Strategic Plan 2009 - Staffordshire Learning Net - Staffordshire ...

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www.staffordshire.gov.uk 

Staffordshire County Council’s Strategic Plan 

What does it mean for you? 

2009-2012 

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Staffordshire 2009/2012 Strategic Plan 

2

Welcome 

Contents 

4 Message by the Leader of the Council 

and Chief Executive 

7 Our aims 

8 Our priorities 

10 Staffordshire – the place 

13 What we do 

14 The strategic plan in context 

18 Children and young people 

24 Healthier communities and older people 

30 Safer and stronger communities 

36 Economic development and enterprise 

& sustainable development 

42 Corporate improvement 

45 Reporting our performance 

46 Alternative formats 

3

Message by the Leader of the 

Council and Chief Executive 

Welcome to the 2009/2012 edition 

of the Strategic Plan. Staffordshire 

County Council’s achievements in 

the last year have been significant. 

Major strides been made to improve 

performance of the services that the 

county council delivers and we have 

dramatically moved up the national 

performance tables to become one 

of the top 10% of local authorities 

for improved performance over the 

last few years. 

This is also reflected in the 2008/09 

rating of the county council by the 

Audit Commission as a ‘Good Three 

Star council with an improving 

strongly rating, which is the best 

possible result. We will continue to 

drive forward to become a leading 

and excellent council and build on 

the good work that is already in 

place. So what does this mean for 

someone in Staffordshire? 

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It means: 

• Services are tailored to individual 

need - Older, more vulnerable 

people have care which suits their 

individual needs. 

• Improved education and lifelong 

learning opportunities - Children 

and young people living in 

Staffordshire, including those 

children in care, are achieving 

more and educational attainment 

results are better than ever 

before. 

• A better connected and 

environmentally protected 

Staffordshire. Our transport 

network is well maintained and by 

managing carbon more effectively, 

we’re reducing emissions levels 

within Staffordshire. 

• A safer Staffordshire – we’ve seen 

a marked reduction in incidents of 

crime taking place in Staffordshire. 

• The reputation of Staffordshire 

County Council is very much on 

the up and across the country we 

are being held up as an example of 

‘how to do things.’ 

We are extremely proud of what has 

been achieved over the last twelve 

months and we will continue to 

drive forward service improvements 

into the future and to build on the 

really good work that’s already 

happening across the county. 

We are committed to delivering 

on the priorities we identified last 

year, although we are putting extra 

emphasis on a number of areas. 

And we are very much using the 

pace and passion that’s in place 

across the organisation to move 

forward in a fast and responsive 

way for the people of Staffordshire. 

We understand that the climate 

which we live in today is changing 

and the challenging economic 

pressures which face the country 

as a whole will impact on our 

county. Economic development 

within Staffordshire is an area in 

which we will strive to improve 

so that we can prosper and grow. 

Following consultation that took 

place in November 2008 with 

residents, this plan contains the big 

issues that you want us to tackle. 

They include reducing the level and 

fear of crime to improving education 

attainment and lifelong learning and 

improving the quality of care and 

support to vulnerable people living 

in Staffordshire. 

We have worked hard to keep 

council tax increases low for 

2009/10 and set our lowest tax 

increase for 14 years, against a 

backdrop of improving services 

and better quality of life for the 

people of Staffordshire. And we 

are very clear that there should be 

no reduction in front-line services 

or the financial stability of the 

county council. 

We will continue to look at the 

most effective way of delivering 

services by identifying efficiency 

savings, to add to the £36 million 

savings we have achieved over the 

last two years. 

Cllr. John Taylor 

Leader of the Council 

Ron Hilton 

Chief Executive


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Our Aims 

Involving the community is at the heart of our approach, 

and our aims and priorities have been developed 

through consulting with our communities. 

From our consultation activity 

undertaken in autumn 2008, we 

know that the community’s top 

priorities (for both adults and 

young people) are; 

• Supporting vulnerable people 

• Reducing the level and fear 

of crime 

• Supporting older people 

• Improving education and 

lifelong learning 

• Public transport 

The following aims for 2009/12 

have been identified to improve 

community life and will help us 

to achieve the above vision. 

They also reflect the priorities 

in the Sustainable Community 

Strategy and the blocks of the 

Local Area Agreement. 

Our Aims 

Aim 1 Children and 

young people 

Children and young people will be 

healthy and safe so that they are 

able to enjoy and achieve, benefit 

from economic well-being and 

make a positive contribution to 

their community. 

Aim 2 Healthier 

communities and older 

people 

We will improve health outcomes 

and narrow health inequalities 

through promoting healthy choices, 

tackling the key causes of poor 

health and improving the quality 

of services. 

Aim 3 Safer and stronger 

communities 

Individuals, neighbourhoods and 

communities in Staffordshire will 

feel safe, and will be increasingly free 

from crime and the fear of crime. 

Aim 4 Economic 

development and 

enterprise & sustainable 

development 

Staffordshire will be known for 

being a highly knowledgeable, highly 

skilled economy, with a high quality 

of life. We will find and apply 

ways to meet the economic, social 

and environmental aspirations of 

present generations that will not 

compromise the ability of future 

generations to meet their own 

aspirations for prosperity, safety 

and contentment. 

We have a further aim to continue 

to improve the internal systems and 

business processes of Staffordshire 

County Council: 

Aim 5 Corporate 

improvement 

We will provide high quality services 

which provide value for money 

and are focused on, and delivered 

around the needs of our customers 

and communities. 

We recognise that there will be 

some improvements which may sit 

in more than one of these aims. 

These aims can only be achieved 

by working together internally, and 

with our partners, to achieve our 

vision in a co-ordinated way. 

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Our priorities 


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To achieve 

our aims, it is 

important that we 

are focused on a 

small number of 

key priorities. 

Our priorities are: 

Services for 

vulnerable people 

Improving the quality of life for 

all Staffordshire’s communities 

underpins everything we do, but 

there is an emphasis on making 

the greatest improvements for 

those residents who need it most. 

We have made it our priority 

to provide services that support 

both vulnerable young people 

and adults in Staffordshire. 

The importance 

of preventative 

services 

We will ensure that prevention 

is a priority and that preventative 

services (those services that prevent 

or delay the need for more costly 

services and/or promote the quality 

of life of vulnerable people) are 

easily accessible. This will help us to 

reduce the number of people and 

communities that have long-term 

dependency on Staffordshire 

County Council’s services. 

A preventative approach to how 

we manage our assets, through 

appropriate maintenance and 

renewal, will also help reduce 

the long-term costs of providing 

our services. 

Local delivery of 

services 

We want Staffordshire to be 

made up of strong and organised 

communities where people feel 

happy and secure. We understand 

that if we are to achieve this our 

services have to be flexible to meet 

the different needs of different 

communities. By ensuring that 

our services are easy to access, 

timely and relevant, we can provide 

services that are tailored to the 

needs of each community. 

Customer-centred 

organisation 

To provide services that meet the 

needs of our communities we must 

first understand their needs. 

To do this we will give them a 

greater say on the services that we 

provide and the way that they are 

provided. This is about putting our 

customers first and at the centre of 

everything that we do. By working 

with the voluntary and community 

sector we can help our communities 

to develop the skills and abilities 

that they need to be sustainable 

and independent.

Moving the balance 

from supporting 

structures to the 

frontline 

We want to put our resources 

into the services that most meet 

the needs of our communities. 

By making sure our support services 

are efficient and provide excellent 

value for money, we can invest 

more in frontline services. We will 

give our employees greater control 

over our resources to make sure 

this investment is put to the best 

possible use. 

Investing in how 

our organisation 

is structured and 

supported 

Our systems and processes need 

to be efficient and effective to 

support excellent frontline services. 

So we recognise the importance of 

strong performance management, 

organisational development, 

change management, programme 

and project management, financial 

management and communications. 

We are equipping the organisation 

with the essential skills and 

knowledge to do this. A key part 

of this is supporting our employees 

to make the most of the resources 

available to them. 

We acknowledge that challenging 

decisions will need to be made 

as financial pressures continue 

to put a strain on the county 

council’s budget. 

Service 

improvement 

We want everything that we 

do to contribute to improving 

our services. We want this 

improvement to be measurable, 

and to be able to show that we 

have made the best possible use 

of our resources. To enable us 

to improve service delivery we 

are strengthening performance 

management and will regularly 

monitor key performance indicators 

to assess our performance and 

direction of travel. 

We acknowledge that this 

improvement can be achieved by 

changing the processes we use 

to deliver services, or may lead 

to the commissioning of services, 

whereby another provider delivers 

a service as they can provide it 

more effectively. 

We recognise that we cannot 

improve the quality of life of 

people living in Staffordshire on 

our own but that we must work in 

partnership with other organisations 

including borough and district 

councils, police and fire authorities, 

health partners, universities, the 

voluntary and community sector 

and the private sector. 

Meeting the 

challenge of 

climate change 

We recognise that climate change 

is one of the biggest challenges that 

we have to meet, now and for years 

to come. 

We have made a good start in 

managing and reducing the carbon 

dioxide emissions that result from 

Staffordshire County Council’s own 

activities, and have set ourselves 

challenging targets for the future. 

We need to sustain this effort. 

