Strategic Plan 2006-7 to 2008-9

The Royal Parks

Corporate Strategy 2006-7 to 2008-9 and

Year 1 Business Plan

When I arrived, in May 2005, we were part way through the final year of our two year Corporate Plan. That plan set out the agency’s purpose as “to balance our responsibility to protect, conserve and enhance the unique landscapes, environments, heritage and vistas of the eight Royal Parks in London with active and creative policies to encourage wide access to them and increase opportunities for enjoyment, delight, sanctuary, information, education, creativity and healthy recreation for everyone, now and in the future.” And it helped deliver a number of significant achievements – education and community engagement up from around 7,000 participants to 23,000 participants; self generated income up from £5.3m to £6.9m; and two parks gaining Green Flag status.

Our new plan builds on these achievements, and sets challenging targets for the coming three years. It also seeks to put The Royal Parks at the centre of London and all the communities and visitors we serve, by better understanding the needs of our customers and ensuring that we communicate fully and openly with customers and our key stakeholders. At the same time, we want to drive up horticultural standards, our international standing, and develop greater financial independence.

The next three years will see us starting work on a c£7million project at Bushy Park, hosting the Prologue for the Tour de France and building towards the Olympics. If we are to continue to be seen as a successful agency we will need to deliver in each of these areas. We will also need to improve our offers for education and participation to provide Londoners and visitors with the parks and facilities that they want and deserve. It is an ambitious and challenging agenda but one that we are capable of delivering.

Mark Camley

Chief Executive

2.OUR LONG-TERM CORPORATE OBJECTIVES

The Royal Parks is a government Executive Agency owned by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). The DCMS Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets for 2005-2008 have been agreed with Treasury. To assist in meeting it’s PSA targets, and within the context of its strategic priorities, DCMS sets objectives for its agencies.

The purpose and corporate objectives for The Royal Parks are set down within the Agency Framework Document and the strategic direction, within which the purpose will be met, is endorsed through the Ministerial Advisory Board.

Our purpose is:

Our corporate objectives and targets must be set within the context of the DCMS’s objectives, targets and strategy. The Public Service Agreement targets for DCMS, agreed by Treasury are:

To enhance the take-up of sporting opportunities by 5-16 year olds so that the percentage of school children who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high-quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum from 25% in 2002 to 75% by 2006 and 85% by 2008 (joint target with the Department for Education and Skills)

To halt the year-on-year increase in obesity among children under 11 years by 2010, as part of the broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole (joint target with the DfES and Department of Health).

To increase the take-up of cultural and sporting opportunities by people aged 16 and above from priority groups by 2008.

To improve the productivity of the tourism, creative and leisure industries

Efficiency target: To achieve at least 2.5% efficiency savings on our Departmental expenditure limit and Local Authority spending on leisure and culture services (2005 - 2008).

Alongside these, DCMS has stated that its strategic priorities are:

Children and young people
To further enhance access toculture and sport for children andgive them the opportunity to develop their talents to the full and enjoy thebenefits of participation
Communities
To increaseand broaden the impact ofculture and sport, to enrich individual lives, strengthen communities and improve the places where people live, now and for future generations

Economy
To maximize the contribution that the tourism, creative and leisure industries can make to theeconomy

Delivery
To modernise delivery by ensuring our sponsored bodies areefficient and work with others to meet the cultural and sporting needs of individuals and communities.

Our Corporate Objectives have been designed to support DCMS in meeting their strategic priorities and wider responsibilities. They are:

THE ROYAL PARKS OBJECTIVES / DCMS PRIORITY
1 / To protect and enhance our “world class” natural park environment for the enjoyment of families, children and visitors / community, economy
2 / To understand and respond to the needs of our audiences, reflecting diversity of needs and use; enriching lives and enhancing access to culture and sport / community,
children and young people, economy
3 / To work with other organisations and volunteers to deliver clear education, health, sport and participation offers / community, children and young people, joint PSAs with DoH and DfES
4 / To conserve and enhance the historic built environment of the Royal Parks / community,
economy,
5 / To deliver greater value for money for the taxpayer through increased income generation and reduced dependency on vote funding / delivery
6 / To demonstrate organisational excellence / delivery

3.OUR KEY PERFORMANCE TARGETS

Key Performance Targets (KPTs) for the Agency are agreed on an annual basis and laid before Parliament; these are published measures on which the performance of the agency against its objectives is judged. While delivery is underpinned by a comprehensive set of corporate deliverables and metrics these KPTs are considered to be representative of delivery against the relevant corporate objective.

