Agenda item

Report from Councillor Jane Black and Lynne Ridsdale (Deputy Chief Executive, Corporate Core) attached.

Councillor Jane Black, Cabinet Member Corporate Affairs and HR   and Lynne Ridsdale, Deputy Chief Executive, presented a report updating Members on the progress made in establishing Corporate Core Services.

It was reported that since the last update to Overview and Scrutiny in July 2019 significant progress had been made as follows:

·         All HR teams have been brought together into a single corporate service which will co-locate and deliver a 20% reduction in costs.  The corporate structure is the first stage of a longer programme of improvement in people management.  The corporate People Strategy will now be updated to reflect organisational priorities and in the first instance will be aligned with the GM Good Employment Charter across the following key areas of employment practice:

§  Secure work

§  Flexible work

§  A real living wage

§  Workplace engagement and voice

§  Excellent recruitment practices and progression

§  Excellent people management

§  A productive and healthy workplace

A fundamental review of all HR related policies, procedures, data and systems is now being planned, with input from managers, staff and in partnership with the Trades Unions.

·         A programme managed approach to stabilising IT is underway; the roll out of new devices has been expedited and the telephony system upgrade delivered in September against plan

·         The posts in scope of future single Core services as described in section 2.2 have been identified and included in a report to Cabinet seeking permission to consult on establishing the single teams. Subject to agreement, proposals will be the basis of a 90 day consultation period and implemented in early 2020

·         Work is underway to strengthen the consistency in compliance and assurance of GDPR and data protection legislation, with workshops underway to refresh the skills and engagement of the network of Information Governance Champions; finalisation of the Council’s ROPA (Record of Processing Activity); and a review of arrangements for the disposal of confidential waste

·         A review of business support capacity has recently begun, starting with PA provision. Work to date has centred on understanding current activity (eg any variations across departments); benchmarking cost, capacity processes; and considering what elements of work could be addressed through self-service. This review will be subject to detailed stakeholder engagement and staff consultation around any changes

·         The Chief Information Officer has taken up post to lead IT, Policy and Performance functions. The early priority for this postholder will be the programme management of the design of a new Bury Strategy.  Work is underway at pace and will involve:

•             capturing the plans, priorities and strategies across all Team Bury partners

•             Baselining the associated outcomes and performance measures of partner plans against Borough issues and priorities

•             Hosting a big “conversation” across Bury residents to capture their strengths, concerns and aspirations for Bury over the next ten years

·         The Deputy Chief Executive’s office continue to lead the network of ‘Change Agents’ across the Council and CCG. This is a self-selected network of staff who want to drive and support change across the organisations, within and outside of their normal responsibilities. The network meet monthly and maintain a digital network. An opportunity for further development of the Change Agents in the area of transformational leadership and managing change is being explored through resources available to the CCG.  The Change Agents are receiving an early briefing on the Bury Strategy and invited to get involved in the consultation exercise with residents.

The strategic intention is for Council and CCG services to operate as one, in pursuit of efficiencies and shared good practice.  The scale and complexity of such change is significant however and therefore the following pragmatic approach to implementation is proposed:

• All Council services to be brought together from former departmental teams into a single corporate service, as a first priority.  The scope for ongoing co-provision with the CCG to then be explored.  At this stage early priorities for integration are:

• Combined teams, once scoped, to operate under common leadership and to a consistent set of standards and accountabilities but the intention is to avoid Council staff providing any Core support to the CCG on the basis that VAT costs would apply to this arrangement. Further advice on this matter is being pursued by the Finance service.

Moving forward, the process of consulting and finalising scoping proposals for the establishment of corporate teams proposed will be a significant priority. A 90 day consultation period will apply during which staff briefings will be arranged and formal feedback considered through normal consultation procedure. At the end of this period a decision will be taken in relation to all corporate resources in the teams within the remit of the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Core)

The development of the Corporate Core is an important undertaking for the council both in terms of culture and effectiveness. Bringing disparate teams together both from within the council itself but also integrating with the CCG will allow for a collection of expertise and more integrated working, whilst removing duplication and inconsistencies.

Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:

·         Councillor L Smith referred to contractors that the Council employed being required to pay a living wage and asked where this was up to.

Lynne explained that proposals would have to be drawn up in relation to this and any decisions made would be Council decisions.

·         Councillor L Smith referred to the Bury Strategy and asked how wide the consultation would be and whether it would reach the diverse communities across the borough.

It was reported that the consultation would be as far and wide as possible to ensure engagement across the borough and this includes posters and signage in areas with high traffic such as GPs surgeries, hospitals and at events such as Bury 10k. There was a social media campaign that had already begun. It was hoped that all age profiles would take part and engagement will be carried out with service user, partners and residents. There was a competition being held across the borough’s primary schools asking young people to ‘design Bury 2030’.

Councillor Black explained that Bury means different things to different people and if a resident wanted to comment on the area that they lived or worked rather than Bury as a whole that would be welcomed.

·         Councillor S Smith stated that there had been a large consultation carried out across the borough around 10 years ago. Councillor Smith suggested that the results from that are reviewed as part of the process.

·         Councillor Caserta referred to alignment with the GM Good Employment Charter and stated that some of the characteristics within the Charter were lacking in detail such as zero hour contracts and NDAs.

Lynne explained that this would be Bury’s interpretation and the GM Charter will be a good starting point.

·         Councillor Caserta referred to the issue with VAT that had been highlighted and asked whether there was something in place to solve this.

Lynne reported that advice would be sought to help decide how to take this forward.

It was agreed:

That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the good progress made since the last update.