If the world were to stop 

producing greenhouse gases 

tomorrow, the climate would 

continue to change for a further 

30 years or so. We cannot escape 

from these implications, so we must 

adapt our services to take account 

of the heat waves, droughts, winter 

storms and floods that are virtually 

inevitable. We will increase our 

efforts to protect the people of 

Staffordshire from the dangers 

of a changing climate. 

With increasing public recognition 

of the challenge that we face, we 

will work with our partners to 

help Staffordshire’s residents and 

businesses play their own part 

in reducing, and adapting to the 

impacts of climate change through 

the advice and support we provide. 

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10 

Staffordshire – 

the place 

The county council works with others 

to help make Staffordshire a better 

place. To make sure we deliver the best 

possible services it is important that we 

understand the county and the needs of 

our residents. 

• Staffordshire covers an area 

of 2,623km2 in size. 

• 80% of the land in Staffordshire 

is rural yet three quarters of our 

population live in urban centres. 

Our population 

• An estimated 825,800 people live 

in the county of Staffordshire. 

• Staffordshire has the 8th largest 

population of the shire counties 

in England. It is estimated that 

our population will rise to 

approximately 909,000 people 

by 2026. 

• According to the 2001 census, 3.8% 

of our residents are from black and 

minority ethnic communities (BME), 

i.e. not ‘White British’. Overall the 

BME population in Staffordshire is 

very low. It is much lower (less than 

a third) of the regional and national 

figures, which are both around 13%. 

Our economy 

• Staffordshire’s economy was 

traditionally based around 

manufacturing, mining, coalfields 

and production. The national 

decline of these traditional 

industries has impacted upon the 

skills base and competitiveness 

of Staffordshire’s workforce and 

economy; attracting investment 

into the county and upskilling the 

workforce will be a key aim for 

Staffordshire County Council 

and its partners. 

• Over the last ten years, more than 

20,000 jobs have been attracted 

or safeguarded in the county 

involving around 550 businesses. 

Deprivation 

• Staffordshire is on the whole a 

relatively wealthy area but does 

have areas of deprivation. The 

areas of highest deprivation can 

be found in Newcastle under 

Lyme, East Staffordshire and 

Tamworth. Our work to create 

safer and stronger communities is 

a key aim for Staffordshire County 

Council and its partners. 

Our environment 

• Our natural environment is 

one of our greatest assets in 

Staffordshire and we recognise 

the impact that climate change 

can and does have on it. 

• Staffordshire’s commitment to 

a target of 80% cuts in carbon 

emissions puts it at the 

forefront of action nationally 

and internationally.


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12

What we do 

Staffordshire County Council is the 

biggest employer in Staffordshire with 

more than 30,000 employees. We deliver 

many services throughout the county, 

which include: 

• Providing help and support to 

26,000 adults who are vulnerable 

because of their age, disability, 

mental or physical health. 

• Helping older people to be as 

independent as possible in their 

own homes and communities. 

• Supporting local education in 

your area through 400 schools, 

nurseries and children’s centre’s. 

• Looking after the needs 

of vulnerable children in 

Staffordshire. 

• Encouraging tourism, creating 

jobs and wealth in Staffordshire. 

• Managing and maintaining 

Staffordshire’s road network. 

• Operating 14 household waste 

recycling sites. 

• Managing over 2,700 miles of 

footpaths and bridleways and a 

range of country parks, including 

Cannock Chase. 

• Carrying out the registration 

of 17,000 births, deaths and 

marriages a year, as well as civil 

weddings and other ceremonies 

such as baby naming. 

• Providing trading standards 

officers who support consumers 

and reputable businesses by 

dealing with 30,000 enquiries and 

tackling 6,000 complaints about 

rogue trading a year. 

• Providing the 43 static and 12 

mobile libraries in Staffordshire. 


13

Staffordshire - 

the place 

The strategic plan in context 

The Strategic Plan 2009/12 sets out the medium-term 

vision for Staffordshire County Council, drives forward our 

programme of change, and identifies a series of outcomes 

based on four key aims. It also identifies how we will achieve 

our shared vision for 2012 and the associated three-year 

measures of success. 

This diagram shows the key 

relationships between the Strategic 

Plan 2009/12, the county-wide 

sustainable community strategy for 

Staffordshire and each level of 

internal business planning. 


14 

Timescale 

Long-term 

(15 years) 

Medium-term 

Medium-term 

Short-term 

Short-term 

Short-term 

Plan 

Sustainable 

Community Strategy 

LAA 

Strategic Plan 

2009/12 

Thematic Improvement 

Plans and Corporate 

Improvement Plan 

Service Delivery Plans 

Staff Personal 

Performance Review 

Performance 

Reporting 

LAA 

Annual performance 

report, New Indicator 

Set report 

Quarterly Reports 

to CMT/Cabinet/ 

Scrutiny

Sustainable 

Community 

Strategy 

The Sustainable Community 

Strategy for Staffordshire sets out 

our fifteen year vision to promote 

and improve the economic, social 

and environmental well being of 

Staffordshire. It expresses our 

priorities for Staffordshire and 

identifies the issues which we will 

need to address to improve people’s 

quality of life and to contribute to 

the sustainable development of 

our county. 

Local Area 

Agreement 

The Local Area Agreement (LAA) 

aims to deliver seamless public 

services by organisations working 

in partnership to improve the 

quality of life of people living in 

Staffordshire. The LAA is based 

on the priorities set out in the 

Sustainable Community Strategy 

and translates these priorities into 

improvement targets. 

The LAA includes 35 improvement 

targets and 16 educational targets 

set by the Department for Children, 

Schools and Families (DCSF). These 

targets are drawn from the new 

National Performance Framework, 

released by the Department for 

Communities and Local Government 

(CLG) in October 2007. 

Thematic 

Improvement 

Plans 

Thematic Improvement Plans make 

sure that each of the strategic aims 

of the county council is addressed 

through an improvement plan: 

• Children and Young People 

• Healthier Communities and 

Older People 

• Safer and Stronger Communities 

• Economic Development and 

Enterprise & Sustainable 

Development 

The Thematic Improvement Plans 

set out how services contribute 

to the delivery of the high-level 

priorities included in the Strategic 

Plan, as well as those in the Local 

Area Agreement and the Sustainable 

Community Strategy. 

There is also a Corporate 

Improvement Plan which sets out 

how we are continuing to improve 

the internal systems and businesses 

processes of Staffordshire County 

Council. 

Service Plans 

Service Plans set out specific 

outcomes and improvements 

for services to achieve. They 

include indicators and targets for 

performance which allow service 

performance to be measured 

and managed. 

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Staff Personal 

Performance 

Review 

The Personal Performance Review 

(PPR) process looks at improving 

performance management across 

the organisation and allows 

individuals’ objectives to be linked 

to Staffordshire County Council’s 

overall priorities. 

Key Policy Drivers 

The Strategic Plan has been 

influenced by various national 

policy drivers including: 

The Local Government 

White Paper ‘Strong and 

Prosperous Communities’ 

and Local Government 

and Public Involvement in 

Health Act 2007 

• As a result of this White Paper, 

the Comprehensive Performance 

Assessment (CPA) will be 

replaced by the Comprehensive 

Area Assessment (CAA) by 

2009/10. The Comprehensive 

Area Assessment will assess 

how public sector organisations 

in Staffordshire contribute to 

improving the quality of life for 

residents living in the area. 

• In 2008/09, a new National 

Indicator Set was introduced 

(which comprises 198 indicators) 

which has a new set of indicators 

to report against. Up to 35 

improvement targets and 16 

DCSF targets are drawn from this 

set of 198 and form the basis of 

Staffordshire’s LAA. 

Climate Change Act 

(2008) 

• This act provides a framework for 

addressing climate change based 

on a long-term target to reduce 

carbon emissions by 60% by 

16 

Staffordshire 

2050. It highlights the important 

- 

role that local government has 

in delivering carbon reduction. 

the 

Climate Change 

place 

is now an explicit 

priority for Staffordshire County 

Council which demonstrates the 

importance of this issue and how 

serious the county council is in its 

efforts to reduce the impact of 

climate change. 

The Waste Strategy 2007 

• This strategy sets out the 

Government’s ambitious 

proposals and priorities on 

waste prevention, minimisation, 

recycling, recovery, and energy 

production. The Government 

is strengthening the role of local 

authorities to work with partners 

to help deliver on these priorities. 

Children and Young 

Persons Bill 

• This bill is mainly designed to 

reform the statutory framework 

around the care system to help 

children and young people to 

receive high quality care and 

support. The context is the wellknown 

evidence that children 

in care experience very poor 

outcomes. And although some 

progress has been made over a 

number of years, this has been at 

too slow a rate to reduce the gap 

in achievement and life outcomes 

between children in care and 

their peers. 

Sub National Regional 

Review of Economic 

Development and 

Regeneration 

• Strengthening the role which 

local authorities play in economic 

development is a strong proposal 

stemming from this review. 

Economic development is a central 

and fundamental purpose of 

local government. The National 

Indicator Set provides a clear 

focus on economic development 

and neighbourhood renewal. The 

county council will work closely 

with public sector organisations to 

drive this economic development. 

