Annual report

Our Objectives:

• Achieving value for money
• Putting our customer first
• Promoting equality and fairness
• Being an employer of choice

Our Achievements:

Approximately £1.6 million of efficiency savings were achieved which then formed part of the budget for 2019-20. A below inflation council tax precept rise of 2.5 per cent was also agreed to help us keep up with the rising cost of providing our services in the borough.

We developed a new digital strategy aimed at improving the customer journey, enabling more self-service and ensuring our staff have the tools they need to deliver modern and efficient services.

We reached seven national awards finals in 2019-20 for our work in the borough. These included the UK Housing Awards, Revo Awards for regeneration, and Building Control Awards.

Administration of the 2019 General Election was successfully completed with the constituency recording a turnout close to 70 per cent of all people registered to vote. Many staff and other contracted people participated in what, for some, was their third election in 2019 following the local Council and European Parliamentary elections earlier in the year.

We have improved the quality of our council meeting webcasting facilities. The number of meetings that are webcast has also been increased. This enables greater transparency and engagement by the public in the democratic decision-making process.

Civic events that are led by the Mayor, as first citizen of the borough, supports national and local events for the borough and promotes the profile of the area.

A new service to help people who are users of British Sign Language to communicate easily with us, either over the telephone or in person, was launched. Sign Video is available to our service teams when dealing with customers who are profoundly deaf.

We increased the number of apprenticeship opportunities across our services to attract new talent and enable us to develop and retain their skills and abilities in the future.