Council and Democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Town Hall, Chesterfield

Contact: Rachel Appleyard/Charlotte Kearsey  01246 345277/5236

Items
No. Item

16.

Declarations of Members' and Officers Interests relating to items on the Agenda

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

17.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor J Barr.

18.

Cabinet Member for Business Transformation - Project Management Office and Gateway Zero

5:00pm to 5:25pm

Minutes:

The Transformation Programme Manager and the Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager attended to provide Members with an update on the Programme Management Office (PMO).

 

The Transformation Programme Manager explained that the PMO had been developed as a mechanism to track projects through improved transparency of project management. The PMO provided visibility of all live projects which would aid decision making and resource allocation. This would be achieved through the Gateway process, monthly progress reports and dashboard summaries of portfolio progress. 

 

The stages of the Gateway process were explained to Members.

 

·        Gateway zero – the project justification stage where ideas would be presented to the Gateway board.

 

·        Gateway one – the stage where a full business case would be developed and then taken to Cabinet for approval.

 

·        Gateway two – the project implementation stage which would assess outcomes of live projects.

 

·        Gateway three – the formal project closure stage which would involve assessment of benefits and whether these had been realised. The review process would also be set.

 

The Gateway board enabled proposed projects to be assessed before resource commitment, a review of ICT project days provision and an understanding of the budget sources available to fund project development. The board consisted of officers from various departments which included: finance, human resources, business transformation, client, Arvato and Kier.

 

There were eight programmes currently in place in the PMO:-

 

·        Great Place Great Service;

 

·        Housing;

 

·        Commercialisation;

 

·        Capital programme;

 

·        Devolution;

 

·        Regeneration;

 

·        Budget savings;

 

·        Service specific projects.

 

The status of each project would be monitored through a RAG rated system on a monthly basis.

 

A summary was reported to the Corporate Management Team and the Finance and Performance Board each month. The monthly PMO reporting process provided an overview of key elements for all live projects. These elements included: budgets, risk, objects, resources and timescales. Members were informed that the monthly position statement had been designed to draw attention to key areas of need and enabled senior management to make strategic decisions on where to focus resources to ensure corporate priorities were met. 

 

The Transformation Programme Manager outlined the challenges of the introduction of the PMO process. Members were advised that it could take up to three years to embed a PMO process as the embedding of the process required discipline from managers to comply with monthly reporting. Officers needed to be reassured that these reports were reviewed and utilised in strategic planning. Where monthly reports were not provided the reasons why needed to be understood and addressed.

 

Members enquired who held overall responsibility for reviewing projects and it was explained that this was the Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager. It was also asked how information regarding project progress was to be shared with Members. This information was shared with the Leader and Deputy Leader via the Finance and Performance Board along with the Cabinet Member for Business Transformation who was reported to on a regular basis. Members enquired whether this information could be shared more widely to Members. Members enquired about action plans for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

19.

Leader of the Council

5:25pm to 5:55pm

 

-      Verbal report

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council attended to discuss plans for the Council under the new leadership.

 

The Leader explained she had pledged to follow the path of the previous leader but some changes had been made to keep the Council’s plan progressing. An example of one such change was the decision to not continue seeking full membership of the Sheffield City Region. The Leader updated the Members about the position of Sheffield City region after recent developments and reaffirmed her commitment to her position as Vice Chair.

 

The budget constraints relating to the requirement for a balanced budget in 2020 were discussed. In light of these constraints the need to keep tight control of projects was emphasised.

 

It was explained that the reconfigured Finance and Performance Board was designed to reduce repetitive project meetings by having the projects report to one board. The Leader confirmed that conversations taking place at the Finance and Performance Board had reached the correct level. Cabinet Members were provided with Finance and Performance Board papers and invited for any matters in or of interest to their portfolio.

 

The Leader noted that the three-weekly Cabinet cycle was in place. The Corporate Cabinet agenda was now being led by the Cabinet Members and focused upon very advanced strategic thinking. The Scrutiny Chairs were present at the Corporate Cabinet to enable them to make comments from a scrutiny point of view. Efforts were also being made to empower Cabinet Members with regards to making decisions within their portfolio.

 

Members asked whether there had been any reluctance from officers to be involved in scrutiny. The Leader explained that she had experienced varying attitudes and it was a lengthy process to change cultures. 

 

Members thanked the Leader for providing the update and answering their questions.

 

RESOLVED-

 

That the update be noted.

20.

Scrutiny Project Group Progress Updates

5:55pm to 6:05pm

 

-      HS2 SPG

 

-      Town Centre SPG

Minutes:

-      HS2 Scrutiny Project Group

 

Councillor Flood reported on the HS2 Scrutiny Project Group and advised that the group had heard a number of presentations from officers regarding how to maximise the benefits of HS2. The next area the group would be discussing was the implications of HS2 on housing, they would then split up to discuss issues with various partners. 

 

-      Town Centre Project Group

 

Councillor Borrell reported on the Town Centre Scrutiny Project Group and informed Members that the group had agreed it would be very important to involve members of the public and businesses. A working group meeting had taken place with members of the public and a meeting had been organised with members of the Chesterfield Champions, a group of local businesses who were committed to improving the Town centre.

 

RESOLVED-

 

That the progress be noted.

  

21.

Forward plan pdf icon PDF 81 KB

6:05pm to 6:10pm

Minutes:

The Forward Plan was considered by the Forum.

 

RESOLVED-

 

1.   That the Forward Plan be noted.

 

2.   That an update on Pay and Reward be brought to a future meeting of the Forum.


22.

Scrutiny Monitoring pdf icon PDF 88 KB

6:10pm to 6:15pm

Minutes:

No items to be monitored.

23.

Work Programme for the Overview and Performance Scrutiny Forum pdf icon PDF 77 KB

6:15pm to 6:20pm

Minutes:

The Work Programme for the Overview and Performance Scrutiny Forum was considered. The Chair noted that there were no changes to the Work Programme.

 

RESOLVED-

 

1.   That the Work Programme be approved.

 

2.   That the Markets item be removed from the Work Programme and be reconsidered at the next Work Programming sessions.

 

24.

Joint Overview and Scrutiny

6:20pm to 6:25pm

Minutes:

Councillors P Innes and Sarvent advised the group that they had discussed removing this item from future agendas due to the recent developments with Sheffield City Region, however, further to the Leader’s comments the item should remain. The next Sheffield City Region Scrutiny meeting would take place on 26 October, 2017.

 

RESOLVED-

 

That the update be noted.

25.

Overview and Scrutiny Developments

6:25pm to 6:35pm

 

-      Update from the East Midlands Scrutiny Network

Minutes:

Councillor Sarvent noted that the Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer had been elected as the Vice Chair of the East Midlands Scrutiny Network. At the next Scrutiny Network meeting the Chairs and Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer would be delivering the presentation they gave at the service manager’s seminar.

 

RESOLVED-

 

That the update be noted.

 

26.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 209 KB

6:35pm to 6:45pm

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Performance Scrutiny Forum held on 27 June, 2017 were presented.

 

RESOLVED –

 

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.