Councillors and committees

Agenda item

Organisation Strategy, Preliminary Financial Strategy, Transformation Programme, and 'Our People' Strategy

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

Cabinet RECOMMEND that Council:

 

1.    Approve the Surrey County Council Organisation Strategy 2019 – 2023 which sets out how the Council would work with residents and partners to contribute to the achievement of the Community Vision for Surrey in 2030. It sets out priority areas the Council would focus on over the next four years.

2.    Approve the Preliminary Financial Strategy (PFS) 2019 – 2024 that sets out a draft balanced budget for 2019/20, without the use of reserves, subject to the outcome of consultation, engagement and equality impact assessments.

3.    Approve the Transformation Programme subject to the outcome of consultation, engagement and equality impact assessments. The programme would be delivered through six delivery themes: Service Transformation, Partnership & Integration, New Ways of Working, Commissioning, Investment & Income and Technology & Digital Innovation.

4.     Approve the ‘Our People 2021’ strategy, which was the Council’s plan for the current and future workforce and sets out how the Council would develop its capacity and capability to contribute to the Community Vision for Surrey in 2030, achieve its priority strategic outcomes for residents, ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the Council, drive wholesale transformational change over the next few years and create a high performance culture.

5.    To note the planned engagement and consultation activity related to the savings proposals contained within the PFS and Transformation Programme. These had been initiated under the formerly agreed delegated authority of senior officers.

Cabinet noted:

 

6.    That the outcomes of this activity will be brought back to Cabinet on 29 January 2019, where Cabinet would be asked to make recommendations to the Council meeting in February 2019 on the revenue & capital Budget and the council tax precept for 2019/20.

Reasons for Decisions:

 

By approving the suite of documents in the annexes to the submitted report the Cabinet was supporting a new financial and strategic direction for the Council, endorsing the priorities, key objectives and draft directorate budget envelopes for the medium term.

 

The Organisation Strategy, Preliminary Financial Strategy, Transformation Programme and ‘Our People 2021’ strategy provided a clear sense of the Council’s direction for staff, members, residents, partner organisations and businesses. As part of the Council’s Policy Framework (as set out in the Constitution) the Corporate Strategy (called the Organisation Strategy in this report) must be approved by Council.

Minutes:

The Leader introduced a report that set out a suite of strategies and transformation programme which he said was probably the most important this Council had considered in light of the unprecedented pressures facing the County Council and the need to transform services. He stated that the Council was unable to control demands on services and spoke of the pressures on adult social care and the impact that has on the NHS.

He went on to say that although full details were not yet known, yesterday’s Budget announcements about additional funding for local government for roads and social care didn’t alter the fact that the Council needed to make significant savings. Despite the number of residents needing support continued to increase, core government funding had been cut by around two hundred million pounds since 2010. The Council had found five hundred and forty million pounds of savings in that time to address this but the challenge was getting tougher. To remain financially stable and able to live within its means, the Council had to be a fundamentally different organisation. The Leader explained that the proposed strategy set out in the report was key to achieving that.

 

The proposed strategy set out how the Council will work with residents and partners so it can provide the best possible support with the resources available. Whilst the Council worked well with districts and boroughs there was more that could be done better. The strategy would create the environment to transform the way services were delivered by being more joined up with partners, shaping services around residents and communities and better use of technology. It was an important duty of politicians to ensure that no one is left behind. This would mean taking some of the toughest decisions this Council has had to make. 


The Leader went on to highlight consultations that had recently been launched as part of the Council’s transformation plans and to tackle its financial pressures.

The consultations covered five areas:

·      children’s centres;

·      concessionary fares on Surrey buses;

·      special educational needs and disabilities;

·      libraries; and

·      community recycling centres.

 

He said that some of the things proposed would not be popular but the Council had to look to change how things were done. He further urged residents to take the time to have their say on the consultations by going online at surreycc.gov.uk/consultations in order to help shape the services provided by the Council to residents.

The Cabinet Lead Member for People introduced the Organisation Strategy stating that there were four strategic principles that led to ten outcomes. It was important for the Council to be realistic about what it could do and support others.  The improved outcomes would need to be measured and the results published.

 

The Cabinet Member for Adults introduced the Preliminary Financial Strategy and spoke of the effects of reduced Government support over previous years. Whilst the Chancellor spoke of additional funding in his Budget speech the details of that would need to be received before an actual amount for Surrey would be known.  He went on to say that budget envelopes had been set and must be adhered to and that he hoped to see Investment Strategy income shown in future reports.

 

The Cabinet Lead Member for Place introduced the Transformation Programme and explained that this was the first stage of the business cases which were working documents and not set in stone. He stressed the importance of scrutiny in going forward to ensure that proposals were deliverable, met the financial target and met the needs of residents.

 

Each Cabinet Member spoke in turn about the projects of the Transformation Programme and how they would affect services within their remits and what the challenges were.

 

RESOLVED:

 

Cabinet RECOMMEND that Council:

 

  1. Approve the Surrey County Council Organisation Strategy 2019 – 2023 which sets out how the Council would work with residents and partners to contribute to the achievement of the Community Vision for Surrey in 2030. It sets out priority areas the Council would focus on over the next four years.
  2. Approve the Preliminary Financial Strategy (PFS) 2019 – 2024 that sets out a draft balanced budget for 2019/20, without the use of reserves, subject to the outcome of consultation, engagement and equality impact assessments.
  3. Approve the Transformation Programme subject to the outcome of consultation, engagement and equality impact assessments. The programme would be delivered through six delivery themes: Service Transformation, Partnership & Integration, New Ways of Working, Commissioning, Investment & Income and Technology & Digital Innovation.
  4. Approve the ‘Our People 2021’ strategy, which was the Council’s plan for the current and future workforce and sets out how the Council would develop its capacity and capability to contribute to the Community Vision for Surrey in 2030, achieve its priority strategic outcomes for residents, ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the Council, drive wholesale transformational change over the next few years and create a high performance culture.
  5. To note the planned engagement and consultation activity related to the savings proposals contained within the PFS and Transformation Programme. These had been initiated under the formerly agreed delegated authority of senior officers.

Cabinet noted:

 

  1. That the outcomes of this activity would be brought back to Cabinet on 29 January 2019, where Cabinet would be asked to make recommendations to the Council meeting in February 2019 on the revenue & capital Budget and the Council Tax precept for 2019/20.

Reasons for Decisions:

 

By approving the suite of documents in the annexes to the submitted report, the Cabinet was supporting a new financial and strategic direction for the Council, endorsing the priorities, key objectives and draft directorate budget envelopes for the medium term.

 

The Organisation Strategy, Preliminary Financial Strategy, Transformation Programme and ‘Our People 2021’ strategy provided a clear sense of the Council’s direction for staff, members, residents, partner organisations and businesses. As part of the Council’s Policy Framework (as set out in the Constitution) the Corporate Strategy (called the Organisation Strategy in this report) must be approved by Council.

Supporting documents: