Raising our Performance 2:  Final Draft 

Foreword

In September 2001 Oxfordshire County Council adopted Raising our Performance as a strategic action plan for 2001-2005.  The document charted a new direction for the Council.  It was ambitious and embraced change.  It sought to put us on the front foot, to build on our strengths and improve our weaknesses.  Half way through that four year period is a good time to reflect on our achievements and to refresh the challenge of Raising our Performance.  

We have made far-reaching change and achieved rapid improvement.  Political and managerial leadership have been transformed, and we have much more clarity of direction.  We now place a strong emphasis on performance, and the quality of our services is improving.  Oxfordshire is more outward looking and carries increasing influence at regional and national levels.   The County Council’s reputation is rising, and an external review in May 2003 found that we had made “tremendous progress”.

We should take pride in these successes, but also acknowledge that a lot more needs still to be done.  Raising our Performance created a momentum.  The need now is for a tightly managed programme of action to reinforce improvement in the way we work and in the services we deliver.  Raising our Performance 2, with its detailed implementation plan that makes named officers accountable for the delivery of change, refocuses our efforts for 2003-2005.  It demonstrates our determination to complete the job.   

1.	What We Stand For

A successful organisation is crystal clear about what it stands for.  Our staff should be clear about their role in the organisation, and our public and partners able to hold us to account in our actions.

We have therefore adopted an aim, strategic objectives and core values.

The Council’s aim is to improve the quality of life in Oxfordshire.  We seek to achieve this by:
	
	Helping people to fulfil their potential
	Protecting our Environment
	Safeguarding our Communities
	Sustaining Prosperity; and
	Raising our Performance

We have adopted four core values to guide the way we work.  We endeavour to live by these values in everything we do:  

	Serving the people and communities of Oxfordshire 
	Honesty and integrity
	Valuing our staff
	Teamwork and cooperation 
	
The Oxfordshire Plan sets out our service and partnership priorities.  To be a focus for action and accountability, it needs to be clearly informed by our community strategy and to contain a limited number of priorities.  There needs to be a golden thread that clearly links the objectives and priorities of The Oxfordshire Plan with service plans and appraisals so that teams and individuals can see how their work supports the objectives of the organisation as a whole.    

Our ambition is to be an outstanding authority – one that provides an excellent service to the people and communities of Oxfordshire.  This means that we must invest in the organisational health of the Council, as well as in its individual services – something that in the past we have neglected. This is what Raising our Performance 2 is about.  It will sit alongside our service and partnership priorities in The Oxfordshire Plan.  

We have opened ourselves to external challenge and scrutiny, welcoming others’ perspectives.  We invited the Improvement & Development Agency to conduct a week long Peer Review of the Council in October 2001 and to revisit us in May 2003.  In this follow up review the Agency found that “the Council has made tremendous progress in all of the areas identified for improvement by the review team.”  We also volunteered to be part of an Audit Commission pilot Whole Service Inspection of Cultural Services, which provided a valuable learning experience and further confirmation of how our services are improving. We will continue to welcome external challenge and to learn from the experience of others.

We will:

Become an outstanding authority – one that provides an excellent service to the people and communities of Oxfordshire.

Make the Oxfordshire Plan a focus for action and accountability, with a limited number of priorities and clear links to service planning and individual appraisals.	

2.	Effective Leadership

The quality of our leadership has a direct correlation with the quality of our public service.  We need leadership to provide clear direction and promote the interests of Oxfordshire, to enable the public to hold us to account and our staff to give of their best, to use our resources to best effect.  

Political Leadership

Since 2001 we have transformed our political leadership.  After 16 years without a political administration, we have introduced an Executive.  This has addressed one of the Council’s greatest shortcomings by providing clear political leadership and public accountability.

We have introduced a new Scrutiny function to support the quality of our leadership through constructive challenge and policy development.  This is an important role and the work of some smaller review groups has been particularly influential.  The Council has been cited in national good practice and is represented on the national Board for the Centre of Public Scrutiny.  Nevertheless Scrutiny needs to exert more consistent influence.  It needs a sharper focus, a clearer distinction between its roles of challenge and policy development, and separation from the role of Opposition.  We can achieve this through structural changes and by moving further away from traditional committee styles of operation.  

Community Leadership

Oxfordshire County Council is uniquely well placed to act as a community leader.  We provide the widest range of public services in Oxfordshire and have democratic legitimacy.  Yet in today’s fragmented public sector we need to work more closely with our partners than ever, harnessing our shared resources in support of common objectives.  By acting in concert with others we can better promote the interests of Oxfordshire, meet the priorities of the public, attract funding and avoid duplication of effort.  That is why one of our core values is “teamwork and cooperation”.

Since 2001 we have embraced the community leadership role offered to us by the Local Government Act 2000 by establishing the Oxfordshire Community Partnership as an overarching partnership forum.  The Partnership has identified the most important quality of life concerns for Oxfordshire, and these have already exerted important influence on Council priorities, notably through a new emphasis on affordable housing and community safety.  We now need to express these concerns in a community strategy and to address them by harnessing the resources of our own organisation and of our partners.

The I&DeA Peer Review progress report has rightly pointed out that community leadership should be exercised by supporting others, as well as leading them.  As a community leader, we will support and respond to Oxfordshire’s district-based community strategies as these develop, and further support joint working with Health, Police and other partners.  

Managerial Leadership

The formation of an Executive has led to far-reaching changes in senior management.  As the Executive has shaped the top priorities and overall direction of the Council, so it has called on senior management to share a “one council” perspective and to promote integrated service delivery and support systems where these bring benefits. 

Since 2001 we have transformed the County Council Management Team into a tightly knit unit, with a shared purpose, to lead management of the Council.  A smaller team of Directors has taken on a strategic, corporate and integrating role.  The team is working together to lead a cultural change, in which departmentalism gives way to shared priorities that best meet the needs of the people and communities we serve. 

A new group of Heads of Service is accountable for the delivery of service priorities, within a corporate framework.  We expect them to embrace the Council’s objectives and priorities and to pursue their achievement with energy and enthusiasm.  With a clear focus on performance management, they will support our staff and help them give of their best. They form a corporate group, part of a shared endeavour, whose behaviours and performance will determine the success both of our services and of the Council as an organisation. 

We will:  

Help Scrutiny increase its effectiveness.

Provide effective community leadership by publishing with our partners a community strategy that addresses the priorities of our communities.	

3.	Keeping in Touch

What distinguishes local government from other service providers and makes us a community leader is our democratic legitimacy.  At a time when public services are at the top of the national agenda, and public expectations are rising, we need to revitalise democratic engagement with our communities and demonstrate the added value to service delivery of democratic accountability. 

Strengthening the local role of the Council

It is a constant challenge for an organisation as large and diverse as Oxfordshire County Council to be responsive to the needs of the people and communities we serve, and to be seen to be responsive.  MORI has found that people think the Council should make more effort to find out what local people want.  Despite the fact that our services reach every home in the county, we are not always seen as sufficiently in touch with local communities or responsive enough in our style.  

Councillors help the Council respond sensitively to local circumstances, and their profile in local communities helps shape public understanding and expectations of our services.  New political management arrangements have left too many councillors feeling marginalised.  However, this also presents an opportunity to look at ways of revitalising their most important local role.

We have taken steps to support councillors in being accessible and responsive to local concerns.  Almost all councillors now have a corporate email address - @Oxfordshire.gov.uk - and a programme to provide all councillors with electronic links to the council’s network is underway.  A regular bulletin keeps councillors informed, as does our intranet site and our fortnightly publication The Post.

Corporate information boards, carrying information about how to contact local councillors, are now in all of our libraries.  Several councillors now hold surgeries, some of them in our local libraries.  Directors carry out joint visits with councillors to the divisions they represent.

We have also introduced new partnership arrangements at a local level.  Regular bilateral meetings with Oxford City Council, involving Executive and CCMT members, have successfully built close working relations and a programme of joint action, and we are taking steps to strengthen bilateral relations with Oxfordshire’s four other district councils and with town councils.

Jointly with South Oxfordshire District Council, we have introduced a pilot scheme of local area forums, while in some towns we support one stop shops to help the public in their contacts with local authorities in Oxfordshire.

We will not rest here, however.  A review of local area working has identified further measures that could strengthen our local responsiveness, many of which have already been tested by other county councils.  We will consider these and take further action.

Strengthening Communication

Good communications help re-energise community engagement.  There is a direct correlation between the quality of a council’s communication and its standing with the public.  

In 2002 we redirected communications funding to strengthen corporate activity, and this has raised the Council’s profile.  Media coverage of Council activity has increased, especially in areas that were previously under represented.  Our new magazine, Oxfordshire, launched in the autumn of 2002 and distributed to all households in the county, has received very high approval ratings.  We have overhauled our web site, improving the editing to make it more informative and accessible.

