City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Corporate Plan
activities, support, and access to education and jobs.
l Between October 2008 and October 2012 there
were 2,159 fewer long-term empty homes across the district, assisted by the Empty Homes Team’s work to enable empty properties to be used again.
l We developed a low emission strategy and carried
out a low emission zone feasibility study. St James’ market went green with new solar panels – and is the best wholesale market in the UK.
l We implemented a new Council Wardens Service.
Building on that work, only a radical and innovative approach will ensure that we continue to deliver the right outcomes for Bradford district. While we are facing short-term challenges head on, we know we must plan for the long term.
Bradford Council’s role is to create the conditions for success. To this end, the Council is reprioritising what we do and redesigning our functions so that they are more effective and efficient. We are focusing on creating appropriate infrastructure, developing the city centre and the economy of the wider district, and building on recent improvements to educational attainment. Whether it is the Council or our partners that deliver, we aim to maximise local economic impact by prioritising delivery from local providers. This Corporate Plan for 2013/14 sets out a
framework for Council action in the year ahead and Bradford Council’s contribution to the delivery of the Community Strategy.
Councillor Tony Reeves David Green Chief Executive Leader
Foreword
Bradford Council is committed to working with citizens and partners to protect and improve our quality of life at a time when individuals, families, communities and businesses in the district are facing tough economic, social and personal challenges. By working closely with our partners and citizens across the district, we know we collectively have the talent, skills, energy and imagination to tackle these challenges and continue to make the district a better place in which to live.
Bradford Council provides the democratically elected leadership for the district. It has a major impact on the success of the district and its residents. The standard of our services, the way we deliver, and our roles as a community leader and major employer are key to the quality of life in the Bradford district.
The Council has had to make unprecedented budget reductions over the last two years and changed the way we operate. Nevertheless, recent successes have shown how the Council and district are improving, for example:
l We are improving educational attainment faster
than the national rate and building new schools including two special schools due to open to pupils in September 2013.
l We have launched the city centre growth zone,
providing business support to new and existing businesses, and the award winning City Park generated £2.7m of visitor spend from March to December 2012.
l Keighley Townscape Heritage Initiative worked
with local businesses to improve the fabric of buildings in the town centre.
l We are delivering Get Bradford Working,
creating new jobs, giving people access to more qualifications and making sure schools are teaching the right skills for business, as well as agreeing resources to develop advanced skills in the district’s key sectors.
l ‘Games in the Park’, Bradford’s cultural Olympics
programme reached over 30,000 people, and the Olympic Torch Relay came to the district.
l We are improving services and providing choice to
vulnerable adults, through personal budgets and a redesigned mental health service offering daytime
The work of Bradford Council contributes towards achieving the vision for the district that is shared with our partners in the district’s Community Strategy. The current vision states:
The vision
Our purpose
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Being customer and citizen focused
Services will collaborate more closely within the Council and with other public and third sector providers in order to bring together delivery at the front line, giving users and citizens what they want, working with people so that they can do more for themselves, and supporting those facing the greatest need to remain as independent and productive as possible.
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Managing resources
The massive reduction in resources following the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession presents the Council with internal challenges. We are transforming the organisation, aligning resources rigorously with our politically determined priorities, and using resources as productively as possible.
Working with citizens and partners
to protect and improve the district’s
quality of life.
Bradford Council is the democratically elected local Government for the whole district. We exist to serve the people, communities, organisations and businesses of the district by representing and working with them to protect and improve the quality of life for all. We do this by providing community leadership, services, resources, information and expertise.
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Providing community leadership
To have a lasting impact with significantly fewer resources we need to act differently and alter our relationship with citizens and partners. While we will continue to fulfil our statutory responsibilities, we need to be open and honest about reduced public resources, and support people and communities to do more for themselves.
We will provide services in the best way for local people. As well as delivering ourselves, we will
commission services locally from a range of providers, including local businesses and community and
voluntary organisations. This will build local capacity and retain wealth and jobs in the district.
Bradford district will be a prosperous, creative,
diverse and inclusive place, where people are
proud of their shared values and identity, and
work together to secure this vision for future
generations
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Developing and supporting our
workforce
We will develop our staff and managers to provide people with the skills to deal with changing demands on services, while also being better able to do things in up-to-date, customer and citizen-focused ways. We will manage talent so that the organisation better reflects the communities we serve, and provides good progression opportunities for staff.
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Creating a smart organisation
We are working to improve and integrate our business intelligence to allow us to make better decisions and produce policies which have a greater positive impact on the outcomes we want to achieve.
