Working as One Council to deliver our vision
Our vision, ambitions and priorities guide almost everything we do. To make this possible, our strategies set out the approaches the organisation will take, and our planning and performance detail what our individual services and employees will do, to help realise our vision. In this way, our vision, ambitions and priorities are built into all levels of the organisation, so we can deliver them for residents.
Strategic Framework
Our Strategic Framework outlines our commitment to Cambridgeshire and our vision, ambitions and priorities.
It is part of the Business Plan along with:
- Medium Term Financial Strategy
- Capital Strategy
- Treasury Management Strategy
Future proofing delivery
Like most councils across the country, we must do our core business and pursue our vision alongside complex, and often unpredictable, changes in the world around us as well as increasing financial pressures on our budget. We therefore need to be responsive to those changes and pressures to be able to deliver our commitment and vision.
This is what makes the ‘Our Future Council’ Change Strategy (opens as PDF) essential for our Strategic Framework and the council more generally. Setting out the key principles to inform decision making and organisational change, Our Future Council is our main approach for future‑proofing our capacity to deliver our vision and meet our commitment within a balanced budget.
The strategy sets out solid foundations – principles that ensure we do our core business well by consistently performing our essential responsibilities of good governance, compliance, resource management and statutory and regulatory requirements.
Building on these foundations, Our Future Council has four innovation principles that ensure we are continually shaping our organisation, services and partnership working, in readiness for the changing circumstances we operate in.
Our Future Council is implemented through change programmes that apply the solid foundations and innovation principles to five key areas of change across the council. These programmes help us to get the basics right and prepare for the future by driving our services to be closer to communities and customers, upskilling our workforce, increasing value for money, enhancing our use of data and technology, and preparing for a safe and legal transition through Local Government Reorganisation.
Solid foundation principles
- Honest communication
- Clear roles and accountability
- Appropriately skilled workforce
- Trusting relationships
- Long term planning
- Effective IT systems
- Evidence‑based decision making
- Strong scrutiny and audit
Innovation principles
- Collaborative
- Digital
- Place based
- Preventative
Change programmes
- Assets
- Commissioning and commercial
- Digital, data and technology
- Target operating model
The way we work
Underlying our commitment and vision are the organisational values that describe how we work every day and how it feels to work for us – our CARE values. Our Customer Care Standards reflect the CARE values we hold as an organisation and we are committed to delivering consistent standards of customer service and ensuring that all members of our community can access the information and support they need, in accordance with our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. We aim to provide services that are simple to use and cost effective.
Collaborative
We are collaborative with our partners, our communities and each other.
We will listen to your experiences and learn from them. We review all comments, suggestions or concerns you share, to help us understand what we’re doing well and where we can do better. We will use your feedback to make meaningful improvements to our information and our services.
Accountable
We are accountable to our residents and each other for delivery of outcomes.
We are committed to meeting the timelines we set with you. If, for any reason, we’re unable to deliver on time, we will keep you informed with timely updates and a clear explanation. We will ensure the personal information you share with us is kept safe in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Respectful
We are respectful of each other, the environment and our communities.
We believe digital services offer efficient and accessible ways to connect with us; however, we will always consider alternative methods to our services, including making reasonable adjustments, to ensure they meet the needs of our customers. We will value you as an individual and treat you with courtesy and respect.
Excellence
We are focused on excellence, delivering the best we can and always improving.
No matter how you connect with us – whether in the community, in our buildings, by phone, or online – we aim to deliver the same consistent customer experience. We will listen to you and respond with respect, compassion, and empathy.
Sources
- Carbon emissions data – Carbon Footprinting: How big is the problem?, Cambridgeshire County Council (Accessed 9 January 2026)
- Economic data – Gross Value Added (GVA) – Cambridge Ahead (Accessed 7 January 2026)
- Economy – Connecting Cambridgeshire progress – What we've delivered, Connecting Cambridgeshire (Accessed 7 January 2026)
- Global Innovation Index, Global Innovation Index 2024, World Intellectual Property Organisation (Accessed 7 January 2026)
- Cities Outlook 2025, Centre for Cities 2025
- Education attainment and destination data – Search for schools, colleges and multi-academy trusts – Compare school and college performance data in England, Department for Education (Accessed 9 January 2026)
- Quality of Life Survey (2023‑2025) results – Quality of life survey, Cambridgeshire County Council 2025
- Obesity data retrieved from Fingertips, Department of Health and Social Care, Accessed 9 January 2026
- Children and Young People Mental Health data – Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Insight – Mental Health Needs Assessment – Children and young people, Cambridgeshire County Council 2024
- Falls rate data published within Public Health Strategic Plan 2025‑2030, Cambridgeshire County Council