There is more to do, however. We need more transparency of the resources we invest in communications across the organisation.  There should be scope for more efficiency by making fuller use of the magazine and through further improvements to our web site.   It is important that we improve internal communications and make fuller use of our intranet site.  We will therefore review our communications to increase their impact and cost effectiveness.  

Customer Service

Our values commit us to “serving the people and communities of Oxfordshire with honesty and integrity”.  Our services must therefore be responsive to the diverse needs of the communities within the county.  The adoption of the Equality Standard for Local Government will require us to ensure that the specific needs of ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are reflected in the design and delivery of services.  

We must make it easy for people to access the Council, and ensure that when they do they experience a reliable and friendly service.  Some of our services have won the coveted Chartermark award for the quality of their customer service, but more improvement is needed in other areas.  

Our standards of consultation vary across the Council.  We need to ensure that we consult with an open mind and allow the results to inform our policies and service delivery.

Technology and partnership working too can help improve customer service – for example through our web site, one stop shops or joint contact centres.  

We will:

Give the Council a stronger local role by reviewing local area working and the impact and cost effectiveness of communications.

Help the Council be more responsive to local concerns and needs through better consultation, customer service standards and recognition of diversity.	

4.	Better Ways of Working

Our core business is public service delivery.  This is reflected in our core value of “serving the people and communities of Oxfordshire”.  A prime focus of Raising our Performance is therefore to make continuous improvement in our services.  

Valuing our Staff

The quality of our services relies critically on the skills and commitment of our staff.  It is vital that we support them in giving of their best and leave them in no doubt of the value that we place on them and their development.  That is why “valuing our staff” is a core value for the Council, and we want this to be a great place to work.

We operate in an economy with full employment and high house prices.  This makes Oxfordshire a challenging area for recruitment and retention of staff, and we must not take the loyalty of our staff for granted.  We need to make the Council an employer of choice, attracting, supporting and retaining good quality staff, giving them the tools to do the job well and helping them take pride in their work.

We have made some progress, but less than we should have done.  
All of our main services have now attained investor in People (IiP) accreditation – a benchmark for the way we support our staff in their development and help them be clear about their role in the organisation.  We now need to attain corporate IiP accreditation for the whole Council as a way of ensuring consistent standards across the organisation.  

Our staff surveys show generally good levels of satisfaction compared to other authorities, but continuing concerns about career development, training, internal communications and the quality of appraisals.

We enjoy good industrial relations, and the Job Evaluation of staff salaries has addressed historic inequalities in our reward structures. Yet the exercise has left some staff feeling undervalued, and this needs to be addressed in new ways. 

In order to support staff, therefore, a top priority is to develop a fresh approach to human resources throughout the Council that will tackle these concerns.  We need to strengthen our corporate capacity to lead and oversee the implementation of this work, and inform it through an external review of our structures, resources and performance in this area.  Part of this will involve reaffirming our commitment to equality in the workplace and ensuring that our workforce reflects the diversity of the communities we serve.

We will:

Make Oxfordshire County Council an employer of choice through a fresh approach to human resources.	

Harnessing Technology

Modern technology can help improve the efficiency of our performance.  Reliable systems, properly managed and applied, underpin the quality of service delivery and management information.

Since 2001 we have put in place effective corporate leadership, and a review of staffing structures has enabled us to clarify our strategy, avoid duplication of effort and address areas of historic underinvestment.   Email and computer access is being extended more widely to councillors and staff alike, while the benefits of broadband technology now reach all of our schools and libraries through the Oxfordshire Community Network.  

The building blocks for sustained improvement are in place, and good progress has been made at a strategic level.  However, the use of technology has yet to achieve significant working-level improvements in our internal efficiency and customer service.  We have introduced a new Management Information System that should help us improve our financial and management monitoring, but we are not yet fully exploiting its potential.  

We need to seize the opportunities that technology offers to transform our services.  We will do this through targeted investment in the purchase and maintenance of systems and equipment and through training for staff to help them make fuller use of technology in the management of information.

We will:

Improve management information through the effective use of technology.	

Improving our Buildings

Many of our buildings suffer from a history of under investment and we have a maintenance backlog.  Failure to invest is short sighted: it can undermine the quality of our service delivery and the morale of our staff, makes an unfortunate statement to the public and our partners and can lead to higher long term costs.   We need to turn this situation around.

