Agenda item

Report of the Divisional Director, Business and Service Development.

The Sub-Committee received a report which provided an update on the progress in delivering the Towards Excellence Programme, which incorporated the project previously known as PRISM (Public Realm Integrated Services Model).

The Divisional Director, Business and Service Development, introduced the report and advised that Alex McArthur from Capita was present to answer any technical questions.  The Divisional Director advised that:

·                    there were three main themes of the Towards Excellence Programme.  These included Staffing (restructure), technology and service reviews;

·                    the total number of staff assimilated to roles was 342 out of 373.  Interviews relating to roles were held before Christmas to provide more certainty to staff;

·                    the project teams had worked closely with Trade Unions during the role evaluations.  This work had been recognised as part of the corporate CREATE awards;

·                    it was hoped that no compulsory redundancies would be required.  Where possible staff would be redeployed to suitable alternative roles and given training to meet the requirements of these roles.  It was expected that there would be voluntary redundancies;

·                    in terms of new ways of working, the Towards Excellence Programme had focused on enabling professional staff to concentrate on delivering their service and establishing robust technical support and community engagement teams;

·                    the project team had been working very closely with Service Managers regarding process mapping.  Additionally a series of ‘Service Definition Documents’ for each team were being finalised.  Capita had assisted with this work;

·                    the transition process had begun and it was aimed that the new structure and new ways of working would ‘go live’ in February 2014;

·                    the next key theme related to Technology.  The implementation of new technology would be conducted in two phases.  The first phase would involve changes to the system which would only be visible to staff.  The second phase would involve changes to the system which would then be visible to the public;

·                    all Design documents had been completed with the exception of two.  One of these exceptions was due to the provision of information from an external supplier to Capita;

·                    the technology would only be deployed following robust user testing and once the Council were confident that the technology was close to perfect;

·                    Service Reviews were being managed by Harrow Council staff.  A first draft report was scheduled to come out shortly.  Operational improvements were also being looked at across a number of services.

A Member queried why further objectives had been added to the Towards Excellence Programme other than those which had been carried forward as part of the Public Realm Integrated Services Model (PRISM).  The Divisional Director responded that this represented a change in approach by the Council with a greater focus on commercialism, understanding costs and delivering customer satisfaction.  Customer satisfaction was a key area to focus on and Service Managers were building this into service provision.

Another Member queried how technology would be utilised as part of the Towards Excellence Programme which was different to that proposed under PRISM.  An officer responded that the technology would be based on that which already existed within the Council.  It would allow officers to obtain real time information and increase productivity by 20%.  It was anticipated that for urgent work the infrastructure would alert the nearest officer available.  This would lead to an increase in customer satisfaction.  It was anticipated that the financial savings targeted as a result of this aspect of the Towards Excellence Programme would be met.

A Member also queried whether the proposed changes would enable issues with trees to be dealt with quicker when reported by residents.  The Divisional Director responded that it was anticipated that residents would be kept updated on information relating to issues that they have reported including likely dates of when the issue was likely to be resolved.  Another Member commented that there were a number of people in the borough who did not have access to the internet.  These residents still needed to be kept updated on the progress of issues that they reported.  The Divisional Director acknowledged that this was a valid point.  A Community Engagement Team would be liaising with these members of the public and would ensure that there was some form of correspondence sent to them.  However it was also important to realise that the Council as an organisation was moving away from telephone contact due to the need to realise efficiencies.

A Member then asked a question relating to the progress of restructures particularly in the Licensing Team.  The Divisional Director responded that the Licensing Team had been restructured and was now under a bigger team relating to public protection.  Recruitment to the team was ongoing and it was expected that this would be completed by the middle of February 2014.

A Member queried how Community Engagement Teams would operate.  The Divisional Director commented that a consultation process would be conducted across the Environment and Enterprise Directorate into how they were engaging with the public.  Work would also be undertaken with the business community and with area centres.  The new roles under the Community Engagement Team would co-ordinate all of this work.  The Community Engagement Team would also advise Ward Councillors if there was anything that affected their ward or if they required their input into any issues.

A Member also asked if the process of raising issues online would be made easier for residents.  The Divisional Director explained that plain English was used on the website and web forms and this would help to assist.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.