236 Future Croydon - The Transformation Plan 6-Month Progress Update PDF 152 KB
Additional documents:
Decision:
The Executive Mayor and Cabinet, RESOLVED to;
2.1 Note the progress made in the first six months of the "Future Croydon" Transformation Plan (2024-2029) at set out in Appendix 1.
2.2 Note progress made in the Council Improvement Plan (2022-2027) as set out in Appendix 2.
Minutes:
The Executive Mayor introduced the report, advising of the Council's improvement journey to rectify its legacy financial and governance issues.
The Future Croydon Transformation plan had been launched in March 2024 and sought to achieve sustainable change, with the goal for the Council to become the most efficient and cost-effective council in London, whilst ensuring that residents received the services they needed. Over 850 residents and 600 staff had contributed to shaping the Council's transformation. Key priorities identified included improving customer experiences, enhancing housing support, and tackling inefficiencies in service delivery.
A new Target Operating Model was in development and initiatives including Access Croydon improvements and the Adults Living Independently programme had already had an impact.
Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Jason Cummings extended thanks to officers for their efforts and engagement in the improvement work. Transformation was required to meet the Council's financial challenges and the high level of staff engagement was illustrative of the cocreation and buy-in of officers to enable this transformation to take place.
Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Callton Young raised that in regard to financial sustainability, the Council's transformation was secondary to its debt write off negotiations. The report was welcomed and it was asked how the projects detailed within the report were being prioritised and whether there was a commitment to conduct the review of council contracts as a priority. Further detail was sought regarding the new parking policy which was anticipated to raise income of more than £951k.
Cabinet Member for Finance Councillor Jason Cummings responded stating the Council's transformation programme was ahead of any debt write off negotiations. The council could not control negotiations and Council's the focus was to achieve efficiency and service improvement through the Transformation Programme as its top priority.
The prioritisation, interdependencies, resourcing and external support required for the transformation programmes was under careful consideration and there would be a stepped approach to programme roll out.
It was confirmed that parking policy income detailed within the appendix was included in the Period 5 Financial monitoring report.
The Executive Mayor and Cabinet, RESOLVED to;
2.1 Note the progress made in the first six months of the "Future Croydon" Transformation Plan (2024-2029) at set out in Appendix 1.
2.2 Note progress made in the Council Improvement Plan (2022-2027) as set out in Appendix 2.