Issue - meetings

Following endorsement by the Cabinet at its meeting on 21 April 2020, the Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services introduced the new Corporate Plan for 2020-22, setting out the Council’s vision, priorities and targets for the next two years.

He explained that the Plan, and the Single Performance Framework (SPF) that accompanied it, had been developed prior to COVID-19 and that much of the content would be reviewed in the light of lessons learned from the pandemic. The current version of both documents therefore represented a baseline and benchmark for challenge of what was deemed achievable prior to COVID-19 and what would still be possible post the current, unprecedented situation.

At the present time, the Council was estimating a deficit of £24m due to extra demand costs, loss of income and an inability to deliver savings already programmed into the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for the next two years.  The Council had been allocated less than half the deficit amount in special COVID-19 grant from the Government and would continue to lobby to ensure that additional emergency funding was made available.

The crisis had made the Council re-evaluate a number of issues as an employer of many thousands of staff and a deliverer of hundreds of services to local residents.  Significant changes in working practices had been enacted with 75% of staff working from home while the remainder delivered front line services, all supported to ensure that their safety was paramount during the course of their duties by maintaining social distancing and supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) to all that needed it.

The new Corporate Plan took account of views expressed by local residents during a substantial consultation exercise and built on the commitments set out in the Borough Manifesto and the success of the Council’s transformation programme and Ambition 2020 project.  However, given the scale of the crisis it represented a fluid plan that would last much less than the two years it was planned to cover. 

The Cabinet Member summarised the main features of the document which set out the long-term approach and strategic priorities encapsulated in the areas of ‘Participation & Engagement’, ‘Prevention, Independence & Resilience’, ‘Inclusive Growth’ and a ‘Well-Run Organisation’.

The Assembly resolved to approve the new Corporate Plan 2020-22 as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services introduced the new Corporate Plan for 2020-22, setting out the Council’s vision, priorities and targets for the next two years.

The Cabinet Member explained that the new Corporate Plan, and the Single Performance Framework (SPF) that accompanied it, had been developed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Therefore, much of the content of the documents would need to be reviewed in the light of lessons learned from the pandemic, the impact of the restrictions on performance and target levels and the way that the Council provided services going forward.  The Cabinet Member commented, however, that the current version of the new Corporate Plan and SPF represented a baseline and benchmark for challenge of what was deemed achievable prior to COVID-19.

Cabinet Members spoke on a number of aspects of the Corporate Plan and SPF and the consequential impact of COVID-19 which included:

·  The inability to address many of the aspirations and targets during the current situation;

·  The improved relationship with health partners which had helped to provide more co-ordinated services to the local community;

·  The significant benefits during the current crisis of earlier Council initiatives such as BD CAN, the community-based project co-ordinated by the Council with the support of BD Collective which connects volunteer support with people who need help;

·  The recognition that masterplans for major redevelopment projects such as Chadwell Heath Industrial Estate and Thames Road properly reflect social infrastructure needs such as school place provision;

·  Equalities and diversity issues being at the forefront of Council’s policies;

·  The very positive response from residents to the Council and its staff’s efforts to continue to provide vital front-line services such as refuse collection and street cleansing;

·  A request that local residents safely dispose of protective equipment to help prevent the spread of the disease;

·  The speed at which the Council was able to transform the way that it provided its services when the restrictions were introduced, with over 75% of staff now working from home while the remaining staff continue to provide front-line services;

·  Plans to organise a “Barking and Dagenham Thank You Festival” once social distancing restrictions were lifted.

Cabinet resolved to recommend the Assembly to approve the new Corporate Plan 2020-22 at Appendix 1 to the report.