The representative targets for 06/07 and the proposed targets for the remaining period of the corporate plan are detailed below:

KPTs representative of delivery of Objective 1

To develop a value-based international benchmark methodology for use by 07/08
To gain Green Flag for 5 parks by end 06/07 and for all 8 parks by 07/08

Rationale for these targets: use of the Green Flag criteria provides a standard for systematic and committed approach to maintaining and improving the quality of parks enjoyed by local communities. In addition it is essential to develop a public value based benchmark that considers scope of utility, volume (number of visitors) and cost.

KPTs representative of delivery of Objective 2

To maintain customer satisfaction above 85% for 06/07 (utilising current methodology) and develop value-based customer satisfaction metric and baseline by end 06/07

Rationale for this target: This target reflects the requirement to gain greater understanding of the needs of the diverse community of park users (with clear alignment to DCMS priorities) and develop a relevant customer satisfaction metric. In the interim the existing methodology will be used to provide a measure of the trend in customer satisfaction levels.

KPTs representative of delivery of Objective 3

Develop and publish clear education and health strategies in 06/07 and set clear metrics from 07/08 onwards

Rationale for this target: this reflects the importance of the wider education and health agenda and role that The Royal Parks can play in helping children, and others, develop their talents, maximise their potential and participate in healthy activities. Agreement of the strategies will require demonstrable alignment to relevant DCMS and wider government objectives. Delivery metrics will be set for 07/08 onwards.

KPTs representative of delivery of Objective 4

To undertake 3 new heritage restoration projects within the period of the plan; initiating one per annum

Rationale for this target: These projects will focus on heritage structures which have suffered from lack of investment in the past; enhancing the cultural heritage of communities and reducing the maintenance backlog. The target is a direct measure of the number of restoration projects that have been scoped, initiated and for which funding has been secured.

KPTs representative of delivery of Objective5:

To increase profitable income[1] to £7.5M by 08/09

Rationale for this target: This target will be a direct measure of funding from commercial sources, donations and other government departments; it reflects better value for money for the taxpayer, achieving new revenue streams to offset increasing costs (against real term decreases to vote funding) and deliver a wider programme of delivery. In year two we shall add a net contribution (profit) element to this target

KPTs representative of delivery of Objective 6:

To achieve savings identified in the Efficiency Delivery Plan

To provide relevant customer interaction facilities during peak visitor hours by FY07/08

Rationale for these targets: An efficiency delivery plan (to 08/09) has been agreed with DCMS aimed at delivering and releasing efficiency savings into frontline delivery. To be a customer focussed organisation we need to review our customer touch points and align our services and resources to provide services that reflect demand and improve the quality of the visitor experience.

SUMMARY OF KPTs

KPT

/ 06/07 / 07/08 / 08/09
1a.international benchmark / Establish benchmark methodology / Utilise and validate methodology
1b. to gain Green Flag status / 5 Parks / 8 Parks / 8 Parks
2. increased customer satisfaction and develop a value-based metric / Maintain satisfaction above 85% (current metric) and establish value-based metric and baseline / Implement value based metric with agreed target
3. To publish and deliver comprehensive education and health strategies / publish strategies and agree targets / Metric established from strategy / Metric established from strategy
4. to undertake heritage restoration projects / Initiate first new project / Cumulative 2 / Cumulative 3
5. To increase income1 to: / £7000K / £7250K
set profit target / £8000K
add profit target
6a. To achieve efficiencies / £1676K / £1751K / £1800K
6b. To provide relevant customer interaction facilities during peak visitor hours / Complete research and scope requirement / Develop detailed plan &
Deliver quick wins / Full implementation

OUR FOCUS

To enable delivery of our objectives and targets our organisational priorities for the period of the plan are:

4.THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

In order to determine the best way in which to meet our corporate objectives, provide strategic direction and develop our business plansit has been necessary to consider drivers and constraints, which exist with both our internal and external environments. This audit is at Annex C.

Based on our analysis of the external and internal environment, the key assumptions that underpin our strategy and business plan are that:

DCMS will remain our owning department for the duration of the plan and that there will be no change to our status as an Executive Agency

Vote public expenditure (with the exception of funds transferred for policing) will rise by £500K in FY07/08 and remain flat in cash terms thereafter

Any significant extension to our corporate objectives (e.g. Olympic commitments) will be offset by an appropriate increase to funding / resource

DCMS will take a balanced and supportive view of proposals to develop new income streams

Capital expenditure and maintenance schedules and requirements remain within the scope of our current financial assumptions and model

We are able to obtain entertainment licenses, under the Licensing Act 2003, and that our programme of events is not significantly constrained by imposed restrictions

Issues and/or incidents relating to terrorism and/or other threats to national security or welfare do not have any major long-term impact on the utilisation of the parks.

