Council's Annual Report 2024-2025

Introduction to Our Annual Report

Introduction

Carmarthenshire County Council (CCC) is a large, complex organisation with a workforce of approximately 8,400 employees and a budget of over £900 million (revenue and capital). Due to continual financial pressure on public services year on year for over a decade, we continue to face unprecedented pressure in the delivery of services to the approximately 188,000 people who call Carmarthenshire home. In doing this, we strive to make progress against our four well-being objectives.  

The purpose of this annual report is to provide an overview of the progress we’ve made during 2024/25 against these well-being objectives, which are:  

1. Enabling our children and young people to have the best possible start in life. (Start Well) 
2. Enabling our residents to live and age well. (Live and Age Well)
3. Enabling our communities and environment to be healthy, safe, and prosperous. (Prosperous Communities) 
4. To further modernise and develop as a resilient and efficient Council. (Our Council) 

These objectives are designed to address the most pressing challenges for the County, whilst maximising our contribution to the seven national well-being goals. Each objective has a set of outcomes which support us to measure our progress and guide our activity as an organisation. These will be referred to throughout this report and our Corporate Strategy for 2022-2027 provides a detailed overview. They were developed in 2022/23 following an extensive needs assessment and period of consultation.

The primary purpose of this report is to provide residents, service users, and key stakeholders with a good understanding of how we’ve been performing. It also satisfies the statutory duty placed on us through the Local Government and Elections Act (Wales) 2021, the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015, and the Social Partnership Duty as noted in the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023.  

Measuring Progress and Self-Assessment

Our well-being objectives are firmly rooted in a principle which promotes a focus on all public bodies working together to progress outcomes that improve the quality of life of residents and communities, both now and in the future.  

To effectively measure our progress against achieving our objectives, we look at a range of data and evidence. This includes the findings of our self-assessment and of regulatory reports to build as comprehensive a picture as possible of our progress – both in terms of trends over time and in relation to how we compare with other local authorities in Wales.  

For us to do this effectively, we have developed a data suite of indicators and measures. When considered together, these cover a wide range of different sources and allow us to reflect on the evidence available to us in the round. The range of data covers the following and will be referred to throughout this report. It can be viewed in full in Appendix 5:

• Population Indicators: Mainly include publicly available data that has been identified to develop an understanding of trends and Carmarthenshire’s position relative to the other local authorities in Wales. Sources include (but are not limited to): Annual Population Survey, Public Health Wales, Welsh Government and the Department for Work and Pensions.
• Performance Measures: Inclusive of statutory returns, internal Council measures, and primary intelligence in the form of consultation findings that we utilise to measure and monitor performance on a regular basis. These are the direct responsibility of the Council.

Our well-being objectives also frame our approach to self-assessment. This approach provides the context within which we exercise our functions, use resources, and ensure governance is effective. In addition:

• it ensures that our self-assessment is strategic, focussing on the organisation rather than individual services, and on the extent to which the Council is achieving its well-being objectives and intended outcomes.
• it allows us to reflect at a strategic level on how all our functions are contributing to the achievement of our well-being objectives, how we are operating, and what action we need to take to improve further and continue to provide effective services now and for the long-term.
• it uses our well-being objectives as the overarching framework encourages a more holistic view of Council performance, recognising that many services ‘join-up’ and contribute to one or more well-being objective.
• we continue to manage individual service performance via Divisional Business Plans. This forms an important part of the Council’s approach to performance management as detailed in our Performance Management Framework, which is based on a Plan/Do/Review cycle.

Key Principles

Core Values and Behaviours

The Council’s vision underpins everything that we do as an organisation: 

‘Developing Carmarthenshire Together: One Council, One Vision, One Voice.’

When considered together, the vision and our core values and behaviours help us to make the right decision; and shape how we work together to deliver services and do the best job that we can.

Our six core values form the overarching principles that frame our twenty behaviours. These behaviours describe the individual actions and approaches for how we work and treat others. Our values are as follows but can be viewed in full along with our behaviours here:

• Working as one team;
• Focus on customers;
• Listen to improve;
• Strive for excellence; 
• Act with integrity;
• Take personal responsibility. 

Governance

As a Council, we are responsible for ensuring that our business is conducted in accordance with the law and proper standards. We must also ensure that public money is safeguarded, properly accounted for, used economically, efficiently, and effectively, and to secure continuous improvement in this regard. 
We are responsible for putting in place proper arrangements for the Governance of our affairs and facilitating the effective exercise of our functions, including having appropriate arrangements for the management of risk. 
The Council sees Corporate Governance as “doing the right things, in the right way, for the right people in a timely, inclusive, open, honest, and accountable manner.” The Governance Framework comprises the systems, processes, cultures, and values by which we are directed and controlled, and also the way it accounts to, engages with, and leads the Community. It enables us to monitor the achievement of our strategic objectives, and to consider whether those objectives have led to the delivery of appropriate, cost-effective services.
Our Annual Governance Statement as included in our Statement of Accounts details how we have complied with the various elements of our Governance Framework. 

Equality and Diversity

The Council is committed to ensuring that we are fair and equitable to all in everything that we do. Our Strategic Equality Plan sets out the principles of our commitment to equality and diversity. It outlines how we intend to fulfil our responsibilities as an employer, a service provider, and as a community leader.

As a public body we need to ensure that everybody has equal access to our services and is treated fairly. The fundamental principles of human rights also need to be at the core of service delivery. We are required to focus on achieving measurable equality outcomes through specific improvements in policies, and the way our services and functions are delivered.

We are committed to treating our staff, and the people of Carmarthenshire, fairly. We will make sure that we do not discriminate against people because of their age, disability, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, belief or non-belief, social class, gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, responsibility for dependents, or for any other unfair reason.

We are committed to ensuring the delivery of excellent public services to everyone living, working, studying, and visiting Carmarthenshire. This is underpinned by our four equality objectives for 2024-2028:

• Being an employer of choice;
• Enabling our residents to live and age well;
• Embedding Community Cohesion in our organisation and our community; and
• Protecting and strengthening equality and human rights. 

The Council

At the local elections in 2022, Carmarthenshire’s residents returned 75 county councillors representing our 51 wards. The Council’s Cabinet consists of 10 Councillors, which includes the Council’s Leader. They have responsibility for ensuring progress against our well-being objectives. Each Cabinet member has a portfolio for which they’re responsible.