The Council strives to improve people’s lives through the services it provides to make Torfaen a better place to live, work and visit. In 2006, Elected Members identified five key service priorities, which were most important to the people living and working in Torfaen. These priorities form the basis of the Torfaen Corporate Plan.
In October 2008 the Welsh Assembly Government published performance information for all Local Authorities in Wales. This has allowed us to asses whether we are achieving our targets and delivering improvements in key service areas.
The data has shown we are improving services for our most vulnerable people. We are helping our older citizens remain independent at home for longer and we are improving how we deliver Disabled Facility Grants. The number of homeless people using bed and breakfast accommodation has reduced and the percentage of new affordable homes for young people and families is the best in Wales.
Our investment in schools is starting to improve the results of our younger pupils although we must continue to strive for improvements and ensure all school leavers obtain qualifications and are ready for employment.
The following examples show how over the past year, the Corporate Plan is improving lives in Torfaen. It is the Council’s aim to provide supportive, fair and effective services for everyone to help realise our vision of a safe, prosperous, sustainable place where everyone has the opportunity to be the best they can be.
Priority: Reduce crime and antisocial behaviour and take action to help people feel safe in their neighbourhoods
Good News
The number of violent crimes committed against a person in Torfaen has fallen from 1,672 to 1,407.
Area For Improvement
The number of acceptable behaviour contracts issued in Torfaen has risen from 14 to 27.
Comment
Antisocial behaviour related to alcohol continues to be real problem. In 2009 we will be putting in place a new service which will help people who are troubled by their alcohol use. Those whose behaviour continues to harm their neighbours quality of life will be asked to sign Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and if that fails they could be prosecuted.
Almost half of recorded violent crime is Domestic Violence. By November of this year a new service base to support victims will be fully working in Town Bridge Pontypool
Priority: To improve the quality of teaching and learning for young people and other students and to equip citizens of all ages with the necessary skills for employment and the regeneration of their local communities
Good News
The % of key stage 2 pupils achieving the core subject indicator has risen from 69.69% to 71.02%.
Area for improvement
The percentage of children leaving education without qualifications has
fallen from 4.38% to 2.46%. We aim to continue this improvement.
Comment
Much still needs to be done to continue to improve whilst ensuring pupils are within an appropriate learning setting. We aim to increase funding to schools and ensure this brings about improvement. We will work with partner organisations to reduce the number of young people in Torfaen not in Education, training or employment.
Priority: To improve waste management and increase recycling creating a cleaner and more energy efficient area
Good News
The percentage of waste sent to landfill has been reduced from 68.06% to 60.37%.
Area for Improvement
Currently, residents can take cardboard to recycling banks in the County Borough but after listening to their views we are looking how we can link cardboard recycling with our successful twin bin scheme. We are also looking at ways of containing recyclables in the black box.
Comment
The amount and percentage of waste that we divert from landfill in Torfaen has continued to decrease. In Torfaen we have rolled out the twin bin recycling scheme to a further 8,000 homes and introduced a new community recycling facility in Trevethin making a total of 20.
Much work still needs to be done to improve both the percentage of recycling and composting as well as minimising the amount of weight sent to landfill, to keep costs at a minimum and continue to strive to become a greener county.
Priority: To improve services for vulnerable people and improve health outcomes for everyone by promoting healthier lifestyles
Good News
We have helped over 1700 older people to live at home and reduced the average number of calendar days to deliver a Disabled Facility Grant by 25%.
Areas for Improvement
The rate of delayed transfers of care for the over 75’s has fallen from
46.81 days to 26.74 days. We aim to continue this improvement.
Comment
Joint working between the Council, the Local Health Board and the Gwent Healthcare Trust has helped to develop a much wider range of Intermediate Care services. These services aim to reduce unnecessary hospital as well as preventing any unnecessary delay in discharge. In this way, we have reduced both the number of people who experience a delayed transfer, as well as the average length of that delay.
Priority: To improve the quality, variety and affordability of housing and reduce the level of homelessness
Good News
The number of new homes provided that are affordable homes has risen by 500% from 15 to 74.
Area for Improvement
The total number of homeless households having used Bed and Breakfast accommodation has fallen from 278 to 220. We aim to continue this improvement.
Comment
We will strive to improve the availability of affordable housing through continuing our Help2Own scheme to develop and increase affordable accommodation. We will continue to reduce the number of people registering as homeless through development of a needs based allocation system, a common housing register and the employment of a homelessness prevention officer.