We have begun to tackle some of the most visible problems.  In our central buildings we have restructured our fragmented facilities management to provide a consistent and streamlined service, refurbished the reception areas and public meeting rooms to make them more welcoming to visitors, and transformed the splendid Common Hall into a well-used, flexible meeting area.  A fund for small-scale improvements to the working environment has had a valuable impact on offices across the county and raised awareness amongst managers and staff of the importance of a good quality working environment.  

More fundamentally, we have embarked on a strategic review of our entire property portfolio, worth around £1 billion, to release value for reinvestment.

The review should also lead to a rationalisation of our office accommodation.  We want to make more efficient use of space by having fewer, larger buildings, by introducing consistent standards of space per person and open plan layouts where they do not already exist, and by embracing flexible working.  We will look to bring different services together within the same buildings, and also to share office buildings with other public service partners, such as the Police or district councils, where this offers financial or service benefits.  These measures will enable us to invest in a better quality working environment for our staff.   

We will:

Improve the quality of the working environment for our employees.	

Performance Management

Valuing staff and ensuring a strong performance culture are two essential and complementary ingredients of a successful organisation.  We support our staff to help them give of their best.  We ensure they have clear objectives and develop their skills to enhance both their job satisfaction and service delivery.

We have made great efforts to strengthen our performance culture by introducing a performance management framework, setting realistic service targets and ensuring regular and accurate monitoring.  We have introduced a formal process for allocating responsibility for achievement of service improvements and for monitoring progress against priority targets and performance indicators.  The introduction to each directorate of a Business Manager with overall responsibility for performance management and staff development is helping to reinforce these changes.  We have confirmed a Public Service Agreement with the Government and are on course to secure additional funding in exchange for meeting challenging service improvement targets in priority areas.

We now need to use these disciplines to demonstrate real improvement in service outcomes.  We will use analysis of performance indicators to help us target areas of service weakness so that we deal with underperformance in a systematic and transparent way.

We will:

Strengthen performance management.

Improve underperforming services through targeted action.	

Financial Management

During 2002 we adopted a financial strategy.  This commits us to:

•	rigorous financial management that will ensure control over our expenditure and accurate monitoring.  
•	raising our balances from their current low levels to 2% of our annual expenditure, to give us more stability and flexibility.
•	securing year-on-year efficiency savings from targeted reviews of areas such as ICT, property, telephony and procurement.
•	targeted investment in service improvements made possible by sound financial management and by levering in funding from external sources.

This strategy is beginning to bear fruit.  Financial disciplines are more robust, and we have begun a series of efficiency reviews under the programme of Maximising our Resources.  We have invested selectively in extending broadband technology to schools and libraries and in raising the standards on residential homes for the elderly, while exploring the potential for external funding to improve the fabric and performance of our schools.  

Our financial strategy is the right one.  We need to pursue it further to drive cost control and value for money across the organisation, exploiting opportunities for further efficiencies through process improvements and smarter procurement.  This will give us the headroom to meet new needs and the flexibility to align resources to service priorities. 

We will:  

Implement our financial strategy by tightening financial management, securing efficiencies and attracting external funding so that we can invest in service and organisational priorities.  	

Corporate Governance

Our core values of “honesty and integrity” go to the heart of a democratic and publicly accountable organisation.  They attract our staff and our councillors to working in local government.

However, we cannot take these values for granted.   We need to ensure that they are reflected in all aspects of our work and decision making so that we earn and retain the trust of the people and communities we serve.

Corporate governance is the framework within which we demonstrate honesty and integrity in both the services we deliver and the decisions we take.  A high performing and healthy organisation must set clear expectations for the standards of conduct of its staff and councillors, and take action to ensure that systems and procedures and understood and applied.

We will:

Take action to ensure high standards of corporate governance.	

5.	Making it Happen

Raising our Performance 2 celebrates the progress we have made as an organisation, and it focuses our attention on the challenges that still lie ahead.  It provides a sense of direction and purpose, and it also draws us all into action to raise our performance further.

The implementation plan that forms an integral part of Raising our Performance 2 identifies the actions we will take and their timescales, It sharpens accountability by identifying a lead officer for each action, but this does not imply that responsibility for an action lies with one person alone.  On the contrary, all of us will need to support and help deliver the actions in this document if we are to become an outstanding organisation.

The implementation of Raising our Performance 2 will be the focus of our organisational improvement.  That is why the first action of the implementation plan below is to project manage its delivery and report on progress quarterly.  We will place the results on our intranet site.  

