Agenda item

To recommend the Council to approve the Corporate Plan 2020 – 2025 – Refresh 2021.

Consideration was given to the refreshed Corporate Plan, which set out the strategic priorities for the council and details future service provision to achieve them.

The Corporate Plan would inform how each directorate would spend the target budget available to them.

Following approval of the Corporate Plan by Council on 10 March 2020, it was proposed to work with staff, members, partners and the community to develop delivery plans detailing the action needed to achieve the strategic priorities.  However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Council’s and partner focus had been diverted to the initial response and establishing longer term support mechanisms. 

A series of engagement events with members, staff and partners had subsequently been undertaken to understand the impact of the pandemic on our communities and to develop actions to address key issues affecting residents. 

A refresh of the detailed actions that underpin the delivery of the strategic objectives was required at this time to ensure that the Corporate Plan took into account the impact of the pandemic on Sandwell as a whole and on the organisation.

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In developing the revised actions that underpin the strategic outcomes, all Directors had been provided with individual comments received during the engagements sessions in order that these were considered to help shape each outcome. 

In addition, conversations had led to changes from the original iteration of the Corporate Plan and had now strengthened:-

•                our commitment to improving standards of cleanliness across the borough;

•                our drive to ensure that everyone feels safe in the communities they live in;

•                our commitment to whole life care and choice.

It was proposed to go back to stakeholders, including each school that had been visited, in the autumn to tell them how their feedback had helped to shape our plan, and get their help to develop a young person’s version of the Corporate Plan.

The Chair of the Economy, Skills, Transport and Environment Scrutiny Board felt that the Corporate Plan should include performance detail and benchmark data so that the Council could see clearly where it currently is and what targets we needed to achieve in order to measure the impact of COVID-19 and measure the success of the plan against tangible outcomes. Clarity was also sought on whether the plan had been costed and if the Council had the funds to carry out its plan.  In response, the Interim Chief Executive confirmed that the next phase of the plan would be realigned to Directorate business plans and financial plans with clear targets and timelines to enable members to measure outcomes.  This would be shared with members in February 2022.

Reason for Decision

The Corporate Plan had been refreshed to ensure the key issues and concerns of a wide range of the Council’s stakeholders were considered.

The proposed refreshed Corporate Plan captured these findings in a draft set of actions that would achieve the strategic outcomes and address the key issues affecting the borough and our organisation.

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Alternative Options

The Corporate Plan was originally approved by Full Council in March 2020 (Minute No. 20/25) for a five-year period, this would expire in 2025. The existing document could have remained in place without refining its actions, however this would not ensure that the Council’s resources were focused on responding to the impact of the pandemic on the borough or the Council.

Agreed that Council be recommended to approve the Corporate Plan 2020 – 2025 – Refresh 2021.