Issue - meetings

Report by Corporate Directors Carlton Brand, Alistair Cunningham and Terence Herbert

Cllr Philip Whitehead presented a report which provided an update on performance against the stated aims in the council’s Business Plan 2017-27. The report provided information on key measures as well as the council’s strategic risk register, covering the period October to December 2018.

Cllr Whitehead thanked the Corporate Support Manager for the revised formatting of the report, which produced an easier to understand document.  

In response to a question from Cllr Ian Grant about the reducing percentage of pupils attending good and outstanding secondary schools in Wiltshire, Cllr Mayes confirmed that there was a concern about this trend. Cllr Mayes reported that the recently appointed Director of Education and Skills had been tasked with addressing the issues in this area. Cllr Mayes explained that the newly formed Wiltshire Education Standards Board had now met on three occasions to consider the issues further. She noted that early intervention and support for schools that displayed reducing standards was an important factor in raising standards, and this would be implemented, along with improvements to monitoring and internal systems.

The Leader of the Council reminded the Cabinet that the report referred to secondary schools in Wiltshire, she indicated that there were different challenges for all schools across the county, which could be impacted by reduced funding, school leadership teams and management of day to day school activities. It was imperative that the County had a highly skilled workforce.   The Leader also commented on a number of London schools that had previously been failing but were now success stories.

Cllr Thomson referred to the opportunities for community engagement provided by Wiltshire Libraries. He noted that although the number of transactions detailed in the report had reduced over time, the number of visitors to Libraries were increasing steadily year on year.    

Resolved: To note the updates and outturns:

1.    Against the measures and activities ascribed against the Council’s priorities.

2.    To the strategic risk register.

Reason for Decision:

The current corporate performance framework compiles measures used to monitor progress in service areas against planned objectives that relate to the goals laid out in Wiltshire Council’s current Business Plan 2017-27.

The strategic risk register captures and monitors significant risks facing the Council: in relation to significant in-service risks facing individual areas and in managing its business across the authority generally.