The Customers, Performance, Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee of Wrexham County Borough Council met to discuss the council's performance, membership of the Groves Task & Finish Group, and the ICT and digital strategy. The meeting was scheduled to include a review of the council's work programme.

Here's a breakdown of the topics that were listed on the agenda:

Council Plan Annual Performance

The committee was scheduled to consider the annual performance report against the Council Plan. The report included performance against all of the council's priorities. The report also included the Council Plan Performance Management Framework for Year 3 of the Council Plan 2023-28.

The report at Appendix A set out the council's performance against its six well-being objectives, referred to as council priorities. The report considered the progress made within the second year of the Council Plan 2023-28 towards achieving Wrexham County Borough's vision.

The report also included the annual review of the progress against equality outcomes in 2024/25.

The Council Plan set out six council priorities:

• Delivering Efficient Streetscene Services and Decarbonising our Environment
• Developing the Economy
• Ensuring Wrexham is a Fair and Safe Place
• Improving Education and Learning
• Promoting Good Health and Well-being (with a focus on social services and good mental health)
• Supporting a Highly Skilled and Engaged Workforce, Focussed on Delivering Services

The report stated that the achievement towards the outcomes of the six council priorities at the end of the second year of the Council Plan (2023-28) had been judged overall as Yellow. Where performance was off track, the report stated that these had been identified as areas that required review, especially in light of future budget pressures.

The committee was also scheduled to discuss the Performance Management Framework (PMF) for Year 3 of the plan, highlighting areas where there had been significant changes to measures and targets, including any new measures that had been identified.

ICT and Digital Strategy 2024-2027

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the first year of the ICT & Digital Strategy 2024-27. The strategy identifies the need to develop a digital council that enables Wrexham Council to modernise the way it works and engages with its customers.

The strategy identifies five key themes:

• Digital Inclusion and skills
• Cyber Security
• Data Analytics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Developing a smart city

The report included a list of projects managed by ICT (Appendix 1) and Digital teams (Appendix 2), highlighting ongoing and future work that will deliver against the ICT & Digital Strategy 2024-27, as well as an overview of the performance measures supporting the strategy (Appendix 3).

Work Programme

The committee was asked to consider the work programme attached at Appendix 1. The work programme is routinely shared with relevant Lead Members and officers, the Chair of the Audit Committee, AVOW¹ and Senedd Yr Ifanc².

The topics on the work programme are broadly aligned to the priorities in the new Council Plan.

Any proposed changes are outlined in the report and highlighted in bold in the attached schedule.

Item 4

The following changes were agreed at the previous meeting in July:

• ICT & Digital Strategy deferred from July to 18 September 2025
• PSB³ Annual Report deferred from September to 16 October 2025
• Planning Governance Update deferred from October to 20 November 2025
• Customer Access (Front Door) Project progress update December 2025/January 2026
• Wrexham Council Self-Assessment Report remove from work programme due to duplication with the work of the Governance and Audit Committee.

Review of Membership - Groves Task & Finish Group

The committee was scheduled to consider the membership of the Groves Task & Finish Group.

In September 2018, the Customers, Performance, Resources & Governance Scrutiny Committee agreed to establish the Groves Task & Finish Group, to include Members from the Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee.

The terms of reference of the Task & Finish Group are:

• To make recommendations to CPR&GSC / LLSC (as appropriate) to enable CPR&GSC / LLSC to make recommendations in relation to the future use of the Groves School building;
• To ensure that the Council, as owners of the listed Groves School building, explores all avenues for future use to satisfy the statutory responsibilities and covenants.

The membership of the Group was last reviewed by both Committees in June and July 2023. It was agreed by both Committees to retain the membership as far as possible to ensure continuity.

The Task & Finish Group met in April 2023 to discuss ways forward, particularly concentrating on the nature of covenants to which The Groves is currently subject.

The report noted that the Scrutiny Protocol recommends that Task & Finish Groups have between 5-7 members, but the Groves Task & Finish Group has 9 members. The Protocol also states that members of a Task & Finish Group do not have to be members of the Committee which established them, but recommends that they should be chaired by a member of the commissioning scrutiny committee (in this case CPR&GSC).

The Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee will consider this matter at their meeting on 25 September 2025.