The Government’s Health 

White Paper ‘Our Health, 

Our Care, Our Say’ 

• This sets out how local authorities 

need to work with partners to 

promote outcomes that address 

health inequalities, inclusion and 

well-being across the range of 

public services that affect people’s 

lives. This goes beyond health and 

social care to housing, education, 

careers, transport and leisure. 

The Local Democracy, 

Economic Development 

and Construction Bill 

• The bill aims to revitalise 

local democracy and our local 

communities, address the issues 

and concerns that the nation 

currently faces during these 

difficult economic times, and 

makes provision for the building 

of new homes. 

The Lyons review of Local 

Government 

• Sir Michael Lyons report on the 

future role, function and funding of 

local government was published in 

March 2007.


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Children and young people 

Our vision is: Improving the lives of all children and 

young people in Staffordshire is central to our vision. 

This plan aims to prioritise and meet the needs of those 

children and young people who are most vulnerable 

Our vision is to ‘close the gap’ so that, all: 

“Children and Young People are healthy and safe, 

so that they are able to enjoy, achieve and benefit from 

economic well being and make a positive contribution 

to their community.” 


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The achievement 

of this vision will 

be through six high 

level blocks, five 

of these blocks are 

consistent with the 

high-level outcomes 

of the Every Child 

Matters Framework 

• Being Healthy 

• Staying Safe 

• Enjoying and Achieving 

• Making a Positive Contribution 

• Achieving Economic Well Being 

Where are we 

now? 

Most of the children and young 

people of Staffordshire achieve 

well against the five indicators and 

standards continue to rise. In line 

with the national picture, there is 

a gap between the majority who 

are benefiting and the minority 

in serious danger of being left 

behind. This minority are not 

getting their fair share of the 

overall improvement in health, 

safety, enjoyment, achievement, 

and the capacity to make a positive 

contribution. As a result, their 

prospects of economic well-being 

are poor. We view this gap as 

morally unacceptable, a tragic waste 

of potential and as a serious threat 

to social cohesion. Narrowing the 

gap is a key priority and a theme 

that runs through all work with 

partners and is a clearly stated 

priority in the Children’s Plan and 

the Local Area Agreement. We are 

continuing this work by improving 

Children and Young People’s 

services, developing services and 

initiatives which are focused on 

these vulnerable groups. 

Working better with different 

agencies and integrating services 

more closely is key to improving 

outcomes and ‘narrowing the gap’. 

This will allow us to intervene 

earlier to prevent problems 

escalating to the extent that more 

specialist and remedial approaches 

are required. In autumn 2008, the 

Children’s Trust, both PCTs and the 

county council approved proposals 

for ‘Integrated Service Delivery’. 

As a result in 2009, District Multi- 

Agency Networks and local Multi- 

Agency Teams are being created 

which will be configured around 

our Community and Learning 

Partnership infrastructure. 

During 2008/09 we have continued 

to develop close working 

relationships between county 

council staff who work locally 

and the Community and Learning 

Partnerships. This has meant a 

sharper focus on local need and 

improved service delivery. We have 

and continue to work closely to 

deliver services with many partners 

including the primary care trusts; the 

voluntary and community sectors; 

district and borough councils. 

Our Children’s Trust Board is 

now well established and each of 

the district and borough councils 

now has a District Children’s Trust 

Board which helps us to focus on 

countywide issues and also respond 

to more locality based issues in 

partnership. 

Staffordshire’s Local Safeguarding 

Children’s Board works closely 

with the Children’s Trust to ensure 

the safety and protection of all 

children in the county. We have 

an established Child Death Review 

Panel jointly with Stoke. This panel, 

along with lessons from national 

and local Serious Case Reviews, 

influences practice and service 

delivery across all organisations 

in the county. Safeguarding those 

children most at risk in the county 

and subject to a Child Protection 

Plan is a shared priority for all. 

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We recognise the importance of 

having access to good quality, timely 

information and the impact of this 

on the way we focus our services. 

So we will continue to work on 

improving our data. Strengthening 

and improving our performance 

monitoring and service delivery 

information has had a positive 

impact on our services whilst at the 

same time has helped us to meet 

our year on year efficiency savings. 

The Corporate Parenting Panel has 

also been effective in challenging 

and supporting service and quality 

improvements. It has ensured that 

county councillors fulfil their role 

as ‘corporate parents’ and is now 

widely recognised as a model of 

best practice. 

As a county council we recognise 

that access and engagement with 

cultural experiences enhances the 

quality of a region and provides 

the glue that binds communities 

together. Evidence shows that 

participating in cultural activities 

raises the aspirations of children and 

young people, reduces inequalities 

and fosters imagination and 

community identity. Participation in 

the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, sport 

and active leisure promotes healthy 

lifestyles and brings people from 

different cultures together. We have 

continued to build on excellent 

services which have provided 

children, young people and their 

families with the opportunity to 

access and enjoy learning and the 

cultural experience in innovative 

ways and in many different settings. 

This has been done through 

20 

libraries, heritage sites and services, 

the arts and programmes of adult 

and community learning along with 

improved sports and recreational 

facilities both in school settings and 

the wider community. Access to play 

areas is continuing to be developed 

and our aim is to provide innovative 

areas that incorporate challenge, 

risky play and natural elements. 

We recognise the importance of 

children and young people telling us 

what they think about the services 

we deliver and whether they are 

happy with the service. We listen 

to our children and young people 

and their input helps to shape 

our services and our future plans. 

We have an ongoing process of 

consulting our children and young 

people including the “hard to reach” 

groups through a variety of projects 

and events including the Shadow 

Children’s Trust Board and “Big 

Bruvver” (a travelling mobile diary 

room for young people). 

Where do we want 

to be? 

For 2009/10 we will continue to 

work to improve the lives and 

aspirations of all children and young 

people in Staffordshire with a clear 

focus on narrowing the gap for 

the most vulnerable. This aim is 

reiterated across all staffordshire 

plans impacting on the lives of 

children and young people in 

Staffordshire. 

We need to ensure that the way 

we offer and present our services 

encourages both awareness and 

take-up by the children, young 

people and their families or carers 

who need them and that the 

disadvantaged are given a real sense 

of hope and inclusion. We want all 

children to achieve their potential, 

to be safe from harm, to be healthy, 

to enjoy and achieve, make a 

positive contribution and achieve 

economic well-being. 

These outcomes can only be 

delivered by effective and positive 

joint working with a wide range 

of partners in both the public and 

private sectors, as well as the 

voluntary and community sectors. 

Working in partnership will ensure 

that the right services are in place 

across the county to help our 

children as they move towards 

independence and adulthood. 

We want to empower children, 

young people and families to be 

more independent and supported. 

Our Preventative Services will focus 

on early intervention, supporting 

those at risk, and those who 

are vulnerable. This should lead 

to a reduction in the numbers 

of children who need access to 

more specialised services such as 

the care system. To enhance our 

effectiveness in the community we 

want locality and customer needs to 

be identified, and outcomes agreed 

with communities and partners and 

delivered locally. 

We want to support the creation of 

a sustainable economy and the role 

that our children and young people 

will play in developing a skilled, 

innovative and creative workforce. 

Our schools will be central in helping 

our children and young people to 

achieve this ambition. We will work

with schools and partners to develop 

the 14 -19 agenda that will help our 

young people to respond to the 

demands of the twenty-first 

century. Our ambitious plans for 

Building Schools for the Future are 

evidence of the desire to transform 

children’s lives. 

Our children and young people are 

integral to the present and future of 

our communities. Their welfare and 

success will underpin the success of 

the Strategic Plan, the Local Area 

Agreement and the Children and 

Young People’s Plan as a whole. In 

Staffordshire children and young 

people face many challenges 

and opportunities with areas of 

deprivation and under-achievement 

which are often localised. By 

engaging with all our partners 

(including the private, voluntary and 

community sectors) we are able to 

ensure continuity across plans and 

deliver a service that will help meet 

the needs of all our children and 

young people. At the same time this 

will meet the increased expectation 

at national and local level that 

services for the public should be 

delivered in a joined-up fashion. 

This will help us to achieve year on 

year improvements in the ongoing 

services we deliver, as well as 

designing and putting new services 

in place that result from a range 

of initiatives. 

We will use our resources to 

support systems and processes that 

improve outcomes for children and 

young people. This includes making 

sure that we have a children’s 

service workforce equipped with 

the necessary knowledge and skills 

to deliver excellent outcomes. 

There is an expectation that 

services will be delivered in an 

increasingly cost-effective manner 

so that resources will be released 

for improved front-line delivery. 

This will mean that in many areas 

local authorities may operate as 

commissioners of services rather 

than as direct providers. 

How do we meet 

our priority for 

services for 

vulnerable people? 

In order to ‘close the gap’ 

between the least advantaged 

and other groups in society we 

need to improve the outcomes 

for vulnerable children and young 

people. So we will focus on targeted 

groups of children and young people 

in particular areas of the county and 

look to make most difference to the 

lives of the least advantaged children 

and young people. We will work 

to make sure mainstream universal 

services are effective, accessible and 

respond to the needs of all children. 

We will also make sure that those 

most vulnerable i.e. those in the 

care of the local authority and 

those subject to a child protection 

plan, are provided with high quality 

specialist services that best meet 

their individual assessed needs. 



moving the 

emphasis to 

preventative 

services? 

