Council REPORT NO
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AGENDA ITEM NO. 8 REPORT TO: Council REPORT NO: CLF / 12 / 13 DATE: 22 May 2013 LEAD MEMBER: Councillor Malcolm King OBE (Policy, Finance, Performance and Governance) CONTACT OFFICER: Morgan Jones (Tel: 292263) SUBJECT: The Council Plan 2013-17 WARD: All Wards 1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT To seek Member approval for the proposed Council Plan 2013-17 and for the outcome indicators, targets and improvement activity set out within it. 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.1 The Council Plan is the overarching plan for the Council. It sets out where we will focus our energies and resources, how we will judge our performance and what the Council’s contribution to ‘Our Wrexham Plan ‘ – Wrexham Local Service Board’s single integrated plan - will be. It is also the means by which the Council agrees its improvement objectives as required by the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 and as such is a key focus for our regulators. 2.2 The framework for the Council Plan was developed through a review of the Council’s existing and emerging strategies and the needs assessments and engagement work that underpins them. It also considered Members’ reflections, statutory guidance and comments from regulators – particularly Wales Audit Office concerns regarding appropriate outcomes and measures. 2.3 In December 2011 Executive Board approved a Council Plan framework for 2012-16 to reflect the four year electoral cycle upon which the Council operated. Council then approved this framework in March 2012. As this has now been extended to a five year electoral cycle, it is recommended that the Council Plan is similarly extended to 2017. 2.4 However, the Council is currently undertaking significant work to reshape services to meet the financial challenges ahead whilst prioritising the most vulnerable. As such, the Plan only includes targets for the next financial year. During this year decisions will be taken which will allow longer-term targets to be set. 2.5 The Council plan sets out a vision, purpose, guiding principles and values for the authority that set the context for three strategic themes – Economy, People and Place – and one corporate theme of Organisation – striving for excellence. 2.6 The three strategic themes and one corporate theme are informed by a series of fifteen priority outcomes. 2.7 Each priority outcome sets out how the Council will judge its success in that priority outcome area and how it intends to achieve this through: Outcome indicators – a measure of the impact that activities are having, ie the extent to which projects and services are affecting the economy, people, place or organisation in the intended way. Improvement activity – the key projects and improvements which are being planned and delivered to support, influence or deliver improvements in identified outcomes. 2.8 Underpinning the planned improvement activity will be the day to day business that departments undertake and which will be reflected in departmental service plans. These plans will also include the performance measures by which the delivery of wider improvement activity can be managed. 2.9 The Council Plan is a living document and will be regularly reviewed throughout its life to reflect changes in the local, regional and national context. Specifically it will reviewed alongside the delivery plan for ‘Our Wrexham Plan’ – Wrexham Local Service Board’s single integrated plan – to ensure that those outcome indicators and actions that depend on partnership working remain consistent with those agreed with partners in ‘Our Wrexham Plan’. 3 RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 Council approves the proposed Council Plan 2013-17 and the outcome indicators, associated targets and improvement activity set out within it. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS (i) To define the priorities of the Council for the next four years and to set out the Council’s improvement objectives as required in the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009. 4. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 4.1 The Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 requires authorities to put in place arrangements to secure continuous improvement which allows them to effectively understand local needs and priorities and to make best use of their capacity to meet them and to evaluate the impact of their actions. Authorities should seek to ensure that their improvement objectives remain relevant, the best arrangements for delivering them are in place, and they are able to understand and demonstrate the impact on the outcomes for citizens. 4.2 Specifically, the Measure requires authorities to: publish annual plans for improvement which must include a set of Improvement Objectives; and publish an annual assessment of performance relating to their plans and Improvement Objectives 4.3 An authority is expected to publish a council plan (referred to in the measure as an improvement plan) as soon as ‘reasonably practicable’ after the start of the financial year to which it relates. The Council Plan framework 4.4 The existing Council Plan was agreed for 2012-16 on the basis that this reflected the four year electoral cycle upon which the Council operates. As the electoral cycle has now been extended to five years, it is proposed that the Council Plan is similarly extended. 