The Policy Review and Performance Scrutiny Committee are scheduled to meet on 10 December 2025 to discuss the mid-year wellbeing assessment for 2025/26, as well as committee business. The main focus of the meeting will be a pre-decision scrutiny of the council's mid-year performance assessment before it is considered by the cabinet. The committee will also review correspondence between the committee and the cabinet from June 2025 to November 2025.

Mid-Year Wellbeing Assessment 2025/26

The committee will undertake pre-decision scrutiny of the council's mid-year performance assessment for 2025/26, prior to its consideration by the cabinet on 18 December 2025. The report pack includes the cabinet report titled Mid-year Assessment of Performance 2025/26, the Mid-year Assessment of Performance 2025/26 (Narrative), a summary of observations made by the Scrutiny Performance Panel on 18 November 2025, and the cabinet response to the Performance Panel.

The report pack states that legislation places the onus on the council, under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, to:

Take ownership of its own improvement and develop a performance and governance system that allows for the annual assessment of performance, that can be reviewed periodically by an appointed external panel. To implement a self-assessment process that measures and reviews the performance of its functions, ensuring that resources are used economically, efficiently, and effectively.

The report pack notes that the Scrutiny Performance Panel, comprised of the Chairs of the five Scrutiny Committees, met to consider the mid-year assessment of performance 2025/26 on 18 November 2025, and made six recommendations in total, all of which the cabinet have accepted.

The Cardiff Council Corporate Plan 2025-28 is structured around seven Well-being Objectives:

• Cardiff is a great place to grow up
• Cardiff is a great place to grow older
• Supporting people out of poverty
• Safe, confident and empowered communities
• A capital city that works for Wales
• One Planet Cardiff
• Modernising and integrating our public services

The report pack lists areas of progress since the annual assessment as:

• A Panel Performance Assessment concluded that overall Cardiff is a 'good and ambitious Council' with a culture that is 'can do and optimistic, with a strong sense of civic pride.'
• Sustained improvement in the quality and effectiveness of education in Cardiff.
• The council has continued to effectively deliver its Striving for Excellence in Children's Services Strategy, resulting in a demonstrable positive shift in the balance of care for children and young people.
• The council continues to work closely with its public sector partners, particularly the Cardiff & Vale University Health Board (UHB), to ensure care and support processes result in a smooth, safe, and timely transition from hospital.
• During the first six months of 2025/26 the Money Advice Team identified nearly £10million of additional benefit for its clients
• Good progress continues to be made in delivering the council's ambitious housing programme.
• Twenty-one parks and green spaces managed by Cardiff Council have been awarded prestigious Green Flags, including for the first time Llandaff Fields.
• Financial close was achieved on the new Multi-Purpose Indoor Arena in Cardiff Bay, enabling construction to begin.
• Cardiff hosted a series of major music and sporting events reinforcing its reputation as a premier events destination.
• Construction of the final pipe section of the Cardiff Heat Network at Callaghan Square was completed in September.
• The council's Annual Property Plan 2025/26, including new energy targets was approved at council in September 2025.
• Increases in the numbers of citizens interacting with the council digitally.
• £10.7 million community wellbeing benefits have been committed within contracts and tenders.

The report pack summarises the challenges and improvement priorities as:

• Ensuring continued service and financial resilience through a new change programme, which includes ensuring the council's workplaces, technology and culture are dynamic and inclusive, delivering preventative, joined-up public services, and ensuring economic and environmental strategies and services are aligned and supporting sustainable growth.
• The council faces significant immediate and medium-term budgetary challenges in closing a revised indicative revenue budget gap of £127million across the period of the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP).
• Continuing to improve performance in key services including educational attainment, performance standards in Children's Services, meeting statutory recycling targets, improving street cleansing performance, responding to the housing emergency, and improving performance in housing repairs.
• Workforce pressures including proactive workforce planning, continued emphasis on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, recruitment challenges and high levels of sickness in specific service areas.

Committee Business

The committee will review correspondence between the committee and the cabinet for meetings between June 2025 and November 2025.