We will be proactive. Through 

early intervention and well targeted 

services designed to meet identified 

needs, we will ensure the best 

outcomes for children and young 

people, by providing support (where 

it is safe and in the child’s best 

interests), to keep families together 

and avoid taking children into care. 

In such cases this support will 

benefit the child or young person 

and their families. It represents 

more efficient and effective use of 

resources and allows us to target 

specialist services for the most 

vulnerable children and families. 

21



local delivery 

of services and 

for becoming a 

customer-centred 

organisation? 

Our ambition is a common 

entitlement across the county that is 

consistently delivered to take account 

of the varied nature and need in our 

communities. This may be at a district 

council level or through services at an 

even more local level. We will work 

to ensure that locality and customer 

needs are identified, and outcomes 

agreed and delivered. 

The District Children’s Trust 

Boards of multi-agency partner 

representatives, young people and 

their parents, will support the 

delivery of countywide priorities 

and develop local plans to deliver 

co-ordinated local services. These 

boards will be supported by 

further developing Community 

and Learning Partnerships. These 

partnerships are tailored to meet 

the specific needs of their local 

community and will fundamentally 

change the way that services are 

delivered. Increasing availability and 

accessibility of the right service 

at the right time in people’s own 

communities will help make sure 

that difficulties faced by children, 

young people and their families do 

not escalate unnecessarily avoiding 

the need for more expert, intrusive 

22 

and expensive intervention. 

Through the Children and Young 

People’s Participation Strategy and 

the arrangements for local decision 

making in each Community and 

Learning Partnership, families will 

have a powerful voice. Children, 

young people and their families 

will also play an increasing role 

in the strategic and operational 

planning processes. This will 

be done through increasingly 

robust forums for community 

participation. For example, Youth 

Action Kouncil, Shadow Children’s 

Trust arrangements, Children 

in Care Council and community 

representation on District/Borough 

Children’s Trust Boards and Local 

Management Advisory Groups. 



moving the balance 



frontline? 

Our ambition is that either directly 

or indirectly every part of our 

organisation can describe how it 

contributes to improving outcomes 

for children and young people. All the 

systems and arrangements that we 

put in place are designed to support 

and empower people working with 

children and young people. The test 

to introducing new arrangements 

will be ‘does it improve outcomes 

for children and young people?’ We 

will look to align budgets and staff to 

make the greatest difference in the 

areas that need it most. 



investing in how 

our organisation is 

structured? 

We are the lead authority for 

children and young people in 

Staffordshire. It is essential that 

we have the capacity to fulfil this 

leadership role. We will ensure 

that systems and processes within 

Staffordshire County Council, and 

our partner organisations, support 

the key changes that we want to 

make. This includes ensuring that 

we have a workforce for children’s 

services who are equipped with 

the necessary knowledge, skills and 

other resources to deliver excellent 

outcomes. It’s also about making 

sure that we develop a robust 

system of succession planning 

for the long-term viability of our 

children and young people services. 


our priority 

for service 

improvement? 

A key challenge is to involve 

partners further in developing our 

shared agenda, and ultimately to 

empower and support communities 

in their independence. We cannot 

deliver this agenda alone and we 

will strive to build effective multiagency 

partnerships, consult with 

the community and actively involve 

local parents, carers, young people 

and children in planning, delivering

and evaluating the services 

which impact on them. This will 

involve all partners relinquishing 

traditionally held areas of service 

delivery to other providers. We 

will need to ensure greater budget 

alignment, joint commissioning, 

and that individual service delivery 

arrangements are put in place. 


our priority to 

tackle climate 

change? 

For Climate Change the county 

council has signed ‘The Staffordshire 

Declaration’; a manifesto for action 

on climate change. This is being 

addressed through the Local Area 

Agreement. 

An action plan has been developed, 

which maps out a strategy for 

responding to the challenge of 

climate change called ‘A Hard Rain’. 

This details the actions that we 

must take to reduce greenhouse 

gas emissions resulting from our 

own activities, and the actions we 

will take to adapt to the inevitable 

consequences of climate change. 

We are committed to reduce 

carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. 

The responsibility for implementing 

the climate change strategy is shared 

equally between all directorates, 

with the Development Services 

Directorate having a coordinating 

role. Children and Lifelong Learning 

plans to adapt service delivery to 

meet the climate change challenge 

and has also committed to produce a 

directorate specific adaptation plan. 

Specific plans within Children and 

Lifelong Learning include committing 

to a reduction in business mileage in 

2009/10 and a number of projects 

based around energy reduction 

in buildings. 

What are our 

resources? 

From the revenue budget we 

envisage spending £111.6m to deliver 

our aim. We will also be making 

further one-off investments totalling 

£165.8m over the three year period. 

The key measures 

by which we will 

judge our success 

will be: 

• Achievement of a level 3 

qualification by the age of 19. 

• 16-18 year olds who are not in 

education, employment or training 

(NEETs). 

• Young Offenders engagement in 

suitable education, employment 

and training. 

• First time entrants to the Youth 

Justice System age 10-17. 

• Young people’s participation in 

positive activities. 

• Percentage of referrals to 

children’s social care going 

on to initial assessment. 

• Effectiveness of child and 

adolescent mental health service 

(CAMHS). 

• Obesity in primary school age 

children in Year 6. 

• Under 18 conception rate. 

• Achievement of at least 78 points 

across the Early Years Foundation 

Stage with at least 6 in each of 

the scales in Personal Social and 

Emotional and Communication 

Language and Literacy. 

• Achievement of level 4 or above 

in both English and Maths at Key 

Stage 2. 

• Achievement of 5 or more A* - C 

GCSEs or equivalent including 

English and Maths (Threshold). 

• Looked after children achieving 

5 A*-C GCSEs (or equivalent) at 

Key Stage 4 (including English 

and Maths). 

• Percentage of children becoming 

the subject of a Child Protection 

Plan for a second or subsequent 

time. 

During the year we will monitor 

progress towards achieving these 

key indicators through measures and 

targets contained in the Thematic 

Improvement Plan for Children and 

Young People and Children and 

Lifelong Learning Service Plans. 

23

Healthier communities 

and older people 

Our vision is: to improve health outcomes and narrow 

health inequalities by promoting healthy choices, 

tackling the key causes of poor health and improving 

the quality of services. 

And wherever possible to provide older and vulnerable 

people with greater control over their own lives, to 

live safely and healthily, have an active role in the 

community, and access the support they need to be 

as independent as they choose. 


24

This vision will be 

achieved by meeting 

the outcomes listed 

below: 

• Better health and well-being 

for all. 

• Greater independence and 

well-being in later life. 

• Better care for all. 

• A reduction in the harm caused 

by drugs and alcohol. 

• An increase in the number 

of socially excluded adults in 

settled accommodation and 

employment, education or 

training. 

• Helping older people to live 

independently within their 

own homes. 

Where are we 

now? 

The last 12 months have been a 

period of huge change for adult 

social care. The significant advances 

being made through the Changing 

Lives modernisation programme 

have continued to implement a 

series of strategies designed to 

take the directorate firmly into 

the 21st Century. 

The success of these initiatives has 

been nationally recognised through 

the annual review of Adult Social 

Care Services by the Commission 

for Social Care Inspections (CSCI) 

who awarded the directorate an 

improved two-star rating (out of 

three). Compared with last year, 

when several outcomes were rated 

as adequate, all areas now score 

at least good, with Leadership, 

Economic well-being and Making 

a positive contribution rated 

as excellent. 

Within the county, the new district 

structure has settled in quickly and 

has resulted in many benefits in 

the delivery of services. Feedback 

from partners and people who 

use services supports the district 

structure and confirms how quickly 

it has made a difference to them. 

Partnership working has been 

integral to the delivery of the 

change programme. Joint working 

has been undertaken with partner 

organisations to provide more 

preventative services, ranging from 

falls prevention to links with A&E 

departments and the Fire Service. 

The Approach Café in Newcastle is 

a new and exciting service designed 

to support carers and users of 

services for older people with 

mental health issues. The café is 

run in partnership with Social Care 

and Health, Approach and other 

community based agencies. The 

service not only provides practical 

advice and support to users and 

carers but also emotional support, 

giving carers an understanding that 

they are not the only people in such 

circumstances. The café has proven 

that collaborative work between 

different agencies can make a 

significant improvement to the 

individuals that they serve. Alz cafes 

which fulfil the same need in South 

Staffordshire are also available. 

The Carers Breaks Fund has 

provided over 400 breaks for carers 

during the year. Feedback from 

carers has been overwhelmingly 

positive, including such comments 

as: “I had no-one but myself to deal 

with, and it was heaven, and now 

I have the memory of a wonderful 

short break,” and “It has given me 

something to look forward to, 

I can’t wait!” 

The directorate has been engaged in 

conversations with users and carers 

designed to involve them more 

effectively in planning, developing 

and delivering adult social care 

services. One event was the ‘Your 

Voice’ conference held in April 2008 

which was attended by 200 service 

users and carers. The conference 

provided a forum for exchanging 

ideas for developing personalised 

services and was an opportunity for 

delegates to feedback what works 

and doesn’t work for them in the 

current system. 

25

The feedback provided to adult 

social care by CSCI confirms that 

the quality of life for people who use 

social care services in Staffordshire 

has improved over the last year. 

They highlight several key successes: 

• The single assessment process is 

now fully in place, so that people 

benefit from only having to tell 

their story once. 

• The ‘Improving Customer 

Experience’ initiative has created 

a culture of placing the customer 

at the centre of all activities. 

• Services are in place with 

evidenced success to inform and 

support people in Staffordshire 

to have a healthy lifestyle. These 

innovative schemes are an 

example of local services being 

developed to meet local needs. 

• Performance management and 

quality assurance are now woven 

through the organisation. 

• Initiatives are underway to 

develop the personalisation 

agenda, ensuring that the views 

of people who use services and 

their carers are central to policy 

developments. 

• There are strong and effective 

arrangements in place to ensure 

people are safeguarded against 

poor care and treatment. 

• More people are now receiving 

direct payments to enable them to 

control of their own care packages 

which is making a positive 

difference to their lives. 

26 

• Extensive work has been 

undertaken with carers to 

improve the range of services and 

to encourage and enable them to 

play an active role in developing 

new services. 

Where do we 

want to be? 

Our purpose 

To promote independence, inclusion 

and wellbeing. 

Our principles 

To enable people to: 

• Have control over their lives 

• Live safe, healthy and fulfilled lives 

• Have an active role in a stronger 

and prosperous community 

• Access the support they need 

so they can be as independent 

as they choose 

Our approach 

We have set out a number of 

priorities for the next year: 

• An enabling framework to ensure 

people can exercise choice and 

control with accessible advice, 

peer support and brokerage 

systems with strong links to user 

led organisations. Delivery of the 

Place Shaping agenda to make sure 

that services are provided in the 

community at the point of need. 

• Partnerships and Integration: an 

integrated approach to working 

with partner organisations 

including: 

• Joint Public Health 

• Joint Commissioning 

• Joint NHS and Social Care 

Services 

• Housing Developments 

• Universal Services 

• Voluntary and Community Sector 

• Commissioning: joint 

commissioning strategies which 

include incentives to help develop 

high quality services that treat 

people with dignity and maximise 

choice and control. Commissioned 

services should balance investment 

in universal services accessible to 

all, prevention, early intervention/ 

reablement and intensive care and 

support for those with high-level 

complex needs. 

• Information and Advice: universal, 

joined-up information and advice 

available for all individuals and 

carers. 

• Self-Assessment: greater emphasis 

on self-assessment, enabling social 

workers to spend less time on 

assessment and more on support, 

brokerage and advice to make 

sure users experience a better 

service. 

• Self-Directed Support: A 

personalised system where selfdirected 

support becomes main 

stream. 

• In-house Modernisation: Having a 

property development agenda to 

support delivery of the Changing 

Lives Programme including 

delivery of Extra-Care facilities.

• Personal Budgets: a simple, 

straightforward personal budget 

system and support to increase 

the uptake of direct payments. 

• User/Carer Involvement: 

mechanisms to involve family 

members and other carers as care 

partners, with appropriate training 

so that carers can develop their 

skills and confidence. 

• Safeguarding Arrangements: an 

effective and established way to 

help people to make supported 

decisions built on appropriate 

safeguarding arrangements. This 

will be supported by a network of 

“champions”, including volunteers 

and professionals and will promote 

dignity in local care services. 



services for 


We will focus on delivery of the 

corporate priorities: 

• The importance of preventative 

services 

• Local delivery of services 

• Customer-centred organisation 

• Moving the balance from 

supporting structures to the 

front-line 

• Investing in how our organisation 

is structured 

• Service Improvement 

• Meeting the challenge of 

climate change 



moving the 

emphasis to 

preventative 

services? 

• Continue to work with partners in 

localities to provide information, 

advice and training about health 

and well-being. 

• Contribute to developing 

preventative strategies though 

Local Area Agreements. 

• Make sure that enabling packages 

of support are accessible to all. 

• Increase access to a range of 

flexible and reabling packages of 

support including older people 

with mental health needs and 

Black and Minority Ethnic elders. 

• Develop the Telecare/Assistive 

Technology agenda in partnership 

with local councils and Supporting 

People. 

• Support the carers of vulnerable 

and older people both in their 

caring role and in maintaining their 

quality of life. 







organisation? 

• Ongoing improvements to access 

of Registration Services; allowing 

members of the public to register 

births or deaths at any office in 

the county and establishing new 

hospital based services. 

• Working in partnership with the 

NHS and the district and borough 

councils to establish integrated 

services. 

• Develop joint commissioning 

strategies with NHS partners for 

services for older people; people 

with a learning disability; people 

with mental health needs; and 

people with physical and sensory 

disabilities. 

• Improve customer access by 

delivering customer-centred 

services. 

• Improve assessment processes 

based on customer-centred 

systems. 

• Engaging people who use services 

and carers throughout the year. 

• Improve customer satisfaction. 

• Making sure appropriate 

Safeguarding arrangements are 

in place for all service users. 

27






frontline? 

• Modernise learning disability 

services. 

• Modernise and refocus in-house 

residential, day and domiciliary 

care. 

• Implement the social care 

workforce strategy and make sure 

it connects with NHS workforce 

planning. 




our organisation 

is structured? 

• A robust property management 

structure is in place for delivery of 

the Changing Lives programme. 

• Integrating finance and 

performance, and embedding these 

functions within the districts. 

28 


our priority 

for service 

improvement? 

• Consult and involve our service 

users and carers, and be able to 

demonstrate service improvements 

as a result. 

• Embed a culture of performance 

management and commit to 

quality across the directorate 

through better ways of working 

and tools such as the Performance 

Framework. 

• Ensure we meet the needs of all 

communities. 

• Work with housing providers and 

the independent sector to deliver 

improvements for service users. 

• Focus on quality improvements 

for carers and service users. 

• Place Shaping – to ensure the 

right services are available in 

the right place. 

• Embed Joint Commissioning Unit 

(JCU) strategies. 

• Invest in leadership to ensure skills 

are in place to deliver change. 

• Delivery of a series of action plans 

resulting from: 

- CSCI’s 2008 Annual Review. 

- The Inspection of physical and 

sensory disability services. 

- The Inspection of learning 

disability services. 

- The Inspection of Supporting 

People. 

- The Independence, Wellbeing 

and Choice Inspection. 




change? 

A climate change adaptation plan 

has been produced which details 

the actions that will be taken to 

ensure that the Social Care and 

Health Directorate maintains its 

level of service provision despite the 

anticipated changes in the climate. 

The plan also considers how we 

will respond to climate-related 

emergencies, and the need for longterm 

planning. The key actions for 

the directorate are listed below: 

• Reduce carbon dioxide emissions 

by 2140 tonnes between 2008 

and 2013 in-line with the county 

council’s target of an 80% 

reduction by 2050. 

• Introduce a way of identifying our 

more vulnerable services users so 

that resources can be effectively 

prioritised in the event of climate 

change emergencies such as 

flooding. 

• Maintain business continuity plans 

and communicate them to staff 

to ensure effective continuous 

delivery of critical services. 

• Raise awareness to service users 

and carers of ways of coping with 

increased temperatures. 

• Undertake with Strategic Property 

Services a flood risk assessment 

for buildings and to identify 

communities with high risk of 

flooding.

What are our 

resources? 

• From the revenue budget, we 

envisage spending £197.9m to 

deliver the our priorities. 

• We will also be making further 

one-off investments totalling 

£25.6m over the 3 year period. 

• From the £25.6m there is 

£22.379m in place to support 

the delivery of the Changing 

Lives Capital Programme. 

The key indicators 



are: 

Adult social care and health is 

committed to delivering the 

‘Our Health, Our Care, Our Say’ 

outcomes. A national performance 

indicator set is in place to monitor 

each of the seven outcomes: 

• Improving health and emotional 

well-being 

• Improved quality of life 

• Making a positive contribution 

• Increased choice and control 

• Freedom from discrimination or 

harassment 

• Economic well-being 

• Maintaining personal dignity 

and respect 

In addition, CSCI Quality Standards 

are used to assess the quality of 

services and feedback from external 

inspections highlights success and 

focuses us on improving services. 

Conversations with users and carers 

provides feedback on how effective 

services area and shapes their future 

development. 

The key 

performance 

measures by which 

we will judge our 

success are: 

• Effectiveness of child and 

adolescent mental health services 

• Obesity amongst primary school 

children in Year 6 

• Mortality rate from all circulatory 

diseases at ages under 75 

• 16 + current smoking rate 

prevalence 

• Carers receiving needs assessment 

or review and a specific carer’s 

service, or advice and information 

• People supported to live 

independently through social 

services 

• Services for carers 

• Ethnicity of Older People receiving 

services following an assessment 

• Adult participation in sport and 

active recreation 

• Achieving independence for older 

people through rehabilitation/ 

intermediate care 

• Number of households living in 

temporary accommodation 

• Proportion of children in poverty 

• Older people helped to live at 

home 

• Referrals to children’s social care 

going on to initial assessment 

• Delayed transfers of care from 

hospitals 

• Timeliness of social care 

assessment 

• Timeliness of social care packages 

• Clients receiving a review 

• Social Care clients receiving 

self directed support – Direct 

Payments and Individual Budgets 

• Number of vulnerable people 

who are supported to maintain 

independent living 

• Adults with learning disabilities in 

employment 

• Alcohol-harm related hospital 

admission rates 

• Drug users in effective treatment 

• Substance misuse by young people 


our progress through the measures 

and targets in the Thematic 

Improvement Plan for Healthier 

Communities and Older People. 

29

Safer and stronger 

communities 

Our vision is: for individuals, neighbourhoods and 

communities to feel safe in Staffordshire, and to be 

increasingly free from crime and the fear of crime. 

Communities will become stronger and more able to 

work with us to deliver improving and appropriate 

services to enhance their quality of life. 


30




below: 

• Working with local Community 

Safety Partnerships (also 

known as Crime and Disorder 

Reduction Partnerships) 

to reduce serious and 

acquisitive crime 

• Reducing the fear of crime 

• Reducing the harm caused by 

illegal drugs and alcohol 

• Improving our partnership 

working to address domestic 

violence 

• Building respect in communities 

and reducing anti-social 

behaviour and youth crime 

• Making the roads safer for all 

road users 

• Engaging with communities so 

they have a greater choice and 

influence over local decision 

making and a greater role in 

public service delivery. 

Where are we 

now? 

We have a statutory duty to achieve 

safer and more secure communities. 

Overall crime in Staffordshire has 

been falling for a number of years. 

All of Staffordshire’s eight 

Community Safety Partnerships 

achieved their three year 

Government-set targets to reduce 

specific crimes, such as wounding 

and personal robbery, between 

2005 and 2008. However, our 

communities’ perceptions are 

often the opposite. Crime rates 

vary across the county, yet fear of 

crime affects everyone. We need to 

continue to support local Crime and 

Disorder Reduction Partnerships 

so that crime rates reduce in line 

with government targets. Strategic 

intelligence, analysis of data and 

sharing best practice are some of 

the ways we intend to lend support 

to colleagues. We also need to take 

account of the broadening of Section 

17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 

to include anti-social behaviour, 

behaviour adversely affecting the 

environment and substance misuse, 

how that impacts on our policy and 

strategic development; and the role 

that scrutiny can play in improving 

performance. 

We have reduced road casualties 

considerably over recent years 

in Staffordshire but we still need 

to ensure that as few people 

are killed or seriously injured as 

possible. We will concentrate our 

efforts particularly on the high risk 

groups of young drivers (17-25) and 

motorcyclists. 

Although we undertake high quality 

consultation with Staffordshire 

residents, we need to empower 

local people to have a greater choice 

and influence over local decision 

making and service delivery. This will 

increase their capacity to undertake 

voluntary activity in order to 

create more vibrant and thriving 

communities. We have improved 

our support to the voluntary and 

community sector by putting in 

place a Service Level Agreement 

with the Staffordshire Consortium 

of Infrastructure Organisations 

(SCIO) which includes developing 

an inclusive Third Sector Network. 

We have also reviewed the Local 

Compact (Agreement) of 2005 and 

are developing a Commissioning 

Framework with the voluntary and 

community sector to make sure that 

we are working together for social 

and economic progress. 

We are making progress on 

our locality working, focusing 

partnership effort on engaging both 

with the most disadvantaged areas 

across Staffordshire, and those areas 

where the public feel least able to 

influence decisions affecting them, 

so that we can tackle the issues they 

feel are their greatest priority. 

31


to be? 

We want our communities to 

be safer and feel safer. We want 

incidents of anti-social behaviour, 

youth crime and domestic violence 

to fall. In particular, we want the 

number of crimes committed 

through the misuse of drugs and 

alcohol, and the effects that evidence 

of substance misuse has on the fear 

of crime, to fall. Our roads will be 

even safer than they are now. 

Areas with the highest levels of 

reported crime should know that 

they are receiving special attention. 

We will target our resources to 

tackle incidents, including under-age 

drinking, and consider how we make 

better use of our available resources. 

We also want Staffordshire 

communities to be stronger and 

to be more active in shaping the 

services they receive. Residents 

will feel more involved in matters 

that concern them. They will 

know how to get involved, either 

directly or through their elected 

representatives. 

More people will feel that their 

area is a place where people from 

different backgrounds can get on 

well together. There are strong 

and positive relationships between 

people in different circumstances. 

We will work with the voluntary 

and community sector to make sure 

that it plays a full role in the design, 

planning and delivery of local 

public services.. 

32 

We will see increased levels of 

volunteering and more services 

delivered by voluntary and 

community organisations. 

The provisions of the Local 

Compact with the voluntary 

sector are honoured, particularly 

in relation to consultation and the 

full recovery of costs in funding 

and procurement. 

More young people will become 

involved in the Youth Action 

Kouncil, and vote in Youth 

Parliament elections. 

We will continue to explore 

the benefits to communities of 

establishing Citizens’ Panels, 

introducing participatory budgeting 

and transferring assets to local 

groups and will be extending these 

initiatives across the county. 

Our support for community groups 

will be better co-ordinated and 

targeted, so that it is more effective 

and accessible, especially for the 

most disadvantaged. 

We want Staffordshire’s roads 

to be as safe as possible. This 

will only be achieved if all the 

key partners who are engaged in 

casualty reduction have common 

goals and an agreed annual road 

safety strategy. Following changes 

to the Staffordshire Casualty 

Reduction Partnership governance 

arrangements, the partnership will 

have an agreed action plan in 

2009-10, to which all the partners 

and district and borough councils 

will be signed up. These key actions 

will be delivered via the Partnership’s 

Education, Training and Publicity 

Group and Operations Group. 

We will continue to ensure people 

receive effective drug treatment so 

that they successfully complete their 

treatment with a structured exit, 

so reducing the risk of returning to 

drug misuse. 

This will be achieved by: 

• continuing to provide treatment 

services to help reduce drug 

related crime by providing a 

Drug Interventions Programme 

and accompanying specialist 

prescribing services. This will 

meet the needs of those people 

(and their families) released 

from prison and/or receiving 

community sentencing through 

the courts. 

• continuing to develop structured 

day care opportunities to motivate 

service users to successfully 

complete treatment and provide 

access to support to gain 

employment and to retain housing. 

• increasing work, education and 

volunteering opportunities for 

those completing treatment so 

that the risk of relapsing into 

drug misuse is minimised. 



services for 


Vulnerable adults and young people 

tend to be more susceptible 

to crime and the fear of crime. 

We will target our activities to 

ensure that they can live in a safe 

environment, as part of a vibrant 

community where the fear of crime 

is reduced.



moving the 

emphasis to 

preventative 

services? 

With our partners we will focus 

our activities so that residents avoid 

being victims of crime and antisocial 

behaviour. By building respect 

within communities; violence and 

disorder will be reduced. We will 

continue to work with young people 

who are at risk of offending in order 

to reduce the number who enter 

the Criminal Justice System. 







organisation? 

By continuing to develop our 

locality working programme, and by 

working in partnership (particularly 

with the voluntary and community 

sector), we will strengthen each 

community so that its voice can 

be heard and used to shape the 

services it receives. Wherever 

possible, we will respond flexibly to 

meet different needs and demands. 






frontline? 

We will improve the ways in 

which we work with our partners 

to tackle safety issues and build 

stronger communities. This will 

mean that we have shared strategies 

and aims, with little duplication and 

no conflicting priorities, so that 

maximum resources are used to 

deliver practical community based 

activities. We are investing £3 

million over the next two years to 

provide 38 new Police Community 

Support Officers (PCSOs) and 16 

detached youth workers in a joint 

venture between the county council 

and Staffordshire Police. Working 

together across the county, the 

PCSOs and youth workers will 

tackle a range of issues including 

anti-social behaviour, and will 

operate in Partnership 

Reassurance Teams. 





structured? 

The impact of our activities will be 

regularly monitored to make sure 

that we are hitting our performance 

targets. In support of this our 

plans will be sound, measurable 

and based on firm evidence. We 

will make sure that our resources 

are well managed and supported 

where necessary by the appropriate 

training and development activities 

and employees are empowered to 

do the job they need to. 


our priority 

for service 

improvement? 

We need to continue to improve 

our contribution to reducing crime, 

the fear of crime and to building 

stronger communities. We will 

have a greater impact by working in 

partnership, particularly in helping 

to put the Staffordshire Local Area 

Agreement in place. To this end, 

we transferred a number of key 

members of staff into a multi-agency 

Stronger and Safer Communities 

Team from January 2008. They 

work closely with colleagues from 

Staffordshire Police and Fire and 

Rescue Services to develop the safer 

and stronger communities agenda. 

33

Together we are working towards 

a reduction in crime and antisocial 

behaviour, an increase in 

the number of residents who feel 

safe, and a growth in the number 

of communities who work with 

us to shape our services in their 

neighbourhoods. 

In May 2008, the county council, 

along with all the Staffordshire 

district and borough councils, 

underwent an Audit Commission 

inspection of its work around Safer 

and Stronger Communities. The 

final report on the inspection 

was published in January 2009. 

Staffordshire County Council and 

its partners have been assessed as 

providing a “good two-star approach 

to delivering safer, stronger and 

greener communities with promising 

prospects for improvement.” 

