Agenda item

Report of the Interim Chief Executive (Chief Partnerships Officer)

The Committee considered a Briefing Note, which outlined that the current Council Plan, the One Coventry Plan, was initially agreed in 2014 for a ten-year period (ending in 2024) and was last refreshed in 2016.

In 2021, work began to refresh the Council Plan to reflect the emerging priorities for the Council and the city. From February to September 2022, extensive engagement was undertaken with the Council workforce, partners and the wider public regarding the delivery of the priorities outlined in the draft Plan. This engagement created the opportunity to understand more about how the priorities could be meaningfully delivered in a way that builds on our achievements and recognises the challenges faced by the city.

The refreshed One Coventry Plan 2022-2030 provided the strategic direction for the Council and the One Coventry vision of “working together to improve our city and the lives of those who live, work and study here”. It set out the Council’s priorities and focused on enabling people to live their best lives in a vibrant and prosperous city. The report sought approval for the adoption of the refreshed priorities, provided an overview of the engagement approach taken, an update on the findings and a summary of how local people’s views had impacted the development of the One Coventry Plan.

The Leader of the Council introduced the item and highlighted the importance of holding ourselves and the partnership to account for the delivery of the plan. Work was underway to develop a performance management framework which would support collective accountability across the One Coventry partnership. 

The Committee asked questions, sought assurances and made comments on a number of issues, including:-

·  How partners would be held to account – The One Coventry partnership was built on two principles – 1) putting people at the heart of everything we do. 2) recognising collective responsibility

·  The Committee welcomed an improved engagement process with more people engaged

·  Responses to the on-line survey were not spread across Wards but other activity had taken place across the city, where Ward information was not collected, to maintain the flow of the conversation.

·  Services would be reviewed to ensure that they reflected the three main priorities in the plan, including a revised proposal for media and communications support.

·  A Strategy would be developed to identify how each service area could contribute to the plan on a daily basis. The intention was to develop strategy tool kits to enable conversations between front line staff and residents to happen.

·  Issues of fewer community groups responding to the consultation, reflected a decline in community groups generally post pandemic and provided opportunities to take learning from the three community prototypes.

·  The ultimate aim was to reduce demand for statutory services, but it was acknowledged that this would take time

·  Comments that referred to climate change would be included in the feedback on the Climate Change Strategy consultation

·  It was recognised that social media wasn’t accessed by everyone, so there had been a presence across all libraries and Family Hubs in the City. There was the possibility of using WhatsApp as an engagement tool in future.

·  The stakeholder list in the Equality Impact Assessment was not exhaustive but had included housing providers

RESOLVED:

1)  That the engagement feedback received be noted

2)  The following comments/ recommendations be submitted to

  Cabinet for consideration:-

  That Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee:

a)  Welcome the increased engagement that was undertaken on the One Coventry Plan and improved response rates as a result of this work

b)  Acknowledge the limitation of the response by Ward data collected as part of the engagement and welcome a response from officers that this would be built upon in future engagement opportunities

c)  Welcome a planned review of Council media and communication methods to facilitate community engagement and the delivery of the One Coventry Plan

d)  Suggest that officers explore if QR codes be included in future to link to WhatsApp group to increase engagement

e)  Welcome the collective responsibility that will deliver the One Coventry Plan which spans the Council and our partners

f)  Welcome the ability for the Council to challenge and hold partners to account through the One Coventry Partnership

g)  Agree that Scrutiny receive regular updates on progress of the delivery of the One Coventry Plan

3) That the recommendations to Cabinet be supported