Corporate plan

Achieving the best outcomes for our communities requires joined-up thinking. Most of our public sector partners work across the same geography and serve the same population. Working collaboratively with partners to make the most of collective resources, skills, ideas, and talents will be critical to achieve our key priorities.

Buckinghamshire Council continues to build relationships at a regional, national, and international level, championing the county’s voice and representing our residents, businesses and partners on a big stage. We will work creatively and collaboratively to strengthen the local economy, support businesses, and attract investment and funding into the county.

We are committed to partnership working, focusing on shared priorities, and encouraging collaboration, sharing intelligence, and driving change and tackling key issues in a more coordinated way.

The Buckinghamshire Growth Board ensures all partners are aligned to a shared place-based vision and provides the broadest platform from which to address our growth and cohesion priorities. It is the overarching partnership board providing a single forum that works across the public and private sector in Buckinghamshire to meet the need for joined up thinking on the economy and growth. It approves the overall vision and strategy for Buckinghamshire to ensure ambitions are agreed, work is undertaken to realise them, and that future economic growth and development aligns with local priorities.

Following the successful integration of the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership into the Council in early 2024, we will continue to work with partners from the health sector, Buckinghamshire New University and business representatives, all of whom have a shared ambition and work programme, to deliver innovative, sustainable, and appropriate growth at pace.

The Growth Board oversees the work of four sub-boards: the Enterprise and Investment Board, the Skills Strategy Board, the Regeneration Board and the Opportunity Bucks Board. Members of the Board ensure that our strategies and plans are aligned to support the growth ambitions of the county with a single narrative.

We want Buckinghamshire to remain a forward thinking and dynamic economy without sacrificing the assets which already make it a great place to live. This new model of governance also aligns Buckinghamshire to the path of national government policy. The model aims to further strengthen the work currently undertaken by partners including supporting and developing our key sectors, providing a strong and independent business voice, taking forward skills delivery and combining this with a wider focus on health and equality, education, place and regeneration.

We will work with our partners to:

• Invest in our places
• Mobilise our high-tech sector assets
• Create an accelerated skills delivery system
• Enhance physical and digital connectivity
• Deliver public service efficiency improvements, including a first-class integrated health and social care campus
• Increase our overall contribution to HM Treasury

Buckinghamshire Business First (BBF) is the principal organisation delivering business support activity across Buckinghamshire and, as such, represents the voice of businesses of various size and type. BBF also continues to run both the Growth Hub and Skills Hub and is represented on the Buckinghamshire Growth Board.

Integrated Care Systems bring together the expertise of key health and care professionals to plan and deliver joined up services within Buckinghamshire to look after people’s physical, social, and mental health needs as well as tackling health inequalities. By working in partnership across the Integrated Care System, including with the Integrated Care Board (ICB), Integrated Care Partnership (with the Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing as vice chair), the Buckinghamshire GP Provider Alliance, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, FedBucks, Medicas, and South-Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, we will achieve our vision of everyone living happier and healthier lives for longer.

There are 171 town councils, parish councils and parish meetings in Buckinghamshire, collectively known as local councils. There are currently five MPs for the area. We work closely with the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Association of Local Councils (BMKALC) who are an independent member organisation, providing support to these councils on procedures and statutory regulations. Buckinghamshire Council has adopted the ‘Town and Parish Council Charter’ which articulates our commitment to working effectively and collaboratively with town and parish councils and outlines some key areas to help strengthen our relationships. As part of our commitment to the Town and Parish Charter we conducted a Town and Parish Survey in 2023 to help us understand what is working well and what is not. We have also established a Town and Parish Focus Group, whose role is to constructively discuss key issues and emerging themes concerning town and parish councils and provide a local forum to discuss and support approaches on key pieces of work.

Opportunity Bucks is a programme to improve outcomes for residents who are experiencing significant hardship, a local initiative, in line with the Government’s national levelling up agenda. We want to ensure that all residents in the county have the opportunity to succeed, that nobody gets left behind and we reduce inequality within our communities – we recognise that this is not where we are today and that things will get worse if we don’t act.

The programme is focused on 10 wards throughout Buckinghamshire, where residents are facing most challenges (these areas have been defined based on data including high unemployment and educational attainment, higher crime and worst health outcomes). We are working with councillors, partners and residents in these areas to identify challenges and deliver initiatives that will break the cycle of disadvantage, improve health outcomes and grow our economy.

Buckinghamshire continues to welcome a number of individuals and families from both Afghanistan and Ukraine; many of whom were at very genuine risk to their lives fleeing violence and war.

