POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE

27 June 2018

 

Corporate Planning Timetable

 

Final Decision-Maker

Policy and Resources Committee

Lead Director

Chief Executive

Lead Officer and Report Author

Angela Woodhouse, Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Classification

Public

 

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

 

This report sets out the proposed timetable for the development of the new Strategic Plan for 2019/20 to 2023/24 and updating the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and rolling it forward to cover the five year period 2019/20 to 2023/24.

 

 

This report makes the following recommendations to this Committee:

1.   To adopt the corporate planning timetable.

 

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Policy and Resources Committee

27 June 2018



Corporate Planning Timetable

 

 

1.    INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

1.1     The corporate planning process within the Council ensures the overall vision for the borough is clear and delivered. The priorities and outcomes in the Strategic Plan are developed alongside the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) as the financial expression of the Strategic Plan. Service planning allows the Council to convert high level objectives from the Strategic Plan into actions for each directorate, service or team across the Council, which then feeds into individual staff performance objectives.

 

1.2     The current Strategic Plan covers the period until 2020. Following discussion with the Group Leaders and Corporate Leadership Team it was agreed that the plan should be reviewed comprehensively in 2018 so that the Council has an up to date vision and priorities to inform other plans that go beyond 2010 and need to be reviewed in the near future including the Local Plan.

 

1.3     As a first step in the process a Member Workshop was held on 12 June to look at the challenges facing the Borough and how these might be addressed. This has highlighted a number of key themes which will provide a structure for the next stage in strategy development.  A summary of the workshop outcomes including the proposed key themes will be shared with all Members.  Members will then participate in a number of workshops, each focused on an individual theme, to be held in July and August.

1.4     The Workshop used as its starting point a performance index created by accountants Grant Thornton, which uses multiple datasets to provide a framework for understanding the challenges and opportunities in any given local authority area.  Throughout the process of planning and implementing the Council’s new strategy, we will rely on relevant data for performance measurement, so that we have a clear baseline and a means of monitoring progress.

 

 

2.      AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

Create a new Strategic Plan

 

2.1     To create a new Strategic Plan for 2019-24, so that there is an up to date corporate vision and plan in place prior to the development of the refreshed Local Plan. The Local Plan itself, along with some of the other policies that depend on the new Strategic Plan, will have currency beyond 2024.  However, by developing a new Strategic Plan now, we will ensure that the same vision informs both the Strategic Plan and the Local Plan.

 

2.2     The Member Workshop held in June has resulted in the identification of several strategic themes that now require further development with Members.  The timetable proposed sets out how a new strategic plan will be developed alongside the MTFS including committee meetings, stakeholder engagement and approval of the Plan by Council in December.  It is proposed that a desktop exercise is carried out to review the plans and priorities of those stakeholders (those organisations who shape our place) so we can ensure there is synergy.

 

2.3     In 2017 we carried out a Resident Survey with responses received across the Borough.  This data will also be used to inform the strategic plan work and some of this data was presented to the workshop in June.

 

2.4     We are also required to consult annually on our budget, it is proposed to carry out a consultation with advice from The Consultation Institute both on our budget and strategic plan themes. The results will be reported to Policy and Resources Committee in November. The Policy and Resources Committee will also be involved in strategic plan development alongside the other service committees in October.

 

2.5     The aim is to maximise Member engagement and involvement within the council’s governance arrangements making use of workshops, the member sounding board for communications and engagement, Leaders’ Forum and the Service Committees.

 

Corporate Planning Timetable

 

Date

Action

12 June 2018

All Member Workshop on the Strategic Plan

 

22 June 2018

Leaders’ Forum to look at results of the workshop and consider the themes for the follow up member workshops

 

W/C 25 June 2018

Summary of workshop outcomes issued to all Members.

 

16 July to 10 August

Workshops held on themes involving Councillors, Officers, External Support as appropriate

 

June – September

Data Collection to inform the Strategic Plan including key stakeholder priorities, resident survey data and performance information. This will be  reported to Committee with Strategic Plan themes

 

13 September

Leaders’ Forum to consider the themes, actions, analysis and stakeholder engagement

 

September – October

Resident Consultation on the Budget and to inform the Strategic Plan. Where the engagement is primarily carried out digitally, provision will be made for including those who cannot access consultation in this way. We will involve the Communications Member Sounding Board.

 

Service Planning – Heads of Service and Unit Managers

October 2018

Draft Strategic Plan Themes to each Service Committee

 

November 2018

Medium term Financial Strategy to Service Committees

 

21 November 2018

Strategic Plan to Policy and Resources Committee

 

12 December 2018

Medium Term Financial Strategy  and Strategic Plan to Council

 

 

Retain and update the current Strategic Plan

 

2.6     The Committee could decide to retain and update the current strategic plan for 2019/20 as it has done previously and prepare a new plan in 2020 in line with the current strategic plan’s end point. This would however mean that the refreshed Local Plan would be based on a Strategic Plan that is will soon be out of date.

 

Amend or create a new timetable for a new Strategic Plan

 

2.7     The Committee can amend the timetable proposed for the new plan. It should be noted that the current end point of December has been proposed to ensure the Local Plan refresh follows any new vision agreed.

 

 

 

3.        PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

3.1     It is recommended that the Committee approves the proposed Corporate Planning timetable to create a new Strategic Plan to run concurrently with the Medium Term Financial Strategy from 2019-2024.  There are a number of long term challenges that are facing the Borough including the refresh of the Local Plan which go beyond the 2020 deadline. The new Strategic Plan’s vision and priorities will inform the refreshed Local Plan and other documents and strategies.

 

 

 

 

4.       RISK

4.1    This report sets out proposals for a new Strategic Plan. Risks associated with the delivery of the Strategic Plan will be set out in the Risk Management Framework and operationally through the service planning process

 

 

 

 

 

5.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

5.1     Previous consultation results will be used to inform the Strategic Plan including the Resident Survey from 2017. As a first step in the process, an all member workshop was held on 12 June to look at the key challenges for the Borough. This work will be shared with all Members.  The ideas will also be developed into themes for additional member workshops prior to Committee review and development. Additional consultation including how we will take into account the views of stakeholders such as key partner agencies has been identified in the timetable.

 

 

 

6.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

6.1     Details are set out in 2.1.

 

 

 

7.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

The Strategic Plan sets the corporate priorities

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Risk Management

Already covered in the risk section

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Financial

Financial implications of the Strategic Plan will be addressed by developing an updated Medium Term Financial Strategy in parallel with the Strategic Plan.

Section 151 Officer & Finance Team

Staffing

Creating a new strategic plan

will have staffing implications for the Policy and Information Team and Leadership Team.

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Legal

There are no legal implications

 

 

Privacy and Data Protection

All data collected as part of the Strategic Plan process will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

 

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Equalities

Equalities will need to be

taken into account when we

plan the consultation and any

service changes resulting from the budget

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Crime and Disorder

Crime and Disorder will be considered during the strategic plan process

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Procurement

N/A

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

 

8.        REPORT APPENDICES

 

None.