Agenda item

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer providing them with a brief overview of the Resources and Priorities Refresh (RPR) programme, outlining the RPR central purpose to align resources to priorities, and the four RPR workstreams (Commercial, including income generation; Operational Property; Productivity; and the Corporate Plan Annex). It also provided the Committee with an update on the Corporate Plan.

The Chief Strategy Officer focused firstly on the RPR where the Corporate Plan Annex was one of the workstreams. She clarified that the RPR programme was essentially a wrap-around programme which encapsulated a number of projects encapsulating the City’s immediate, short, medium and long-term finances, balancing books to create some headroom and flexibility. It also looks at projects around income generation and tapping into some opportunities that may not have been fully explored previously. The RPR programme also covered strategic priorities which was where the Corporate Plan Annex linked in. The Committee were informed that a crucial part of this programme was about ways of working looking at things such as continuous improvement and productivity but also culture.

The Chief Strategy Officer went on to speak specifically about the Corporate Plan Annex and its relation to the Corporate Plan. The Annex was described as an opportunity to take stock with the existing Corporate Plan concluding in 2023. Given that the existing Plan began in 2018 – pre-Brexit and pre-COVID  - it was recognised that this was now a very different world and that the adding of the Annex in 2024 would be helpful in terms of giving both the organisation time to embed things such as the Target Operating Model but also to provide a narrative as to how the world had changed. A number of programmes had also now been put into place such as Destination City that would run through the lifetime of the new Corporate Plan and the Annex was therefore a useful means of signposting these. The Annex also dedicated a chapter to measurements and metrics – something which the existing Corporate Plan did not feature. This would hopefully be an effective means of measuring how the City Corporation had added value and how it had/could prioritise efforts and resources.

Lastly, the Chief Strategy Officer spoke on engagement and the role of the Aldermen specifically. She stated that she would welcome feedback on the current Corporate Plan and reported that 11 sessions had already been held on this across the Corporation and its institutions with 14 more planned to include both Members and Officers. Resident engagement and resident meetings also formed part of this in terms of what it felt like to be on the receiving end of the Corporate Plan. The Chief Strategy Officer went on to speak on prioritisation and how this needed to be approached from multiple perspectives – not just affordability but also skills and capabilities and impact upon strategic priorities. Prioritisation work would be worked up in parallel with the Corporate Plan Annex. The Chief Strategy Officer added that other inputs that were helping to inform both the Annex and the new Corporate Plan were alignment and consistency with political priorities.

The Chairman thanked the Chief Strategy Officer for her presentation and welcomed any questions that the Committee might have of her.

An Alderman stated that he was in agreement that as well as affordability, the City Corporation needed to consider how it managed projects, how it prioritised and avoided silo working and its impact. He encouraged the Chief Strategy Officer to inform Members of any way in which they could help support or engage with work in this area. 

RESOLVED – That Members note that:

• RPR encompasses and supports existing or planned work and was established as a programme to provide clear oversight of its objectives and those of the workstreams that fall under it; and:

• Considering the current climate and to give changes within City of London Corporation (e.g., related to the Target Operating Model) time to settle, Members agreed that a narrative covering 2024 be prepared and annexed to the Corporate Plan 2018-2023, with a new Corporate Plan 2025-2030 to follow. This annex will reflect achievements to date, outline the present context and signpost to future priorities, rather than set a new policy direction.