Councillor S Conboy, Executive Leader of the Council to present on progress that has been made to date in response to the Corporate Peer Challenge and the preparation of an Action Plan.
(The report was considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Performance and Growth) at their meeting on 2nd October 2024).
Contact:20 Minutes
Minutes:
With the assistance of a report by the Chief Executive and a power-point presentation (copies of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Executive Leader provided an update on the actions which had been taken since the Local Government Peer Challenge which took place in May 2024.
By way of background the Council were reminded that the Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) formed a key part of the improvement and assurance framework for local government. The Challenge also assisted councils to meeting part of their Best Value duty, with the UK Government expecting all local authorities to have a CPC at least every five years.
In terms of the Council’s position, Members were advised that the Council had formally accepted the report and was now required to publish an Action Plan in response by 17th October 2025. The Peer Team would then return to the Council by the end of January 2025 to follow up on progress.
In terms of the Action Plan, Council were advised that the Plan contained 27 actions which were linked to 8 formal recommendations. Seven additional recommendations had also been identified. Members were then provided with an overview of the current status of these actions.
The Executive Leader then proceeded to provide more detailed information regarding the progress made with each of the eight recommendations in turn. Members were advised that a lead member had been identified for each activity to assist with political accountability and ownership, although overall responsibility would remain within the remit of the Leader and Chief Executive.
Finally, the Executive Leader took the opportunity to remind Members that the Action Plan would evolve and be subject to change as various activities were scoped, shaped and delivered and as such would be a ‘living’ document.
Arising from the presentation, Councillor R Martin thanked the Executive Leader and the Chief Executive for the work which had been undertaken to-date and requested that further consideration be given to establishing a mechanism to provide an update on the progress being made on a more regular basis to Members. In terms of the recommendations, Councillor Martin outlined his perception that some of the recommendations could have been strengthened and gone further in some areas. He referred to recommendations 1, 3 and 4 as examples.
Councillor B Pitt, the Executive Councillor for Communities, Health and Leisure welcomed the recommendation relating to strengthening the Council’s approach to engagement. In doing so, he took the opportunity to explain that the District Council had now commenced community co-production workshops as part of its engagement on the Community Health and Wealth Building Strategy. He reiterated that this was a new form of engagement for the District Council and sought the support of the Executive Leader for embedding that as part of the way in which the Council did business.
In responding to the comments which had been made, the Executive Leader undertook to establish an appropriate mechanism for reporting back to Council Members on progress and welcomed the support from all Members as the Council strives to improve. She also welcomed the use of co-production as a consultation option and outlined her intention to attend a future engagement session.
Whereupon and having been proposed and seconded, it was
RESOLVED
that the Action Plan prepared in response to the Corporate Peer Challenge be noted, together with the progress made to date.
Supporting documents: