Date

3^rd December 2003

Reporting Area

Resources

Lead Director

Jean Hinks

1. Progress / Issue Reporting

Progress Made

Issues to be addressed

Who

By When

Leadership

Updates on previous report

· Corporate Plan - Corporate Plan strategy is nearing completion and timetable for Financial Plan and Service planning established. Service plan has been reviewed and workforce planning, and risk management requirements incorporated.

RD/HoSRP

Autumn 2003

· Keynsham Centre Evacuation Guidance - Work has now started on the project

EM

April 2004

· The Business Improvement Partnership (BIP) (exParis) is now in the transition phase and concentrating on establishing key mechanisms for delivery of service improvements via Partnership Board, other working groups, and the Business Improvement Service.

· Consolidation of ICT service delivery.

· Marketing and communication of BIP and in particular role of Business Improvement Service. Use of BIS must be encouraged to progress organisational change.

· Closure of transition issues including finalising baseline (by HBS) and signoff of operational processes.

· Delivery of new People service including new payroll upgrade.

RD

HHR (with HBS)

Dec 2003-

April 2004

Progress Made

Issues to be addressed

Who

By When

Leadership

Updates

Contd...

· Revenues and Benefits Service - whilst some inroad has been made since the last report, backlogs still persist. HBS are assisting. Call distribution system has gone live with significant improvement in telephone response times.

Recent BFI Inspection recognised improvement.

· Must continue to tackle backlog and improve PI's in the current financial year, although it is expected that these will be achieved by year end.

HR&B

Ongoing

· HR Strategy - Project on target to prepare comprehensive HR strategy as part of corporate Improvement Programme

· Strategy & Action Plan being formulated for stakeholder consultation and Executive approval. As a key enabler it is essential that there is cross-council understanding and `buy-in' to implementation strategies.

CD/ HHR

Ongoing

· Pensions Governance/Myners. New Pensions Committee established and comprehensive training is underway

RD

Autumn 2003

Leadership

EM

April 2004 and ongoing

EM

Ongoing

EM

Ongoing

HHR

Ongoing

RD

May 04

Progress Made

Issues to be addressed

Who

By When

People Management

Updates

· Cost and efficiency benefits will be reported periodically as pilot progresses.

HR&B

Ongoing

HR&B

Mar 2004

Successful pilot fair held and cross -service event planned for Autumn 2003

· Development of micro-jobs web site and related e-recruitment activity planning underway

HHR

Dec 2003

· Organisational & Employee Development Programme 2003/4

· Performance review process review underway in light of staff survey feedback & issues identified as part of development of HR Strategy

· Change Management Coaches trained and manager training in change management underway

· Accredited Manager Training (CMS/DMS) will be available from December 2003 as a response to service needs and issues from staff survey and HR strategy issues

· Recommended changes will need to be well publicised with appropriate support for 2004 process

· To be fully effective, change management initiatives across the council will need to be adequately resourced (including staff development).

· Initial programme will need to be monitored to access value and ensure consistency with issues and values emerging in HR strategy development

HHR

All

HHR

Feb 2004

Ongoing

Ongoing

· Local Government Pay - Report of national commission on local government pay awaited.

· Recommendations will need to be evaluated in terms of affordability and impact on budgets and council priorities

HHR

Ongoing

People

· HBS Peoples Service - work in progress to establish this service

· Further clarification will be undertaken between retained and transferred functions during Transition programme

RD/HHR

Mar 04

· Accreditation - Pensions and Revs & Bens both pursuing IIP accreditation & both services nominated for industry awards

· Needs to be more widely pursued within services to achieve excellence and recognition of people development

RD

Ongoing

Progress Made

Issues to be addressed

Who

By When

People

· Councillors Pensions - presentation to Remuneration and recommendation supporting councillors pensions agreed

· Councillors pensions recommendation will be discussed at Council in November

HHR

Nov 2004

Resources . Updates

· FMS Project - Stage 1 core functionality delivered in July. Roll out of additional modules in progress with further proposals to be developed

· Roll out phase requires BPR in service areas and prospect of dealing with some difficult issues to ensure benefits from the new system are delivered.

HoSRP

Ongoing

· Budget - Current position shows significant projected overspend

· Robust recovery plans have been developed, but need to be monitored and managed.

All

Ongoing

Resources

New Items

· Procurement Project - being developed with HBS and Buying Team with prospect of real savings

· Will require BPR within services and changes to internal control arrangements

RD

ongoing

· Interim Pensions valuation - increase in employers contribution inevitable from 2005 likely to be around 6%

· Must incorporate in financial plan process

RD

Policy & Strategy

Updates

· Accommodation Strategy Development of the strategy ongoing with completion of next phase report due by Feb 04

· Need to progress rationalisation as short and medium term plan.

HPALS

Ongoing

· Corporate Governance -

· Risk strategy

· Freedom of Information

· IT security

· Data Protection.

· Need to fully Integrate the risk management strategy into the planning processes, and determine response to the Freedom of Information Act. Proposals have been made to achieve compliance with ISO 17799 Standard.

