Agenda item

North Norfolk Corporate Plan: Review of delivery February 2020 - October 2021 and agreement of priority objectives for the next twelve months

Summary:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the past eighteen months much of the Council’s corporate focus has been on responding to the COVID pandemic and supporting local recovery, as well as seeking to maintain core service provision.  This has meant that there has been less capacity to progress some aspects of the Council’s Corporate Plan Delivery Plan as originally proposed in February 2020.

 

Cabinet therefore reviewed the Delivery Plan objectives and actions in October 2020 at which time it agreed eighteen priority objectives for delivery over the 12 months from October 2020 – October 2021.

 

This report outlines the progress made in delivering against the revised priorities given the prolonged COVID situation and against some other Corporate Plan objectives where capacity has existed and proposes new priority objectives for the next year.

 

Options considered:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusions:

 

Given the changing context in which the Council has needed to operate over the period since March 2020 due to COVID the Council could have resolved not to progress any of the Corporate Plan objectives because of the need to concentrate resource on the emergency response.  The Cabinet therefore considered a number of possible actions before agreeing a revised list of 18 priority actions for the 12 months from October 2020.

 

The alternative options considered were:-

·        do nothing to re-profile the Delivery Plan actions, or

·        agree to “pause” all Delivery Plan actions and concentrate on the COVID response and Business As Usual service provision, which was not considered a viable position given the wider land medium-term pressures the Council faces in terms of its budget etc.

 

The report details a practical and measured response to the Council prioritising its Delivery Plan actions in light of the COVID situation and the achievement made against these revised objectives over the 12 months October 2020 – October 2021.

 

Recommendations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reasons for

Recommendations:

 

Cabinet is asked to review and comment on the progress made against the original and revised Delivery Plan objectives and agree those objectives where they would wish focus to be directed over the next twelve months given the continued COVID situation which, although improving, is still commanding some management time in working with partners in responding to local case rates and seeking to relieve winter pressures on local NHS partners.

 

To reflect the changed circumstances in which the Council has operated over the period since March 2020 in seeking to balance its Corporate Plan priorities against the ongoing COVID situation.

 

 

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not published elsewhere)

 

 

Cabinet Member(s)

Cllr Sarah Butikofer,

Leader of the Council

 

Ward(s) affected

All

Contact Officer, telephone number and email:

Steve Blatch, Chief Executive

Email:- steve.blatch@north-norfolk.gov.uk

Tel:- 01263 516232

 

Minutes:

The CE introduced the report and informed Members that whilst the corporate capacity of the Council had been impacted by Covid, productivity had not suffered for the majority of service areas whilst staff worked from home, and staff were now required to return to the office for a minimum of two days per week. It was noted that there had been significant demand placed on some service areas whilst administering the Covid-related grant funds, which had subsequently necessitated reprioritisation of the Council’s Delivery Plan.

 

Questions and Discussion

 

       i.          Cllr C Cushing stated that many objectives within the Plan appeared to be process driven, with very few outcome focused. He added that he expected more objectives to be SMART with measurable outcomes, and proposed that each objective be reviewed and where necessary amended, so that all had defined outcomes with either a milestone or a completion date against which progress could be measured. The CE replied that whilst the Council provided a number of statutory and discretionary services, many objectives were the administration’s political priorities, which were linked to measurable outcomes. He added that the report focused on progress made on the agreed objectives, taking into account the changes made in October 2020. It was noted that the report sought to provide context to the objectives outlined, whilst performance reports would continue on a quarterly basis that contain more qualitative data for scrutiny.

 

      ii.          Cllr C Cushing noted that the report did include RAG ratings, which showed some level of performance in delivering the agreed objectives, but the objectives remained unclear and could benefit from improved focus.

 

     iii.          Cllr N Lloyd stated that reviewing issues was necessary in order to make informed decisions, and that the deliverables on environmental objectives were clear. He added that as a result of these actions, Serco were now using more environmentally friendly vehicles, a detailed action plan was being put in place to implement the Environmental Charter and efforts were being made to reduce the Council’s carbon emissions.

 

    iv.          Cllr V Holliday stated that the Corporate Plan did have metrics attached and suggested it would be helpful to include these within the Delivery Plan. She added that with data was available for performance reporting, it would be helpful to see the information alongside objectives. The CE replied that whilst the Corporate Plan was not a performance report, the appendix had been added to improve transparency of the progress made on objectives using of RAG ratings. He referred to the first objective on the delivery of the Local Plan and reassured Members that good progress had been made and the project remained on track. He added that Corporate Plan objectives could not be changed mid-way through the Council term. As a result, re-prioritisation of objectives alongside the revised completion dates and RAG ratings provided transparency and an opportunity for scrutiny of the progress made, whilst taking into account the impact of Covid-19.

 

      v.          Cllr A Brown referred to the excellent progress made by officers on the new Local Plan and stated that it was on track to go out for public consultation immediately after Christmas.

 

    vi.          Cllr S Penfold referred to p58 on Climate Coast and Environment and sought clarification on the suggestion that the carbon impact of decisions would apply to all decisions made by the Council, rather than just those relating to this theme. It was confirmed that this would apply to all decisions made by the authority and was expected to be included on all reports in the new year. Cllr S Penfold suggested that it be made more clear for the benefit of anyone unfamiliar with the Plan.

 

   vii.          Cllr E Seward stated that there was a clear difference between objectives and targets, with the purpose of the report to outline the Council’s key priorities over the next twelve months. He added that despite this, many objectives outlined in the Plan had clear deliverables and timeframes for progress to be measured against.

 

  viii.          The recommendations were proposed by Cllr A Brown and seconded by Cllr E Spagnola.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.     To note the contents of the report and the current budget monitoring position.

 

2.     To support Cabinet’s decision that £40,000 is released from the Invest to Save reserve to fund the purchase and implementation of Planning s106 software.

 

3.     To support Cabinet’s decision that £150,000 is released from the Capital Receipts Reserve to fund the new Financial Management System purchase and implementation.

Supporting documents: