Agenda item

            The Strategic Director of City and Organisational Strategy submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report

1.1       To update Members on results of the public consultation on the draft council improvement objectives and to present the draft Council Improvement Plan 2019 - 2020 for Committee approval and publication.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is asked to

·        Approve the draft 2019-20 Council Improvement Plan.  A draft was presented to SP&R Committee in February and draft improvement objectives agreed for public consultation.  As council is legally required to publish its improvement plan by 30th June, Members are also asked to authorise its publication on the council’s website subject to formal ratification by Council on 1st July.

3.0       Key Issues

3.1       Background

            The Local Government Act (NI) 2014 introduced a duty on councils to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of their functions.  As a result, we are required to consult residents on our proposed improvement objectives and to publish an annual Improvement Plan setting out the agreed improvement objectives for the year ahead and our arrangements to achieve them.  In February, SP&R approved six draft improvement objectives, aligned to the Belfast Agenda, which we issued for public consultation:

3.2       Consultation Responses

            The consultation ran for a period of 6 weeks and received 43 responses, an increase from last year.  The majority of those responding to the consultation supported the proposed improvement objectives - see table 1.  Where respondents did disagree, comments suggest that this was largely because they felt council should be focusing on core services rather than doing what they seen as ‘the job of other organisations’.  In the case of the waste and recycling objective, although some respondents said they disagreed with this objective, their comments suggest that they disagreed with the proposed approach to reducing waste rather than the objective itself.  When we broke down the level of agreement in more detail, recycling, supporting healthier lifestyles and customer care improvements showed the highest levels of ‘strongly agree’.

3.3       When asked to submit ideas for improving the objectives or to suggest other areas for improvement, around half (22 respondents) provided comments. Although these comments varied widely, respondents mentioned the environment / sustainable development and encouraging active travel the most frequently.  Other suggested issues included addressing anti-social behaviour, supporting people in poverty, better support for people with disabilities and better support for mental health.  These issues, most of which require a partnership effort, will be addressed through the Belfast Agenda or are reflected in the council’s new Corporate Plan.  

3.4       Improvement Plan 2019 – 20

            The high levels of support, as evidenced by the consultation, indicate that the proposed improvement objectives are relevant and appropriate. However, in response to the feedback we have updated the health related improvement objective to include active travel related actions. The objectives have now been incorporated within a formal Council Improvement Plan, which is supported by an internal operational plan that details the key deliverables for the year ahead. The draft Improvement Plan is attached at appendix 1 for approval.

            Council must publish its Improvement Plan by 30th June each year.  Given that the local government elections meant that the draft plan could not be brought to committee before now, Members of the SP&R Committee are asked to approve the attached plan and to authorise its publication on the council website by 28th June.  In order to meet our statutory deadline, the plan will therefore be published subject to formal ratification by full Council on 1st July.  

3.5       Financial and Resource Implications

            The Improvement Plan has already been reflected in the formal planning and budgeting processes of council; there are no resource implications contained in this report. 

3.6       Equality and Good Relations Implications/Rural Needs assessment

            There are no direct equality or rural need implications contained in this report.”

            The Committee:

·        approved the draft 2019-20 Council Improvement Plan, subject to the removal of references to MIPIM as an indicator;

·        noted that a draft had been presented to the Committee in February and draft improvement objectives had been agreed for public consultation; and

·        agreed, as the Council was legally required to publish its improvement plan by 30th June, to authorise its publication on the council’s website subject to formal ratification by Council on 1st July.