We were awarded two stars 

(out of three) because we have 

achieved our crime reduction 

targets; a variety of initiatives have 

effectively addressed key public 

areas of concern such as anti-social 

behaviour, alcohol and drug misuse 

and domestic violence; and we 

have successfully balanced local and 

national priorities and provided 

services which were inclusive. 

The report contained eight 

recommendations on areas for 

development. Some of these 

recommendations have already 

been implemented and the rest 

will be put into place over the 

next twelve months. 

34 




change? 

Through its Road Safety Team, 

Staffordshire County Council is 

promoting a number of initiatives 

which will give children and young 

people the skills and knowledge to 

walk or cycle to school safely and in 

turn reduce reliance on the car as a 

means of transport to school. 

This in turn will help to reduce 

carbon emissions. 

These initiatives include: 

• walking buses; 

• pedestrian training; 

• safer routes to schools. 

What are our 

resources? 

From the revenue budget, we 


this aim. We will also be making 






are: 

• Increasing the percentage of 

people who feel they can influence 

decisions in their locality 

• Increasing participation in regular 

volunteering 

• Developing the environment for 

a thriving third sector 

• Reducing the rate of serious 

violent crime 

• Reducing the rate of serious 

acquisitive crime 

• Reducing the rate of proven 

re-offending by young offenders 

• Dealing with local concerns about 

anti-social behaviour and crime by 

the local council and police 

• Reducing perceptions that people 

treating each other with respect 

and consideration is a big or fairly 

big problem 

• Reducing repeat incidents of 

domestic violence 

• Increasing the number of drug 

users in effective treatment 

• Reducing perceptions that people 

dealing or using drugs is a big or 

fairly big problem 

• Reducing the number of adults and 

children killed or seriously injured 

in road traffic accidents 

• Increasing young people’s 

participation in positive activities 

• Reducing the number of first-time 

entrants aged 10-17 to the Youth 

Justice System 

We will be working together with 

a wide range of partners from 

the public, private and voluntary 

sectors to achieve these measures. 


progress towards achieving these 

key indicators through measures and 


Improvement Plan for Safer and 

Stronger Communities.


35

Economic development and 

enterprise & sustainable 

development 

Our shared vision, as set out in the local area agreement, 

is that: Staffordshire will be known for being a highly 

knowledgeable, highly skilled economy, with a high 

quality of life. We will find and apply ways to meet the 

economic, social and environmental aspirations of present 

generations that will not compromise the ability of future 

generations to meet their own aspirations. 


36




below: 

• Increasing the levels of new 

businesses that are created and 

survive, especially in important 

industry sectors. 

• Diversifying the economy by 

increasing the proportion of high 

growth, competitive and profitable 

businesses. 

• Improving skill levels, especially to 

support growth in businesses. 

• Developing vibrant and sustainable 

centres in towns, market towns 

and surrounding villages. 

• Ensuring that those in the most 

deprived communities and 

deprived groups within the labour 

market, can access the economic 

opportunities created 

in Staffordshire. 

• Provide regulatory services that 

support the business community. 

• Reduce the amount of waste going 

to landfill and increase the rate of 

recycling. 

• Tackle the challenge of climate 

change through our own 

contribution, by encouraging 

others to reduce greenhouse 

gas emissions and adapting to 

the inevitable consequences of 

climate change. 

• Ensure an equitable balance 

between the social and economic 

benefits of the use of land and 

resources and the consequential 

impacts on the environment. 

• Develop transport by improving 

accessibility, encouraging more 

sustainable travel, integrating 

transport with other activities, 

managing well-maintained and 

un-congested highway networks. 

• Create and maintain Sustainable 

Communities which provide 

the conditions for economic 

prosperity and growth without 

damaging environmental impacts. 

Where are we 

now? 

We understand that the climate 

which we live in today is changing 

and the challenging economic 

pressures which face the country 

as a whole will impact on our 

county. Economic development 

within Staffordshire is an area in 

which we will strive to improve so 

that we can prosper and grow. 

Staffordshire County Council has 

an active programme to promote 

the economic regeneration of the 

county, which currently supports 

or sustains about 8,000 jobs in the 

county. This is done in a range of 

ways including providing sites and 

premises for businesses, business 

support, promoting tourism and 

inward investment, supporting 

the rural economy, providing 

an efficient highways network 

and promoting a high quality 

environment. This is supported by 

improvements in the educational 

achievement of school leavers at 

both 16 and 18. 


is committed to developing 

sustainable communities. It 

currently is improving accessibility 

to everyday facilities through 

our planning processes and by 

support for alternative means of 

travel to the car. Recycling rates 

are continuing to increase across 

Staffordshire and the county 

council is taking a leadership 

role in tackling climate change 

in the county. 

37


to be? 

The Staffordshire economy will 

have a thriving and dynamic small 

business sector. Large numbers 

of new businesses will be formed, 

particularly in new and growing 

sectors, where economic success 

is largely due to the effective 

application of knowledge, 

technology, skills and innovation. 

A high proportion of these new 

businesses will grow and survive and 

create employment opportunities 

for other people. The economy 

will be far more diverse than at 

present, with a larger number of 

companies undertaking a wider 

range of business activities. This will 

be supported by large numbers of 

businesses moving to Staffordshire 

from elsewhere in the UK and 

overseas. 

The county will have a dynamic and 

sustainable rural economy, which is 

adapting to new challenges such as 

the reform of the common 

agricultural policy, an ageing 

workforce, low wages and the 

need for new approaches to 

environmental management. 

The workforce will be highly 

skilled and motivated, constantly 

developing to adapt to new economic 

circumstances. ‘Staying on rates’ 

and educational achievement rates 

will be high, and we will retain a high 

proportion of those who graduate in 

the county. 

38 

Staffordshire’s town centres, market 

town centres and village centres will 

be vibrant and sustainable, attracting 

new developments and increasing 

numbers of shoppers, residents 

and visitors. 

The growth in the economy will 

benefit all sections of society, 

particularly those in the most 

disadvantaged communities and 

groups. Economic growth will be 

sustainable, and will utilise land 

and resources in a way that will 

protect and enhance the county’s 

natural environment. Staffordshire’s 

businesses will constantly improve 

their environmental performance 

and per capita greenhouse gas 

emissions will reduce considerably. 

In planning for the future, we will 

continue to work with the West 

Midlands Regional Assembly and 

Advantage West Midlands to 

progress the revision of the Regional 

Spatial Strategy and to implement 

its proposals as they affect 

Staffordshire. This will ensure that 

the social, housing and economic 

needs of our communities are taken 

into account. We will work with 

Advantage West Midlands to secure 

investment in the Staffordshire 

economy, through sub-regional 

working. By implementing the 

Government’s proposals which 

underpin the Sub National Review 

of Economic Development (including 

the development of a Single 

Integrated Regional Strategy), the 

county council will continue to seek 

to influence policies impacting on 

Staffordshire and to secure the sub 

region’s share of devolved funding 

for economic development. 

Work will progress on minerals and 

waste local development documents 

with the minerals core strategy 

likely to be adopted in June 2011 and 

the waste core strategy, jointly being 

prepared with Stoke City Council, in 

September 2011. We will work with 

our district council colleagues and 

other partners to help develop their 

Local Development Frameworks by 

providing advice and information. 

We will continue to champion 

environmental issues. We intend 

to build on previous work mapping 

landscape quality, which will 

incorporate assessments of the 

county’s historic and biodiversity 

assets and establish priorities for 

environmental conservation and 

regeneration. We are improving 

access to the countryside by 

implementing a rights of way 

improvement plan, managing our 

own countryside facilities and 

providing opportunities for our 

communities to experience the 

natural environment. 

Reducing our dependence on land 

filling, waste is a critical issue, 

and will become more difficult to 

achieve as the European Landfill 

Directive Trading Allowance Scheme 

targets increase. We are committed 

to delivering the waste management 

infrastructure that will be needed 

to divert municipal waste from 

landfill and improve recycling rates 

in the county. The Staffordshire 

Joint Waste Management Board 

will oversee the delivery of the 

Staffordshire Joint Municipal Waste 

Management Strategy, which 

includes the 2020 Vision Zero 

Waste to Landfill.

We manage and maintain the 

county’s transport infrastructure 

and support a range of related 

activities including public transport 

services. We will encourage walking 

and cycling for all ages and wish to 

see cultural changes where more 

choose travelling in this way as 

a commuting life style choice for 

shorter journeys to school and 

work. In Staffordshire, nearly 

one fifth of households do not 

own a car. As a result, improving 

accessibility is a priority. Timely and 

effective maintenance of the highway 

network reduces costs, improves 

safety and contributes to a more 

attractive environment. 

Traffic congestion is currently an 

issue only in certain urban areas and 

on some inter-urban routes in the 

county. Staffordshire’s trunk and 

motorway network does however 

carry significant volumes of traffic 

and is more prone to congestion. 

This has implications for a number 

of our towns, especially where 

traffic diverts onto the local 

road network, and could result 

in declining air quality. The Local 

Transport Plan 2006 – 2011 provides 

a framework for developing, and 

investing in, transport, including the 

delivery of an extensive programme 

of highway works. 

Highways maintenance funding 

remains under pressure and road 

conditions have yet to improve 

noticeably. Developing a Traffic 

Asset Management Plan on an 

ongoing basis will allow appropriate 

maintenance decisions to be made 

making best use of the limited 

funding available. Safety work will 

continue to be a priority. 

