In the Summer, we rather strangely had a vote on a revamped corporate strategy for the Borough. I say this is strange, because there doesn't appear to be any good reason to revamp th3e corporate strategy. We subsequently had the Chief Executive in to explain the document, and I was rather surprised to find that she didn't seem to know what the targets referred to. If no one knows what the targets are about, it is hard to see how anyone is going to know if they have been met.
Where a Strategy document such as this can be useful is in cascading changes through an organisation, and it struck me that Fairtrade is a good example.
The 2010 Brent Labour Party manifesto had a commitment to promoting Fairtrade, and that got into the Corporate Strategy passed after we won the election. This helped me to push the issue with officers, who had rather given up on it following the failure to attain Fairtrade status by the Liberal Democrats and Tories in 2008. This helped the Borough to finally attain status as a Fairtrade Authority.
However, it also helped drive Fairtrade further into detailed decision making. For instance, it helped me persuade the head of procurement that Fairtrade should be part of the specification for the cafe franchises at the Civic Centre. The fact that you can drink Fairtrade coffee is directly attributable to that specification. It also helped when I wanted to make provision of Fairtrade goods a condition for Ward Working funding for the Night Shelter project, and for the Fairtrade artwork in Hazel Road Open Space.
Somehow, I can't see the revamped strategy being used in the same way.
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