CIA

CIA

Policy and Strategy

· Local Government Bill now Law with implications for governance arrangements, policy implementation and financial strategy

·Policy will need to be decided as more detail of regulations etc emerges in the following areas:

Prudential Code

Business Improvement Districts

Council Tax Second Homes

Charging/ Trading

Processes

Updates

· Revs & Benefits I -World upgrade

· Go live scheduled for December

HR&B

Mar 2004

· ResourceLink - Upgrade of HR Management / Payroll Software project. Initial phase underway (joint project with HBS)

· Web-enabled system has capacity to improve efficiency of service and reporting arrangements. Need to ensure that process are re-engineered to deliver maximum advantage. Training roll out in later stages of project to support operation.

Spring 2004 (phase 1)

Progress Made

Issues to be addressed

Who

By When

Processes

Updates

Contd..

· Tax credits - New system went live April 2003, and so far service is achieving expected standards.

· Major resources having to be used to implement the new system, which affects benefit clients.

HR&B

Ongoing

· Pensions Credits

· New regulations went live 6^th October, staff training in place to support new system.

HR&B

Ongoing

Processes

· Final Accounts Audit - issues identified so far are not unknown so no surprises

· Need to tackle all issues identified over next 12 months

HoSRP

June 2004

· PWC Project Review of Paris transition and FMS project

· PWC review of the Financial aspects of the Inspection regime has been completed

· These will be reported to Overview and scrutiny and learning points incorporated into future projects and management arrangements

· Initial findings are that some improvement has been achieved but more work is needed. No change in score is expected.

ALL

Mar 2004

Performance Targets

No.

%

RED

AMBER

2

5.9

GREEN

32

94.1

NOT KNOWN

TOTAL

34

100.0

Ref No

Indicator

Best 25% in 01/02 all English Councils

01/02 actual

02/03 actual

03/04 target

03/04 estimate

Status

Comment

156

% of Council buildings open to the public in which all public areas are suitable for and accessible to disabled people

47

13

25

35

35

Green

76a (new)

Number of claimants visited, per 1,000 caseload

N/a

N/a

New

30

30

Green

76b (new)

Number of fraud investigators employed, per 1,000 caseload

N/a

N/a

New

0.18

0.18

Green

76c (new)

Number of fraud investigations, per 1,000 caseload

N/a

N/a

New

30

30

Green

76d (new)

Number of prosecutions and sanctions, per 1,000 caseload

N/a

N/a

New

0.5

0.5

Green

78a

Speed of Processing - Average time for processing new claims (days)

35

39

49

40

40

Green

78b

Average time for processing notifications of changes of circumstances (days)

8

6

16

9

9

Green

78c

% of renewal claims processed on time

82

65

53

85

85

Green

79a

Accuracy of Processing - % of benefit cases calculated correctly

98

93

92

95

95

Green

79b

% of recoverable overpayments recovered in the year

63

55

58

63

63

Green

80a

Satisfaction with the Benefits Service - contact with the office

85

N/a

Not measured

80

80

Green

80b

Satisfaction with the Benefits Service - service in the office

87

N/a

Not measured

90

90

Green

80c

Satisfaction with the Benefits Service - telephone service

80

N/a

Not measured

60

60

Green

80d

Satisfaction with the Benefits Service - staff in the office

87

N/a

Not measured

85

85

Green

80e

Satisfaction with the Benefits Service - forms

66

N/a

Not measured

70

70

Green

80f

Satisfaction with the Benefits Service - speed of service

76

N/a

Not measured

80

80

Green

80g

Overall satisfaction with the benefits service

85

N/a

Not measured

85

85

Green

Ref No

Indicator

Best 25% in 01/02 all English Councils

01/02 actual

02/03 actual

03/04 target

03/04 estimate

Status

Comment

180a(i)

Energy consumption of Council properties - electricity

N/a

N/a

101

100

70

Green

180a(ii)

Energy consumption of Council properties - fossil fuels

N/a

N/a

96

95

80

Green

8

% of undisputed invoices paid within 30 days

94

91

90

90

90

Amber

Work being done to address this

9

% of Council Tax collected

98

96.8

96.5

97

97

Green

10

% of business rates which should have been received during the year that was received

98.8

99.6

96.9

99

99

Amber

Unexpected low early collection rate being analysed

Local 44

% of Council Tax accounts paid by direct debit

N/a

New

65

68

68

Green

Local 45

% of Business Rates paid by direct debit

N/a

New

48

48

48

Green

Local 46

% of planned capital spending actually spent (excluding funds controlled by schools)

N/a

New

85

90

90

Green

Local 62

Would you recommend the Council as a place to work?

N/a

49

59

62

62

Green

11a (new)

% of top 5% earners who are women

N/a

N/a

33

33

33

Green

11b (new)

% of top 5% of earners from black and minority ethnic communities

N/a

N/a

1.25

1.5

1.5

Green

12

Number of working days/shifts lost to sickness absence

8.5

9.3

8.4

8.2

8.2

Green

Need to improve recording to assure target

14

Early retirements as a % of the total workforce

0.19

0.27

0.27

0.45

0.45

Green

15

Ill health retirements as a % of the total workforce

0.27

0.34

0.42

0.35

0.35

Green

16

% of employees declaring that they are disabled compared to the % of disabled people in the area

3.2

1.5

1.75

2

2

Green

17

% of employees from minority ethnic communities compared with the minority ethnic community population in the area

N/a

1.6(1.4)

1.92

2

2

Green

EC1

Improve training and quality within the benefits service

Do It

Green

Service Area

Actual % of staff from BME communities

Actual % of staff considering themselves disabled

Comment

Resources and Human Resource Services

3.0

2.1