Issue - meetings

Purpose of the Report

To seek approval to submit the Council’s Productivity Plan to the Government. This had been developed in response to the Productivity in Local Government request from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

Decision

1.    That the submission of the Council’s Productivity Plan to the Government be approved.

2.    That the publication of the Productivity Plan on the Council’s website following the submission be approved.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None were considered. Failure to approve and publish the Productivity Plan would contravene the request from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Reasons for the Decision

Productivity across all public services, including local government was reviewed by the Government. The Local Government Finance Settlement 2024/25 announced that Councils would be asked to produce productivity plans and correspondence was received on 16 April 2024 to formally start the process.

The submission deadline for plans was 19 July 2024. Given the need to rearrange some committee meetings following the announcement of the General Election, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities had confirmed that submission following July’s Executive would be permitted for City of Lincoln Council’s Plan.

There was no prescribed format given for the presentation of the Productivity Plan but key areas to consider presented in the request from Government were summarised as

• How services had been designed, delivered or transformed to make better use of resources
• How Councils planned to use technology and make better use of data to improve decision making, service design and use of resources
• Plans to reduce waste, be efficient and spend effectively
• Assurances on governance, financial approach and performance
• Any barriers to productivity that Government could help to reduce or remove.

The draft Productivity Plan at Appendix A provided a narrative of progress already made by the Council. It gave assurance on our approach, outlined next steps and articulated the challenges faced by local government as a sector and the specific impact this had on delivery of services and on our communities. It set out areas that Government could consider to assist local councils to further improve productivity.