Staff - our most important asset
We value our staff as our most important asset. The Council employs approximately 18,000 staff in total, of which half work within schools. Our staff have a diverse range of roles, including social workers, litter pickers, lawyers, town planners, and theatre and museum assistants.
In difficult circumstances, our staff continue to meet the challenges we face with professionalism and
dedication. We recognise the vital role our staff have played in taking on the challenge of improving efficiency and the way we work.
We want our staff to be proud to work for the Council and will support staff to do their job to the best of their ability. We will encourage staff to work with people to do more for themselves, as well as working flexibly across departmental boundaries.
It is important that our managers lead by example and support staff by ensuring consistency and fairness in all they do. Councillors provide direction for staff through their decision making and policy setting role.
We will ensure, wherever we can, that those groups affected by poverty or protected in the Equalities Act 2010 are not disproportionately affected as a result of our decisions.
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Value for money
Our functions should be cost effective and efficient. We will ensure that services maximise benefits to the district through local jobs and business opportunities. This will be the case whether we do things directly or contract out to other organisations.
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Innovation and improvement
We will explore innovative ways of doing things. We will encourage ideas from our staff, partners, and the public on how we can do things differently, exploring alternative delivery models, and joining up services to meet the needs and expectations of citizens and service users.
In everything we do, we are committed to the following values:
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Honesty, trust and respect
For people and partners to value the things we do and the difference we make, we must act with honesty and integrity. This includes being transparent in all elements of our work, in order to develop mutual trust and respect. Such openness allows us to demonstrate accountability, driving improvement in services by informing choice.
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Fairness and equality
We will strive to be fair in our decisions and in the way we act. We will take people’s differing needs into account by serving and representing the whole district in all its diversity. This includes those who experience discrimination or exclusion and whose needs
are greatest.
Our policies, activity and decisions will always seek to promote equality and tackle discrimination.
In order for Bradford district’s economy to grow, we must invest effort and resources now to achieve a future fit for our young and growing population. We are committed to prioritising activity over the long term to achieve two transformational outcomes:
l Transforming educational outcomes by i
mproving attainment
l Promoting prosperity by driving regeneration to
support the district’s economy, jobs and skills. We also recognise the importance of protecting the wellbeing of the district, its citizens and businesses. To that end we will continue to prioritise:
l Supporting and safeguarding the most vulnerable
adults, children and families
l Securing an adequate supply of decent and
affordable homes
l Reducing health inequalities
l Maintaining safe, clean and welcoming
neighbourhoods.
These objectives are all connected and we strive to deliver them in a joined up way. Each objective is explained in more detail on the following pages.
Our priority objectives
How we join up delivery and
measure success
It is vital that we understand how and where we are making a difference. This allows us to direct our resources intelligently and respond to changing needs. In the sections overleaf which give detail on each priority objective, we show the connection between the issues we are addressing, the approach we are taking and some examples of how we know whether we have made a difference. These example measures illustrate the impact of the Council’s activity on district outcomes and the efficiency of the Council’s delivery. Service plans set out in detail how the Corporate Plan will be delivered including a larger set of performance indicators and milestones of progress along the way.
Working towards the outputs and outcomes that these indicators and milestones measure, helps us to stay focused on our agreed priorities. We use regular staff appraisals to ensure that staff take responsibility for their own performance. We produce regular performance reports for departmental management teams and Corporate Management Team (CMT). These reporting mechanisms ensure that appropriate action is taken when outcomes have not been achieved, and that successes are effectively highlighted and learnt from.
evaluate the risk of children not receiving a satisfactory education, and respond where necessary.
High quality services are available to young children and their families, so that they get the best opportunities for healthy development, early learning and play. We maintain 41 Children’s Centres, six of them specially staffed and adapted for children with special needs. Free childcare is available for entitled three and four year olds and we are currently extending the offer to two year olds, making sure that the most disadvantaged children have access to good language and learning models and high quality care. Through the development of Industrial Centres of Excellence, we are creating pathways for young people that will take them from learning into work. Our libraries network will continue to support ‘out of school’ learning with interactive activities such as ‘Bookstart’, Reading Challenge and homework clubs. Our museums and galleries learning and outreach service, in partnership with regional cultural agencies and schools, connects heritage, literacy and wellbeing.
Measuring success*
l Achievement of five or more good grades at GCSE
including English and Maths which is generally seen by business as the level of qualification required for entry into employment.
l Narrowing the achievement gap between
pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers at Key Stage 2, because we are committed to reducing the impact of economic disadvantage on educational attainment.