Buckinghamshire is also seeing an increase in the number of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking children who are referred to us via the government mandated National Transfer Scheme.

Working with partners, residents and with valuable support from local community groups we continue to ensure these individuals and families are supported to resettle and integrated into Buckinghamshire life, ensuring they are supported to access education, health services and employment.

Buckinghamshire has an active not for profit sector with invaluable insight into the needs of our communities. The VCSE sector is vital in delivering key services, building relationships, and strengthening social connections. As we deliver our ‘Opportunity Bucks’ programme, the sector will continue to support our communities. Despite facing cost-of-living pressures, the sector has been an asset in providing support and advice to residents, asylum seekers, and refugees.

We continue to work with our partners in the voluntary and community sector to help them provide much-needed services, build resilience, and use voluntary capacity effectively and safely.

The Buckinghamshire Cultural Partnership brings together senior leaders from key cultural organisations, Buckinghamshire Council and higher education organisations. It plays a strategic leadership and development role, positioning culture at the heart of strategic agendas throughout the county.

The Armed Forces Covenant is a pledge to show our support to those who serve, or have served, in the armed forces, as well as their families. It recognises the sacrifices they have made and ensures they are treated fairly.

There are more than 3,300 serving personnel and over 15,000 ex-service people living in Buckinghamshire. Together with their families, they make up a significant proportion of the local population. We are committed to ensuring that the Armed Forces community does not face disadvantage in the provision of services compared to other residents. As an employer, we recognise the range of unique skills and experiences that reservists and veterans can bring to our organisation and are proud to have been recognised with a Gold Award from the MOD’s Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.

The Buckinghamshire Swan Envoy Scheme brings together leaders and champions from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors, charity sectors, media and business industries who are keen to help inspire Buckinghamshire’s communities and businesses to succeed and for younger generations to realise their potential.

Our Swan Envoys care passionately about the future success of Buckinghamshire as a place and support us to promote the county to local, regional, national and international audiences as a great place to live, visit, do business and nurture talent. Some of the ways our Swan Envoys make a difference include offering philanthropic support as a speaker or lending their skills and experience to motivate others, supporting events and helping to raise awareness of initiatives and campaigns that provide support to residents and communities.

Since the launch of the Scheme, our Swan Envoys have helped highlight the importance of NHS Health Checks, supported the launch of our Opportunity Bucks programme - Succeeding for All initiative, celebrated community heroes who have made a positive impact in their areas, helped recognise excellence in Buckinghamshire’s schools and lent their support to various campaigns.

We plan to review and expand the scheme in 2024 and welcome more Envoys who share our vision and values for Buckinghamshire.

The Buckinghamshire Skills Hub promotes and optimises links between the business community and education/training providers to enable young people and adults to develop the skills and qualifications they need to progress in the workplace, at whatever stage of their career they are in. Skills development is central to creating the conditions for sustained innovation, excellence, and growth for our Buckinghamshire businesses, particularly in priority sectors as described in our Local Industrial Strategy.

The Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel examine and review how the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) carries out their responsibilities of ensuring that Thames Valley Police runs effectively. The panel also supports the PCC in their work and provides reports and recommendations on the Police and Crime Plan, Annual Report and some proposals made by the PCC.

Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority is a publicly accountable body managing Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service on behalf of the communities it serves. The Authority meets four times a year to discuss budgets, financial arrangements, insurance, and financial plans, and to make recommendations to the Fire Authority for decision. A new Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive Officer was appointed in November 2023. The Council have committed to working closely with her as the Fire and Rescue Service progresses delivery on their improvement plan.

There are approximately 70 Registered Providers with a total combined housing stock of over 29,500 properties across Buckinghamshire. This includes four main registered providers (Paradigm, L&Q, Fairhive and Red Kite) who took on the local housing stock across Buckinghamshire, which was previously owned by the former District Councils. The Council works closely with Registered Providers on developing new-build affordable housing, either in partnership with private developers or by developing their own sites. These providers allocate social housing tenancies in accordance with the Council’s Bucks Home Choice Allocations Scheme (advertising available tenancies on a central website). The Council will also work with Registered Providers to address and respond to any issues that arise within their social housing stock (e.g. poor housing conditions).

The Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Natural Environment Partnership (the ‘NEP’) brings together organisations from the private, health, education, conservation and public sectors to drive positive change in the local natural environment.

The NEP works collaboratively to contribute to environmental strategy and objectives for the area and brings together its partners to align delivery of conservation interventions to help achieve collective goals. The NEP also works to ensure the environment is appropriately accounted for in local decision-making, such as planning, and to embed natural environment priorities and considerations in growth, economic and health strategies.