The Chief Executive
I am pleased to be able to provide this introduction to the 2005 Performance Plan. This is a statutory plan, which sets out our achievements in 2004/05 and our aims, ambitions and targets for the three years 2005/06 to 2007/08.
We have agreed the following priorities on which we want to make substantial progress in 2005/06:-
- To improve customer service
- To achieve successful, sustainable new communities at Northstowe and other major new settlements
- To increase the supply of affordable housing.
We have made significant progress in all these areas in 2004/05. For example, we have established the Contact Centre which is now providing an excellent service to the public; we have continued to replace our computer systems with updated, joined up, web enabled versions and many departments are improving services to the public in a variety of ways. We have provided over 250 new affordable houses and we have made great progress in establishing the planning framework for Northstowe.
As well as the progress on our priorities we have achieved a great deal else not least of which has been the move to our new offices at Cambourne which was carried out with no major impact on public services and which will further enhance our capacity to provide the improving services that the public expect.
2005/06 is set to be another exciting year! Much of the hard work in updating our Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure over the last five years will pay off as more new systems come on line and the final steps are taken to enable our residents to access services over the internet and receive a wider range of services through the Contact Centre. We will also be working to establish and publish a comprehensive set of customer service standards to give greater impetus and clarity to our commitment to customer care. During 2005/06 plans for Northstowe will also take shape.
But there are other great challenges for 2005/06. We need to improve our focus on performance management to ensure that we deliver the targets set in this plan and in our Service Plans so that we can demonstrate to our residents and to the Audit Commission the extent to which we are improving. We need to find solutions to the needs of travellers and their impact on other residents..
Perhaps, the most pressing matter currently facing us is the threat of Council Tax capping. Indeed, if the decision on capping goes against us many of the improvement plans in this document will need to be revised.
However, we have overcome many problems and challenges in the last few years and if we work together and support our new Leader of the Council, there is good reason to be confident that we will successfully negotiate the current circumstances and make 2005/06 another successful year.
John Ballantyne
Chief Executive
The structure of this plan
Chapter 2 sets out our long term objectives and more immediate priorities and shows how these relate to the Community Strategy. Chapter 3 is about the major issues or pressures facing us in 2005/06, both locally and as a result of national changes. Chapter 4 comments on our overall performance and how we will be trying to improve our performance in 2005/06 - for example our performance management system and how we will respond to consultation and inspections.
Chapters 5 and 6 are the most important part of this Plan. Chapter 5 gives a number of milestones which will enable us to make significant progress on our priorities for 2005/06 and also to address issues described earlier in the Plan. Chapter 6 gives the details of our performance indicators - both how we have fared in 2004/05 and our targets for 2005/06 and the following two years. Chapter 8 gives links to Service Plans which demonstrate how individual services will contribute towards the aims and targets in this plan and to other aspects of service improvement in 2005/06.