Transforming educational outcomes:
improving attainment
Issues and opportunities
l Significant progress has been made in narrowing
the gap between attainment in Bradford and the national average.
l A rapid increase in the number of children in the
district means securing sufficient places in our schools is a key challenge.
Our approach
The Council is determined to make sure that all of our district’s children get the education they need to give them the best possible start in life. We know that providing young people with the right skills and knowledge is crucial to their future success and wellbeing. It is also vital if we are to have a thriving local economy.
As we set out in the Children and Young People’s Plan, we believe that working together with headteachers, governors and other education providers is the best way to ensure that we are providing education that is inclusive and covers the whole 0-19 age range. We put children and young people at the heart of what we do, so that our decisions and direction provide them with the best education possible.
As a Council we will continue to work in partnership with all schools and consider them to be members of Bradford district’s ‘family of schools’. We will encourage the district’s academies, free schools and studio schools to fully participate in the wider partnerships that are leading and shaping school improvement.
We are committed to close working with and between all school partnerships, including the Bradford
Partnership (of secondary schools), Bradford Primary Improvement Partnership, the District Achievement Partnership (of special schools) and the Consortium of Nursery Schools.
In meeting our statutory duties the Council is
responsible for monitoring, challenging, supporting and, where necessary, intervening in maintained schools. We will work closely with headteachers and governors to operate a system of school prioritisation which allows the Council to assess schools’ performance,
* These are examples of success measures. More extensive sets of performance indicators are set out in individual Service Plans and are available collectively in the Corporate Performance Indicators report. This note applies to all the ‘Measuring Success’ sections of this Plan.
We are in the process of delivering the Canal Road Greenway scheme, providing routes for cyclists and pedestrians between Shipley and Bradford. We have successfully bid for over £2.6m towards a £3.8m scheme to improve the junction of Canal Road and Stanley Road. On the Leeds – Bradford Corridor we are delivering public transport improvements with our partners.
To attract and support businesses we will lobby Government to ensure that local and regional infrastructure is up to the job. We are developing the ‘West Yorkshire Plus’ Transport Fund to stimulate economic growth and reduce deprivation by improving connectivity across West Yorkshire and York.
We are working with Government to enable delivery of broadband across the district, making transport improvements in Saltaire, and investing in effective and sustainable highways management.
The Council has invested significant resources in jobs and skills through the Get Bradford Working programme. Working with partners, we will create apprenticeships and job opportunities for unemployed residents, provide advanced skills in the district’s key sectors and work with young people to enable them to legitimise their businesses.
We are maintaining engagement and participation in arts, heritage and leisure activities. 2013/14 will see more city centre events taking place, the creation of a new Visitor Promotion Fund to stimulate and support cultural tourism and a Creative Leadership Programme for young people providing opportunities and pathways into the creative industries. We are reviewing our Cultural Strategy, building on our international accolade as a UNESCO City of Film and producing a refreshed management plan for our World Heritage site in Saltaire. Our theatres will continue to encourage more people into their venues through their wide ranging programmes and activities.
Measuring success
l Increase in the number of city centre business rates
assessments because business growth in the city centre will deliver prosperity across the district.
l Changes to the employment rate because we
need to ensure that more of our residents find and keep jobs.
Promoting prosperity:
driving regeneration to support the
district’s economy, jobs and skills
Issues and opportunities
l Our growing working age population needs continued
increases in jobs to reduce unemployment.
l Our enterprising population and city centre offer
opportunities for growing jobs and wealth.
Our approach
The Council continues to work with the private sector, recognising that our positive relationships with businesses are key to developing the economy and investing in local growth. We are committed to promoting Bradford as a producer city and district and will support people and industry to create, make and trade their way to economic success. We will encourage new business formation, develop innovation and creativity and support companies to relocate to the district. Across the district we are supporting business growth through the Rising Stars programme. In Baildon, the construction of the Buck Lane Business Park has started and will provide space for high value engineering and technology companies.
We will focus on the city centre, benefiting everyone by creating good quality accessible jobs, for the whole of the district. Our city centre delivery includes business support for new and growing businesses through the City Centre Growth Zone, working with Westfield to progress development of the Broadway centre, continued support for the free bus, and additional events, including activity in the City Park. We will shape future developments through the City Centre Area Action Plan and City Plan.
We are progressing regeneration in our masterplan areas: Canal Road Corridor, Manningham and Airedale.
