Performance Improvement Plan 2024-2025 document p2

Duty to Improve

Under the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014, councils have a general duty to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of their functions.

Improvement in the context of the Act means more than gains in service output or efficiency, or in internal effectiveness.

Improvement means an activity that enhances the sustainable quality of life and environment for ratepayers and communities.

For each financial year, councils must set Improvement Objectives, and have the arrangements in place to achieve them.

These objectives must be framed to bring about improvement in at least one of the aspects of improvement outlined within the Act of:

• Strategic effectiveness
• Service quality
• Service availability
• Fairness
• Sustainability
• Efficiency
• Innovation

Arrangements to Secure Continuous Improvement

Our arrangements to secure continuous improvement are outlined within our Performance Management Framework.

This framework drives performance at all levels within the organisation, and illustrates how our corporate strategies, aims and objectives, flow through the organisation to link to each employee’s individual work plan.

We use a series of measures to monitor our performance and to identify any improvements that we make.

Our arrangements are supported by a dedicated performance management system and are subject to an annual audit and assessment by the Northern Ireland Audit Office.

Community Plan (2017-2032)	The Community Plan sits the top of the framework and sets the 15-year vision for the borough. It is led by the Council and was developed in partnership with a range of stakeholders from the borough's public, private and voluntary sectors.
Corporate Plan (2024-2028)	Our four-year strategic plan shapes our services and drives our annual business planning process, ensuring everything we do is aimed at achieving our objectives and our vision.
Performance Improvement Plan	This annual improvement plan sets out our key Improvement Objectives for the year ahead, and helps to meet the aims of the Community Plan and Corporate Plan.
Annual Business Plans	Each service area develops an annual business plan, with objectives and key performance indicators which link directly to the Community Plan, Corporate Plan and Performance Improvement Plan.
Employee Personal Development Plans	These plans are completed by employees annually, and link work, and learning and development needs, to departmental objectives, the Corporate Plan, and the Community Plan.

Identifying our Improvement Objectives

Our priorities for improvement are based on a thorough, evidence-based understanding of the communities we serve, local needs, and an assessment of our capacity to meet those needs.

Our approach included:

• A review of legislation and statutory guidance.
• Self-analysis through our Performance Self-Assessment Report (2022-2023).
• Consideration of performance audit and assessment reports.
• Alignment with the priorities of the Programme for Government, updated Community Plan, and our new Corporate Plan (2024-2028).
• Consideration of citizens’ top priorities for making the borough a better place to live in, identified through our Citizens Survey (2022).
• Analysis of the draft Performance Improvement Plan (2024-2025) public consultation results.
• Input and direction from Council Management and Officers.
• Equality, Rural, Climate and Sustainability, and Data Protection Impact Assessment Screening.

Citizens' top 5 priorities for making our borough a better place to live in:

1. Priority 1: Supporting and developing activities for children and young people.

2. Priority 2:  Support to reduce poverty.

3. Priority 3:  Developing skills and job prospects.

4. Priority 4:  Delivering clean and attractive streets and towns.

5. Priority 5:  Supporting our parks, green spaces, and the natural and built environment.

Setting our Objectives

Our Improvement Objectives for 2024-2025 relate to improving our functions and services, and include the following:

Objective 1: People

We will work with partners to improve the lives of citizens.

Objective 2: Place

We will maintain and improve our local areas.

Objective 3: Planet

We will reduce our environmental impact and improve sustainability.

Our objectives are:

• Legitimate: They make a demonstrable contribution to one or more aspects of improvement defined in the Local Government Act (NI) 2014.
• Clear: They set out the visible improvements that citizens can expect.
• Robust: They have defined terms of success.
• Deliverable: They have established links to individual service programmes and budgets.
  (Please note - due to ongoing internal transformation activities, and high levels of external uncertainty, the actions described within this plan are subject to the availability of funding and finance throughout the year).
• Demonstrable: They are capable of being supported by objective evidence.

Our plan also includes statutory indicators and standards, as specified by the Local Government (Performance Indicators and Standards) Order (NI) 2015 as well as any ongoing actions from previous year’s Performance Improvement Plans. 

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