Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Nigel Carter, Cllr Jon Hubbard and Cllr Christopher Devine. 

Cllr Trevor Carbin substituted for Cllr Jon Hubbard.  Cllr Pip Ridout substituted for Cllr Christopher Devine.

To approve as a correct record and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Organisation and Resources Select Committee held on 27 May 2010.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved and signed as a correct record.

To receive any declarations of personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

No declarations of interest were received.

Cllr Tony Deane, Cllr Mike Hewitt and the Scrutiny Manager attended a Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) annual conference in London on 1 July which included an awards ceremony that recognised the good scrutiny work undertaken across the Country.  In line with the Chief Executive’s policy on raising the profile of Wiltshire Council members of the Committee were asked to consider a case that could be entered for the next Conference.  Suggestions should be given to the Vice Chairman.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting.  Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item.  The Chairman will, however, exercise his discretion in order to ensure that members of the public have the opportunity to contribute.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question should give written notice (including details of any question) to the officer named above by 12:00 noon on Tuesday 13 July 2010.

There was no public participation.

During consideration of the draft Corporate Plan at the March meeting the committee recognised that further detail would emerge from the supplementary departmental delivery plans and the new business plan for the Council.

Attached is a copy of the Department of Resources (DoR) Delivery Plan which communicates the ambitions and objectives for the department in support of the Corporate Plan. The Committee is asked to comment as appropriate.

Councillors will note that a number of work areas identified within the plan have already been considered at either committee or task group level or form part of the  forward work programme. As a consequence of the information included within the delivery plan councillors may wish to add further areas to the forward work programme as appropriate.

The Council’s corporate Business Plan is under development for Cabinet approval in September 2010. The components of the Business Plan relevant to the committee will be reported at the next meeting.

The Committee considered the draft Corporate Plan at it’s meeting in March where it was recognised that further detail would emerge from the Departmental Delivery Plans and Business Plan.  The Corporate Plan was approved by Full Council at it’s meeting in May.

The DOR Delivery Plan circulated took forward the ambitions and objectives of the Council which the Committee would use to keep abreast of areas that may require further scrutiny.

Many of the key work areas identified within the plan had already been considered at Task Group level or had been included within the Committee’s Forward Work Programme.  These included:

Workplace Transformation

Future ICT Provision

SAP development

Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP)

Member Support

Customer Focus

Pay Harmonisation

Agency and Contract Staff

The Corporate Business Plan was currently under development and was expected to be approved by Cabinet in September.  Following the release of the coalition government’s budgetary review in October it was anticipated that a further review would take place thereafter.

The Departmental Delivery Plan had been circulated to all Service Directors and their teams who were now expected to prepare individual draft Service Plans based on its content.

The Service Director – Performance confirmed that the final top 20 services would be identified as the Delivery Plan developed and following the budgetary review in October which was likely to affect the service priority order further.  The Cabinet Member for Resources would advise the Committee as soon as these were identified.

Ensuing discussion included that the restructure and centralisation of services within DOR had artificially inflated the first year leaver rate which also included temporary and contract staff leavers.  The Committee also questioned the validity of the information provided, including budgetary information, since it was informed that the Delivery Plan was still not a finalised document.

Officers had considered whether the plan should be delayed due to the anticipated changes expected but had taken a view that there was value in having a plan which brought together priorities and services.  Officers recognised that the plan would require review, that a document was needed to outline the department’s aims although they were unable to categorically state the top 20 services referred to within the plan provided.

Taking the above information into account a proposal was made and seconded that no further scrutiny of the plan would take place until a final version was available. Upon vote this was carried.

Resolved:

That the Committee would receive the updated Delivery Plan in September or as soon as available.

The committee considered a report in March which sought Cabinet approval to commence a competitive tender exercise under the European Union ‘Restricted Tender’ provisions for the future supply of Temporary Agency Staff through a Neutral Vendor Managed Service.

The report explained that the planned use of temporary staff provided the Council with flexibility during a period of transition and transformation. However, in order to provide necessary control and to provide important management information it was necessary to change the current service model.

Cllr Jonathon Seed, scrutiny representative on the Agency and Contract Staff Project Board provided an update highlighting that issues surrounding the employment and accountability of Agency and Contract staff had been identified but that these had been brought under control by the management team.

Being aware that a new contract arrangement should be in place by 1 November the committee resolved to receive a further update in July 2010.

Cllr Seed will provide the Committee with a verbal update on the activity of the Project Board and the progress made since March.

Cllr Jonathon Seed, scrutiny representative on the Agency and Contract Staff Project Board, provided the Committee with an update on the recent activity of the Board as follows.

