Agenda item

That the County Council adopt the Improvement Plan 2012 – 2017, noting the addition of the three additional Improvement Priorities in line with the Leadership’s Programme for Change.

The Chief Executive introduced the Improvement Plan 2012 – 2017 and draft Annual Performance Report 2011/12.

            The Improvement Plan built upon the ten Council Priorities and the supporting Directorate priorities presenting them in a single document.  The current set of ten Council Improvement Priorities were extensive and were supported by a more detailed set of secondary Improvement priorities as detailed within the Improvement Plan 2012 – 2017.  The length of timeframe for the Plan had been adjusted to a longer period of five years to reflect the period of office of the new Council.   

            The Annual Performance Report for 2011/12 reviewed the Council’s progress again the Improvement Priorities.  The report would be available as a web-based document which would be accessed via the Council’s website and the supporting documents which provided the more detailed information would be available as ‘signposted’ documents.

            Councillor W. Mullin thanked the Chief Executive, the Policy Performance and Partnerships Manager and her team for their hard work in preparing the reports and proposed that the County Council adopt the Improvement Plan 2012 – 2017, noting the addition of the three additional Improvement Priorities in line with the Leadership’s Programme for Change and also endorsed the 2011/12 draft Annual Performance Report for publication.

            Councillor S. Jones raised concern on the reporting mechanism of regional partnerships and asked how this could be improved.  Councillor R.C. Bithell also shared similar concerns and commented that there was some confusion over some partnership arrangements.

            The Chief Executive commented on the complexities of regional partnerships and reported that update reports on performance were submitted to relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees and Cabinet.  He said that information on regional partnerships was readily available if Members wished to receive an update.  The Council had adopted a three stage reporting protocol for regional collaborative projects.

            Councillor P.G. Heesom commented on the complete TAITH work programme and raised concerns that Flintshire had missed out on large investments which had been given to Conwy and asked that this matter be examined further.  Councillor M.G. Wright commented on the development of the Deeside Growth Zone and outlined the opportunities available to Flintshire. 

            Councillor A.P. Shotton, Leader of the Council in response to the concerns on regional partnership said that there was a need for the Community Profile and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny to play an important role in scrutinising regional partnerships.  On the Deeside Growth Zone he shared Members concerns and said that the Council would lobby for effective representation.  He thanked the Policy Performance and Partnerships Manager and he team for the report and provided further details on each of the additional Improvement Priorities and said that further details on these would be reported back to Cabinet before the end of the calendar year.

            Councillor R.B. Jones commented on the Lifelong Learning Directorate priorities as shown in the report and said that the priority to safeguard vulnerable communities had been removed from the report.  He also commented on the importance of the Directorate Plan and Service Plan and asked if these were readily available to Members in order for them to gain a better understanding of Service Plans.  On regional partnerships he said that the County Council had previously agreed that any regional partnership should benefit Flintshire County Council and would be reviewed on an on-going basis.  He asked the Leader of the Council to investigate how each of the regional partnerships could be reviewed by Overview and Scrutiny and how this should be approached. 

            The Chief Executive reported that the Directorate Plan and Service Plan were published on the Council’s internet.  The Policy Performance and Partnerships Manager said that some of the information from the Lifelong Learning Directorate priorities had been removed in error and this part of the report would be amended accordingly prior to publication of the document.        

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the County Council adopt the Improvement Plan 2012 – 2017, noting the addition of the three additional Improvement Priorities in line with the Leadership’s Programme for Change; and

(b)       Endorse the 2011/12 draft Annual Performance Report for publication.