Agenda item

The Corporate Plan is to be presented to the Panel.

With the aid of a report by the Corporate Team Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Corporate Plan was presented to the Panel. Members were informed that the Corporate Plan is updated every two years. The Plan is strongly linked with the Service Plans and it aims to give Overview and Scrutiny the ability to hold Portfolio Holders to account.

Whilst giving feedback upon the Corporate Plan a Member emphasised that it is important to include open spaces within the Plan as it reinforces the Council’s commitment to open spaces as there had been issues in the past.

The point of ‘reduce incidences of littering’ underneath the Enabling Communities Section had been noted as being difficult to measure by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Finance and Performance) however the Panel thought the action was important and it should be kept in. In response Members were informed that the issue was whether the action showed a reduction of litter or just a reduction of complaints.

Following a Member’s insistence of including an action of reducing fly posting and graffiti, the Panel were advised that one of the measures included is the National Indicator 195 which measures the reduction of fly posting and graffiti as well as litter.

Members would like the point of ‘prevent homelessness where possible by helping households either remain in their current home or find alternative housing’ within the Enabling Communities Section to include within a reasonable distance from key services as the Panel had concluded that the current location for temporary accommodation for homeless people is too far away from any amenities.

In response to a question relating to graffiti and how the Council are working with the Police. The Panel were informed that the Council would remove offensive graffiti within 24 hours and non-offensive graffiti within 48 hours. The Council are committed to working with Cambridgeshire Constabulary in bringing about prosecutions for graffiti. 

The Panel was informed that the action concerning business rates supporting local businesses underneath the Sustainable Growth Section was not finalised when the report was written. Members thought that using business rates to support local businesses was what the Council should be doing to unlock growth however were not sure on whether this should be supporting new businesses in the area or the growth of existing local businesses.

The Panel thought that accelerate business growth and investment underneath the Sustainable Growth Section was crucial for the Council and should remain in the Corporate Plan.

Members questioned the influence the Council has in regards to the Local Enterprise Partnership however the Panel were informed that the influence comes as a result of the inclusion of the Executive Leader on the LEP board.

A question was raised in regards to the action of ‘HDC to develop our own apprenticeship scheme’ underneath the Sustainable Growth Section and why the Council are not developing an apprenticeship scheme with the regional college. In response Members were informed that it is the aim of the Council to have a scheme run in-house.

In response to the suggestion of developing an action on assisting first time buyers who are priced out of the local property market due to property developers buying properties to rent out, the Panel was informed that the Housing Strategy would contain the details of the Council’s objectives in respect to housing.

Following a question regarding the action point of ‘introduce measures to reduce energy costs in One Leisure’ underneath the Efficient and Effective Council Section, the Panel was informed that an analysis on energy saving had been carried out, the business case would be produced and the actions implemented.

Members emphasised that the action of ‘affordability and value for money are at the core of the Council’s decision making processes’ underneath the Efficient and Effective Council Section is an important action to roll out to every employee within the Council.

The Panel were acquainted with the idea of amending the measure of ‘number of missed bins per 100,000 households’ within the Efficient and Effective Council section to a measure which resolved the issue of missed bins. Members were supportive of a more customer focused measure.

In regards to the measure of maximising recycling underneath the Efficient and Effective Council Section Members were informed that the measure would be amended to focus on reducing waste as was deemed a more meaningful target.

A Member has stated that they would like the measure of ‘staff sickness days lost per full time employee (reduce to 9 days per person)’ underneath the Efficient and Effective Council reduced further as they thought that this was too high. The Panel were informed that according to the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) the public sector average is 9 days and this was why the target was chosen.

Following the discussion the Panel was informed that the Council has a sickness rate of between 11 and 12 days however this is adversely affected by long term sickness absence. Members thought splitting the measure between long term and short term sickness would give a better reflection of sickness within the Council.

The Panel were advised of the option to include a measure of paying local suppliers within 10 working days however Members felt that as long as the Council has a reputation for paying invoices within 30 days and that suppliers are happy with the arrangement then there is little point or benefit of committing to pay invoices within 10 days.

A Member noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Communities and Customers) was informed that the A1 and A428 was not included within the action of ‘continue to provide active input into the delivery stage of the A14 to deliver the specific requirements of the Council’ underneath the Sustainable Growth Section because the schemes would not be at the delivery stage within the lifetime of the Corporate Plan. Despite this the Member would still like their inclusion as it would reinforce the Council’s commitment to those schemes.

(At 7.02pm, during the discussion on this item, Councillor P Kadewere entered the meeting).

(At 7.34pm, during the discussion on this item, Councillor D B Dew left the meeting).

(At 7.35pm, during the discussion on this item, Councillor D B Dew returned to the meeting).