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Agenda item

CORPORATE PEER CHALLENGE ACTION PLAN UPDATE

REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

 

The purpose of this report is to update Cabinet on progress against the agreed Action Plan that was developed following the November 2024 Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC). The Action Plan was approved by Cabinet on 18 March 2025, with an update reported to Cabinet on 23 September 2025 and again on 17 February 2026 (alongside the CPC follow up report from the LGA).

 

Decision:

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

 

(1)  Noted the progress against the agreed Action Plan.

 

(2)  Agreed no further progress updates are required at meetings, but ongoing actions should be appropriately continued and developed between Directors and relevant Executive Members.

 

REASON FOR DECISIONS: As the Action Plan is as complete as it is likely to be, plus the need to focus resource on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), it is recommended that no further updates are provided to the Action Plan. To be clear this does not mean that the Council will now ignore the recommendations, but rather reflects that changes have been embedded in how we work and that these have now become business as usual.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 13 minutes 02 seconds

 

Councillor Val Bryant, as Leader of the Council, presented the report entitled ‘Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan Update’ and highlighted that:

 

·       This report provided an update for Cabinet against the agreed Action Plan following the Corporate Peer Challenge in November 2024.

·       The Action Plan was approved by Cabinet in March 2025, with further updates provided at meetings in September 2025 and February 2026.

·       A follow up report from the Local Government Association Peers was also presented to Cabinet in February 2026. 

 

The Chief Executive further highlighted for Members that:

 

·       There were references to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in Section 8 of the report. However, this process had been paused by the government since the report was written. This pause did not have any material impact on the recommendations proposed.

·       Should the LGR process be cancelled, Cabinet may need to consider the Action Plan again and a further Corporate Peer Challenge visit may be conducted.

·       However, the indications so far were that LGR was on pause and would proceed in the future.

 

The following Members asked questions:

 

·       Councillor Ian Alber

·       Councillor Donna Wright

·       Councillor Tamsin Thomas

·       Councillor Mick Debenham

 

In response to questions, the Chief Executive advised that:

 

·       The recommendations proposed were that no further reports would be provided to Cabinet and therefore it would not be relevant to add further detail on timescales for actions. However, this could be discussed outside of the meeting, if further clarification was required.

·       Executive Members and their relevant Directors could continue to discuss actions which related to their areas and monitor any ongoing actions outside of Cabinet meetings.

·       An assessment of how well the Action Plan had been delivered could form part of the ongoing discussion between Executive Members and Directors.

·       The increased communication with staff has continued throughout the LGR process to date and had increased since the pause was announced, with an all-staff briefing arranged specifically to address the pause.

·       A staff survey was being conducted at the time of the pause announcement, and it was agreed that this would be continued and results analysed to provide insight into the impact of the pause on staff.

·       There was a Member Briefing arranged for Thursday 24 September to provide information on the LGR pause.

·       The restructure of the Leadership Team and its success could be discussed at the next Political Liaison Board meeting.

 

Councillor Val Bryant, as Chair, proposed to approve the recommendations, as amended, and this was seconded by Councillor Mick Debenham.

 

As part of the debate, Councillor Daniel Allen noted that the Council had learnt a lot from this Peer Review process and it had brought staff and Councillors into a better way of working together. He would encourage all other authorities to engage with the Peer Review process to enhance working at their organisation.

 

Having been proposed and seconded and, following a vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

 

(1)   Noted the progress against the agreed Action Plan.

 

(2)   Agreed no further progress updates are required at meetings, but ongoing actions should be appropriately continued and developed between Directors and relevant Executive Members.

 

REASON FOR DECISIONS: As the Action Plan is as complete as it is likely to be, plus the need to focus resource on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), it is recommended that no further updates are provided to the Action Plan. To be clear this does not mean that the Council will now ignore the recommendations, but rather reflects that changes have been embedded in how we work and that these have now become business as usual.

Supporting documents: