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The Executive is accountable to Council (and the electorate!) for political leadership, strategy & major decisions. Directors are accountable for strategic advice, managerial leadership, corporate initiatives & key projects. Business Units are accountable to Members for service development and delivery, in a corporate framework. If Members find performance unacceptable, a Corporate Director is assigned to resolve the issue on Members’ behalf.  The arrangements are new and still evolving & bedding in, and will be subject to formal review this autumn.

Cabinet members are accountable to Council (and ultimately electors), especially through the work of the Scrutiny & Review Panels, and through the facility – very rarely used – of calling in decisions by Portfolio Holders to Full Council

Directors are accountable to Cabinet and the Council for the corporate, cross cutting, and project responsibilities in the Corporate Management Team Business Plan, and can also be called to account by Scrutiny & Review Panels (e.g. the Chief Executive was called to account for mistakes in a by-election, where postal vote documentation was incorrect)

Each Director mentors a number of Business Unit Heads, to guide and assist them, and act as a channel of communication on corporate matters

There is not a close match between Business Units, Directors, Cabinet Portfolios, and Scrutiny and Review remits. This is deliberate, to reduce silo working, and develop a greater sense of corporate endeavour and cross-cutting collaboration.

Service Plans for each Business Unit, and the targets within them, are reviewed by the Corporate Management Team on behalf of Cabinet & Council, to ensure they are meeting Council requirements. They are signed off by the Corporate Director Mentor & the Chief Executive. They are then embodied within the Corporate Plan for Cabinet & Council approval.

The Corporate Management Team monitors financial and service performance of the Business Units through regular monthly financial reports, and the balanced scorecard, and can seek explanation or plans for corrective action from Business Unit Heads.

Business Unit Heads report on an exception basis to Scrutiny & Review Panels on the performance of their Unit against the agreed plans

There are quarterly reviews of progress on the nine Service Improvement Priorities with the relevant Business Unit Heads or their managers, at informal Cabinet/Corporate Management Team meetings; and a formal quarterly progress report to Cabinet on an exception basis on progress with the Corporate Plan as a whole

There is a monthly report to Cabinet on financial performance against capital & revenue budgets

If there is serious Member concern about the performance of a Busniess Unit, and mentoring alone has not/will not overcome it, then the Chief Executive will assign a Corporate Director (usually the Mentor) to take appropriate action. This is at two levels, and will be formally notified to the Business Unit Head.

• Collaboration involves the Corporate Director working with the Business Unit Head to overcome the difficulty identified.
• Step-in involves the Corporate Director temporarily taking direct line management control over part - or all - of a Business Unit, until the situation is resolved. The accountability to Members for fixing the problem then also passes to the Corporate Director. At the end of either type of intervention, the Corporate Director will then withdraw (and the normal mentoring relationship with the assigned mentor Director will resume). However, in cases of Step-in, it will be necessary to also review the suitability of the Buisnes Unit Head to continue in that role.