Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Dawn Mitchell 01709 822062 Email: dawn.mitchell@rotherham.gov.uk
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Minutes of Meeting held on 12th April, 2010 Minutes: Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12th April, 2010.
Resolved:- That the minutes of the meeting held on 12th April, 2010, be approved as a correct record. |
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Financial Services Revenue Outturn 2009/10 Additional documents: Minutes: Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above.
The net outturn for Financial Services Directorate showed an underspend of £23,014 against a net cash limited revenue budget of £10,431,363. This represented a variance of – 0.22%.
After adjusting for the Directorate’s Schools Finance Trading Account (where balances are automatically carried forward into the next financial year), the adjusted outturn was an underspend of £4,534 (-0.04% from budget).
The summary outturn position was detailed in the report and the main variations related to:-
· underspend in Central Finance and Management Team due to additional management income
· overspend in Audit and Governance due to shortfall in Audit income
The request to Cabinet for carry forward related to 20% of the Directorate underspend in accordance with the revised outturn procedure in respect of year end variances.
Resolved:- (1) That the 2009/10 revenue outturn position for the Financial Services Directorate be noted.
(2) That the impending request to Cabinet for carry forward, as now reported, be noted. |
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Chief Executive Revenue Outturn 2009/10 Additional documents: Minutes: Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above.
The net outturn for the Chief Executive’s Directorate showed an underspend of £67,914 against a net cash limited revenue budget of £8,872,842. This represented a variation of –0.77%.
After adjusting for the Directorate’s Trading Accounts (where balances were automatically carried forward into the next financial year), the adjusted outturn was an underspend of £26,177 (-0.30% from budget).
The summary outturn position was detailed in the report and the main variations related to :-
· underspend in the Chief Executive’s Office due to savings on salaries and additional management fee income
· underspend in Rotherham Partnership, moratorium on non-essential spend in Pooled Communication, vacancy management in Corporate Research Team offset by an overspend in Rotherham News
· overspend in Human Resources only due to charges attributable to Rotherham News contributions and repayments towards the purchase under an Invest to Save arrangement for the Recruitment Management System. These had been offset by tight vacancy management on Trade Union secondments, additional income from Worksmart and the successful bid for Regional Improvement & Efficiency Programme (RIEP) monies to support mainstream work. This was alongside savings already offered by disestablishing one post and transferring work to RBT at a further £20K annual saving to the Council
· overspend in External Funding and Human Resources due to recruitment advertising loss on Recruitment Management System offset by tight vacancy management on Trade Union secondments, additional income from Worksmart and RIEP on Strategic Unit
· overspend on Legal Services due to IT charges, Legal Research costs and additional subscriptions. Underspend in Committee Services due to tight vacancy management and a moratorium on non-essential spend on Elections
It was reported that a request for carry forward would be made to the Cabinet relating to 20% of the Directorate underspend in accordance with the revised outturn procedure in respect of year end variances.
Resolved:- (1) That the 2009/10 revenue outturn position for the Chief Executive’s Directorate be noted.
(2) That the impending request to Cabinet for carry forward, as now reported, be noted. |
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Financial Services Capital Outturn 2009/10 Minutes: Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above and indicating that the net outturn position showed a break even position against a net budget of £3,748,478.
The summary outturn position was detailed in the report.
Resolved:- That the 2009/10 Capital Outturn position for the Financial Services Directorate be noted. |
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Employee Suggestion Scheme Additional documents: Minutes: The Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources) submitted proposed amendments to the Employee Suggestion Scheme for consideration.
Since its launch in September, 2005, the Scheme had received in excess of 1,300 suggestions. The front end of the scheme continued to work very effectively but fell down by the commitment of Directorates to respond appropriately and to agreed timescales for the provision of feedback on/implementation of suggestions passed by the Panel. Also the suggestions received over the last year had mostly centred on non-cashable savings or improvements to internal processes.
It was proposed that slight amendments be made to the Scheme to raise awareness and encourage suggestions with cashable benefits as well as ensuring suggestions were responded to and implemented within the agreed timescales. The amendments, agreed with the Elected Members connected to the Scheme, were:-
- Awards – clarity in the value of awards with clear distinction between awards for non-cashable and cashable suggestions (higher value awards)
- Makeup of Panel – Chair and Deputy (Elected Members), 1 Trade Union representative (representing all Trade Unions) and a representative from each Directorate (replacing previous worker representative group). Initial selection of Directorate representatives would be carried out by means of a competition open to all employees below manager level (Band A-F). The 6 Directorate representatives would be refreshed every 12 months
- Shorter timescale for implementation of suggestions – 3-9 months with progress on implementation reported to the Panel bi-monthly
- Nomination of 2 Suggestion Scheme Champions per Directorate -1 at Director level and responsible for ensuring the Directorate complied with the Scheme rules and the 2nd to undertake the co-ordination and administration of suggestions within the Directorate.
With regard to funding, it was proposed that the Exchange budget (held within Strategic HR) finance all monthly encouragement and cross cutting suggestion awards as well as the quarterly and annual awards for the non-cashable suggestions. Directorates would finance suggestions relevant to their Directorate including successful monthly suggestions (cashable and non-cashable) and any quarterly and annual awards for cashable benefit suggestions. The latter 2 areas would be financed from the savings generated from the implementation of the successful suggestion.
Resolved:- (1) That the new award payments be approved and the financing of such be noted.
(2) That the new panel arrangements and the release of Directorate representatives to attend the monthly panel meetings be approved.
