Corporate Plan 2022 to 2027: well-being statement

Our Well-being Objectives will contribute to the achievement of each of the Welsh Government’s Well-being Goals. In developing our commitments within the plan, we have reflected on the five ways of working, focusing on prevention, longer-term impact, integration with partner objectives, collaborative working and closely involving our communities. Communities were strongly involved in developing our citizen outcomes and the council will continue to involve communities going forward, to also build that sense of ownership over our citizen-focussed goals.

Our Well-being Objectives must not be considered in isolation, as there are cross-cutting themes to consider, meaning it is important that we assess our actions and decisions to have a positive impact on such issues as tackling poverty, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and promoting the Welsh language. Poverty and DEI cannot be pinned down to one or two actions or measures, and the goals chosen collectively aim to have a positive impact on addressing these fundamental areas by improving education, housing, health, safety, job opportunities, environmental impact, well-being, and a sense of equity and belonging.

The goals outlined in the Corporate Plan are intended to be long-term, and will not all be met during the period of the plan. Neither are they entirely within our control and cannot be delivered by us alone. Nonetheless, we hope to achieve improvement in these important areas during the present Council’s administration, which ends in 2027. We will review our Corporate Plan commitments and progress every year through our Self-Assessment process. Any changes will be included in our six-monthly reports.

As mentioned, the Corporate Plan is underpinned by our service plans and a number of key strategies, which feed into the plan’s performance framework. The framework picks out from these plans and strategies the performance measures and activities that best capture our contribution to the Corporate Plan and the achievement of the commitments that we have made within it. Taken in the round, the progress we show against these measures and the benefits that we deliver from our supporting activity should demonstrate the council’s contribution towards the achievement of the long-term goals that we have set. Again, it must be stressed that we cannot achieve the goals alone, and we are clear that these are long-term aims that will not necessarily be achieved within the lifetime of one Corporate Plan.

We will review and assess our performance against the Corporate Plan on a six-monthly basis through our Performance Self-Assessment reports, in line with the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021. The Self-Assessment reports will be routinely presented to our Senior Management Team, Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and Cabinet, and annually to the Governance and Audit Committee and Council for approval. They will be published on www.conwy.gov.uk/performance as soon as is possible.

We will also conduct an annual performance review of service delivery against the plan, seeking to provide support and challenge, and assess our progress in meeting our Well-being Objectives, Service priorities, key risks, performance measures, achievements, and areas of improvement.

We also have a duty to consult a range of people (statutory consultees) each financial year about how well we are meeting our performance requirements. We are keen to make sure that this information is captured within our framework going forward.

In accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Statutory Duties (Wales) Regulations 2011, the council has a Strategic Equality Plan in place (called Inclusive Conwy), an Equality and Diversity Policy, and an Equality Impact Assessment Policy. An Equality Impact Assessment (including socio economic duty and other integrated impact assessment requirements) has been completed and revisited for this Corporate Plan. In addition, Equality Impact Assessment screening or full Equality Impact Assessments will have been undertaken on actions within the plan where appropriate.

Our Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) sets out the strategic approach to the management of our finances and aims to anticipate some of the financial issues that we will face over the five-year period of the political administration. Bearing in mind the current economic climate, such predictions are highly likely to vary.

The aim of the MTFS is to provide a financial strategy to support planning considerations for the medium term. This is to ensure that the budget prepares the council for the period to come rather than merely trying to balance issues one year at a time.

The MTFS cannot exist in isolation. The costs of the council are based upon a variety of service delivery requirements and statutory responsibilities that must be resourced and delivered, which are based upon the demographic needs of the county. Therefore, the MTFS has strong links with the strategic direction of the council as outlined in the Corporate Plan 2022 to 2027.

The key elements that form the MTFS will be reviewed annually. The MTFS is a key tool for proactive financial management and will be the basis of the annual budget setting process to ensure that the council’s resource needs are focused on the right priorities, and allows for future projected funding requirements and issues to be identified far enough ahead in order to take appropriate action.

The resource implications underpinning the Corporate Plan contain input ranging from officer capacity to pursuit of significant external funding to help deliver the citizen outcomes over the period of the plan. The Corporate Plan does not mean we will shift funding away from our legal responsibilities to only focus on the outcomes in the plan. All priorities must be considered based on the resources we have available and the inevitable fact that our desire to be ambitious and improve will not be matched by our ability to spend.