Agenda and minutes

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11^th December, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th December, 2009, be approved as a correct record.

Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above.

The report showed that the Financial Services Directorate was forecasting a break-even position against a net revenue budget of £10.5M by the end of March, 2010.

The report set out the summary year to date and projected outturn position for Financial Services as at the end of November, 2009.  It also stated that the Directorate had incurred £21,154 agency spend. 

A process for collating details of spend on the use of consultants had been implemented and would be included in reports as from April, 2010.

Resolved:- That the latest revenue forecast outturn position for the Financial Services Directorate for 2009/10 be noted.

Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above.

The report showed that the Chief Executive’s Directorate was forecasting currently an underspend of £40,000 against a net revenue budget of £9M by the end of March, 2010.

Areas highlighted in the report covered:-

-           Transport fleet

-           Vacancies and Secondments

-           Rotherham Newspaper

-           Statutory Notices

-           Worksmart

It was noted that discussions were taking place with regard to possible other funding options for the Rotherham Newspaper due to the current economic climate. 

The report set out the summary year to date and projected outturn position for the Chief Executive’s Directorate as at the end of November, 2009.

Resolved:- (1)  That the latest revenue forecast outturn position for the Chief Executive’s Directorate for 2009/10 be noted.

(2)  That the Principal Accountant discuss with the Head of Communications and report the latest position with regard to Rotherham Newspaper to the next meeting.

In accordance with Minute No. K54(2) of 7^th December, 2009, Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, submitted a report on the provision of Statutory Notices placed in the local press and an analysis of the predicted £38,000 overspend position by the end of March, 2010.

A Statutory Notice was a notice that was required to be published in a certain format and in a certain manner to comply with the relevant legislative requirements.  The Local Government Act 2000 stated that where an authority themselves published a newspaper, the duty to publish was to be construed as a duty to publish that notice in their newspaper and at least 1 other newspaper circulating in the area.  The Newspaper Libel and Registration Act 1888 defined a newspaper as ‘any paper containing public news, intelligence or occurrences or any remarks or observations therein printed for sale and published periodically or in parts or numbers at intervals not exceeding 26 days’.

It is for the above reasons why Statutory Notices could not be solely published in Rotherham News.

Over the last 12 months there had been 179 Planning Notices (£48,980), 432 Public Notices (£46,090) and 54 other (£10,990).

It was reported that the Online Services Manager was looking into the possibility of publicising such Notices on line in light of recent published articles suggesting that the previous barriers to such practice had been removed.

Resolved:-  That the forecasted overspending relating to the publication of Statutory Notices be noted.

Sarah McCall, Performance Officer, presented the submitted report which summarised RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for November, 2009, across the areas of Customer Access, Human Resources and Payroll, ICT, Procurement and Revenue and Benefits.

Key points for this period included:-

Customer Access

-              All performance targets

-              Average waiting time for face-to-face customers had significantly improved – 90% of customers being seen within 10 minutes

-              Revenues and Benefits customer contact remained poor – 31% of customers abandoning their telephone call.  TSP Team requested specific performance measures relating to the Process Review to ensure that this level of performance was satisfactorily addressed

-              4 complaints received in November, all relating to Revenues and Benefits Service.  3 upheld and 1 inconclusive

-              RBT currently developing options for the staffing of Aston Joint Service Centre and for incorporating cashiers within the wider customer services network

Human Resources and Payroll

-              All performance targets achieved apart from HRO2 (Accuracy of Payment) – 98.43% against a target of 99.5%.  Understood to be due to a manual processing error and as a consequence 214 employees did not receive subsistence payments.  These were minimal amounts in most cases and any affected employees who requested it were given cheque payments.  Additional safeguards have been introduced to prevent a recurrence

-              External audit of teachers pension return completed on 26^th November, 2009 and submitted to Capita by the statutory deadline

-              Version 8.1 Yourself went live on 30^th November, 2009

-              Preparation commenced for the early production of payrolls ahead of the Christmas holiday closure

-              Version 9 Yourself due in February, 2010 including a mileage re-write and further organisation chart views

-              Work Package 1 Transformation projects successfully drawing to a close with only 2 projects outstanding – timesheet automation and automation of establishment records

ICT

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Over 100 VOIP handsets deployed to Norfolk and Bailey Houses to facilitate the agile working of staff decanted from Crinoline House

