Agenda item

Report for Decision

ORDERED that Executive approve the updated Continuous Improvement Plan.

AGREED that Executive note the progress made in delivering the commitments within the continuous Improvement Plan.

The Mayor submitted a report for Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to set out progress in delivering the Continuous Improvement Plan to ensure the Council could articulate its ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and capture activity that had been undertaken to deliver that commitment.

In March 2025, Council considered the final reports of both the Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Challenge team and the Middlesbrough Independent Improvement Advisory Board (MIIAB).

Both of those reports were hugely positive, recognising the improvements the Council had made over the previous two years on its improvement journey. They also contained a series of recommendations, designed to ensure the Council maintained an outcome focussed commitment to the principles of its continuous improvement journey as it transitioned from a period of intervention.

The plan also continued to track delivery of actions arising from the External Assurance review undertaken by Grant Thornton as part of the Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) application. It also included an actions arising from the Care Quality Commission inspection of Adult Social Care services.

A copy of the Continuous Improvement Plan and its status as of October 2025 was appended to the report. The Plan continued to evolve as actions were delivered and follow up actions were identified where necessary.

There were 49 actions within the plan. In June 2025 it was reported that 16 had been completed. Since that time a further six had been completed, bringing the total number of completed actions to date to 22. Two new follow up actions had been added since the Plan was last reported. The first new action would track the launch of arrangements to bring in external expertise to manage the Council’s commercial property portfolio, following completion of market testing. The second new action built on completion of recruitment of additional capacity to support Members submitting Councillor Gateway inquiries. It would track delivery of an improvement plan to strengthen the system and respond to feedback from Councillors who were using it.

The Mayor stated that the Council was working hard to implement the actions contained in the Plan as part of the improvement journey. Thanks were expressed to all those involved in the Council’s improvement journey.

OPTIONS

The Council could choose to maintain multiple documents capturing continuous improvement activity. However, this would have been an inefficient approach and would have reduced Members ability to see a comprehensive overview of the Council’s ongoing activity in relation to continuous improvement.

ORDERED that Executive approve the updated Continuous Improvement Plan.

AGREED that Executive note the progress made in delivering the commitments within the continuous Improvement Plan.

REASONS

Having a Continuous Improvement Plan that captured all strategic continuous improvement activity provided Members and Officers with a comprehensive overview of improvement activity within the organisation as part of a framework of assurance reports. The plan ensured the Council was tracking this type of activity within one document. Successful delivery of continual improvement activity would improve the Council’s ability to deliver against its Council Plan ambitions.