Decision details

To consider Maidstone Borough Council’s improvement journey detailed in the Improvement Plan 2012-15 set out at Appendix A to the report of the Head of Business Improvement.

That the Improvement Plan 2012-15 be adopted.

Maidstone Borough Council has set the priorities and outcomes for the borough of Maidstone in its Strategic Plan.  The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) sets out what will be spent and where savings will be made.  In order to deliver the priority outcomes and the savings required, a number of key pieces of work and projects will be carried out.  These are detailed in the Improvement Plan 2012-15, which ensures the improvement work is aligned with the Strategic Plan and the MTFS.

The Improvement Plan has three objectives:

1.  A reduction in net cost, through making savings or increased income

2.  Improving or maintaining quality: ensuring we deliver excellent services, which means delivering what is promised to agreed standards

3.  Identifying and responding to opportunities aligned with the Strategic Plan

The four corporate workstreams (1-4) and enablers (5-7) of the  plan are:

1.  Incremental improvement

2.  Asset management

3.  Transformation

4.  External challenge

5.  Organisational culture

6.  Good information and knowledge management

7.  Councillor assurance

The priority services and projects for improvement have also been identified in the Improvement Plan, based on priorities in the Strategic Plan, our current knowledge of any external or internal opportunities and potential for improvement and/or reduction in net cost. These are as follows:

·  Waste and Recycling

·  Customer services delivery

·  ICT

·  Parking transport management

·  Hazlitt Arts Centre

·  Planning

·  Revenues and Benefits

·  Housing

·  Finance

·  Building Control

·  Future use of Town Hall

·  Community asset transfer

·  Major assets review

·  More proactive use of Covalent, our performance management system

·  Management & Admin recharges review

·  Other shared services and Mid Kent Improvement Partnership work

·  Cross-organisational collaboration

·  Corporate peer review

Compiling an Improvement Plan allows the key workstreams to be brought together and monitored.  Officers responsible for each of the workstreams and enablers and the Leader will make up a monitoring group to ensure the plan progresses and benefits are delivered.  It is proposed the group would include:

·  Leader – provides political leadership and councillor assurance (as defined in the  Improvement Plan)

·  Chief Executive - ultimately owns and is accountable for delivery of Improvement Plan

·  Assistant Director of Environmental & Regulatory Services – responsible for Asset management workstream

·  Head of Change & Scrutiny – responsible for Incremental improvement and External challenge workstreams

·  Head of Business Improvement – responsible for Transformation workstream and Good information and knowledge management enabler

·  Head of HR – responsible for Organisational culture enabler

·  Head of ICT – responsible for Use of technology, which is not a workstream or an enabler but a critical tool for improvement

·  Head of Finance & Customer Services – essential to ensure that any improvement work is aligned with the MTFS.

The plan will be updated annually and progress reported to Cabinet on a six-monthly basis.

It could be decided not to adopt the Improvement Plan 2012-15.  This is not thought appropriate as the Improvement Plan is aligned with the Council’s strategic objectives and MTFS and is essential for ensuring corporate oversight of a number of different pieces of work across the organisation.