Securing an adequate supply of decent
and affordable homes
Issues and opportunities
l A growing population is increasing the demand for
homes, but the supply of quality, affordable homes hasn’t been growing fast enough.
l We need to tackle overcrowding, under-occupation,
homelessness and empty homes. Too much of our housing stock is of a poor standard and too many households experience fuel poverty.
Our approach
We will focus on enabling the development of more homes, particularly affordable homes. To assist in that work we are currently reviewing the Housing and Homeless Strategies for the district. We are committed to supporting homeowners and landlords to improve the quality of existing homes, building on achievements made in the social housing sector to improve rented accommodation.
We will continue to focus on tackling and preventing homelessness. We will bring our main homelessness services back into Council management and ensure an appropriate supply of temporary accommodation. Our empty homes team will work to bring homes back into use, through advice and preventative work, partnership action and practical measures like equity loans, property acquisition and enforcement. We are updating our Fuel Poverty Strategy to support more people living in poverty to access the cheapest tariff for fuel possible, and promote greater insulation and energy efficiency.
Measuring success
l Increase in net additional homes provided, because a
shortfall in housing supply will impact on our economy and the quality of life and wellbeing of our residents.
l A reducing number of empty homes over the long-term
also indicates the Council’s influence on supply and the quality of housing stock, as well as improving the vitality of local communities.
Supporting and safeguarding the most
vulnerable adults, children and families
Issues and opportunities
l Our most disadvantaged residents, areparticularly vulnerable to the impact of public spending cuts.
l Demographic pressures on adult and children’s social
care services will increase the demand for health and social care support in future years.
Our approach
For older and disabled people to live fulfilled lives they must have real choice and control over key decisions. We will support people to maintain their independence in a safe and secure environment. We will reduce costs, while ensuring that the most vulnerable people keep receiving good quality support.
We are investing in telecare, using technology to help people in their own homes. We are increasing support and advice to people who do not qualify for care, and commissioning preventative services from the voluntary and community sector. We are developing new accommodation and support options for older people and those with dementia through the ‘Great Places to Grow Old’ programme. We are working with the NHS to provide integrated care services for vulnerable adults. We are focusing on timely intervention to prevent the need for children to come into care and we work with partners to deliver support to the most vulnerable families. Our Families First programme is working to turn around the lives of 900 families, focusing on improvements in school attendance, reductions in crime and anti-social behaviour and helping families off benefits and into training and jobs. Child protection continues to be a high priority with a particular focus on tackling child sexual exploitation. We are working with partners to reduce domestic violence and increase the safety of victims. Our multi-agency approach focuses on protecting vulnerable victims and their children from harm and bringing perpetrators to justice
Measuring success
l Percentage of service users who can manage on their
own following reablement services which help people regain confidence, skills and independence.
l The proportion of looked after children achieving 5A*-C
GCSEs is one measure of success in preparing a key group of vulnerable young people for adult life.
Reducing health inequalities
Issues and opportunities
l Different parts of the district experience variations in
health and life expectancy. There are long-standing problems related to smoking, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and infant mortality.
l Around a quarter of the district’s children live in poverty,
which can have a significant effect on achievement and life-chances.
Our approach
The Council took responsibility for public health this year and will now support interventions through direct service provision, commissioning, campaigns and education. Taking a community leadership role means we will focus on helping people make healthy lifestyle choices that contribute to their long term wellbeing. Improving health in the most deprived areas is a priority, and we will make sure our services are accessible to all, especially those with most need. We will work to improve effective preventative health care. As part of closer working across the Council we are working to improve tobacco control and implement the food strategy. Collaboration between our Revenues and Benefits Service and schools will make sure that children who are entitled to free school meals get them. Parks, green spaces, sports facilities and swimming pools play an important role in improving and sustaining healthy lifestyles. We aim to cater for the whole community, making appropriate provision at a range of prices to support increased participation. We’re introducing an element of achievement and improvement measurement to encourage people to stretch themselves. We are also focusing on tackling obesity and mobility in later years.
Measuring success
l Increased healthy life expectancy, which is
particularly important given the changes driven by the demographic pressures of an ageing population.
l The number of deaths under the age of one, for
every 1,000 live births allows us to track the impact of measures to reduce infant mortality, which is high compared to other places.
l The proportion of children living in poverty is a key
determinant of health outcomes.
Maintaining safe, clean and
welcoming neighbourhoods
Issues and opportunities
l Overall crime levels are reducing but serious
acquisitive crime including burglary, and illegal drugs, remain issues.
l There have been increases in litter over the
last three years. Less domestic waste is being produced, and the amount of waste sent to landfill falling.
