Strategic Planning

Corporate Improvement Plan 2008/2009 to 2010/2011

"Sunderland will be a welcoming, international recognised city where people have the opportunity to fulfil their aspirations for a healthy, safe and prosperous city."

The full CIP combines the plans for each of the council’s portfolios, including estimate revenue budgets for the financial year and the capital programme for 2008/09, detailing planned capital expenditure.

The CIP gives a broad overview of what the council is doing to achieve its Strategic Priorities and Corporate Improvement Objectives. It details the actions each portfolio and service area intends to take over the financial year, and its plans for the next two years.

The Council's Improvement Priorities for 2008/2009 (incorporating the Corporate Improvement Plan Summary 2008/2009)

The Council's Improvement Priorities for 2008/09 has been designed to tell the reader at a glance what the council will be doing during the course of the year to improve services for local residents.

The Council's Improvement Priorities for 2008/2009 serves two main purposes:
(i) To articulate and disseminate the council's priorities and objectives for 2008/2009:
(ii) To assist all members of staff to understand their contribution to delivering the priorities and objectives, thereby improving performance and service delivery.

It is also an important summary document in demonstrating the council's commitment and planned improvement activity in relation to delivering against both the priorities set within the Sunderland Strategy 2008-2025 and in relation to the council's Corporate Improvement Objectives.

The structure of the document is based on the Sunderland Strategy 2008-2025 Strategic Priorities and the Corporate Improvement Objectives rather than the Portfolios, as is the case for the full CIP document.  The format of the Council's Improvement Priorities for 2008/2009 has been changed from previous CIP Summaries to reflect the increased focus on key council improvement actions.

It is vital for councillors and officers to be aware of the information held within the CIP and it may also be of  interest residents. However, the full CIP is over 700 pages long, and provides a lot of detailed information about a number of areas within the council.  The Council's Improvement Priorities for 2008/2009 (incorporating the Corporate Improvement Plan Summary 2008/2009) provides the key information from the CIP in a much shorter document (around 20 pages) and is therefore much more suitable for providing an overview of the council's activities.  The document is available for readers to take away from all council offices and via this web site.

The Council's Improvement Priorities for 2008/2009 is prepared by the Corporate Policy Team, City Treasurer's division, Performance Improvement Team, Corporate Communications and City Print in conjunction Portfolio Coordinators in each of the Directorates.  To ensure continuity with the full CIP - Portfolio Coordinators have coordinated the production of the Portfolio chapters of the CIP within the Directorates in conjunction with the Chief Officers and the Portfolio Holders.

Production of the Council's Improvement Priorities for 2008/2009 (incorporating the Corporate Improvement Plan Summary 2008/2009) has been endorsed by the Audit Commission as an appropriate means of articulating the key messages from the full CIP to a wider audience.

Strategic Priorities

The Sunderland Strategy 2004-2007 set out 8 shared Strategic Priorities - the priority areas for action over those next three years.  The new Sunderland Strategy 2008-2025 has refined these to identify where improvements are most needed in order for the city to move towards the vision for Sunderland and turn it into reality.

These are:

SP1: Prosperous City
SP2: Healthy City
SP3: Safe City
SP4: Learning City
SP5: Attractive and Inclusive City

Corporate Improvement Objectives

The council remains committed to improving its service delivery for the benefits of its customers. To demonstrate the council’s commitment to the continuous improvement of service delivery and the use of resources, Corporate Improvement Objectives have been defined to reflect and help realise the council’s vision.

The Corporate Improvement Objectives are as follows:

CIO1: Delivering Customer Focused Services
CIO2: Being ‘One Council’
CIO3: Efficient and Effective Council
CIO4: Improving Partnership Working To Deliver ‘One City’

If you have any questions or require any further information please contact the Corporate Policy Team on (0191) 561 1130/1132 or email: policy.team@sunderland.gov.uk.

Strategic Planning Documents

Strategic Planning Guidance 2008/2009 (pdf 2.5mb)

Corporate Improvement Plan 2008/2009 (pdf 3.53mb)

Council Improvement Priorities 2008/2009 (incorporating the CIP Summary 2008/2009) (pdf 624kb)

Council Improvement Priorities 2008/2009 Appendices (pdf 773kb)

Click here to access previous Corporate Improvement Plans 2003/4 - 2007/8

Annual Report 2007/2008 (inc BVPP & Performance Indicators) ( pdf 881kb)

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