-              RBT restructured the ICT Section with 2 sections “Implementation” (focus on project work) and “Live” (responsible for the business as usual, day-to-day IT operations)

-              Government Connect (GC) e-mail facility went live which allowed the Council to send and receive data securely to other organisations connected to the GC network including the NHS, Police, Central government and other Councils

Procurement

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Former BVP18 achieved 95.58% in November, 2009, an improvement on 2008.  Average performance to date stood at 94.22%

-              Procurement savings for the period to the end of October, 2009, were £407,000

-              Council had been approved as signatories to the Government’s Prompt Payment Code which involved references from local suppliers

Revenues and Benefits

-              Council Tax Collection Rate 74.38% at the end of November, 2009, 0.23% lower than the same point in 2008

-              Overtime continued to be worked and, together with the strict recovery timetable, hoped that any shortfall in collection, compared with the previous year, would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources) reported that the Director of Children and Young People’s Service had requested consideration of providing time off for employees to support Rotherham children with reading activities in schools.  This had highlighted the wider context for employee volunteering activity and the need for a consistent approach.

A wide range of organisations had introduced policies and practice aimed at encouraging their employees to take part in volunteering activities recognising good practice in this area was beneficial for their Corporate Social Responsibility.  Employees at an individual level would already be engaged in a range of voluntary activity e.g. School Governors.  However, as a large employer, the Council was well placed to support and encourage volunteering activity to enhance the personal development of employees and/or teams in the Council to build up resources available to charities/community groups/the local community generally and to enhance the reputation of the Council within the community and its workforce.

Voluntary Action Rotherham had established a volunteer bureau to link individuals and organisations interested in volunteering to relevant activities.  The volunteer bureau would provide an established and tested route to link employees to opportunities which would support local communities and organisations.

The following had been identified as potential volunteering activities:-

Team Challenge Events

Management/Board Mentoring

Individual Time Allowance for Volunteering

The report set out suggested conditions to be applied if it was decided that paid time off was to be provided for volunteering together with an example time off allowance and associated qualification criteria.

It was noted that the Strategic Leadership Team had recommended that provisions be made for employee volunteering initially in support of the Right to Read project in schools.  This was recommended on the basis of a maximum of up to one day’s leave with pay to be matched with one leave day i.e a maximum commitment away from the workplace of 15 hours.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the range of potential volunteering activity highlighted in the report be supported.

(2)  That the employee volunteering framework be adopted.

(3)  That a time allowance for employees to undertake initially the Reading Support project in Rotherham schools.

(4)  That paid time off be permitted to the maximum of 7.4 hours (1 day) providing this was matched by the employee taking an equivalent personal leave day.

(5)  That the above be subject to Service requirements and agreement of the employee’s Line Manager.

(6)  That the situation be reviewed after twelve months.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources) submitted a progress report on activity within the Corporate Workforce Strategy together with an update on development of new Indicators for workforce issues, preparation for the KLOE 3.3 in Use of Resources and findings from the audit of workforce planning.

The Strategy had been refreshed in May, 2009 to take account of the changing economic climate, CYPS issues, employee opinion feedback, year end workforce data, health and safety priorities and a gap analysis against the Use of Resources KLOE 3.3.  Further projects had since been agreed in relation to the efficiency agenda and issues within CYPS together with implementation of an emergency planning skills audit.

The current National Local Government Workforce Strategy (2007) was being revised and to be re-launched in 2010.  Early indications were that the 5 priority themes would remain, although the revised emphasis would reflect current pressures facing local government, with more emphasis on:-

-        Organisational Development – new ways of working, citizen focus, partnerships and value for money

-        Leadership – visionary leadership, built through partnership with other agencies and Elected Members

-        Skills – raising employee skill and knowledge levels, enabling innovation, high performance and multi-agency skills development

-        Recruitment and Retention – career progression, talent management, re-skilling, succession planning in support of efficiency programmes whilst still promoting local government working and addressing skills shortages where external advertising took place and supporting employability agendas

-        Pay and reward – modern pay structures, control of employment costs, total reward

The above were already clear within the Council’s current Strategy, however, the change in emphasis clearly reinforced the expectation on services to pro actively manage their people resources alongside service development and planning.

The current Use of Resources assessment in operation at the time of this review did not include KLOE 3.3 which related to how the organisation planned, organised and developed its workforce to achieve strategic priorities.  However, KPMG had agreed to pilot the assessment with the Council.  A position statement had been reviewed by KPMG and feedback was being used to inform preparations for next year’s assessment.  Feedback had not highlighted any major gap areas, however, it was clear that the Council would have to both evidence how it was addressing major workforce issues and seeing outcomes, both corporately and within Directorates.

