Council's Annual Report 2023-2024
Introduction to Our Annual Report
Carmarthenshire County Council (CCC) is a large, complex organisation with a workforce of approximately 8,350 employees and a budget for 2024/25 of over £900 million. In the face of unprecedented pressure due to the inadequate funding of 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 2023/2024 against these well-being objectives, which are:
- Enabling our children and young people to have the best possible start in life (Start Well)
- Enabling our residents to live and age well (Live and Age Well)
- Enabling our communities and environment to be healthy, safe, and prosperous (Prosperous Communities)
- 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 however, our Corporate Strategy for 2022-2027 provides a detailed overview. They were developed in 2022/2023 following an extensive needs assessment and period of consultation.
Whilst 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 and the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015.
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 which 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 and properly accounted for and 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 complies 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 and 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 by our services. 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
