Content

10.1

The Director of Strategy and Communications
presented a 2025/26 Year Ahead  report outlining details of how the Council
has worked hard to build the foundations of an effective council
that listens and collaborates with its citizens and partners. This
has included embedding our new Council Plan and Strategy Framework;
working to rebuild our relationships and trust with communities,
partners and Government; and driving performance and delivery
across the organisation.
 
The Council Plan remains the Council’s
North Star. Through Future Sheffield, we will continue to transform
our organisation into one that is collectively focused outcomes and
high performance, on intervening early to prevent challenges
getting worse, and on maximising the strengths and potential of our
communities and partners. To ensure that the Council stays at the
front of the national and local policy agenda, this paper proposes
that we should look to develop our approach to two policy areas in
the coming year: 1) Prevention; and 2) Public Service Reform. There
is an opportunity for Strategy and Resources Policy Committee to
collaborate with fellow Policy Committees, communities and partners
to further develop our policy agenda in these
areas.

 

 

10.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Strategy and
Resources Policy Committee:-

 

 

 

(a) welcomes the
continuing progress on the Council Plan, the Strategy Framework,
including development of the Communities Strategy, and work to
drive forward the transformation of Sheffield City Council;
and
 
(b) agrees to
the development of cross-cutting policy work on prevention and
public service reform, harnessing the opportunities presented by
multi-year funding settlements, the Sheffield Policy Campus and a
greater focus on place-led change.

 

 

10.3

Reasons for Decision

 

 

10.3.1

This decision
will enable our organisation to build on the momentum established
by the City Goals and Council Plan by setting out a clear policy
programme for prevention and public service reform. It is a
critical underpinning to our Medium Term
Financial Strategy (MTFS) and the Future Sheffield Programme,
driving better outcomes for citizens and public finances by
tackling the root causes of challenges and taking a whole-system
approach to redesigning public services around the people we
serve.

 

 

10.4

Alternatives Considered and
Rejected

 

 

10.4.1

Alternative Option 1: Do nothing
Rejected – Sheffield City Council have made a policy
commitment to embedding prevention in everything we do, maximising
the opportunity to deliver better outcomes for citizens, transform
public services and reduce the pressure on public budgets.
But, we need a clear approach –
aligned to the Council Plan and the new Communities Strategy
– which empowers our senior leaders and managers to drive the
change, taking the opportunity to think and plan longer term. This
mentality and focus has a critical role
in our MTFS, maximising the opportunity of a multi-year budget
settlement for local government.

 

 

10.4.2

Alternative Option 2: Develop a Prevention Strategy for
SCC
Rejected – We have our City Goals and Council Plan as the
established strategic framework to guide us. We now need to empower
managers with the tools and skills to make prevention the focus in
budget setting and service delivery and match this with an
accountability environment which challenges our teams to see the
whole system and focus on the root causes rather than
symptoms.