Most actions within the Strategy were either on track or had been completed.  The actions that were either delayed or may carry forward into 2010 were set out in the report submitted.

Given the assessment of workforce planning in the revised Use of Resources assessment (and best practice), it was imperative that managers were supported to carry out quality workforce planning including the expectation of the Audit Commission key lines of enquiry.

The annual audit of workforce planning was currently in progress.  The mini audit of workforce issues in service plans in April/May, 2009, and initial indications from the more detailed audit were that further attention was required to the systematic performance management of workforce issues,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources) reported on the range of employee involvement initiatives that had been carried out under the Exchange programme during April-September, 2009, which included:-

Reach-In

-        1 survey had been conducted during the period in question (Reach-In 8) for which the response rate was 46%

-        Questions included internal communications

-        Unite

o       Almost 60% of respondents did not know how to submit an article to Unite

o       Mixed opinion as to whether news from the Directorates was covered

o       Online version would be more reader friendly

o       52% wished to see a letters or feedback page

o       Suggested energy efficiency reminders be included

o       Better alert system when a new edition was published.

-        Briefings

o       High neutral response received when asked about the amount of briefings received

Focus Groups

-        2 rounds of focus groups had been held during the period in question

-        1^st round looked at navigating the intranet.  To date approximately 90% of the suggested changes agreed had been made or were in the process of being made

-        2^nd round focussed on new skills frameworks currently under development.  As a result a number of changes had been made

Worker Representative Groups

-        The Groups that continued to be active were Disabled Workers Group, Black Minority Ethnic Group and Women’s Issues Network

Employee Suggestion Scheme

-        April to August, the scheme received 125 suggestions, 75 of which were valid.  15 were recommended by the Panel for implementation

-        Progress had been made with the number of outstanding suggestions for implementation with 27 suggestions being clear since the last report to CMT.  Of those, 21 were implemented.  There were still 37 suggestions outstanding. 

New Joiner Survey

-        Continued to track new employees’ engagement and satisfaction with the Council as an employer and includes questions on the recruitment process, their general induction, welcome and support received, performance and development and perceptions of Rotherham Council

-        The current engagement index for 2008/09 was 84%

-        As from October, 2009, the running of the survey would be carried out in-house and corporate findings reported every 6 months

Leaver Survey

-        The questionnaire had been aligned with the new joiner survey and the employee opinion survey so that engagement and satisfaction could be tracked throughout the ‘life’ of the employee

-        RBT were currently investigating the feasibility of providing electronic surveys to those who were e-enabled prior to them leaving the Council

Resolved:-  (1)  That with regard to Reach-In, focus groups and worker representative groups:-

(a)  that the Strategic Leadership be asked to encourage their own Directorate Management Teams to submit topics for consultation and

(b)  the actions arising from the initiatives continue to be supported.

(2)  That with regard to the Employee Suggestion Scheme:-

(a)  that the Strategic Leadership Team was responsible for ensuring that outstanding suggestions were implemented during 2009/10 or included in Service Plans for 2010/2011.

(3)  That with regard to Back to the Floor:-

(a)  that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources) submitted a report on follow up actions from the ‘Your Voice’ employee opinion survey conducted in June, 2008. 

The report set out actions that had been completed, were in progress and those not progressed under the themes of:-

-           Fairness (Equality and Diversity)

-           Job Security

-           Senior Management

-           Pay and Benefits

-           Work-Life Balance and Health and Safety

-           Customer Service

-           Communication

Also within the report was a summary of the progress the Directorates had made some of whom had been more active than others in implementing actions.  In order to gain maximum benefit from the survey, it was vital that appropriate action was taken and communicated to employees so they could see the benefit of completing the questionnaire.  Survey result activity should be included in workforce plans and performance managed.

It was noted that the Strategic Leadership Team would ensure within their respective Directorates that actions were progressed and subsequently communicated to employees and that survey updates would be included on the SLT agenda.

Resolved:-  That the report be noted.

- minutes of meeting held on 23^rd November, 2009

Consideration was given to the minutes of the Customer Access Group held on 23^rd November, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.

Consideration was given and discussion took place on the minutes of the E-Government Board held on 2nd November, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.