Agenda item

The Panel is asked to review and note the Council’s Quarter 4 2014/2015 Corporate Business Plan Monitoring Report.

In presenting the report, the Personnel Services Manager explained that the Corporate Business Plan Monitoring Report had been developed to demonstrate progress against the Council’s Corporate Business Plan.  The report contained information on the corporate performance monitoring undertaken during Q4 2014/2015.

The Panel was advised that the Council’s Corporate Business Plan was adopted in November 2011 and set out the Council’s priorities for the period to the next local elections in 2015. 

The Personnel Services Manager explained that from the adoption of the plan, it was agreed that a report would be prepared quarterly, setting out progress against the work plan – including details of any completed or new work key actions.  The report was brought to the Resources and Performance Panel on Quarters 2 and 4.  However, it was highlighted that all quarterly reports were available to Members on the Council’s Intranet, ‘Insite’.

It was noted that the report contained an Executive Summary on the first page provided an overview of progress against the six outcomes set out in section 1.2.

The Personnel Services Manager advised that Members should note that outcomes which were completed prior to Q4 had been removed from the report and were contained in a separate archive report which was available to view on the performance pages of Insite.  Any outcomes indicated as now completed on the Q4 report would be removed from the next monitoring report and added to the archive report.

In conclusion, the Personnel Services Manager explained that the 2014/2015 Quarter 4 report, detailed progress with agreed actions.  The Executive Summary for the 2014/2015 Quarter 4 performance report indicated that key actions in the 6 outcome areas were progressing well and that performance was on track.  Five actions had been completed during the quarter and one action had been cancelled.  Target dates for some key actions had been revised which were reflected in the report.

In response to questions from Councillor Blunt regarding who made the decisions on the key actions set out in the Corporate Business Plan, the Leader outlined the process and explained that the Plan arose from the Conservative Manifesto which was viewed by the Management Team and who would analyse the content and draft a strategy and action plan which would then be translated into the Corporate Business Plan.  Once the Corporate Business Plan had been agreed it then passed back to the political level to monitor its progress.

Following further questions from Councillor Blunt regarding improving communications and the infrastructure required, the Leader advised that this important issue had been included in the Manifesto and would appear in the Corporate Business Plan.

Councillor Devereux commented that he was surprised that no financial information had been included in the Corporate Business Plan and asked if such detail would be provided in the future.  The Chief Executive outlined the process involved when drafting the Corporate Business Plan and explained there was opportunity for Member input through the Panel meetings.  The Corporate Business Plan was then presented to Cabinet and finally signed off by Council.  The financial information had been previously kept separate, but commented that it could be built into the Corporate Business Plan through the monitoring and annual process of setting the Council’s budget.

Councillor Blunt asked when Members would be able to view the Corporate Business Plan for 2016 onwards.  In response, the Chairman, Councillor Humphrey explained that the priorities for the forthcoming Corporate Business Plan were being developed and would be available to Members at the appropriate time.

In response to questions from Councillor Collop regarding the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and the consultation process to keep people information as to how the levy would be spent, the Portfolio Holder explained that the Council’s Housing Strategy Officer was currently drafting a document setting out the Council’s priorities which would come forward for consideration by Members.

Following comments and questions from Councillor Gourlay on the Council’s actions to improve the air quality, the Chief Executive explained that the Air Quality Management Plan provided a snapshot as at 31 March 2015.  It had been agreed that the Air Quality Plan would be worked through by a Steering Group and the Portfolio Holder for Environment to ensure the plan moved forward and be adopted and implemented through the democratic process.

The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey referred to the Council’s involvement in actively encouraging and promoting apprenticeship opportunities and asked if there was any feedback from other employees within the Borough.  In response, the Leader reminded the Panel that the Council had its own Apprenticeship Scheme which had been successful with the last tranche of candidates and added that the Council benefitted from having its own Business Liaison Officer to promote opportunities for apprenticeships within local businesses, including liaison with the Chamber of Commerce and the College of West Anglia.

RESOLVED:  The Panel reviewed and noted the Council’s Q4 2014/2015 Corporate Business Plan Monitoring report.