To review performance for 2019/20 and the budget outturn.

The cabinet member for corporate services and finance introduced the report and highlighted the following:

·         It covered the first full year of the coalition budget

·         There had been a number of challenges in changing the priorities and in addition there had been two major flooding events and the shared experience of a coronavirus.

·         Staff were thanked for their work over the year which included the additional work which had been required in connection with the flooding and coronavirus.

·         There was a slight underspend as at 31 March 2020 of £570k.

·         Council borrowing had decreased by nearly £10m and investments had increased.

·         All directorates had delivered their revenue savings target and were on target to deliver this year’s savings.

·         71% of the performance measures over the previous year had shown improvement or remained steady compared to last year. 

·         52% of the actions from our delivery plan had been are identified as complete or having been progressed within their planned timescales.

·         Bad debts written off amounted to 0.3% of the council's overall revenue budget.

As part of the discussion on the item, the following points were made about each cabinet member portfolio area:

Health and adult wellbeing

·         The positive performance built on three years of focused practice development and culture change within the adults and community directorate.

·         The strength-based model of practice had been of interest to both Welsh and English authorities.   This model had supported increasing numbers of people and enabled residents to build on their own strengths.

·         There was an enhanced level of support for staff.

·         There had been a 30% reduction in complaints

·         There was no waiting list for adult social care assessments.

·         Herefordshire was ranked 8^th nationally for resident’s quality of life and was in the top quartile for residents in receipt of care who have as much social care as they would like.

·         The TalkCommunity programme had been successful and this had been acknowledged during the two flooding events and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Environment, economy and skills

·         There was new funding for external programmes, e.g. Marches renewable energy project which would assist with meeting environmental targets.

·         Extra funding had been receiving for extending walking and cycling projects.

·         Six new fully electric cars had been purchased.

·         There had been energy efficiency projects across the council estate.

·         The student accommodation on station approach would be completed soon.

·         Work on the shell store and cyber centre was continuing.

Housing, regulatory services, and community safety

·         Environmental health officers would be supporting track and trace.

·         Strategic housing had delivered 213 affordable homes against a target of 210.  

·         A soft market test had been completed on the housing delivery project and a specification was in the process of being written to enable the commissioning of a consultant.

·         The new allocation scheme for HomePoint had gone live on 22 June.

·         Work was in progress on the housing strategy, tenancy strategy and temporary accommodation strategies .

·         The supplementary planning document for affordable housing was currently out for consultation.

·         Empty property work had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 157