Issue - meetings

That the Committee notes the process and timeline for the review of the Council Plan for re-adoption for 2021/22.

The Chief Executive presented a report on the development of the proposed Council Plan for 2021/22 with focus on the Committee’s respective portfolios.

As previously reported, the immediate strategic priorities for the recovery of portfolios had been extracted from the draft Council Plan 2020/21 and adopted for the second half of 2020/21.  The Council Plan for 2021/22 would continue to take account of recovery and would be built around six themes suggested by Cabinet:

·         Economy

·         Education and Skills

·         Environment

·         Housing

·         Personal and Community Well-being

·         Poverty

The Medium Term Financial Strategy reflected key work on these areas.  Consultation with Overview & Scrutiny Committees was scheduled for the New Year leading to adoption by Council in April/May 2021.  In response to Councillor Jones’ earlier point, whilst there was clear alignment with Overview & Scrutiny committees on the first five themes, areas under the Poverty theme were broader and spanned portfolios.

This point was acknowledged by Councillor Roberts who spoke about the need to retain cross-cutting themes such as Poverty and Well-being as well as in-year priorities such as Green Council which required a view across the Council.

Councillor Thomas agreed and gave examples of joint working across service areas.  She also referred to the opportunity for Overview & Scrutiny committees to influence their forward work programmes.

In recognising the number of cross-cutting issues, Councillor Jones reiterated his remarks about alignment of the Council Plan with portfolios and that themes were easier to understand and follow when aligned to a specific lead officer and committee.

Councillor Shotton welcomed the priority areas to tackle poverty which spanned the remit of all committees.

Councillor Heesom spoke in support of Councillor Jones’ comments and the importance of Overview & Scrutiny committees focussing on key issues.

Following the debate, the Committee supported the Chief Executive’s suggestion that the Poverty theme remain open until the item was next considered so that Members could consider which Overview & Scrutiny committee was the best fit for this theme.

The recommendation in the report was moved and seconded by Councillors Jones and Heesom.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee notes the process and timeline for the review of the Council Plan for re-adoption for 2021/22.