Agenda item

(Leader of Council) To consider the attached report (C-034-2017/18).

(1)        That the progress of the Projects and Programmes within the Transformation Programme for October 2017 be noted, alongside the planned actions for November 2017;

(2)        That a District Development Fund bid in the sum of £135,000 be made to support process mapping and organisational redesign activity within Transformation projects;

(3)      That a Continuing Services Budget growth bid in the sum of £20,000 be made to commission the annual customer satisfaction survey, with the understanding that appropriate compensatory savings within the Continuing Services Budget would be found;

(4)     That a District Development Fund bid in the sum of £59,000 be made to re-establish the Senior Project Improvement Officer, 24 months fixed-term at Grade 9, if an internal secondment exercise was not successful at filling the forthcoming vacancy; and

(5)        That the Council’s Invest to Save fund be brought within the auspices of the Transformation Programme and realigned to match the aims and objectives of the Corporate Plan.

The Leader of Council presented a report outlining the progress made by the Transformation Programme during October 2017, alongside the planned actions for November 2017, and to make budgetary provision for the Transformation Programme in 2018/19.

The Leader reminded the Cabinet that regular highlight reports on the progress of the Transformation Programme were presented to each meeting of the Cabinet. This was the monitoring report for October 2017 and covered the progress made for all chartered projects of Medium and High Risk Potential, as well as key aspects of the Transformation Programme. The Cabinet noted that, overall, progress indicators for ‘cost’ and ‘benefits’ were Green for this period. The status indicator for ‘time’ was reported as Red to highlight that 3 actions (from a total of 94) were overdue and 1 project was overdue on its deadline, when compared with planned timelines. Project and Programme Managers had actions in place to deal with any potential negative effects. Progress would be kept under review and it was anticipated that the status of the majority of these items would return to Green in the next report.

The Leader stated that the Corporate Plan for 2018-23 described the Council’s ambitious plans for the next five years, including transforming the way the Council conducted its business, and interdependent programmes to transform the Council’s  use of technology, accommodation, people and customer service. Consequently, budgetary provision for the ongoing work of the Transformation Team needed to be set for 2018/19. The Team supported and co-ordinated these programmes and around 45 projects across the organisation. The recent final report of the Transformation Programme Task and Finish Scrutiny Panel had concluded that the work of the team had contributed to significant improvements to the successful delivery of change for the Council. A top-up of the funding available for process mapping and organisational redesign was recommended as, without continued support, the Council risked being unable to deliver on the ambition expounded by the Corporate Plan.

The Leader reported that it was important to track any changes to customer satisfaction from the established baseline, in order to assess the impact of the Transformation Programme and in particular the Customer Services Programme on our residents. Undertaking an annual customer satisfaction survey would enable the Council to measure its performance against the key benefit of the Corporate Plan to put the customer at the heart of the Council’s services. In addition, the current Senior Project Improvement Officer had resigned from the Council’s employ and a replacement would be required. In the event that an internal secondment was not possible then it was intended to advertise the role externally on a two-year fixed term contract.

Finally, the Leader added that the Invest to Save reserve was established within the General Fund in 2015/16 to support innovation, where business cases would reduce the Continuing Services Budget (CSB) in future years following an investment to ‘do things differently’ or generate income. So as to present a coordinated approach to managing change, remove unnecessary duplication and effectively manage the delivery of benefits, it was recommended that the Invest to Save funding be realigned and brought within the auspices of the Transformation Programme.

The Cabinet agreed that it was sensible to incorporate the ‘Invest To Save’ fund within the Transformation Programme and to align it with the aim and objectives of the new Corporate Plan. The Director of Resources advised that the projected £1.1million annual saving in Building Maintenance costs would be generated by the overall reduction in the size of the Council’s estate.

Decision:

(1)        That the progress of the Projects and Programmes within the Transformation Programme for October 2017 be noted, alongside the planned actions for November 2017;

(2)        That a District Development Fund bid in the sum of £135,000 be made to support process mapping and organisational redesign activity within Transformation projects;

(3)      That a Continuing Services Budget growth bid in the sum of £20,000 be made to commission the annual customer satisfaction survey, with the understanding that appropriate compensatory savings within the Continuing Services Budget would be found;

(4)     That a District Development Fund bid in the sum of £59,000 be made to re-establish the Senior Project Improvement Officer, 24 months fixed-term at Grade 9, if an internal secondment exercise was not successful at filling the forthcoming vacancy; and

(5)        That the Council’s Invest to Save fund be brought within the auspices of the Transformation Programme and realigned to match the aims and objectives of the Corporate Plan.

Reasons for Decision:

To inform the Cabinet of the progress with the Transformation Programme, including work streams, programmes and projects.

The ambition of the Council for its Transformation Programme was large and complex, and the delivery of the programme would continue to progress apace through 2018 and 2019, with the need to undertake detailed analysis and implement change to business processes. Therefore, there was a continuing need for the current resource within the Transformation and Customer Service Teams as well as for fixed-term dedicated resources to complete specific work.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

No other options were available as failure to monitor and review progress of the Transformation Programme and to consider corrective action where necessary, could have negative implications for the Council’s reputation, and might mean that opportunities for improvement were lost.

To undertake satisfaction monitoring in-house. However, to ensure that the evidence base was robust, the survey had to be conducted with a demographically representative group of residents. The Council did not hold the necessary customer data in order to achieve this; the data that was held was fragmented across numerous systems and without gaining resident’s permission to use their information for this type of work, under the Data Protection Act or forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation, the Council was prevented from accessing it for the purpose of surveying.