Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report of the Service Manager Performance and Democratic which was to present to the Corporate Overview Scrutiny Committee the end of year position of the Finance and Performance Report for the year 2020/21 (attached at Appendix 1).

The Service Manager Performance & Democratic spoke to the report and highlighted the main points contained therein.

A Member commented that undoubtedly good work had been undertaken throughout the year, particularly during the pandemic and clearly some of the financial aspects of the report were made in good budgetary conditions.  He felt that Bridging the Gap needed to be tested properly and was mindful that Welsh Government hardship funding had enabled the Council to deliver the budget.

A Member referred to absenteeism and enquired if there had been any improvement during the past year of the pandemic.  The Head of Organisational Development said absenteeism had reduced as a result of homeworking.  A review was being undertaken on the figures and performance over the last year and a report would be presented to the Corporate Overview Scrutiny Committee in September.

A Member raised concerns regarding absenteeism in the Planning and Building Control sections in relation to site visits. Another Member also raised the issue of absenteeism across the Council, even though absenteeism was reducing he felt this still needed to be addressed as the Council were buying services in from Agencies in Torfaen and Cardiff regarding Planning and Building Control issues.  The Head of Organisational Development said the figures contained in the report were the end of year position from April 2020 to March 2021 and reiterated that a report reviewing sickness absence performance would be presented to this Committee in September. She acknowledged that there were absences in Building Control and service continuity plans were being developed by the Directorate. 

The Managing Director said there was a specific issue in that service that the Director of Regeneration & Community Services and his team were looking into, overall sickness absence figures across the Council were falling.

The Director of Regeneration & Community Services said that within the department there were a particular set of circumstances in Building Control and in Planning.  In relation to Building Control, the Service Manager Development and Estates had advised Members via a note of the unique set of circumstances where all four Building Control Officers were absent for different reasons and in order to maintain a service to the community, arrangements had been put in place with some neighbouring Councils in relation to plan checking, which was a reciprocal arrangement and did not affect the service to residents.  He confirmed that agency support had been secured in relation to Building Control, there were two at present and this would allow on-site inspections to be undertaken and provide a service as good as could be expected within the current circumstances.  In relation to Planning, determining planning applications was a key priority and some consultancy support had been brought in to help process the planning applications, he advised that this had been undertaken in the past during particular peaks of planning applications.  The Director assured Members that the situation was being addressed and explained that absences were not across the entire department, there had been two different sets of circumstances that had happened at the same time.

With regard to Planning a Member commented that residents had raised concerns that they were paying planning fees, only for decisions to be made at meetings without a site visit taking place and enquired if this was the usual practice.  The Director of Regeneration & Community Services said the Member maybe referring to a pre-application consultation whereby applicants could discuss their planning applications with Planning Officers in advance of submission to get a steer on whether the application would meet planning criteria.

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 2; namely that the information as presented be accepted.