			____________________________

Key outcomes 	Actions to achieve them	Success criteria	Timescale	Lead Officer	
Become an outstanding authority	Implement this Improvement Plan using project management disciplines, and monitor progress quarterly	•	A positive Direction of Travel Report from the Audit Commission received	Dec 2003	Head of Human Resources
	
		•	CPA rating improved from Fair to Good	Dec 2004
		
		•	CPA rating improved from Good to Excellent	Dec 2005		
	Develop an action plan for Resources to address known weaknesses	•	CPA core service score of 3 retained for Use of Resources	Dec 2003
	Head of Finance 
Head of Legal Services
Head of Human Resources
Head of Property Services	
		•	All Auditor Scored Judgements for Use of Resources to be 3 out of 4	Dec 2004		
		•	CPA core service score of 4 achieved for Use of Resources	Dec 2006		
	Develop an action plan for Social & Health Care to address known weaknesses	•	CPA core service score of 3 achieved for Social Services	Dec 2004	Business Manager and other Heads of Service in Social & Health Care 	
	Ensure that the actions in the 2000 OFSTED post-inspection action plan are completed	•	CPA core service score of 3 retained for Education	Dec 2003
Dec 2004	Head of Systems and Performance Management  and other Heads of Service in Learning & Culture	
		•	All judgement statement criteria meet the 2004 targets set by the DLT	Oct 2004		
	Develop an action plan for Environment & Economy to address known weaknesses	•	CPA core service score of 3 retained for Environment	Dec 2003
Dec 2004	Business Manager and other Heads of Service in Environment & Economy	
		•	Inspection score of 3 achieved through the Environment Assessment	April 2004		

Key Outcomes	Actions to Achieve it	Success Criteria	Timescale	Lead Officer	
The Council is focused on a limited number of priorities, with a ‘golden thread’ linking corporate and individual objectives	Ensure the Oxfordshire Plan is clear and focused, setting out the Council’s priorities and measures of success	•	Plan with a limited number of key priorities with SMART targets	Feb 2004
	Head of Human Resources	
		•	Plan with key targets that contribute to the priorities, expressed in terms of outcomes for the public	Feb 2004
		
		•	Priorities with robust plans for delivery	Feb 2004		
		•	Plan published in line with statutory guidelines and good practice, and received a positive endorsement by the Audit Commission	June 2004		
		•				
	Ensure our Service Plans are clear and focused, and deliver corporate priorities 	•	Each Directorate plan includes corporate priorities relevant to its operational activities, and a limited number of priorities in line with corporate guidance	Feb 2004	All Business Managers	
		•	Service plans to include relevant targets for BVPIs, PSA targets and other relevant performance indicators	Feb 2004	Heads of Service	
		•	Individual objectives are directly linked to team and Service plans.	Feb 2004	Heads of Service	
		•	Service Plans to be consistent in terms of style and content	Feb 2004	Head of Human Resources
Head of Media & Communications	

Key Outcomes	Actions to Achieve it	Success Criteria	Timescale	Lead Officer	
Effective community leadership	Community Strategy for Oxfordshire published
	•	Strategy with a limited number of key priorities with SMART targets	March 2004	Assistant Chief Executive	
		•	Priorities have robust plans for delivery	March 2004		
		•	Strategy published in line with good practice 	March 2004		
Effective working through partnership	Develop action plans for key worker housing and community safety	•	Partners have participated in their development and are committed to final plans	June 2004	Head of Sustainable Development
Head of Community Safety	
	Agree a countywide voluntary sector compact with representatives of the voluntary sector	•	Clarity of roles and responsibilities for the Council and the voluntary sector expressed in compact	March 2004	Assistant Chief Executive	
An effective Scrutiny function	Complete the implementation of the Scrutiny Development Action Plan	•	Scrutiny has added value to the Council’s work and is outcome focused	March 2005	Head of Democratic Services	

Key Outcomes	Actions to Achieve it	Success Criteria	Timescale	Lead Officer	
Be more responsive to local concerns and needs 	Develop and implement an action plan to improve the use of consultation 	•	The results of consultation impact on service delivery and policy formation	March 2005
	Head of Media and Communications	
	Take steps to meet requirements of Level 1 of the Equality Standard for Local Government, and identify how to progress further	•	Achieve Level 1 of the Equality Standard
•	Reviews specified in Council’s Race Equality Scheme implemented	March 2004

March 2004 March 2005	Head of Democratic Services with all Heads of Service	
A strong local role for the Council

