Agenda item

REPORT OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR

The Council recently undertook a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) between 4 and 7 November 2024, where we were visited by a peer team supported by the Local Government Association. The peer team met with a large number of staff and councillors, as well as external stakeholders such as contractual partners, neighbouring authorities and members of our community. The peer team produced a feedback report, attached at Appendix A, which was reported to Cabinet on 14 January 2025. An Action Plan has now been developed, attached at Appendix B.

RESOLVED:

(1)     That the content of the Corporate Peer Challenge report and its recommendations be noted.

(2)     That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee comment on the proposed Action Plan, to be considered by Cabinet on 18 March 2025.

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To ensure that the Council responded to the matters identified within the CPC report, ensuring that the benefits of the CPC process are realised.

Audio recording – 2 hours 44 minutes 40 seconds

N.B. Councillor Laura Williams left the Chamber at 22:15 and did not return.

The Managing Director presented the report entitled ‘Corporate Peer Challenge Report and Action Plan’ and advised that:

·                The Corporate Peer Challenge Review took place at the beginning of November and the final report was received before Christmas. It was noted at the Cabinet meeting in January with a delegation to produce the Action Plan, which would then be presented to Cabinet at a later meeting, following comments from this Committee.

·                Within the report, there were ten recommendations made to the Council. The Action Plan would respond to these alone and any other useful information that had been picked up from the report would be looked at separately.

·                Some of the recommendations from the report were quite narrative and in response, several of the actions within the Action Plan were also narrative.

·                As the response in the Action Plan was refined in more detail, the actions would become more time specified.

·                The first recommendation mentioned the golden thread which was a term used to describe the link between the overarching corporate policies, included in the Council Plan, and how these linked to the operational delivery of services.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Ralph Muncer

·                Councillor Donna Wright

·                Councillor Matt Barnes

·                Councillor Claire Winchester

In response to questions, the Managing Director advised that:

·                In the medium to long-term, it was not certain that the District Council would exist due to local government reorganisation.

·                The Corporate Peer Review took place before the Devolution White Paper was published.

·                If North Herts did not exist, priorities that were mapped out in the Action Plan would have to be changed. They did not have the funding or staff resources to do everything, therefore they would have to prioritise certain actions, especially with the future proposed structure change of the Council.

·                The process around Regular Performance Reviews and One-to-Ones would be reviewed as part of the Action Plan, and this would involve engagement with senior managers to embed new processes.

·                The Local Government Association required an Action Plan to be published within 3 months of the report being published.

·                The Action Plan had some useful short-term actions for the Council to undertake in addition to other projects that would help the Council for whatever came next such as the Digital Transformation Update.

·                Local Government reorganisation was looking very likely which meant that recommendations that had been made in the report and the Action Plan would not necessarily be relevant in the future.

In response to questions, Councillor Val Bryant advised that:

·                Modernisation was listed as one of the recommendations and in response to this, the Digital Transformation Update had already begun and this could save resources and money for the Council.

·                The narrative on Place within the Action Plan had unfortunately been overtaken since the announcement of the Devolution White Paper.  

The following Members took part in the debate:

·                Councillor Ralph Muncer

·                Councillor Matt Barnes

The following points were raised as part of the debate:

·                Both documents should be welcomed to conduct best practice within the industry and it would be irresponsible to discharge responsibilities prior to reorganisation taking place.

·                The Action Plan could be summarised in two terms, pressures and prioritisation.

·                Digital Transformation would be pivotal in the coming years, it would have a major impact on members of staff in their jobs and it would be beneficial for this to be maintained.

·                It was important for staff briefings to continue to take place to drive the direction on what should be achieved in times of uncertainty.

The Chair thanked the Managing Director for their report.

Councillor Matt Barnes proposed and Councillor Tom Tyson seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the content of the Corporate Peer Challenge report and its recommendations were noted.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee commented on the proposed Action Plan, and referred it onto Cabinet, to be considered on 18 March 2025.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION: To ensure that the Council responded to the matters identified within the CPC report, ensuring that the benefits of the CPC process are realised.