Issue - items at meetings - Annual update of the Council's Corporate Plan 2014/15

Report of the Chief Executive (copy attached).

(1)               That the Corporate Plan annual update 2014/15, given as Appendix 1 and subject to a revision to include secondary school places, be approved, and recommended to Full Council on 27^th March 2014 for adoption; and

(2)               That the progress made on the Corporate Plan commitments from the 2013/14 annual update, as summarised in Appendix 2 to the report be noted.

157.1    The Chair introduced the report which provided an update to the Corporate Plan and stated that it brought together the councils ambitions and purpose and detailed its priorities as an organisation.  He was pleased to note the number of achievements that had been made and that none of the commitments were shown as red, which was welcome beating in mind the challenges that existed in terms of being able to meet all of the commitments.

157.2    The Chief Executive stated that the plan had been updated substantially since its first publication in 2011 and noted that the four priorities remained with a number of outcomes that the council was seeking to achieve.  The key areas of focus were set out and she hoped that the plan provided a clear sense of direction albeit that the council faced a number of challenges in the forthcoming period.  She and the Executive Leadership Team were committed to leading the organisation to deliver high performance services and she wished to thank everyone involved in bringing the plan together.

157.3    Councillor Morgan welcomed the report and offered his congratulations to all those involved in it.  He then sought clarification in regard to specific areas around secondary school places, external lettings, the banking partnership, the sustainable community strategy and park & ride and the levels of recycling.

157.4    The Chair noted that the sustainable community strategy had been updated and was now part of Brighton & Hove Connected and therefore suggested that there was no direct link with park & ride.

157.5    The Executive Director for Children’s Services stated that secondary school places would be an area of focus in relation to improving school standards and offered to update the plan to account for this aspect.

157.6    The Chair stated that he would ask officers to provide further information in regard to the banking partnership and ethical banking.  In relation to the levels of recycling he accepted that there was room for improvement and noted that there had been changes to the routes and vehicles reaching the end of their capacity which had contributed to the challenges being faced.  However, he believed that issues were being addressed noted that he and the Chief Executive had regular meetings with the senior managers at City Clean to ensure that improvements could be made and taken forward.

157.7    The Chair noted that the plan would be updated to take account of the issue raised in relation to secondary school places and so put the recommendations to the vote with that proviso, which were carried.

157.8    RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND:

(1)         That the Corporate Plan annual update 2014/15, given as Appendix 1 and subject to a revision to include secondary school places, be approved, and recommended to Full Council on 27^th March 2014 for adoption; and

(2)         That the progress made on the Corporate Plan commitments from the 2013/14 annual update, as summarised in Appendix 2 to the report be noted.