The Business Plan is the document that sets the overall strategic and financial framework for the council's services and is updated annually.
This year, rather than the Council Plan being a published document, we have posted it onto the council's website enabling us to keep it up-to-date more easily and cost effectively.
Full Version - Council Business Plan 2011-15 Update 2013 (pdf 2mb opens in new window)
Single Page Summary version (pdf 259kb opens in new window)
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As a direct result of the funding reductions imposed by Central Government, we are working closer than ever with other public sector bodies like the Police, NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Humberside Fire & Rescue Service. We also work closely with voluntary and community groups, working at the heart of our communities and the private sector, who make a major contribution to the wealth and wellbeing of the area.
Our vision for the future is to further join up some services with those of our partners. We also remain highly ambitious for the organisation itself and strive to remain one of the top council's in the country. To focus on this aspiration, we established, in 1996, a simple and powerful vision for the East Riding:
To improve the quality of life for our community; earn the respect of the people we serve and build pride in belonging to the East Riding of Yorkshire.
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The 2011-15 Council Business Plan sets out how we will deliver and resource our corporate priorities. These have been developed to reflect the needs and aspirations of local people and deliver our wider ambitions, set out in the East Riding Community Plan, that have been agreed with partners working across the area.
Priorities in the area are determined by a number of factors, including the views of local people and Elected members, the views of our partners and how well our services are currently performing. To give focus to the delivery of our corporate priorities, key outcomes for 2013-14 have been identified.
The council's five corporate priorities are:
Maximising our potential - Working with others to support sustainable economic growth and strong communities, ensuring the east Riding is a great place to invest in, live, work and visit.
Valuing our environment - Responding to climate change, developing our infrastructure and safeguarding our heritage.
Supporting vulnerable people, reducing inequalities - Supporting in times of need, protecting from harm and improving the quality of life.
Promoting health, wellbeing and independence - Helping people to stay healthy, strong and fit for the future.
Reducing costs, raising performance - Developing our workforce and working with partners to provide excellent service, effective governance and value for money.
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The background against which the plan has been developed has been particularly challenging in anticipation of funding reductions, we started planning early in 2009.
As part of the council’s planned strategic approach a business transformation programme has been established to find ways to deliver services differently with reduced resources. Phase one is designed to realise £10m of cash savings over the next three years and further projects in phase two have been approved in order to achieve additional savings of £4m by 2014/15. This planned approach is aimed at generating early savings to provide the resources necessary to maintain services in the future, including those provided by the voluntary and community sector, whilst helping to retain key staff and skills to manage change and service risks. As 34% of the working population in the East Riding is employed in the public sector, keeping job losses to a minimum will lessen the potentially significant impact of public expenditure reductions on the local economy.
The plan takes account of significant longer term issues including the legislative changes which will impact on the services we deliver such as changes planned in the management of the NHS and their implications for the council; education and schools converting to academies; welfare reform and localism, and the Government’s transparency agenda,
It also recognises the need to plan and fund services to cope with the changes in need and demand, such as meeting the requirements of the growing number of older people in the East Riding, as these will have significant financial implications.
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The planning framework ensures we use resources effectively and take into account how we are performing and the views and priorities of service users, residents and the wider priorities of national Government when developing our services.
The Community Plan – Our East Riding 2006-2016 is a plan for the
whole of the East Riding shared by all those working together to improve the quality of life in the area and driving what is done in each of our organisations.
The Local Development Framework, or LDF, is the name for the portfolio of
documents that together provide the framework for managing development and addressing the key planning issues within an area. The Framework reflects the aspirations of local communities, guides investment decisions and is used to determine planning applications.
Linked closely to the Business Plan are more detailed strategies and plans often focused on specific groups of people or functions to drive the delivery of the Council’s priorities. Increasingly, many of these strategies are jointly developed and monitored with partners, for example, the Joint Health Strategy.
Service plans are a tool to enable services to turn plans into action, monitor performance and effectively manage their business. The service plans are updated annually in the spring.
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The financial plan includes gross revenue spending of £729.7 for 2013-14.
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The Financial Strategy sets out how resources will be used to deliver our strategic key outcomes over the medium term, whilst taking account of developments in national priorities. It reflects the financial implications of other corporate strategies and is key to managing the financial impact of the risks to which the Council is exposed.
The key considerations for the financial planning process are:
- council priorities
- corporate strategies
- national priorities
- transformation projects/service reviews
- risk strategy.
Once a draft budget is prepared each year, there is wide consultation with all of the council’s Members, the Schools’ Forum, local strategic partners, business ratepayers and trades unions.
Consultation is also undertaken with a variety of local people through our annual budget event.
The gross revenue budget for 2013/14 is £729.7m.
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The full council on 7 February 2013 approved the budget of the council which determines the level of council tax required. The 2013/14 budget is based on no increase to the billing amount of council tax including special expenses. This freeze in council tax will mean that the Government will provide additional funding of £1.5m in 2013/14 and 2014/15, equivalent to 1% increase in council tax.
The table below provides summary information:
Summary information
|
£m
|
Base Budget 2012/13
| 265.7
|
Pressures
| 20.6
|
Reductions
| -24.3
|
| | |
Projected Budget
| 262.0
|
| Less: | |
Other Income, grants and Formula grant
| -133.1
|
| |
| |
Council Tax Requirement
| 128.9
|
| | |
Band D Council Tax
| £1,212 |
| | |
Summary information
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Our capital investment programme covers such things as engineering works to highways, property maintenance and coastal protection. Despite the funding reductions, the council's capital programme is still significant, being valued at £80m for 2013/14, and totals £860m across 2011-2015. We will continue to seek external funding, but will need to prioritise future capital investment based on our corporate priorities.
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We manage our performance very closely through a comprehensive performance
management framework which operates across the council. This ensures that Members and council officers are able to make informed decisions that will drive service improvement. This process is also closely linked to our planning framework which ensures that resources are used effectively in support of the council’s priorities.
A summary of the progress we have made will be contained in the annual performance report which will be published on the website in the autumn.
Additionally, residents will be kept up-to-date with progress in Your East Riding through stories about the real differences we are making to people in the community
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