The East Kent Services Committee is scheduled to meet to discuss the PartnershipOne business plan for 2025/26. The committee will also be asked to appoint a chair and vice-chair, and to confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

PartnershipOne Business Plan

The committee is scheduled to consider and approve the annual business plan for PartnershipOne, a local authority trading company (LATCo) jointly owned by Canterbury City Council, Dover District Council and Thanet District Council. PartnershipOne delivers revenues, benefits and customer services for the three councils.

The report pack includes the annual business plan, the PartnershipOne strategic plan 2025-28, and a briefing note on the business plan.

The business plan covers the revenues, benefits and customer services activities to be delivered during 2025/26. According to the report pack, the plan has already been submitted to and approved by the three Corporate Management Teams.

The East Kent Services Committee has been established to monitor performance objectives and corporate health of the company. The comments of the committee will be passed to each cabinet, who will adopt the plan on behalf of the councils. The board will then receive the comments of the three cabinets and formally adopt the business plan.

The PartnershipOne strategic plan 2025-28 sets out the company's vision:

to be recognised as an excellent service provider, deploying innovative solutions. Approaching everything with an open and honest 'can do' approach, backed by the best people.

The plan lists six enabling goals that will help achieve that vision over a three-year period:

• We will establish our new identity and develop trust with our stakeholders
• We will deliver excellent, customer focused core services to our stakeholders
• We will develop our people to achieve their potential
• We will be recognised for our efficient and effective service delivery and be an exemplar for others
• We will seek appropriate trading opportunities to drive income for our stakeholders
• We will add tangible social value to the communities we serve

The annual business plan details the activities against each of the six enabling goals and provides the success criteria against which the company will be measured.

The draft budget within the business plan shows the company making a small surplus in year 1, which the report pack describes as a prudent position for the first year of company operations.

Appointment of Chair and Vice-Chair

The committee is scheduled to appoint a chair and vice-chair for the municipal year 2025/26. Under the operating arrangements, the chair will be a representative of Canterbury Council and the vice-chair will be a representative of Thanet District Council.