	Review local area working and implement conclusions	•	 An agreed way forward implemented	March 2005	Assistant Chief Executive	
	Develop and implement a customer services strategy 	•	Positive response to strategy from focus groups and key stakeholders	March 2005	Customer Services Manager	
	Implement the recommendations arising from the external review of communication activity
	•	Positive feedback received from internal and external customers
•	Recommendations for improvement made that do not involve additional cost to the council	March 2005	Head of Media and Communications

Key Outcomes	Actions to Achieve it	Success Criteria	Timescale	Lead Officer	
A fresh approach to Human Resources 
	Develop and implement an HR strategy that meets the needs of the Council and its employees	•	Positive views on the Strategy received from within the organisation from members, CCMT, managers, employees and unions	March 2004	Head of Human Resources	
	•		•	Key issues arising from the staff survey addressed	Autumn 2005		
		•	Key milestones and target achieved in implementation	April 2005		
		•	Council workforce represents the diversity of the community it serves	April 2006		
		•				
	Review the current structure and allocation of HR staff across the Council 	•	Options for more effective use of HR resources identified	Dec 2003	Head of Human Resources	
	Meet the requirements for corporate IiP assessment	•	Achieve corporate Investors In People status	Feb 2004	Head of Human Resources	
	Improve our appraisal process	•	100% of appraisals achieved	June 2004	All Heads of Service	
		•	Appraisal is seen as more relevant to staff and a valuable management tool	Dec 2004		
Good management information
	Improve current MIS functionality and further develop its capability 	•	Users believe MIS is working more effectively	October 2004	Head of Finance	
	Implement e-procurement	•	Efficiency savings identified	March 2005		
					
Better use of our property and an improved working environment for our employees	Carry out a fundamental review of the Council’s property assets and develop and implement a 15 year Property Asset Strategy	•	A smaller and better quality property portfolio with a reduced maintenance backlog	Dec 2006	Head of Property	
		•	More sharing of property across Directorates and with partner organisations	Dec 2006		
	Reorganise our central Oxford offices 	•	An improved working environment for employees achieved	Dec 2006		
		•	Central office occupancy rate improved by 15%	Dec 2006		
Effective performance management	Develop corporate guidelines on performance management, and disseminate widely	•	All managers aware of good practice 	Dec 2004	Head of Human Resources	
	Develop a methodology for managing the poor performance of staff	•	Improved staff survey response to the management of poor performance	March 2005		
	Ensure that targets set in key plans are met	•	70% of targets achieved
•	90% of targets achieved	April 2004
April 2005	All Heads of Service	
		•	BVPI outturn figures to be accurate with no BVPIs reserved in 2003/04 Audit	Sept 2004		
	BVPI targets set with the agreement of Directorate Management Teams and Executive Members	•	A clear rationale for each BVPI target	Feb 2004	All Heads of Service	
	Implement a corporate approach to project and programme management	•	Phase 1: Evaluation of test projects completed successfully	June 2004	Head of Human Resources	
		•	Phase 2: Corporate approach implemented 	April 2005		
					
Improvements made to our under-performing services	Focus management attention and resources on priority national performance indicators that are below median performance 	•	No BVPI targets set in bottom quartile without the explicit approval of the Executive	June 2005	All Heads of Service	
Improved financial management
	Implement the Financial Strategy 	•	Raise our balances to at least 2% of annual expenditure 	2007/08	Head of Finance	
		•	Financial resources clearly aligned to Council priorities	Dec 2004	Business Managers	
		•	Cumulative savings achieved from 1 April 2003 of £5m rising to £20m	April 2007	Head of Finance	
	Implement Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) across the Council 	•	Service improvements and efficiency savings generated which contribute to overall target for savings 	March 2005	Head of Human Resources with Business Managers	
	Agree and implement a procurement strategy 	•	£100k savings identified in first year through improved practices	March 2005	Head of Finance with Business Managers	
		•				
		•	£300k savings identified in second year	March 2006		
High standards of Corporate Governance	Produce a Corporate Governance Protocol and implement an action plan to address known weaknesses	•	CPA score of 4 achieved in Auditor Scored Judgement for ethical framework and legality
•	All managers aware of good practice and adhere to guidelines	Dec 2004	Head of Legal Services	
	Review all guidance and procedures relating to conduct in the light of the Corporate Governance Audit	•		March 2004	All Heads of Service	
	Integrate risk management disciplines into the development of key plans and priorities	•	All Oxfordshire Plan and Key Service Plan priorities to be risk assessed	March 2004 and ongoing	Head of Human Resources