(3) That the agreed timescales of the scheme be approved.
(4) That Directorates nominate 2 Suggestion Scheme Champions (including 1 at Director level) and provide Strategic HR with the names thereof.
(5) That 6 monthly reports be submitted on the outcomes of any suggestions put forward. |
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RBT Performance Report Additional documents:
Minutes: Mark Gannon, Transformation & Strategic Partnerships Manager, presented the submitted report which summarised RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for March and April 2010, 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 strategic measures for the workstream measured in 2009/10 had been achieved. Changes to how customer perception was measured was being put into place to ensure it was monitored on an ongoing and sustainable basis. - A target of 60% by March, 2011, had been set for a new measure around efficiency and effectiveness - All operational measures were achieved - Registration Service awarded with new governance status with effect from 1st June, 2010 - Revised opening date of 21st June, 2010 for Aston Customer Service Centre - 4 complaints received in March – all not upheld - 5 complaints received in April – 1 was withdrawn, 1 found to be inconclusive, 2 outstanding and 1 upheld
Human Resources and Payroll - Of the 5 strategic measures, the 4 that had targets set for 2009/10 had all achieved them. The remaining 1 related to customer perception with a baselining exercise being carried forward from 2008/09. This work has now been carried out but and positive response had been received that was now being moderated by the Client team - All operational measures achieve during March and April - Thurcroft Infant School successfully transfer from an external supplied to RMBC payroll - Reports from Abacus on outputs from the Recruitment Management System had been delivered, tested although these had not yet been transferred to the live environment - School Workforce Census amended and had resulted in additional development work to provide the required information - General Teaching Council payments and deductions to teachers took place in April - Successful undertaking of April increments, re-banding of Local Government pension contributions and year end processes - New Talent Pool process now commenced - Work to reduce the historical backlog of South Yorkshire Pensions Authority notifications was progressing satisfactorily.
ICT - All 5 strategic measures targets achieved - All targets shown as achieved in March and April with the exception of ICT06 (Complex Change Requests completed to agreed specification). Now agreement had been reached on the scope of measure CCS1 report would commence as soon as possible - The 3 new Elected Members issued with latops etc. less than 1 day after the election result. 2 IT induction sessions with them to explain the technology available to them - In 2009/10 the refresh programme had delivered:- o 1,227 laptops o 42 desktops o 8 docking stations o 15 monitors o 230 keyboards o 19 mice - Document Records Management Group formed to ensure that where possible all data was stored electronically and available to staff working flexibly before the move into the new Council building - An official complaint was received surrounding the Identity Lifecycle Management project which had experienced ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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Transformation and Strategic Partnerships Team Annual Review 2009/10 Minutes: Mark Gannon, Transformation and Strategic Partnerships Manager, submitted a report reviewing the activities of the Transformation and Strategic Partnerships Team highlighting the key achievements across Customer Access, ICT, Procurement, Revenues and Benefits and Business Transformation.
The remit of the Team was two fold. Firstly to lead on the development of strategy and policy and the co-ordination of corporate projects in:-
- Customer Access and Online Services - Information and Communications Technology - Procurement - Revenues and Benefits - Transformation and Change
The Team also provides the Council’s client function for the strategic partnership with BT – RBT (Connect) Ltd. – in the same areas including the statutory functions around quality assurance of the Revenues and Benefits Service.
The report set out:-
- Key findings and feedback from customers and stakeholders via o satisfaction surveys o customer feedback o mystery shopping o external assessors
- Customer Access
§ Customer Access Strategy implementation § Tell Us Once § Efficiency Measure § Customer Service Excellence § Welfare Rights and Money Advice § Aston Customer Service Centre § Website Refresh
o Priority Areas for 2010/11 § Efficiency Measure § Customer Service Centres § Payment Network § Customer Service Consolidation Programme § Refresh of the Customer Access Strategy § Website Strategy Refresh
- Information and Communications Technology
§ ICT Strategy Implementation § PC Refresh Programme – improved VFM and rollout § Business Continuity Planning § Accommodation Changes § VOIP Telephony
o Priority Areas for 2010/11 § New Data Centre § Server Virtualisation § Document Records Management § Intranet Replacement § Cloud Computing Strategy § Refresh of the ICT Strategy
- Procurement o Key Achievements § Procurement Strategy Implementation § Meet the Buyer Event § Payment of Invoices within 30 days § Prompt Payment § Procurement Savings
o Priority Areas for 2010/11 § Meet the Buyer § Supporting the Local Economy § Driving further Procurement Savings
- Revenues and Benefits o Key Achievements § Council Tax Collection Rate § NNDR Deferral Scheme § Revenues and Benefits Business Process Re-engineering
o Priority Areas for 2010/11 § Collection Rates § Business Process Re-engineering § TSP Team Priorities for 2010/11
During 2009/10 the Team had continued to improve value for money achieved from the partnership with RBT. This had resulted in savings for 2009/10 of £1,353,738 and annual savings of £687,271 to the end of the contract in 2015.
Resolved:- (1) That the work undertaken by the Transformation and Strategic Partnerships Team in 2009/10 be welcomed.
(2) That the priority areas for the Team’s work in 2010/11 be noted. |
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CONFERENCE Minutes: Resolved:- That the Chairman (or substitute) be authorised to attend the Health and Welbeing 2010 conference entitled “Working in Partnership to Deliver Health and Wellbeing at Work” to be held in London on 14th October, 2010. |