Councillor Ann McLachlan introduced a report by the Director of Public Health/Head of Policy and Performance that provided an update on progress in delivering the Council’s Improvement Plan, six months into its implementation.

The report informed that significant changes have been made since the Improvement Plan was developed during summer 2012.  The Plan reflected the position the Council was in at that time, with an emphasis on the need to get some of the basic infrastructure for change in place to enable the organisation to begin a longer process of transformation. 

The Cabinet noted that the emphasis of the Plan was being changed to ensure that it was more outcome-based.  Outcomes had been identified that the Council believed would demonstrate the impact of the changes being made as an organisation, against the priorities that were set out in July 2012.  They would also enable the Council to be stronger in its approach to delivering the commitments made in the Corporate Plan for 2013-16. 

The report looked forward and informed that the focus for the next six months would be on ensuring Wirral could evidence the actions taken that showed the borough was strengthening its corporate culture to meet its current and future challenges.  Key priorities would be to embed a new performance culture as well as embarking on a series of transformational projects that were seen as essential in shaping the Council that Wirral would be by 2016.  The Peer Challenge follow-up visit recommendations had support this, particularly around the need to strengthen Wirral’s corporate functions and linking the transformation programme to the vision of its future. 

The report was accompanied by a detailed milestone report which was attached as an appendix.  It included a summary of progress against each of the Improvement Plan objectives and a Red, Green, Amber, Blue (RAGB) rating.

The Cabinet noted that of the 45 objectives within the Plan:

·  11 were rated blue and had now been completed.

·  13 were rated green and were on track, in progress and completed to plan, with no issues.

·  21 were rated amber and were not yet completed, a risk but not yet an issue.

·  0 were rated red and identified as a problem requiring serious or immediate attention or action.

The Cabinet noted that this RAGB rating illustrated that significant progress had been made.  The report narrative highlighted the main areas of progress and those areas requiring more attention.  There was a summary against each of the five Improvement Plan priorities and at the end of each section, a list of the key supporting evidence. 

Progress with Priority 1 ‘Political and Managerial Leadership’ had been strong with the delivery of a series of development sessions for all Members to shape the Council’s vision and transformation priorities.  However, some activities under this priority, specifically the Leadership and Cultural Change programmes had been deferred until the autumn once the organisational restructure (currently being implemented) was completed.

There had been good progress under Priority 2, ‘Corporate Governance and Decision-Making’, specifically in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5