Purpose

To approve the Rochdale Council Productivity
Plan
 

Content

The Cabinet considered
a report of the Director of Corporate Services / Leader of the
Council which sought approval of the Productivity Plan. Subject to
Cabinet’s approval, the Plan would be published on the
Council’s web-site and submitted to the Department of
Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
 
The Policy Adviser was
in attendance to present the report and to address the questions of
the Cabinet Members.
 
The DLUHC had
requested the submission of the Council’s Productivity Plan
to help the Government find out the barriers and opportunities that
Councils were facing at the moment.
 
A national Long Term
Sustainability Panel would be established to consider the themes
emerging from the productivity plans, opportunities for further
productivity gains and barriers to transformation, in addition to
the financial considerations to achieve productive outcomes.
 
Rochdale Council had
already in place governance processes set up for all the projects
and programmes outlined in its Productivity Plan. Therefore, in the
interest of efficiency, it was proposed that no additional
reporting mechanisms were established to monitor progress against
the Productivity Plan.
 
Resolved:
1.   
That the Productivity Plan be approved
2.   
That the Productivity Plan be published on the Council’s
web-site;
3.   
That the Productivity Plan be submitted to the Department of
Levelling Up, Housing and Communities;
4.   
That it be agreed that no additional reporting mechanisms are
established to monitor progress against the Productivity Plan, on
the grounds that this would duplicate existing and established
governance processes.
 
Reason for
decision:
The Council was
required to submit the Productivity Plan to the DLUHC and publish
the document on the Council’s web-site before 19th
July 2024 (the original date for recess of Parliament).
Publication of the
document was intended to demonstrate transparency of the
Council’s plans to improve the efficiency and effectiveness
of the Council’s operations to government and residents.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
To not approve and
publish the productivity plan, it would contravene the request from
DLUHC.
Publish the
aforementioned document with amendments.