The joint collaborative working project which was being developed with Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES) and North Somerset Councils would no longer continue due to capacity and knowledge transfer issues within their Procurement units.  A national contract was in development of which all authorities were now seeking to join upon it’s release in early 2011.  This new approach would ensure a long term solution to the recruitment of agency staff.

In the interim Wiltshire Council would be joining the pre-tendered framework managed by Comensura with either Dorset County Council or the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation to maximise on cost saving opportunities.  This would run for 12 months whilst the national contract was being developed.

A meeting had been arranged with Comensura for 21 July to discuss the frameworks with a decision made on the framework of choice made thereafter for implementation and roll out of the service from September onwards.

The Cabinet member was aware of the previous expenditure on agency staff and safeguards had now been introduced to ensure visability and accountability across the Council on agency spend.

The Committee would receive a further update on the Framework contract at its next meeting in September.

Resolved:

1)         To thank Cllr Jonathon Seed for his update.

2)         To note the  progress made and that work was ongoing.

3)         To receive an update on the Framework Contract in September 2010.

Committee members will recall that the Chairman and Vice Chairman met previously with the Service Director - HR and Organisational Development to discuss the key departmental activities and priorities for 2010. The outcomes of this meeting were reported to the committee and councillors resolved to add People Strategy implementation to the forward work programme.

A report by the Service Director – HR and Organisational Development, is attached which outlines the current Wiltshire Council People Strategy for the period 2008 to 2012.

The strategy has previously been presented to and approved by Cabinet, Joint Overview and Transition Scrutiny Board, Implementation Executive, Staffing Policy Committee for Wiltshire County Council and Staffing Policy Committee for Wiltshire Council.

Members are asked to review the People Strategy and to provide comment/recommendation as appropriate.

The People’s Strategy was identified as an area of work for consideration by the Committee following a fact-finding meeting with the Service Director – HR and Organisation Development.  The Strategy outlined the key objectives and plans to ensure that the authority had an appropriate workforce to meet the needs of the business and the major change programmes taking place.

The Strategic HR Manager – HR and Organisational Development - attended the meeting to present the report which provided an update on the implementation of the strategy and to answer questions arising from it.

Clarification was provided that the initial strategy had been submitted to Wiltshire County Council Cabinet in July 2008 and that the revised strategy incorporated the priorities within the DOR Business Plan and areas that were working well.

The strategy also included further information on the roll-out of staff training which was scheduled to commence in Autumn 2010.  The HR Manager was unable to clarify which specific groups in relation to manual workers were involved within the training process but confirmed that clarification would be sought following the meeting.

The current leadership programme commenced last year with a programme entitled ‘Management Matters’ running at present to establish the training needs required.  No performance indicators had yet been set as the programme was at an early stage of development.

A budget of £800k had been agreed for the leadership programme.  Regular updates would be provided by the Cabinet member for Resources to ensure that the programme was fulfilling requirements.  Examples of improved management could be seen through improvements in front line services where a ‘service’ culture had been developed.  This followed the implementation of ‘cultural workshops’ where values were emphasised as part of the Customer Focus programme.

The Committee felt that improved management leadership was vital to the progression of the organisation as a whole and should be a key priority for HR.  However, the Committee also queried the necessity of the £800k budget within the current economic climate and whether part of the funding should be diverted to front line services.

Clarification was provided that the ‘total rewards’ approach reflected the complete package that staff received which included, salary, pension and sickness schemes.

Recruitment issues still remained in some areas which was the result of some occupational groups falling within a more competitive market.  In the past some departments had offered market supplements in order to secure recruitment to vacant posts.  However, no market supplements had been requested over the past 18 months and those in existence were reviewed on an annual basis to ensure the supplement remained relevant. 

The supplements had been applied to several positions within the planning departments across the County although it was understood that the area of planning was currently under review given the need to merge the 5 existing systems together.

The Cabinet member for Resources confirmed that a written response would be provided to the Committee on when this review was expected to reach fruition.

The workforce planning framework was being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

A brief note of the meeting held between the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Committee and the Service Director – Finance and Procurement is attached for consideration.

An action resulting from the meeting was to recommend that the committee appoints a scrutiny representative to sit on the project board which will oversee the implementation of the new revenues and benefits system. The Chairman has requested further information on the project including timescales for implementation and the governance structure of the project board.

Proposal:

The Select Committee is asked to:

1) Appoint a scrutiny representative to the ‘revenues and benefits system’ project board.

The Chairman will invite councillors to register their interest at the meeting.

