Issue - meetings

That (A) the comments of the Corporate Business Scrutiny Committee be received; and

(B)     the 2012/13 Corporate Annual Report be approved.

The Leader of the Council submitted the 2012/13 Corporate Annual Report, documenting the Council’s key achievements for each of the corporate priorities over the last financial year.  He also provided an overview of the Council’s financial position and performance and a statement on contracts.

The Corporate Business Scrutiny Committee, at its meeting held on 27 August 2013, had recommended the Annual Report for adoption.  The Committee Chairman referred to a particular comment made at that meeting on the absence of information on areas where the Council had performed less well and whether this impacted on the credibility of the Annual Report.

The Leader accepted this as fair comment and referred to the Corporate Strategic Plan elsewhere on the agenda.  He believed this report looked forward to 2014 and beyond and included actions that would seek to improve performance in such areas.

The Leader also mentioned that minor typographical errors would be corrected before the final version was published.

The Executive approved the 2012/13 Corporate Annual Report as now submitted.

RESOLVED - that (A) the comments of the Corporate Business Scrutiny Committee be received; and

(B)      the 2012/13 Corporate Annual Report be approved.

The Leader of the Council submitted a report providing Members with an initial draft of the Council’s Annual Report for 2012/13, the detail of which was set out in the report now submitted and the Essential Reference Paper.

The Corporate Planning and Performance Manager explained that the draft set out the Council’s achievements against its corporate priorities, its financial position and performance against key indicators and when published would include 2012/13 outturn figures.

Members noted that there was a duplication of one bullet point that had occurred in terms of the number of roads cleaned in the District.  It was also noted that following presentation of the draft final accounts for 2012/13 to Audit Committee, the pie chart showing where our money comes from had been further broken down in regard to  Government Grants. This will be updated in the final draft.
 

Councillor S Bull said that he was “astounded” by the amount which was paid out in terms of benefits when displayed in this format.

In response to a query from the Executive Member for Finance regarding leisure users, the Corporate Planning and Performance Manager undertook to check the figures again and clarify ‘users’ as visits not membership numbers.

In response to a query from the Chairman, regarding what Members might also wish to see included in the Annual Report, Councillor G Jones stated that the Council had only focussed on the positives and that a more balanced approach might be to include what it had not achieved.  The Director of Finance and Support Services commented that the final version of the Annual Report would include all of the Council’s Performance Indicators which would show where performance had both reached and not reached expected targets.

The Committee received the report and supported its recommendation to the Executive for approval.

RESOLVED – that the 2012/13 Annual Report be recommended to the Executive for approval.