes include:

-          Having the 7 well-being objectives comprehensively reflected by 44 aims, 101 commitments and 99 Performance Indicators (PIs).

-          Having clear and agreed aims to provide detail underneath each well-being objective and help the Council effectively monitor progress / performance.

-          Having performance indicators that more effectively measure the Council’s progress on its aims, are better focused on outcomes, and can be benchmarked.

-          Placing a stronger focus on the measurement of the Council’s new Ways of Working.

• A new draft performance framework is also proposed.
• The report also reflects changes from Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 3 July 2023.

The Leader welcomed the report and thanked the small team responsible for writing it for their work. He highlighted that implementation was a big task.

A number of issues were highlighted in the discussion that followed:

• The Cabinet Member for Finances, Resources and Legal asked for an update on progress in respect of performance management, an issue highlighted by Audit Wales. The Corporate Policy and Public Affairs Manager responded by pointing to the many things in the corporate plan delivery plan that have been developed to address some of those criticisms. For example, the wellbeing objectives weren’t fully measured by the existing commitments but there was much better coverage now. The aims under each wellbeing objectives have been clarified and those commitments have been decoupled from the PIs. There was also a focus on output and outcome measures and things that allow comparison over time and with others. In addition, there was the new performance framework. She added that there were a few things that have happened outside the corporate plan delivery plan. CPA now considers additional information about staffing and finances in the quarterly dashboards. There was also a regulatory tracker which is considered by Governance and Audit Committee half yearly. There was also some planned training for all performance-related staff across the organisation and a corporate plan session for all staff in September. In addition, the corporate plan and performance management form a part of staff and manager inductions.

• The Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning and Regeneration discussed whether this plan was understood at all levels of the organisation and that there was buy in to it. In response, the Chief Executive highlighted the importance of staff engagement. There will be staff briefings arranged in September, but also regular communication about the plan. The key task would be to make it relevant to everyone's work, for everyone to feel that the objectives are relevant to them, whatever job they do. He also highlighted this was a cultural piece of work, part of how we achieve strong performance across the authority. There would be an element of briefing, training, communication, and ongoing engagement.
• Building on this, the Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment stressed the importance of ensuring the plan meant something to staff members working out in our communities.
• The Deputy Leader asked about performance indicators and why COSC wanted the organisation to proceed slightly differently. The Corporate Policy and Public Affairs Manager noted that they had gone some way down that road. It was a big change, one where there was a lack of clarity about how objectives and key results might work for a local authority with such a broad range of services. She indicated they would give that some more consideration over the coming year. She also noted that they probably don’t have the capacity or necessary expertise in the team to do that. There has been a focus on the Audit Wales recommendations on improving commitments and KPIs to better match the wellbeing objectives and improving data quality and accuracy. There was also a commitment to making comparisons over time with other authorities and that couldn't be done with a completely new approach.

RESOLVED:

Cabinet:

• considered and agreed the first draft Corporate Plan Delivery Plan 2023/24 in Appendix 1. 
• considered and agreed the updated Corporate Performance Framework in Appendix 2 and how best to use the document across the Council.