Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet endorse the proposed approach to developing Surrey County Council’s Productivity Plan.

2. That Cabinet agrees to delegate authority to the Interim Head of Paid Service in conjunction with the Leader of the Council to sign off the final Productivity Plan.

Reasons for Decisions:

A requirement from Government for developing Productivity Plans is that there is Member oversight. These recommendations enable this to be achieved while also ensuring that the Council can meet the Government’s deadline of 19 July 2024.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee)

The Leader explained that the Final Local Government Finance Settlement 2024/25 included a requirement for all local authorities to produce Productivity Plans to help Government to understand what local authorities are doing to maximise their productivity and efficiency, and any barriers that preclude councils from achieving this. The Plan is due to be submitted to the Government by 19 July 2024. Each Productivity Plan is expected to provide information against four themes. The Council’s Plan was attached at Annex 2 and the Leader briefly described the response in each section. One of the questions asked as part of the Productivity Plan was what barriers were preventing progress that the Government can help to reduce or remove. The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Customer and Communities commented that it was useful to see in the Plan the ways the government could support the council with breaking down barriers and supporting progress but it was clear to see that there were many barriers. The Leader explained that the CCN had launches a manifesto for counties ahead of the general election which set out detailed proposals for political parties to adopt in the lead up to July 4.

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet endorse the proposed approach to developing Surrey County Council’s Productivity Plan.

2. That Cabinet agrees to delegate authority to the Interim Head of Paid Service in conjunction with the Leader of the Council to sign off the final Productivity Plan.

Reasons for Decisions:

A requirement from Government for developing Productivity Plans is that there is Member oversight. These recommendations enable this to be achieved while also ensuring that the Council can meet the Government’s deadline of 19 July 2024.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee)