Agenda item - COUNCIL DELIVERY PLAN Q3 UPDATE AND PROJECTS FOR 2024/25

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

This report presents progress on delivering the Council Delivery Plan for 23-24 at the end of Quarter 3 and makes recommendations on the 24-25 Council Delivery Plan.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the Committee noted the progress against Council projects as set out in the Council Delivery Plan (Appendix A) including changes to milestones, performance indicators and risks, and makes any recommendations or comments to Cabinet.

(2) That the Committee identified any project(s) for which they would like to receive a more detailed update.

(3) That the Committee recommended to Cabinet the scope of the 24-25 Council Delivery Plan as detailed in paragraphs 8.8-8.10.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1) The Council Delivery Plan (CDP) monitoring reports provide Overview and Scrutiny and Cabinet with an opportunity to monitor progress against the key Council projects, and understand any new issues, risks or opportunities.

(2) Making a recommendation on the 24-25 CDP means that the Q1 report will provide the information that the Committee wants. It also helps set the priorities for the Council, as those projects that form part of the CDP will be prioritised.

Audio recording – 11 minutes 40 seconds

The Controls Risk & Performance Manager presented the report entitled ‘Council Delivery Plan Q3 Update and Projects for 2024/25’ and advised that:

· This report was the Q3 update on the Council Delivery Plan and it also included a list of projects for 2024/25, which once approved, would be reported on a quarterly basis.

· 15 projects had proposed changes to milestone dates and these changes were highlighted in yellow in Appendix A.

· The new prioritisation tool had been used to identify projects to be included in the Council Delivery Plan for 2024/25.

· As part of the moderation process, it had been determined that the Council Delivery Plan would focus on projects where there was a defined plan of how projects would be delivered which as highlighted in Table 1.

· A project met the criteria to be included in the Council Delivery Plan if it achieved 2 or more green scores against the following key criteria:

· Impact of non-delivery

· Council Plan alignment

· External benefits

· Contribution towards financial sustainability

· Projects with green lines would be included in the Council Delivery Plan, projects with orange lines might be included and all others would not be included.

· The moderation process had allowed the reduction in the number of projects from 27 to between 11 and 14 based on the current list being reported on, which would ensure quarterly updates were more focused.

· The Council Delivery Plan was a live document and projects could be added back on at any time if they met the required criteria.

· There were currently two over-arching risks for cyber security and resourcing and a new risk relating to the availability of financial resources would be added to that list.

· A quarterly update on the projects highlighting the 14 projects that had green status and 13 with amber status could be found in Appendix A.

The following Members asked questions:

· Councillor David Levett

· Councillor Ralph Muncer

· Councillor Val Bryant

· Councillor Matt Barnes

In response to questions, the Controls Risk & Performance Manager advised that:

· Matters of health inequalities working documents were not publicly available, but there were currently 3 projects being worked on between North Herts Council and Hertfordshire County Council.

· The size of the Waste contract meant that the risk remained high, but this project would be subject to a high level of project management and would be overseen by a project board.

· The experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO’s) for Hitchin and Royston became permanent on 18 August 2023. No further works were required regarding the TRO’s in Hitchin but works in the High Street, Royston were due to take place in June 2024.

· The Enterprise Strategy had been removed from the Council Delivery Plan, but Officers would still be working on this project.

· It was hoped to be able to provide risk training for Members through video guides on SharePoint.

· The reduction in the number of projects on the Council Delivery Plan would enable Members to receive a more detailed overview of each of the remaining projects.

· Projects removed from the Council Delivery Plan would not be reported to the Committee, but investigations would still be continued into those projects.

· Other lower priority projects within service areas would not be reported through the Council Delivery Plan, but work would continue on them. They would only be ceased if resources were scarce and a decision had been made to remove it.

· The Committee had the right to call in a Member and to bring an item to Overview and Scrutiny where there was a concern.

· Recruitment and retention of staff was an ongoing concern and an update from Human Resources would be included in the next report.

· Performance indicators only started once a project was up and running.

In response to questions, the Democratic Services Manager agreed to look into providing training on Pentana and Ideagen for new and current Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to enable Members to gain more in depth understanding of the Council Delivery Plan. The Committee agreed that any training sessions should be carried out prior to the start of an evening Committee meeting.

The following Members took part in a debate:

· Councillor David Levett

· Councillor Ralph Muncer

Points raised in the debate included:

· The new Waste contract commenced in May 2025 and this would need to be significantly prioritised for correct monitoring.

· The Committee should have oversight of all projects of the Council, rather than just those being reported in the Council Delivery Plan.

Councillor Matt Barnes proposed and Councillor Dominic Griffiths seconded and following a vote, it was: