Agenda item

To present the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation.

Councillor Dafydd Rhys Thomas, Portfolio Member for Corporate Business presented the report by the Deputy Chief Executive and the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation which incorporated the Transitional Plan. The plan set out the key priorities and aspirations during the immediate post pandemic recovery period and will bridge the time period between the current Council Plan and the revised/new Council Plan to be adopted by the new administration post May, 2022. It will also provide the operational parameters for Officers to deliver key work streams over the forthcoming 12 month period.

The Committee was advised that the Plan recognises that the Council is entering a transitional period and it is designed to help the Council plan for the next normal whilst retaining enough flexibility to allow it to adapt so that it can respond to opportunities and any setbacks that may arise. It should be acknowledged that in providing a framework and pathway for moving forwards from Covid-19, many of the issues that could impact the Council’s ability to deliver the Plan’s objectives are beyond its control and that this element of uncertainty will remain. It is the Senior Leadership’s view however that it is timely to be putting in place a transitional plan as a reset and/or refresh to the pre-pandemic period having also considered the effects of the pandemic and the changes it has brought about in a number of areas, to ensure that the Council is up to date and current and can focus on the key issues between now and the end of the current Council’s term. The framework will remain in place until the new Council is appointed in May, 2022 and is able to adopt a new corporate plan. The plan had been designated a transitional rather than recovery plan and is based on the assumption that no significant new funding will be made available to the Council for recovery activities so the best use of current resources has to be made including grant funded schemes and by continuing to distribute grant funding to other organisations. The Plan is designed to be uncomplicated and easily understood so that everyone is clear on the direction and leadership of the Plan and what the Council is trying to achieve through it, and residents, elected members, regulators, partners and staff understand the Council’s intentions during what is expected to be a difficult and uncertain transitional period. The Plan is founded on 3 principal objectives around the economy, the environment and key community services under which are set out a number of ambitious and challenging tasks that are in addition to the Council’s statutory duties and day to day business. Any comments on the Plan’s content will be reflected and the Plan adapted accordingly before it is then presented to the Executive and to Full Council thereafter.

The Plan was welcomed by the Committee as providing a clear vision for moving through the process of crisis management towards a restart to a new normality. Points raised in relation to the Plan were responded to by the Leader and Deputy Chief Executive as follows –

·         With regard to enabling the visitor and hospitality sector to capitalise on the Island’s increased popularity whilst protecting its assets an communities, the need to manage tourism to the advantage of the Island and its economy and to strengthen the Council’s tourism section. The Committee was assured that looking at ways of supporting tourism has been recognised as a principal undertaking along with strengthening capacity within the Council’s tourism section although filling vacancies is a challenge in the current climate. There is regular contact with the Island’s tourism sector which is keen to work alongside the Council to explore different ways of supporting the sector going forward. 

·         With regard to maintaining and modernising critical community services such as care and education across the Island, the risk to the provision of residential home care should Welsh Government decide at a future point to take the same approach as that in England where care home workers have by law to be fully vaccinated. The Committee was assured that Welsh Government has to date indicated that it does not intend to follow the route taken in England in requiring care home staff to be double vaccinated on the basis that to mandate the same in Wales is not necessary as the number of fully vaccinated health and care home staff in Wales is high.

·         With regard to timeframes, whether the Transitional Plan takes the place of the Corporate Pan and whether its 12 month timespan therefore commits and/or ties the new Council to the objectives contained within the plan.  The Committee was assured that the Transitional Plan is not a replacement for the Corporate Plan and that it has been designed as a bridging plan because of the unusual circumstances wherein the Council is transitioning from 18 months of dealing with the pandemic into establishing a form of normality covering all its business. Whilst the 12 month timeframe provides the Council with a framework within which to work and plan, the new administration post May, 2022 may or may not wish to continue with it. The plan provides all the Council’s stakeholders with clarity about the Council’s priorities over the coming 12 months until such time as a new Corporate Plan is adopted.

It was resolved to accept and to note the Transitional Plan and to recommend to the Executive that it be adopted. (Councillor A.M. Jones abstained from voting).