APPENDIX A Corporate Peer Challenge Isle of Wight Council On site 20-24 November 2017 Final Feedback Report Feb 5 2018 B - 9 1. Executive Summary The Council has made good progress since its 2014 Corporate Peer Challenge and is in a stronger position to meet the significant challenges of delivering public services on the Isle of Wight (the Island). Improvement is being made on developing a different model and focus for local government working with other public service providers on the Island that could be of national significance. The Council has been bold in using and examining different methods of service delivery either through commissioning services, entering into partnerships or looking at being more commercially minded. Ambitious plans for regeneration and economic growth offer potential to grow the tax base and address housing need and deprivation. Recent LGA public opinion survey results show the impact of sustained hard work over recent years in improving outcomes. Partners now view the Council as a more credible public sector partner and our sense was that they want to see it take a broader leadership role on the Island. This was a refrain heard from business, from other public services, the voluntary sector, and Parish and Town Councils. With a clear political mandate since May 2017 and a more stable and dynamic CMT it possesses greater capacity to achieve this. There is an important opportunity and appetite to bring partners and the community together to articulate a set of long term goals for the whole Island, in a way that plays to the Island’s strengths and unique assets as well as to its challenges. Improvement over at least two years demonstrates the impact on outcomes that the Council can achieve. And recently the new administration can point to results including the creation of up to 600 jobs in a business centre, the renewed future for Sandown School, the reduction in delayed transfers out of hospital, and the winning of a place on the south east Transport Board. A new and ambitious Corporate Plan signals the goals and targets of the Council. The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) is enabling space and capacity to transform services rather than simply cut them. However, the overarching theme of this report is that for the Council to realise the goals and aspirations outlined within the Corporate Plan, to devise and secure a sustainable financial business model, and to bring partners and the public along that shared endeavour, then a shorter set of priorities and greater financial and senior leadership capacity will be required. 1 Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ T 020 7664 3000 F 020 7664 3030 E [email protected] www.local.gov.uk Chief Executive: Mark Lloyd B - 10 2. Key recommendations There are a range of suggestions and observations within the main section of the report that will inform some ‘quick wins’ and practical actions, in addition to the conversations onsite, many of which provided ideas and examples of practice from other organisations. The following are the peer team’s key recommendations to the Council: R1 As an enabling Council, form an Island Partnership that brings together all of the partners who can help you deliver success. R2 Consider sharing the leadership within your partnerships to secure support for your vision. R3 Use that Partnership to create an agreed and owned vision and set of priorities for the Island to 2030. R4 Use that Partnership to set and manage what you want to say about where the Island is going, and avoid raising expectations you may not be able to deliver. R5 Use your Corporate Plan and MTFP to set and stick to deliverable priorities. Remain focused on these priorities and ensure they are delivered before adopting new projects. R6 Maintain credibility by taking the tough decisions your MTFP requires, R7 Urgently review the capacity you need to land the opportunities within One Public Service, regeneration, and to build a sustainable business model for the Council. R8 Develop an open and honest relationship with health partners and test this by sharing financial and savings assumptions and plans. R9 Ensure all councillors are trained and developed to fulfil their roles and make a positive contribution. R10 As a new and dynamic Cabinet develop your collective strengths and your working relationships with CMT including clarity about respective roles R11 Celebrate and shout out about the Island’s strengths and the opportunities you offer and develop a more robust and strategic approach to corporate communications. 2 Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ T 020 7664 3000 F 020 7664 3030 E [email protected] www.local.gov.uk B - 11 3. Summary of the Peer Challenge approach The peer team Peer challenges are delivered by experienced councillors and officer peers. The make-up of the peer team reflected your requirements and the focus of the peer challenge. Peers were selected on the basis of their relevant experience and expertise and agreed with you. The peers who delivered the peer challenge at Isle of Wight Council were: Ada Burns, Chief Executive Darlington Borough Council Councillor Roger Phillips, Herefordshire County Council Caroline Adlem, Head of Traded Development, Essex County Council Deborah Cohen, Director of Service Integration, Cambridge & Peterborough Foundation Trust Stephen Young, Director of Place, Bolton Council Alan Finch, LGA Principal Advisor Robert Hathaway, LGA peer challenge manager: Scope and focus The peer team considered the following five questions which form the core components looked at by all Corporate Peer Challenges. These are the areas we believe are critical to councils’ performance and improvement: 1. Understanding of the local place and priority setting: Does the council understand its local context and place and use that to inform a clear vision and set of priorities? 2. Leadership of Place: Does the council provide effective leadership of place through its elected members, officers and constructive relationships and partnerships with external stakeholders? 3. Organisational leadership and governance: Is there effective political and managerial leadership supported by good governance and decision-making arrangements that respond to key challenges and enable change and transformation to be implemented? 4. Financial planning and viability: Does the council have a financial plan in place to ensure long term viability and is there evidence that it is being implemented successfully? 5. Capacity to deliver: Is organisational capacity aligned with priorities and does the council influence, enable and leverage external capacity to focus on agreed outcomes? 3 Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ T 020 7664 3000 F 020 7664 3030 E [email protected] www.local.gov.uk B - 12 The Council also asked for assistance in looking at four specific areas; Achieving best use of resources and the island’s public assets through productivity and innovation; maintaining focus on current delivery while also delivering a longer term vision, and making best use of commercial opportunities. Stakeholder engagement and involvement; in particular engaging better with the island’s well-developed voluntary and community sector and its town and parish councils. Developing a ‘one public sector’ approach to delivery, using the coterminous boundaries it enjoys with health commissioners and providers and also engaging with the emergency services. Recognising that, as a small authority, sharing capacity is important to future resilience and sustainability, reviewing the effectiveness of its leadership, capability and capacity to sustain and develop its complex strategic partnerships, which include arrangements with Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth City Council and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. The peer challenge process It is important to stress that this was not an inspection. Peer challenges are improvement focussed and tailored to meet individual councils’ needs. They are designed to complement and add value to a council’s own performance and improvement. The process is not designed to provide an in-depth or technical assessment of plans and proposals. The peer team used their experience and knowledge of local government to reflect on the information presented to them by people they met, things they saw and material that they read. The peer team prepared for the peer challenge by reviewing a range of documents and information in order to ensure they were familiar with the Council and the challenges it is facing. The team then spent four days onsite at Isle of Wight, during which they: Spoke to more than 112 people including a range of council staff together with councillors and external partners and stakeholders. Gathered information and views from more than 42 meetings, visits to key sites in the area and additional research and reading. Collectively spent more than 270 hours to determine their findings – the equivalent of one person spending more than six weeks on the Isle of Wight. This report provides a summary of the peer team’s findings. It builds on the feedback presentation provided by the peer team at the end of their on-site visit (20 -24 November 2017). We have included commentary on the additional areas you asked us to look at in the body of the feedback. In presenting feedback to you, they have done so 4 Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ T 020 7664 3000 F 020 7664 3030 E [email protected] www.local.gov.uk B - 13 as fellow local government officers and members, not professional consultants or inspectors. By its nature, the peer challenge is a snapshot in time. We appreciate that some of the feedback may be about things you are already addressing and progressing. 4. Feedback 4.1 Understanding of the local place and priority setting Data and Intelligence The Council and its partners are improving the use of shared intelligence and data to develop a stronger understanding of the characteristics and challenges in delivering public services on the Isle of Wight (here after the Island).