Our approach
Making communities safer is a priority for our citizens. That’s why we have invested in keeping Council Wardens and PCSOs patrolling and will continue to work closely with local neighbourhood policing teams and other partners to tackle burglary and drugs issues. We have integrated our Anti-Social Behaviour team with the Police’s into a co-located unit and will involve other partners and focus on our high priority areas. We will continue work to improve road safety including more joint work between Neighbourhood Services and Public Health, increasing the number of 20mph zones and further use of safety cameras where appropriate. We are committed to working with local people to create clean, well maintained neighbourhoods, that people can take pride in. We will continue to work closely with citizens, devolving resources and supporting and developing communities to make a difference where they live. We will retain weekly refuse collections and make further improvements to kerbside recycling. We will test the feasibility of a publicly owned, local Energy Services Company and invest in green energy projects like
Saltaire Hydro.
Measuring success
l Perceptions of anti-social behaviour levels indicate
how safe people feel in their communities.
l Improved street cleanliness, as it affects how
The Council’s resources include money, our staff and other assets ranging from Council offices to youth clubs and markets to crematoria. We are a steward of public money, which means we have a responsibility to provide value for money, and we are committed to maintaining a tight ‘grip’ on finances. Over the last two years we have had to make spending reductions on an unprecedented scale. Correspondingly, we have had to change the way we work to achieve our agreed priorities.
Our corporate change programme has already made substantial achievements in creating a more efficient and agile Council. To date it has delivered:
l Simplified and improved access for citizens
and customers
l A streamlined management structure, creating
consistent tiers and spans of control, saving millions of pounds
l A property management programme that has
reduced costs by closing unneeded buildings while increasing the number of people working in the city centre, which helps boost the city centre economy. Over 2013/14 we will be working to further transform our business. While we take risk management very seriously, that doesn’t mean that we shy away from challenges or new approaches. We will identify rational and far-reaching ways to achieve a budget that protects our focus on our priority objectives. We will review the effectiveness and affordability of current operations and reconstruct delivery functions based on new and more efficient models, which ensure a clear focus on corporate priorities.
The scale of these reductions requires comprehensive and radical action, affecting all parts of the Council. Council-wide collaborative action is not confined to budget reform. We will take a more flexible approach to how resources are used, working together to the same shared objectives.
The Council continues to be committed to partnership working with local organisations and communities. It is vital that our collective energies, capabilities and resources are aligned to improve the district. We work in partnership through formal structures such as the Bradford District Partnership and in the day to day work we do to connect directly with people and communities. The voluntary and community sector has a particular role to play in communicating, reaching and linking with our diverse communities.
The Council also works beyond its borders, wherever this helps us to achieve our priorities. Bradford is a key partner in the Leeds City Region and its Local Enterprise Partnership, and has worked closely with neighbouring authorities around an economic competitiveness agenda. The Council has taken a lead role in both policy development and delivering on city region priorities, including housing and regeneration, and the city region Economic Investment Fund. The Council has recently agreed to participate in a review of West Yorkshire governance, with a view to establishing a Combined Authority to improve joint working in transport and economic investment. The review concluded in May and in July 2013 it was agreed a Combined Authority should be established by April 2014, subject to legislative processes. Decisions on what we do and how, including how to use
the Council’s resources, are made by councillors, elected by the people who live in the areas they represent. Because we want to enable citizens and communities to do things for themselves, because we aim to constantly deepen our understanding of the needs of the district, and because we are committed to taking into account people’s needs in reaching decisions on what we do and the way we work, Bradford Council is committed to consulting, listening and responding to its citizens and key stakeholders. Key consultations for 2013/14 include:
l Budget planning for 2014/15 and beyond l Children’s centres
l West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan,
Implementation Plan 2
l Fair Access to Care Services
The Council has recently moved towards devolving some decision making and the deployment of resources to area committees. We intend to make delivery more responsive, effective and efficient, and strengthen local democracy by emphasising the role of councillors as community leaders. This work will be further developed in 2013/14.
Governance and relationships
Further detail of the Council’s delivery can be found in Service Plans. Consultation on the budget for 2014/15 will begin in September. More information can be found via the links below:
l Community Strategy
l Corporate Performance Indicators report: Bradford Council Executive June 2012 l Children and Young People’s Plan
l Local Economic Assessment l Joint Strategic Needs Assessment l Community Safety Strategic Assessment
