The Policy Review and Performance Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to meet on 10 December to discuss the council's mid-year performance, correspondence, and any urgent business. A key item for discussion is the mid-year wellbeing assessment for 2025/26, prior to its consideration by the cabinet. The committee will also review previous correspondence and plan for future activities.

Mid-Year Wellbeing Assessment 2025/26

The committee is scheduled to review the council's mid-year performance assessment for 2025/26, before it goes to the cabinet on 18 December. The report pack includes the cabinet report titled Mid-year Assessment of Performance 2025/26, a narrative assessment of performance, a summary of observations made by the Scrutiny Performance Panel on 18 November 2025 (Appendix B), and the cabinet's response to the performance panel (Appendix C).

The report pack highlights both progress and challenges across the council's seven wellbeing objectives¹, including:

• Progress: The Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) concluded that Cardiff is a 'good and ambitious Council'. There has been sustained improvement in education, and effective delivery of the Striving for Excellence in Children's Services Strategy. The council is working closely with Cardiff & Vale University Health Board, and the Money Advice Team has identified nearly £10 million of additional benefit for its clients. Good progress is being made on the housing programme, and 21 parks and green spaces have been awarded Green Flags, including Llandaff Fields. Financial close was achieved on the new Multi-Purpose Indoor Arena in Cardiff Bay, and Cardiff hosted major music and sporting events. Construction of the final pipe section of the Cardiff Heat Network at Callaghan Square was completed, and the council's annual property plan was approved. There have been increases in digital interaction with citizens, and £10.7 million community wellbeing benefits have been committed within contracts and tenders.
• Challenges: The council faces challenges in ensuring service and financial resilience through a new change programme, and needs to align economic and environmental strategies. There is a need to improve performance in education, children's services, recycling, street cleansing, housing, and housing repairs. The council also faces workforce pressures.

The Corporate Performance Dashboard provides a visual presentation of all corporate plan key performance indicators and steps for each wellbeing objective.

The Scrutiny Performance Panel met on 18 November 2025 to consider the mid-year assessment, and made six recommendations, all of which have been accepted by the cabinet.

The committee is being asked to consider the information provided, and decide whether to offer comments, observations, or recommendations to the cabinet before its meeting on 18 December 2025, and whether performance issues identified should inform the ongoing work programme of the committee.

Committee Business

The committee is scheduled to review correspondence between the committee and the cabinet for meetings between June and November 2025. The report pack includes a table setting out published weblinks to correspondence for this committee since June 2025.