Outbreaks of disease or virus within the wildlife population (e.g. avian flu) can be managed within current resource levels and do not have a significant long-term impact on the utilisation of the parks

Further significant Climate Change impact does not occur within the period of this plan (consistent with guidance) and that necessary early mitigation plans to ensure long term sustainability are affordable within current funding levels

OUR VALUES

We will value:

the natural environment and our heritage;

the views of our customers and stakeholders;

the diversity of our parks, our staff, and park users;

the opportunity to work with and learn from others;

training and development for our people;

good leadership and management.

Underpinning our objectives, activity and values is our commitment to key government agendas for delivery of Public Value and Sustainability:

6.STRATEGIC DIRECTION AND GUIDANCE

We are a relatively small agency with limited funding and wide ranging responsibilities. We will prioritise our activities, understanding those activities that we must do, those activities we want to do and those activities that we should stop doing. “Must do” activities will deliver our core objectives while “want to do” will either improve delivery of these objectives or assist in the delivery of wider and related objectives and must be associated with new funding streams.

We shall make our priorities clear to our staff and our stakeholders. For the period of the plan our focus will be on:

In year one of the plan priority activities will be:

Communication and engagement; understanding the needs of our customers, stakeholders and partners
Developing our brand identity; understanding how we wish to be seen by our customers and applying a consistent approach to customer interaction
Preparing the way for new income generation; capturing and exploiting opportunity
Developing strategies for education and health; working with DCMS, DfES and DoH towards delivery of joint owned PSAs
Establishing links to the delivery of other departments’ PSAs (e.g. DEFRA and ODPM)
Developing the agency (staff and processes) to better meet the needs of our customers

We will engage with representative groups of the whole community including visitor sector. We will be proactive in seeking opinion, listening to and understanding the needs of all our customers and potential customers so that we may adapt our offering ensuring relevance and value. We shall work with our customers, stakeholders and partners to understand what is important to them and benchmark the quality and value of our offering.

We will establish programmes that increase the number of volunteers within the park environment, progressing education and health strategies alongside our core delivery.

We will ensure that the customer receives a consistent quality of service and experience through all their interactions with us and at all customer touch-points within the parks. We will develop a clear identity so that they know who we are and what they may expect from us. Their experience will be improved through appropriate levels of interaction, the provision of relevant services, improved mapping and inspirational interpretation. We shall make a base-line level of relevant, quality information readily accessible to visitors free-of-charge and this will be supplemented by appropriate value added information and advice provided at an affordable price.

We will work with our partners within the parks to explore ways of extending the common identity and experience and finding ways of presenting the whole range of opportunities available to them as a “joined up” offering. We will develop our relationship with partners in the vicinity of the parks to provide information and advice on the range of services, events and activities available in and around the parks, further joining up the offering and enabling people to plan their afternoon, day or weekend. We will inspire them to make the most of their time and experience with us.

We will develop a single corporate identity and overarching brand values but, at the same time, we shall recognise the need to maintain individual park brands and identity and differentiate the message and approach in our communication to some individual groups.

We will balance the need to protect and enhance the environment of the parks with the need to give access to the parks. We will work with partner organisations, where possible, to share research, experience and best practice. We will help our customers and stakeholders gain value from the parks, enriching their experience and enabling them to understand how they may contribute to the protection of the parks.

We will not attempt to do everything ourselves, instead we shall focus on what we do best, working with others to supplement our skills and expertise.

We shall target and engage proactively on the development of policy. We shall promote the wider utilisation of the parks, seeking to help in the delivery of the aims and objectives of the government and other partners. To do this we shall improve our level of engagement at appropriate levels and build relationships, demonstrating the value that we can add.

We will work closely with The Foundation and Guild ensuring that our activities are complementary and that, between us, we are optimising opportunities. We shall utilise the resources and expertise made available through the Foundation and their Trustees.

We will develop a long term strategy to respond to the risks and opportunities posed by climate change. In the short term we shall develop creative and comprehensive plans for water management, our agreed priority in this context. We shall position ourselves as a beacon in sustainable management practices and water management, leading other organisations by example.