Agenda item

            The Committee considered a report in respect of the 2009/10 update of the Council’s Corporate Plan/Value Creation Map.  A copy of the report is set out hereunder:

“RELEVANT BACKGROUND INFORMATION

      The purpose of this report is to ask Members to approve the 2009/10 Update of the Council’s Corporate Plan/Value Creation Map.

      As Members are aware, in June 2008, Members agreed the Council’s corporate plan for 2008-2011, setting out the Council’s vision for the city and its priorities for this period, based upon the needs and priorities of people in the city.  At the time, Members stressed that whilst the plan needed to set a clear strategic direction it also needed to have the flexibility to adapt to new challenges; therefore, it should be reviewed and updated annually to keep it relevant and to ensure the Council’s focus remains on the right issues.

      This report sets out the information that will be used to inform the update of the plan and some proposed amendments based upon what has been achieved over the last year and the changed external environment, particularly economic environment, in which the Council finds itself operating.

      It is intended that the information presented to Members at this meeting will be summarised in liaison with the Corporate Communications Section to produce an accessible, easily understandable document which will be used for communication with the public and staff at all levels across the Council.

KEY ISSUES

      Update Process

      Alignment

      When the Corporate Plan 2008-2011 was agreed by Members, it was understood that the challenging part remained – to align the resources and actions of the organisation towards the achievement of the objectives within the plan and to begin to implement a fairly ambitious agenda.  Members wanted to retain their focus on some of the biggest issues in the city such as safety, health improvement and good relations, but these were objectives which cut across all departments.  A key issue was whether a functionally structured and biased organisation would ever be able to effectively plan and deliver on a thematic basis.

      Good progress has been made -each service in the Council now has a Value Creation Map which is a service plan based upon the corporate plan, showing the ways in which services can contribute to those objectives so that thematic planning becomes integrated with service planning.  Departmental plans have also become more aligned to the objectives within the corporate plan.  The result of this is that Members can be shown the ways in which services are contributing to our corporate objectives so that they are not something different or remote or add-ons but features of what the services do.  This is illustrated in Appendix 1, which shows the Value Creation Map and the way in which services are contributing to the environment theme within the corporate plan.  This analysis is available for every service and each theme within the plan.

      A separate report on the departmental plans of the Chief Executive’s, Core Improvement, Corporate Services and Legal Departments are attached as separate agenda items. All the Council’s service and departmental plans have helped inform the update of the corporate plan for 09/10.

      Accountability

      A key issue for the themes in the corporate plan is that they cut across more than one department and therefore assigning accountability to any one officer was a challenge.  For the update, this challenge has been addressed, with Chief Officers taking responsibility for establishing a coherent, one-council approach to key objectives as set out below.

      The actions and measures within the corporate plan are an integral part of the recently revised Chief Officers’ and Senior Managers’ Individual Performance Management process.  The key to effective implementation of the actions decided by the Council, is clear accountability for delivery by officers.

      Corporate Plan/Value Creation Map Update

      Updated operating context

      Since the plan was first agreed there have been significant changes in the global economy which have impacted upon the people of Belfast and upon the Council itself.  Members have made a strong commitment to helping address the impact of the recession on Belfast and it is important that the Council’s key strategic document reflects this commitment and the changing environment in which the organisation is now operating.

      Key achievements 2008/09

      The update will contain a section reflecting on some of the Council’s key achievements during 2008/09.

Updated Value Creation Map – including updated actions and performance measures for 2009/10

      The updated plan will be based upon the most up to date version of the Council’s Value Creation Map.  As members will recall, the Value Creation Map sets out the Council’s purpose, the ‘themes’ or priorities that Members have chosen to focus on, and the way in which performance against these will be measured.  A full copy of the Value Creation Map has been circulated.  The strategic themes and objectives are summarised in the table below.  The objectives remain largely the same as those agreed by Members in 2008; however some of the actions have been updated, any changes are summarised under each theme.

      Performance Reporting

      The plan will be regularly monitored through the performance management framework agreed by the Committee.  The first report on progress will be brought to the Committee in the Autumn.

RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS

      The Corporate Plan will help the Committee plan and allocate resources over the coming year.

RECOMMENDATIONS

      Members are asked to approve the information set out as the basis for the update of the Council’s Corporate Plan 2009/10.

DECISION TRACKING

      The Committee will receive regular performance management reports setting out achievements against the tasks and measures in the plan.”

            The Committee approved the content of the information for inclusion in the update of the Council’s Corporate Plan 2009/10.