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Connecting priorities to Resources

Worcestershire's Performance Management Framework  (780.26 KB) sets out the Council's approach to planning and performance management

Why Plan?

Planning is an essential component of every well-run organisation. A good planning process will provide customers, managers and individual employees with:

• A clear vision and strategic sense of direction for the organisation.
• Defined aims and objectives to enable the organisation to achieve its strategic priorities.
• SMART (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Timely) targets against which achievement and progress can be measured.
  

Worcestershire County Councils Planning Process

The County Council's planning process is a thread running through the whole organisation. It links corporate aims and objectives with service policies and priorities to the responsibilities of individual staff.

Which Plan is which?

Corporate Plan
The corporate plan is a single document setting out the Council's vision and overall strategic direction.  A new corporate plan will be drawn up after each main County Council election in order to reflect the strategic priorities of the ruling party/parties.

Details of the current corporate plan and the council's corporate policy priorities are available from the Improvement Unit or from your directorate contact officer, (see list at the end of this page).

Against each policy priority the corporate plan identifies

• a number of key aims and targets. Responsibility for achieving these lies with individual directorates, and relevant aims and targets will be reflected in individual service delivery plans (see below).
• Progress against the corporate plan is monitored and reported to councillors on a six-monthly basis. Updates take account of achievements against the plan and any new information that needs to be included in the plan.
• Responsibility for producing and monitoring the corporate plan rests with the Director of Planning, Economy and Performance
  

Service Delivery plans and Statutory Plans

Service delivery plans and statutory plans provide strategic direction and contain aims and objectives for individual services.  They have a clear link to the corporate plan and contain aims and targets based directly on corporate policy priorities, as well as others reflecting additional service policy priorities.

Progress against service delivery and statutory plans must be reported to councillors six-monthly, on an exception basis (i.e. changes and achievements since the last report).

Responsibility for producing service delivery and statutory plans rests with chief officers.

Statutory plans are those plans which the government requires the County Council to produce.  Often the Government closely prescribes the content and timing of these plans.

Service delivery plans cover areas of service not covered by statutory plans. They:

• show how a service's aims and objectives link to the council's visions and corporate objectives.
• identify service delivery standards and targets.
• enable partners and the public to see how services are to be provided.
• show how a service is responding to feedback from consultations.
  

Service delivery plans should  include the setting of performance improvement targets.

Service delivery plans must be produced on an annual basis (covering the period from April to March) and reported to councillors by April each year.

Unit Business Plans

Business units within directorates are required to produce each year a business or unit plan, which translates the aims and targets of units into actions for specific work groups.

Unit business plans must be produced at unit manager level.

Each unit business plan should contain:

• A brief description of the unit's key functions.
• Details of the unit's staffing and other resources (using the agreed format).
• Details of key tasks and targets for which the unit is responsible and who is responsible for meeting these targets (using the agreed format).
• Brief details of alternative service providers including any expected changes that will affect service provision.
• Brief details of any key areas of partnership working.
• Any factors that have been identified as likely to affect future service delivery e.g. forthcoming legislation.
  

Unit business plans must be produced on an annual basis (covering the period from April to March) and reported to directorate management teams by April each year.

Performance against unit business plans must be monitored on a quarterly basis and reported to directorate management teams on an exception basis.

Staff Review and Development

Through the corporate staff review and development process all staff have a staff review and development interview each year. As part of this the individual member of staff and his/her line manager agree a number of specific objectives and targets which are to be achieved by the individual over the coming year. These objectives and targets must reflect the priorities identified in unit business plans and service delivery or statutory plans.

Performance against these targets will be monitored regularly as part of the staff review and development process.

Performance Targets

A number of statutory best value performance indicators have been identified for individual services. In addition to this we are expected to identify a number of other local performance indicators by which the standards of our service provision can be assessed over time.

Each year we are required to compare our own performance against these indicators and against the performance of other providers and to set ourselves targets for improvement over time. Relevant performance targets and ongoing performance against them must be reported in service delivery and unit business plans. Details of our performance must be published publicly each year in the best value performance/annual plan.

Consultation

All services are required to undertake ongoing consultation with their service users and other relevant groups (e.g. key partners, local communities) to identify opportunities for service improvement. Potential improvements identified must be taken into account in preparing service delivery and unit business plans and identifying future aims and targets.

The planning cycle reflects the local government electoral cycle. We follow a four-year cycle where Year 1 is the year in which County Council elections are held.

Further information
If you require any further information about the Council's planning process please contact

Wendy James Improvement Manager  wjames@worcestershire.gov.uk  (Tel 01905 766680)

or your own directorate contact officer.

Lisa Peaty Children's Services (01905 728536) lpeaty@worcestershire.gov.uk
Tony Leak Adult and Community Services (01905 728591) tleak@worcestershire.gov.uk
John Evans Environmental Services (01905 766220) tjevans@worcestershire.gov.uk
Annette Stock Corporate Services (01905 766640) astock@worcestershire.gov.uk
Jenni Morris Financial Services (01905 7666512) jennimorris@worcestershire.gov.uk

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