Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive

Recommendations:-

1.           To approve the Council’s Year Ahead Plan.

2.           To endorse the proposed governance arrangements.

Consideration was given to a report which outlined the Council’s Year Ahead Plan with the purpose of supporting residents and businesses in these uncertain times, helping them to build resilience and adapt.

The Year Ahead document would effectively be the Council Plan for operating within and recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic in that it would capture the key actions through to May, 2021 and provide a basis for the development of a longer-term plan for the Borough.

The changing nature of the pandemic meant that the Council would need to continue to respond in a flexible way. Many of the impacts of the pandemic were not yet understood and have the potential to be profound and long lasting, therefore, the Council would need to continue to learn and adapt to new and emerging situations. As such, the approach through recovery planning would be an iterative process, necessarily building a picture of and responding to emerging needs and challenges.

The Year Ahead plan was based around five themes:-

·       Thriving neighbourhoods.

·       Better health and wellbeing.

·       Economic recovery.

·       New ways of working.

·       Confidence and hope in Rotherham.

The plan outlined the outcomes that each theme would be focussed on as well as the key activity that would take place between September, 2020 and May, 2021 to deliver on these outcomes.

Councillor Roche confirmed the role of the Health and Wellbeing Board was to address health inequalities and as part of this work a revamp of the Health and Wellbeing Board would take place.  This was also discussed as part of the workshop with the LGA at the last meeting.

This report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as part of the pre-scrutiny process who were in support of the recommendations, subject to:-

-                a sub-group of the Improving Places Select Commission be established in order to feed into the planned review relating to the return to, and use of Council buildings, and that the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board be invited to be a member of the sub-group

-                that the sub-group of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board on Communications be re-established in order to review how customers access Council Services

-                that a sub-group of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board be established to feed into the Council’s review of its approach to Equalities.

The Cabinet were happy to accept those recommendations.

Resolved:-

(1)           That the Council’s Year Ahead Plan be approved.

(2)  That the proposed governance arrangements be endorsed.