Agenda item

Report of the Chief Partnerships Officer

Note: A Briefing Note detailing Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee’s consideration of this item at their meeting on 20 December, 2023 will be circulated prior to the meeting.

The Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Partnerships Officer which indicated that the One Coventry Plan includes the Council’s vision and priorities, new ways of working, and core areas of activity to deliver the plans objectives, key strategies, and approaches. The current plan, last refreshed in 2022, covers the period from 2022-2030. It builds on the Council’s long-standing principles (being globally connected, locally committed, and working together to deliver priorities with fewer resources) and continues to set out new ways of working to help the Council face the current challenges of increasing demand and reduced real terms funding.

The annual performance report sets out the progress made towards the One Coventry Plan. For each objective, this report sets out the trends, actions taken, and performance metrics, to provide an assessment of the progress made against previous years and other places.

The Council uses agreed indicators to show progress made towards its priorities. This is supported by a wider basket of measures such as equality and perception measures that help explain the trends and story behind the headlines. Indicators are selected from key strategies and aligned to directorate priorities and equality and health inequalities objectives.

The Council’s priorities are delivered through strategies aligned to the One Coventry Plan; as set out in the performance management framework. As part of the performance management process, leadership teams within each directorate and the Corporate Leadership Team have been involved in ensuring that the organisation’s key strategies are aligned to the One Coventry Plan.

The One Coventry Plan is currently measured using 73 indicators, of which 36 indicators improved; 6 stayed the same; 15 indicators got worse; can’t say for 1 indicators; and progress is not available for the remaining 15 indicators. This means, 74% (42/57) of directional indicators (excluding cannot say or not available) improved or stayed the same. This compares to the performance seen in previous years: 69% (40/58) in 2021-22; 79% (50/63) in 2019/20, 78% (52/67) in 2018/19, 71% (42/59) in 2017/18, and 75% (43/57) in 2016/17.

Many of the Council’s key priorities have an equality dimension or address an inequality caused by economic or social circumstances.

The Cabinet also considered a Briefing Note which detailed Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee’s detailed consideration of the report at their meeting on 20 December (their Minute 39/23 refers). The Committee had:

1)   Recommended that Cabinet agree the recommendations in the report.

2)  Noted the Council’s performance as set out in the performance report.

3)  Noted that, where targets had not been achieved, those issues would be referred to the appropriate Scrutiny Board for further consideration.

4)  Welcomed the intention to refresh the content and regularity of the suite of performance reports available in future.

The Cabinet also noted that a Seminar for all Members on the Performance Report would be held in the near future.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Notes the comments/issues made by Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee.

2)   Approves the Performance Report.

3)   Notes the intention to refresh the content and regularity of the suite of performance reports available in future.