Issue - meetings

            That the Committee’s comments be commended to the Policy & Performance Team.      

The Chief Executive introduced a report to consider elements of the 2014/15 Year End Improvement Plan Monitoring Report relevant to the Committee. 

                        The reports highlighted a number of areas where the measure was not achieved and the Chief Executive explained that these areas were still included in the new plan for 2015/16 to enable the Committee to continue monitoring them. 

                        Councillor Robin Guest queried whether comparisons were made with other local Authorities on areas such as customer feedback about visits to the Council’s website.  In referring to the figures, he felt that they were disappointing and asked whether benchmarking with other authorities was undertaken.  The Chief Executive explained that digital access such as the website was assessed by the Society of IT Management (SOCITM) and Flintshire County Council had progressed in the last year on the issue of wider customer access.  The Chief Officer (Community & Enterprise) said that more work was required on the website about self-serve and navigation and details of benchmarking indicators would also be submitted to the Committee.  On the issue of functionality and design, the Chief Officer (Governance) advised that SOCITM had awarded two out of four stars to the Council and added that many other authorities had only been awarded one star.  However, on content SOCITM had advised that there was a need for improvement; this work was being undertaken. 

                        Councillor Richard Jones felt that more could have been done on developing a longer term financial plan and that the progress was disappointing.  He also asked why the measure was not included in the Improvement Plan for 2015/16.  He queried how long term planning could be achieved when there was such uncertainty about the level of revenue support grant to be received from Welsh Government in 2015/16 and beyond.  In response, the Chief Executive confirmed that the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) was in the 2015/16 Improvement Plan and confirmed that a report was to be considered at Cabinet on 16 June 2015 and would be submitted to the meeting of this Committee scheduled for 9 July 2015.  He added that there was uncertainty about funding levels but explained that budgets would be based on historic patterns of the amount of revenue support grant received.  The Leader of the Council & Cabinet Member for Finance confirmed that further discussions would be undertaken on the MTFS and added that every opportunity had been taken to raise the concerns about lack of predictions from WG about levels of funding.  However, he added that there were many areas of pressure that a level of certainty could be given on.  In referring to the £527m of funding allocated to Health Services, Councillor Richard Jones said that it was important to ensure that monies were allocated appropriately.  The Leader of the Council & Cabinet Member for Finance referred to the budget that was to take place on 8 July 2015 and advised that it was anticipated that there would be more reductions in funding for local authorities over the coming months. 

            RESOLVED:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11