We will support housing and 

employment across Staffordshire 

as required by the Regional Spatial 

Strategy to create and maintain 

sustainable settlements that 

contribute to economic prosperity. 



services for 


Staffordshire County Council’s 

economic regeneration activities 

benefit everyone in Staffordshire. 

However, by creating new 

employment opportunities 

in, or close to, disadvantaged 

communities, we are seeking to 

provide employment for many 

vulnerable adults who may find it 

difficult to access work. 

More vulnerable groups in 

Staffordshire will require greater 

emphasis on the provision of public 

transport and other solutions that 

help them to meet their day to day 

needs for shopping, employment and 

accessing basic services, particularly 

medical facilities. Vulnerable people 

are also at the highest risk from 

climate change, including summer 

heat waves and winter storms. 



moving the 

emphasis to 

preventative 

services? 

Economic regeneration aims to limit 

the impact of the decline in certain 

sectors of the county’s economy. 

As our traditional industries 

reduce the numbers they employ, 

Staffordshire County Council will 

seek to promote the growth of new 

and small businesses and attract new 

businesses to the county to maintain 

growth in the economy overall. 

It is important that our assets, 

such as buildings, highways and 

country parks are maintained in a 

reasonable condition to prevent 

long term damage and potentially 

excessive resource requirements 

in the future. It is only by doing this 

that health and safety requirements 

will be met and the experience of 

the public in using these facilities 

will be improved. Carrying out 

services such as monitoring minerals 

and waste management sites and 

managing development can prevent 

environmental problems in the future. 

Local public opinion research has 

shown that people are worried 

about the coming impacts of climate 

change, and that they look to the local 

authorities for advice on practical 

measures to cope with it. 

The provision of that advice, by 

Staffordshire County Council and 

its partners, is set to become an 

increasingly important function. 

39







organisation? 

The business community, and other 

local and regional partners, are 

already involved in the planning and 

delivery of economic regeneration 

activities. Levels of customers’ 

satisfaction with services are high. 

Services are delivered locally, 

where this is appropriate, such as 

enterprise centres which provide 

space for new and small businesses. 

Ongoing liaison with districts, 

parishes, other local groups, 

committees and local people 

helps to influence how we provide 

services, and what type of services 

they should be within the tight 

budget constraints. Through the 

development of the VISTA strategy 

(a partnership change programme), 

links with community liaison have 

strengthened. The Highways Hotline 

call centre is undergoing a major 

upgrade which will offer improved 

facilities to further enhance the 

public interface. 

40 






frontline? 

Ongoing work to review the 

efficiency of work processes and 

supporting services will seek to 

make sure that as many resources 

as possible are directed to frontline 

activities. 





structured? 

The capacity of Staffordshire 

County Council to deliver economic 

regeneration services has been 

developed significantly in recent 

years. This includes developing 

internal resources, outsourcing 

services where this is appropriate, 

and securing additional external 

funding to build up capacity 

wherever this is possible. 

We have invested, and will 

continue to invest in policy, 

research, performance management 

and project management capacity. 

The ability to lead and manage 

change is becoming increasingly 

important to our activities. 


our priority 

for service 

improvement? 

Service improvements have been 

secured through strong working 

with a range of local and regional 

partners, particularly to secure 

significantly higher levels of 

external funding to support new 

and enhanced levels of service. We 

will work closely with our private 

sector partners to jointly develop 

programmes of work to maximise 

how efficient our operations and 

achieving savings through working in 

partnership. 




change? 


responding to the challenge of 

climate change. It is implementing 

a set of corporate policies and 

specific actions to drive down its 

own carbon dioxide emissions. 

Development Services Directorate 

has a co-ordinating role in preparing 

plans for adapting to climate change.

What are our 

resources? 

From the revenue budget, we 


this aim. We will also be making 






are: 

• Jobs created or supported 

through Staffordshire County 

Council enterprise centres. 

• Improving the percentage of small 

business in Staffordshire that are 

showing growth 

• Attracting visitors to Staffordshire. 

• Jobs created or supported 

through inward investment. 

• Jobs created or sustained on 

employment sites brought forward 

by Staffordshire County Council 

• Improving the skills levels of the 

people of Staffordshire 

• Reducing the percentage of 

Staffordshire’s working age 

population who are on out of 

ork benefits. 

• Maintaining the highway network 

• Reducing the amount of residual 

waste produced by households 

• Improving the percentage of waste 

reused, recycled and composted in 


• Reducing the amount of municipal 

waste landfilled. 

• Reduction of CO2 emissions by 


• Reduction of CO2 emissions in 


• Adapting to climate change 

• Improving biodiversity 

• Improving access to services and 

facilities by public transport, 

walking and cycling. 

• The total number of additional 

houses provided in Staffordshire. 

• The number of affordable homes 

provided in Staffordshire. 


progress through measures and 


Improvement Plan for Economic 

Prosperity and Sustainable 

Development. 

41

Corporate improvement 

Our vision is: for the county council 

to provide high quality services 

which provide value for money 

and are focused on, and delivered 

around the needs of our customers 

and communities. 


42 

This will be achieved 

by ensuring 

that delivery is 

performance driven 

and that the county 

council and change is 

well managed. 

We will improve: 

• how we manage performance 

• how we develop as an organisation 

• how we manage change 

• how we manage programmes 

and projects 

• how we manage our finances 

• our arrangements for managing 

data quality 

• our communications

Where are we now? 

Staffordshire County Council’s 

achievements in the last year have 

been significant. Major strides been 

made to improve performance 

of the services that the county 

council delivers and we have also 

dramatically moved up the national 

performance tables to become one 

of the top 10% of local authorities 

for improving performance. This 

overall improvement is reflected in 

the rating of the county council by 

the Audit Commission as a ‘Good 

Three Star council with strong 

prospects for improvement’ for 

2008/2009. We will continue to 

drive forward these improvements 

and build on the good work that is 

already in place. 

The reputation of Staffordshire 

County Council is very much on the 

up and across the country we are 

being held up as an example of ‘how 

to do things’. The county council 

feels like a completely different 

organisation to work for, we now 

shout about our successes, which 

are all testament to the goodwill 

and commitment of our workforce. 


continuing to achieve value for 

money as a relatively low-spending 

authority with improving areas of 

performance. We will continue to 

look at the most effective way of 

delivering services by identifying 

efficiency savings to add to the £36 

million savings we have achieved 

over the last two years. 


to be? 

We want to further our 

improvement and be recognised 

nationally as a leading, highperforming 

county council which 

engages positively with communities, 

delivers high quality services and is 

improving the quality of life of our 

communities. To achieve this we will 

work with communities to establish 

their needs’ and we will shape our 

services around community need. 

We will implement the outcomes 

of the service review to ensure that 

our services are of the best possible 

standard and provide value for 

money to the people of Staffordshire. 

Staffordshire County Council will 

be well managed, using effective 

processes for performance, resource, 

programme and change management. 

We will clearly communicate our 

key messages to our employees, 

partner organisations, service users 

and the wider Staffordshire public. 

Our services will be easier to access 

as we develop our customer-centred 

approach to service delivery. 

We want to work with our partners 

to provide services more efficiently 

and to improve the quality of life for 

people living in Staffordshire. 

The key indicators by 

which we will judge 

our success are: 

• Increasing the percentage of 

residents who feel that Staffordshire 

County Council keeps them very 

well or quite well informed. 

• Delivery of the second year of the 

Local Area Agreement. 

• Reducing the number of working 

days lost due to sickness absence. 

• Reducing the county council’s 

carbon dioxide emissions. 

• Achieving the service and 

organisation reviews’ targets and 

putting in place our corporate 

change programme 

• Establishing a clear corporate 

approach to managing programmes 

and projects 

• Improving the Use of Resources 

assessment including the scores for 

financial management and Value for 

Money 

• Delivering positive outcomes 

in relation to our Organisation 

Assessment and Area Assessment 

within the new national inspection 

framework Comprehensive Area 

Assessment 

• Embedding a culture of 

performance management 

• Improving information and 

communications technologies 

• Improving arrangements for data 

quality 

• Effectively managing corporate 

assets 

• Maintaining corporate Investors 

in People 


progress towards achieving these key 

indicators through actions, measures 

and targets contained in Staffordshire 

County Council’s Corporate 

Improvement Plan. 

43


44

Reporting our 

performance 

We recognise the importance of reporting our 

performance. We report our performance, every year, 

through ‘YS’ our residents magazine, which sets out how 

Staffordshire County Council has performed against 

delivering the priorities and aims set out within the 

Strategic Plan. 

To read previous performance reports highlighted in 

‘YS’ magazine, please contact us by: 

email communications@staffordshire.gov.uk 

telephone:01785 276804 

We would like 

to hear from you 

Please get in touch with us to tell us what you think 

about this document and how we could improve it in 

the future. You can do this by: 

email strategic.plan@staffordshire.gov.uk 

telephone 01785 277521 


45

Alternative formats 

If you would like this document in another language or format, or 

if you require the services of an interpreter, please contact us by: 

email strategic.plan@staffordshire.gov.uk 

telephone 01785 277521 

46


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