Archived decisions

Contact: Paddy Hillary, Ext: 7391

1. Summary

This report presents a revised version of the Corporate Strategy for comment. Further work is required and it is proposed that the Leader and Chief Executive be authorised to give final approval.

2. Introduction

Members will recall that the Corporate Strategy was last reviewed and published in 2000. At that time it was agreed that it was necessary to consider the integration of the Corporate Strategy with the Best Value Performance Plan and emerging Community Strategy work. As a consequence, it was agreed to delay a further revision until 2002.


In the interim Members have received a number of reports outlining work on the Community Strategy and local strategic partnerships, development of the performance management framework, the consultation on values in relation to the People Strategy and the development of the PSA. All these elements, along with Member and CMT work on key issues and the `Hampshire Greenprint' and consultation with senior managers through the Success through People series, have contributed to this latest proposed revision.

3. Revision of the Corporate Strategy

As mentioned above, a number of elements have influenced the development of this revision to the Strategy over the last 12 months. These are as follows:


CMT/Cabinet: the workshop held between members of the Cabinet and CMT in July last year identified six key themes for the County Council; life opportunities, sustainability, the vulnerable, deprived areas, communication and services and staff.


Hampshire Greenprint: identified the overarching vision for the County Council as `A prosperous and attractive county where social and economic needs are met in the most sustainable way and improvement in the quality of life and sense of community of present and future generations. A County Council which provides community leadership and the delivery of the highest quality services for all citizens through best practice including partnership with others and leading by example'.

Community Strategy/LSPs: the development of an approach to a community strategy for Hampshire and the partnership work with district council colleagues has provided a framework for identifying and addressing community needs and aspirations.

Public Service Agreement: the County Council's PSA, which was negotiated earlier this year, provides the key priorities and performance measures for the strategy.

Success through People: input from senior managers in the County Council on the structure and content of the strategy

Best Value outcomes and PIs: latest information from Best Value reviews and performance data have been included, especially in terms of the cross cutting review of economic prosperity which has significantly altered the key aim `Achieving Economic Prosperity'.


The overall effect of these changes, and the link to the emerging Community Strategy, is to make the document more focused on outcomes on which the County Council can have a direct impact rather than the community based outcomes which will be better reflected in the Community Strategy.

4. Structure of document

Changes have been made to the structure of the document in response to

concerns from members and officers. Members will see that the new structure concentrates on the identified priorities and targets in relation to the key themes. These key themes replace the `major corporate focus' areas in the previous version and are derived from the consultation work and input as described above. This is then related directly to statutory or corporate plans and strategies as the means for action and delivery. The effect of this is to make the Corporate Strategy more focused on the outcomes rather than processes.

5. Key Aims

One of the main proposed changes is to the wording of the 5 key aims of the
strategy. This has resulted from discussions with members and officers and
represents an evolution rather than a total change of direction. Members will
see that the wording for aims 2 and 3 has not changed but that there are new
suggestions for aims 1, 4 and 5.

Aim 1 - Previously `Developing the Quality of Life in Hampshire' - criticism of the previous wording was that `quality of life' covers everything that the County Council does. The proposed changes here focus this aim on the key areas of education and social care reflecting the views of the Cabinet and the priorities identified through the PSA process. It is proposed that this aim becomes `Helping people to make the best of their lives' or `Maximising life opportunities' to make this focus clearer.


Aim 4 - Previously `Partnerships for strong communities' - the wording of aim 4 has been changed to give a more positive direction for the priorities identified and a clearer focus on the outcomes. Partnership working, particularly through the development of LSPs, is a key element in this aim and the themes included represent views reflected by consultation with voluntary and community partners and senior officers.

Aim 5 - Previously `Providing high quality accessible services' - the proposed change for this wording of this aim reflect the dual priorities of continuous improvement of services and development of staff. The work that had been done through the Performance Development Strategy and the Pay and Benefits project is reflected here as is the County Council's own performance management framework and good practice.


There are arguments for keeping the key aims as they are currently, particularly as they are well communicated throughout the organisation. The strength and value of this document, however, lies in its ability to change to reflect change priorities for the County Council and to link more effectively with the emerging Community Strategies at district and county level. The proposed changes make the document more focused and is a clearer statement of the outcomes which the County Council views as its priorities.

6. Performance measures and targets

Within the document there are areas where some work still needs to be done to identify clear performance measures and targets. The main measurement is through the inclusion of the PSA targets with other measures identified through service plans of Best Value review outcomes. There is still a need to look at the number of PIs and targets to ensure a sensible balance and it is suggested that discussions be held with departments to help with this.

7. Use of plain English

Discussions have been held with Corporate Communications on the need to make sure the language used in the document is helpful. Bearing in mind that the document is largely aimed at an internal audience rather than the public, it will still be useful to aim for a plain English accreditation.

8. Timescales

In the past the Corporate Strategy has been reviewed annually. This does not allow time for some of the longer term priorities and outcomes to develop and so it is proposed that the framework of the Strategy is set for the duration of the administration to reflect political thinking and aspirations and that the performance information is reviewed annually in relation to the targets by the Cabinet and CMT.

9. Conclusion

The revised Corporate Strategy gives a clear statement of the County Council's aspirations and the outcomes it sees as priority for action. It has been developed through consultation, reflects the most current priorities and is capable of being linked into the emerging Community Strategy.

Linking the Strategy to the duration of the administration gives the document stability whilst allowing regular monitoring of the performance against targets.

Members are asked to look at the wording of the key aims to ensure that they accurately reflect the County Council's aspirations. Members are also asked to agree that work can continue on the development of performance measures and targets through consultation with departments with further amendments being agreed by the Leader and Chief Executive.

Recommendation

That Cabinet approve the revised Corporate Strategy for publication, subject to some additional work which can be agreed by the Leader and Chief Executive.

Background Information

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

File Location

Details of consultation work Chief Executive's Department

Working papers As above