People Strategy 2023 to 2028 (Plain Text Version)

Supporting the Corporate Strategies

The Corporate Plan and Budget Strategy were created to address the most pressing challenges for the council in the next five years, ensuring we meet our statutory obligations sustainably and protect the most vital and impactful services for local people.

Looking ahead, 2023/24 to 2027/28 is expected to bring fundamental change as we seek to transform council services to continue to meet customer needs, take advantage of opportunities, such as new technology, and bridge a funding gap of £47.6 million.

Corporate Priorities

The council has identified five priorities for the period 2023/24 to 2027/28. These reflect the areas that are the most important for the community and improving the quality of life for all living, working and visiting West Lothian.

In the next five years, the council will focus on achieving outcomes in each priority:

Raising Educational Attainment
Strengthening Care and Support for Children, Adults and Older People
Investing in Skills and Jobs
Helping to Create Strong and Sustainable Communities
Tackling Homelessness, Poverty and Inequality

The priorities have been set through consultation with our community, staff and partner agencies and identify and address the most pronounced, collective needs of the local area. They will also provide a focus for decision making and resource prioritisation in the next five years, ensuring that we target our efforts towards the issues that matter most to the community.

Our workforce has a vital role in delivering the outcomes for each priority and the People Strategy sets out how we will ensure we have people with the right knowledge, capability and customer focus to transform the way we work and deliver services that positively impact our community.

Council Values

As part of the development a new strategic direction and the Corporate Plan 2023/28, new organisational Values were identified that better reflect the character and ambitions of the council.

The council wants to work with customers, staff and partners to make services better and deliver our Purpose and Vision of a Thriving West Lothian. In addition to a refreshed strategic direction, it was determined that the council needed Values that reminded staff and customers what the council stands for and the type of behaviours we want to promote across the organisation.