4.5 Local authorities are currently facing unprecedented financial pressures. Decisions on how to reshape services to meet these financial challenges have yet to be taken and as such the attached plan only presents targets for the next year. Longer term targets will be agreed once these decisions have been taken and their service delivery implications can be reflected within proposed targets. 4.6 The framework approved by Council in March 2012 proposes a vision, purpose and values for the Council. Vision: Wrexham County Borough Council is a strong community leader. Purpose: To ensure Wrexham and its people are supported to fulfil their potential and prosper Guiding Principles: Citizens, customers & equality being at the centre of everything we do; Elected members as community leaders being at the heart of decision making; Supporting and encouraging customers and staff to communicate in Welsh and English Values: Trust, respect, innovation, flexibility, integrity, commitment 4.7 These values have been used to define a way of working for the Council: We ask our customers what they want, consider their requests, work together to identify creative and appropriate ways forward, balancing risk and opportunity, and then feedback to them honestly what can be delivered, working hard to keep our promises. We build trust and help to improve the quality of life for the people of Wrexham. 4.8 The framework sets out three strategic themes – Economy, People and Place – and one corporate theme of Organisation – striving for excellence. Each of these is informed by a number of priority outcomes. 4.9 These priority outcomes have been developed through a review of the Council’s existing and emerging strategies, the needs assessments and engagement work that underpins them, Members reflections, statutory guidance and comments from regulators. 4.10 The Economy strategic theme is based on the Economic Prosperity Strategy which was developed in consultation with stakeholders and originally approved in January 2012. 4.11 The People strategic theme is largely drawn from key outcomes of ‘Our Joint Plan,’ the Council’s combined Children and Young People’s Plan and Health, Social Care and Well-being Strategy, a three year plan which was approved by Council in March 2011. It also draws in key outcomes from the Flintshire and Wrexham Community Safety Partnership Plan, the Welsh Language Scheme and Welsh in Education Strategic Plan. 4.12 The Place strategic theme is based on the Unitary and Local Development Plans, the emerging Local Housing Strategy, the Carbon Management Action Plan, Community Cohesion Strategy and Highways Asset Management Plan. 4.13 The Organisation corporate theme focuses on customers and staff. It is drawn from the Organisation Development and Workforce Strategy, the agreed Customer Care Standards and Strategic Assessment Programme. 4.14 Each priority outcome sets out a small number of outcome indicators, which are the high level measures that will be used to assess whether the outcomes that the Council is working to improve have actually done so. It also sets out the key Improvement activities which will be undertaken to improve those outcomes. 4.15 The Council Plan can only provide a summary of key activities and outcome indicators. It is underpinned by a wider performance management framework which details the wider activities that the Council will undertake and the performance measures and targets by which this work will be performance managed. 4.16 The Plan is a living document which will be subject to regular review throughout its life to reflect changes in the local, regional and national context. It will also need to consider reviews of the supporting plans and strategies that underpin it, as well as reviews of ‘Our Wrexham plan’ which it, in turn, underpins. 4.17 Policy Framework – It is a requirement of the Wales Programme for Improvement that the Council identifies and delivers on its priority and improvement areas. 4.18 Budget – The priorities set within the Council Plan will continue to be a key driver in allocating resources and future budgets. 4.19 Legal – There are no legal implications in the report. 4.20 Staffing – There are no staffing implications in the report 4.21 Equality/Human Rights – The original Equalities Impact Assessment of the Council Plan has been updated. It is available on the Councils Equality Assessment System and Index (EASI) as EIA/00569 and is based upon the equality impact assessments of the strategies upon which it is based. The development of the plan has also considered issues such as the equality challenges for Wales set out by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. The key actions already taken as a result of the EIA have been the development of more accessible versions of the Council Plan – including the ‘short and snappy’ version developed in consultation with the Senedd Yr Ifanc (Youth Parliament), and the easyread version developed in consultation with a local Learning Disability Group.