The Chairman and Vice Chairman met with the Service Director for Finance and Procurement on 15 June 2010 to establish how services within the Department were delivered and funded and the pressures that existed. 

The briefing note provided outlined the outcomes of the meeting which focused on the key priorities for the department for 2010/11 following the coalition government’s budget announcement on 22 June and forthcoming spending review in the autumn.

The implementation of a new Revenues and Benefits system was highlighted as a priority for the Council where there were currently 3 systems utilised across the 4 Council hubs.  The tendering process had commenced and it was envisaged that the new system would be in place within 2 years.  The system would be installed one hub area at a time to minimise the risk.

A Project Board had been established to manage the implementation of the system and the Committee was requested to appoint a scrutiny representative to overview the work undertaken.  Cllr Pip Ridout was duly appointed.

Resolved:

That Cllr Pip Ridout would be the appointed scrutiny representative on the Project Board.

The Committee is asked to note the Task Group updates provided and comment as appropriate.

Partnerships

The Task Group had a meeting with the Chairman of Community Safety – Confidence Group, and Tim Mason – Interim Project Manager, at its last meeting on 21 June 2010 where discussion included deliverables and how these were measured.

The Task Group would be inviting representatives from Wiltshire Police to the next meeting to discuss their role in Community Safety Partnership.

Budget & Performance

An extraordinary meeting was arranged for members of the Task Group to discuss the Revenue and Capital budget outturn reports for 2009-2010 where clarification was provided that the budget was in line with the authority’s anticipated spend for the year.

With the anticipated budget cuts arising from the coalition government review, continued discussion would take place between officers and councillors to ensure all spend was carefully managed.

Major Contracts

The next meeting of the Task Group was scheduled to take place in October where a review of the Sodexo contract would take place.

Workplace Transformation

Task Group members commented that a successful site visit was undertaken to Bourne Hill and two other Council owned buildings in the area and that this gave a flavour of the necessity for the Workplace Transformation Programme (WTP).

The next meeting of the Group was scheduled for Tuesday 20 July where the review of Leisure Facilities – replacement, refurbishment and devolvement programme would be discussed.  The Task Group would also attempt to get a handle on the budgetary components of the Programme at its meeting in October.

Members Support

The first meeting of the Group was held on 15 June where a scoping exercise was undertaken to determine the work programme and future witness attendance.

The next meeting was scheduled to take place on 16 June but may need to be rearranged due to attendance levels.  Steve Milton (Head of Community Governance) and John Quinton (Head of Democratic Services) were expected to attend to provide clarity between Community and Democratic Services departments.

S106

Cllr Tony Trotman (Chairman of the S106 Task Group) attended the meeting to present the following update.

The Task Group had met on 10 May, 1 June and 14 June.  As a result of these meetings the Group recognised that there were potential budget implications in relation to unspent S106 monies and noted the budgetary implications the lack of monitoring could have.

A S106 Officer had now been employed whose role would include the formation of an electronic data base to detail all agreements made both pre and post Unitary authority. 

With the ongoing work taking place regarding developer contributions the Group felt it was essential that the Task Group continue its work and the Committee was asked to endorse the recommendations made within the report to continue the Task Group.

Members of the Group were satisfied adequate resources were available at present but would request to review the situation in the Autumn.

Resolved:

1)         To note the content of the S106 Report with the following comments:

·        That there was a need to improve the relationship between Development  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

Part A

A copy of the draft Forward Work Programme is attached for consideration.

Part B

The committee will note that the Library Services Review has been added to the work programme.

The review involves the re-design and modernisation of the Library Service, including user and non-user focus groups, consultation with Area Boards and a £500,000 savings target achievement.

A report on the Library Services Review will be submitted to Cabinet on 14^th September. In the mean time the Chairman has requested further information from the Service Director for Communities, Libraries, Heritage and Art.

The Committee is invited to determine its preferred approach to scrutinising the Library Services Review.

The Committee was asked to note the forward work programme and to note the information provided on the Library Services Review.

Additional information was also provided that scrutiny had not been involved in the Review, that statements had been issued to all area boards from the Service Director - Communities, Libraries, Heritage and Arts with details of the review and that a projected £500,000 savings target was anticipated over the next two years.

A report by the Service Director – Communities, Libraries, Heritage and Arts on the Library Services Review was to be submitted to Cabinet in October.  The Service Director would be invited to attend a future scrutiny meeting to present the report prior to it’s submission to Cabinet.

Resolved:

That the Service Director – Communities, Libraries, Heritage and Arts would be invited to attend a future meeting of the Select Committee to present the report on the Library Services Review.

16 September 2010.

16 September 2010.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

No urgent items were considered.