Agenda item

This report is due to be pre-scrutinised at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee scheduled to take place on 8^th July 2024.  Any recommendations arising from this meeting will be reported in a supplementary pack for the consideration of the Executive Committee.

The Section 151 Officer and Deputy Chief Executive presented the Productivity Plan for the Council for the Committee's consideration.

Members were informed that in April 2024 the then Minister for Local Government had written to local authority Chief Executives thanking Councils for the financial savings that they had delivered over the years.  Local Government was the only part the public sector that had consistently managed to deliver financial savings and this had been recognised.  Chief Executives had been advised that the Government was reviewing the productivity of public services and wanted to gather information about what was and wasn’t working, which would inform plans moving forward. 

Whilst no template had been provided for responses, Councils had been asked to limit their replies to four pages in length.  Some local authorities had opted to draft a one-page document but Officers at Redditch Borough Council had produced a more comprehensive document which was four pages in length.  It was acknowledged that there had recently been a change in Government, however, it was understood that the productivity plans still needed to be prepared and submitted to the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government (DHCLG) by 19^th July 2024.  The plans needed to detail how the Council had transformed services, how technology was used for the delivery of services, how wasteful spend had been reduced and the barriers that were in place that restricted further progress from being made.

Members were asked to note that the following information had been highlighted in the Council’s Productivity Plan:

·             The significant levels of financial savings that had been achieved by the Council as a result of working in shared services with other Councils, particularly Bromsgrove District Council, over a number of years.

·             The use of ICT software to automate services where appropriate.

·             The use of benchmarking data to help drive forward improvements in services.

·             The use of capital reinvestment in services.

·             The impact of procurement and legacy processes as a barrier to further progress.

·             The barriers relating to the Government, specifically the lack of communication between Government departments which often impacted negatively at the local government level.

During consideration of this item, Members were asked to note that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had pre-scrutinised the report at a meeting held on 8^th July 2024.  Whilst the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had not proposed any specific recommendations on this subject, Members had noted a typographical error, whereby the report had referred to “polar panels” rather than “solar panels”.  Members were advised that this would be addressed prior to the submission of the Productivity Plan to the Government.

Following the presentation of the report, Members discussed the content and in doing so congratulated Officers for their hard work managing Council services over the years.  Members commented on the reductions in Government funding that had been allocated to local government over consecutive years and the impact that this had had on Councils.  In this context, it was noted that the Council had done well to have not had to make significant cuts to services delivered at the local level.

Consideration was given to the value of the productivity plan and the extent to which these were likely to be required following the general election.  Members commented that the exercise had been useful, insofar as they had been able to reflect on what the Council already delivered.  This would help in identifying opportunities to generate income and to achieve further efficiencies moving forward.

RECOMMENDED that

the Productivity Plan be approved, the plan to be published on the Council’s website and forwarded to the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government before the 19^th July 2024.