Issue - meetings

To seek approval of the Cabinet’s key priorities and projects for 2019 and to commence the process of preparing a new Corporate Plan for the period 2020-2024.

RESOLVED that –

(a)    the Cabinet’s Priorities and Projects for 2019-20, as set out in Appendix A to the Report of the Deputy Chief Executive, be approved;

(b)    deliverables and measurable outcomes for the Priorities and Projects be developed and incorporated into the Council’s Performance Reports for agreement by Cabinet and ongoing reporting and scrutiny, as set out in the aforementioned report; and

(c)    Cabinet instructs officers to work with Portfolio Holders in order to bring forward proposals for a new Corporate Plan for the period 2020 to 2024 based on the approach set out in the Deputy Chief Executive’s report.

Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (A.6) which sought its approval of the Cabinet’s key priorities and projects for 2019 and also its approval to commence the process of preparing a new Corporate Plan for the period 2020-2024.

Corporate Planning and Performance Management

Members were aware that the Council had an established set of arrangements in order to set out its long and medium term aims and to monitor progress in delivering them. They included a long term Corporate Plan (agreed by Full Council), Annual Priorities and Projects in line with the Corporate Plan (agreed each year by Cabinet), quarterly performance reporting (to Cabinet and the Overview and Scrutiny Committees) and monthly performance reporting by the Management Team. In addition Departmental Plans were prepared annually at an operational management level. An overview of the performance system was contained in the Officer’s report.

A new Corporate Plan

Cabinet recalled that, at its last meeting, the Leader of the Council had announced his intention to begin the process of preparing a new Corporate Plan.

With the election of a new Council and the formation of a new Administration, and given that the current Corporate Plan ran to 2020, it was considered that this was an appropriate time to begin preparatory work to develop a new Corporate Plan for agreement by the Council. The proposed timescale and process for doing this was set out in the body of the Officer’s report. It would take a number of months in order to allow proper consideration and scrutiny of the proposed content before the Council was asked to formally agree the plan.

Therefore, Cabinet was requested to confirm at this stage that the overall approach to the Corporate Plan, Priorities and Projects and Performance Management and reporting should continue on the current basis and that the Corporate Plan itself should again be –

·           a “Plan on a Page”;

·           with Community Leadership at its heart;

·           with other “cross cutting” themes identified such as Tendring4Growth; and

·           with a clear statement of the Council’s overall vision and values.

Priorities and Projects 2019/20

Given the time needed to prepare and agree a new Corporate Plan it was also proposed that the Cabinet’s Priorities and Projects for 2019-20 be approved now and that the regular performance reporting focussed on delivery of those priorities and projects for the current year.

It was reported that, following informal discussions the Cabinet had developed the proposed Priorities and Projects for 2019-20 which were set out in Appendix A to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and they were now formally recommended to the Cabinet for its approval.

Specific deliverables for the priorities and projects would be developed in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holders and would be incorporated into the Performance Report for the end of Quarter 2 (end September 2019). That report would be put to Cabinet before either of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees so Cabinet as a whole could confirm the deliverables for its Priorities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26