Neath Port Talbot Council performance improves despite financial challenges

Neath Port Talbot Council has continued to improve service performance despite being faced with financial challenges.

Councillors have been presented with a report showing provisional performance results for 2014 / 15. The report sets out how each service area has performed in relation to previous years and also comments on how the Council has performed against its improvement priorities agreed last year.

The report shows clear improvements in a number of priority areas including social services, education, economic growth, waste management and customer services at a time when £17m savings were made across Council budgets set out in the Forward Financial Plan.

Of particular note, the CSSiW lifted its Serious Concerns Protocol from Children’s Social Services in April of this year. This was achieved by the service consistently reaching the required standard in all 8 measures for improving outcomes for children.

The strategic school improvement programme has led to enhanced pupil attendance in both primary and secondary education. Key Stage 2 results have steadily improved while Key Stage 3 and 4 results maintained their performance from the previous year.

Adult Social Services has seen performance improved in 9 out of 11 indicators. In particular, there has been significant progress in carers assessments and delayed transfers of care.

Economic development measures have shown growing confidence amongst the business community with an increase in the number of enquiries handled by the Business Development Team.

The Council is continuing to progress its waste strategy having achieved the statutory recycling and composting target of 58%. The indicators focus on the amount of waste that is recycled, reused and sent to landfill.

The promotion of online services such as bulk collections and refuse equipment has led to a marked reduction in the number of customers that were dealt with face to face. Evidence clearly shows that online services can play a big role in reducing the costs of delivering services.

Despite advancements in a number of areas, there are still aspects of performance that need to be improved and the Council recognises that steps need to be taken to achieve this. These include areas such as employee sickness levels, homelessness and planning applications. However, there are already plans in place to deliver improvements during 2015 / 16.

Councillor Ali Thomas OBE, Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council said, “I would like to thank staff, trade unions and partner organisations for the role they have played in continuing to provide good results.”

“Despite the difficult financial situation, we have delivered on the priorities we set. We will continue to work hard to protect services, particularly prioritising those that support our young people and those who are most disadvantaged in our communities.”