Agenda item

5:05pm

The Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager and Executive Director, James Drury, attended to provide members with a progress update on the Great Place, Great Service (GP:GS) transformation programme.

The Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager began with an introduction to the programme which had been reviewed and revised in December 2015. The programme was based on 6 key pillars and members were informed of the progress made for each pillar along with plans for the next 6 months. The key points for each pillar were:

Customer Service Delivery – There had been improvements to the rent collection process and public website. Developments had been made in procurement, Resource Link and the customer charter. The Customer Service Excellence accreditation had been retained and the support services review was underway. The next steps would be to develop and implement a Customer Services delivery plan.

Workforce Development – The pay and reward project and living wage had been implemented and occupational health drop in sessions had started. The E-Learning system was in development and the Investors in People (IIP) review had been completed. In the next 6 months the apprentice programme would be implemented, there would be improvements to leadership skills and capabilities, and work undertaken towards IIP re-accreditation.

Members asked if physio appointments for staff had been considered as part of the Occupational Health review. The Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager advised that the review had been done in consultation with COPE, the occupational health services provider, who had provided the recommendations, however members’ comments would be fed back to the HR group.

ICT Development – The Council’s new intranet, aspire, had been implemented and was increasingly used. Wi-Fi had been implemented in key public access buildings and the roll out of laptops and tablets for agile working was on-going. The Information Assurance Manager had been recruited and the Information Governance Framework and corresponding security policies developed. A digital strategy was in development along with some improvements to the ICT infrastructure and mobile telephony contract. The Public Services Network accreditation and annual ICT health check would take place in the coming months and there would be a complete contractual review of the Public Private Partnership contract.

Members recognised the need for significant work to the ICT core infrastructure and advised that they were still experiencing problems with ModGov and emails on their Ipads. James Drury advised that he would raise these issues with ICT.

Estate Rationalisation – Chesterfield Borough Council had continued to be a key partner in One Public Estate activity. The electronic property information mapping service (Epims) had been completed and the data was available to ward members. Derbyshire County Council’s Register Office would relocate to the Town Hall from September 2017 as part of the Town Hall refurbishment project. The next steps would involve the development of a detailed asset management plan and the commencement of work on the museum store.

Commercialisation – The Commercial Strategy had been approved and training procured. Commercialisation work had been undertaken in the building service and Market Hall catering; in addition, work to establish authority owned companies for the crematorium and building control had begun. In the next 6 months the commercial work programme would be implemented and work to reduce the subsidies in Venues and Leisure by increasing income would take place.

Following the government’s announcement of the locations of 14 planned Garden Village developments, members asked if there would be one built near Chesterfield. The Executive Director replied that Chesterfield had applied for one near Staveley but had been rejected. In relation to the commercialisation of the building service, members asked if greater clarity could be made of the services the council offers. The Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager advised that this would be fed back.

Development and Implementation of a Target Operating Model – The Target Operating Model had been developed and a Project Monitoring Office (PMO) had been implemented to track and manage change across the council. The PMO process would be embedded and member agreement would be sought on the new ways of working for the museum and venues.

The Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager advised that the GP:GS programme remained complex and faced some challenges due to limited resources. She added that it was important to communicate to the whole council that the Town Hall refurbishment was only one part of the GP:GS programme.

Members thanked the Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager and the Executive Director for attending and providing the update.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the progress report be noted.

2.   That the progress achieved and the planned work be supported.

3.   That further progress be brought to the Overview and Performance Scrutiny Forum in 6 months’ time.

4.   That members take any issues arising from the GP:GS update to the work programme action planning day on 1 February, 2017, or alternatively notify the Policy and Scrutiny Officer to feed into the work programming process.