Agenda item

To receive a presentation from the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Management, Councillor Michael Braley, based on the questions proposed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. 

(Report attached)

Councillor Michael Braley provided Members with responses to the Committee’s list of questions that had been agreed at the previous meeting of the Committee, as detailed below:

1)           What is the current role in respect of sickness absence?

Councillor Braley advised that the Council was currently within its sickness absence target for the year of 9.02 days, although it was acknowledged that the sickness absence level might rise during the winter period. He commented that although the Council’s absence record was better than average for a local authority, it was worse compared to that of other district councils. He also commented that, with regards to sickness absence rates, the public sector had performed poorly historically compared to the private sector.

The ‘return to work’ interview process was identified as a useful method to lower sickness absence rates.

2)           ICT Shared Services – how successful has Phase 1 been and how is Phase 2 proceeding?

Councillor Braley advised that Phase 1 of the ICT shared services programme had been delivered successfully. Delivery of Phase 2 of the project was dependent on the approval of budget bids that had been submitted as part of the budget setting process. Councillor Braley commented that it was essential to have contingency funds in place to deal with any significant IT issues that might emerge during the course of the year.

Members raised concern that a number of IT problems did not appear to have been resolved. However, Officers responded that the Shared Services project had uncovered rather than caused a number of existing IT problems and these were being addressed

3)           What are the options for the former covered market area?

Councillor Braley advised that Officers were considering a number of short-term options. This included letting out the area to local business for car parking. Emphasis was being placed on ensuring that short-term options would not negatively affect the long-term plans included within the Council’s Town Centre Strategy which focused on creating an area with a community focus.

4)           What effect have the Shared Services arrangements for the Senior Management Team had on the lower levels of management at the Council?

Councillor Braley advised that the transition to Shared Services had proceeded relatively smoothly. It was acknowledged, however, that the move to Shared Services had created a testing working environment for some staff.

5)           How can we improve Customer Services when the Council is beholden to the Worcestershire Hub which does not perform well and over which we have no control?

Councillor Braley advised that an action plan drawn up by the Head of Customer Services to improve the performance of the Hub had begun to take effect. He added that Redditch Borough Council was able to feed in any concerns regarding the Hub to the County based Hub Strategic Management Group.

Members were informed that reducing call queues was a priority for Worcestershire County Council and Redditch Borough Council to help improve the overall quality of service. Managing resources to meet public demand and improving the efficiency of responses to enquiries were seen as essential to achieving this.

6)           What has been done to sort out recent ICT and phone system failures?

Councillor Braley advised of the measures taken to rectify recent ICT and phone system failures and to prevent these failures from re-occurring. In particular, the Committee were informed that additional heat and humidity sensers had been installed in the Town Hall’s server room to alert ICT to any re-occurrence of overheating.

The Committee was also informed that a budget bid had been submitted for the implementation of a new Council phone system to remove current phone issues.  Councillor Braley stressed the importance of having contingency plans in place to help rectify future problems as they arose.

7)           Please explain the “systems thinking” method introduced for fourth tier managers.

Councillor Braley explained that the “systems thinking” method was a change management method that looked at how all parts of the organisation influenced one another. Central to the method was an emphasis on improving value for the Council’s customers.

8)           What problems does he foresee in respect of services within his Portfolio and how will he deal with them?

Councillor Braley suggested that managing the financial risk associated with the grant settlement represented a considerable challenge for the Council. Other significant challenges identified included: managing additional benefit claims in the Borough following an increase in unemployment; monitoring the Worcestershire Enhanced Two-Tier (WETT) shared services to ensure they were delivered in line with the Business Case; implementing new ways of working to address the reduced government grant; and eliminating existing ICT issues.

9)           How much has Bromsgrove District Council benefited from Shared Services arrangements?

Councillor Braley advised that the shared service arrangement had delivered £450,000 of savings to Bromsgrove District Council and £514,000 to Redditch Borough Council. He added that the arrangements promised to deliver further substantial savings to both Councils in the long-term.

On behalf of the Committee, the Chair thanked Councillor Braley for his annual report.

RESOLVED that

the report be noted.