Issue - meetings

(Leader of Council) To consider the attached report (C-062-2016/17).

(1)        That progress on the achievement of the Council’s Key Action Plan for 2016-17 at the end of Quarter 3 be noted.

The Leader of Council presented a report regarding the Corporate Plan Key Action Plan 2016/17, Quarter 3 Progress.

The Leader stated that the Corporate Plan was the Council’s key strategic planning document, which set out the priorities over the five-year period from 2015/16 to 2019/20. The priorities or Corporate Aims were supported by Key Objectives, which provided a clear statement of the Council’s overall intentions for these five years.

The Leader advised that the Key Objectives were delivered by an annual action plan, with each year building upon the progress against the achievement of the Key Objectives for previous years. The annual action plans contained a range of actions designed to achieve specific outcomes and were working documents that were therefore subject to change and development to ensure the actions remained relevant and appropriate, and to identify opportunities to secure further progress or improvement.

The Leader stated that the Key Action Plan for 2016/17 was agreed by Cabinet in October 2015. Progress in relation to individual actions was reviewed by the Cabinet and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on a quarterly and outturn basis.

Councillor Mohindra referred to Appendix 1 of the report, item 6) Evaluate the submission received for North Weald Airfield marketing exercise and asked for assurance that this work had now commenced.

The Leader assured Councillor Mohindra that work on this project had now commenced.

Decision:

(1)        That progress on the achievement of the Council’s Key Action Plan for 2016-17 at the end of Quarter 3 be noted.

Reasons for Decision:

It was important that relevant performance management processes were in place to review progress against the key objectives, to ensure their continued achievability and relevance, and to identify proposals for appropriate corrective action in areas of slippage or under-performance. This report presented progress against the Key Action Plan for 2016/17 at the end of the third quarter (31 December 2016).

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

No other options were appropriate in this respect. Failure to monitor and review performance against the key objectives,and to consider corrective action where necessary, could have negative implications for the Council’s reputation, and might mean that opportunities for improvement were lost. The Council had previously agreed arrangements for the review of progress against the key objectives.