Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 7th December, 2005
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Bath & North East Somerset Council |
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MEETING: |
Council Executive |
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DATE: |
On 7 December 2005 |
PAPER NUMBER |
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TITLE: |
WorkSMART Business Case |
EXECUTIVE FORWARD PLAN REFERENCE: |
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EWP |
01151 |
RP |
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WARD: |
All |
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List of attachments to this report: |
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1 THE ISSUE
The Council has to respond to a number of external drivers such as Gershon, legislation (e.g. changes to provision of Children's and Adult Services), the Climbie review, the Government performance improvement agenda (CPA) and local unmet customer demand e.g. customers want some services provided outside of traditional hours - the same service they get from many other organisations. The effect of these is that the Council needs to modernise to have the capacity to be able to respond.
The Council also faces financial pressures. The Financial Plan report to Council Executive in September 2005 sets out a context of a challenging budget for 2006-07 and over the period of the Financial Plan. The capital programme requires unsupported borrowing of £65m over the next 4 to 5 years, which in turn puts pressure on the revenue budget.
Services are currently developing their Service Plans to address the pressures over the short to medium term. WorkSMART represents one of a series of medium to long term opportunities to release resources for reinvestment and / or keeping Council Tax rises to reasonable levels.
The effects of introducing flexibility, new technology and changes in working practices for office based staff to meet these challenges have been considered as part of an ongoing review of office accommodation needs. Staff employed within the Operations and other Directorates already have time and location flexibility as appropriate.
This review highlights that if these tools are introduced the Council could reasonably expect at least a 5% improvement in productivity. Work also highlights that the Council needs approximately 45% less office space than it currently has - providing the accommodation is modern and investment is made to support transition from the current to the future state.
Implementing the recommendations of this project should mean that more time is spent with the customer or doing work away from the office. The times when services are available to customers can extend to meet unmet customer demand without asking people to work longer hours. Working practices and processes will change so that activity is focused on what needs to be done to meet a customer need, as opposed to continuing a working practice because that is the way that things have always been done.
Staff will only go to the office when they need to, not to pick up post, files or to access electronic records, as the Council moves towards wireless and remote styles of working where appropriate. Technology will be in place that allows access from home or somewhere else away from the office, reducing `dead' travel time to and from offices and between offices.
This paper sets out recommendations to enable a response to the challenges described by changing the way we work to improve the customer experience and reducing the costs of service provision by working smarter.
2 RECOMMENDATION
The Council Executive is asked to agree that:
2.1 The recommendations contained within the project summary (under the heading Recommendations) attached to this report are approved in principle subject to the identification of the necessary funding.
2.2 That the expenditure requirement for the project is noted, and that this is firmed up by mid-February 2006 before final decisions are made, but that the principle that this will be funded from capital receipts and prudential borrowing be agreed and that funding is considered on that basis in the financial plan review.
2.3 That the first call on revenue savings as a result of productivity increases delivered as a result of the programme will be the repayment of the capital investment.
2.4 That decisions on the revenue impacts beyond current budgets will need to be made in the forthcoming financial plan and use of revenue savings above the repayment of the investment, will also need to be made as part of the corporate and financial planning process in future years.
3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
3.1 This is discussed under the headings `Sources of funding' and `Financial Planning' and `Potential benefits' of the attached report. In simple terms, the investment needed in this project is substantial, and whilst the benefits are even larger, the Council must be committed to delivery of the programme if the benefits are to be realised. In addition, whilst the balance between cash savings and re-investment into improved services is one for Members to decide, it should be an expectation that the Council's investment is recovered by savings identified on an annual basis in service plans over a maximum of 5 years. This process could start in 2007/08.
3.2 The full annual revenue effects of the programme once implemented will be between £1.1 m and £2.5m depending on the results of market discussions. This is expected to be met by a combination of capital receipts from the sale of existing property, and prudential borrowing. The full notional cost of this expenditure is costed for revenue purposes, and will need to be met from the revenue productivity savings before any decisions to re-invest or to use those for other purposes is made.
3.3 Tables to summarise capital / revenue costs and benefit forecast planned for final report are shown at Attachment 2.
3.4 Investment in the technology aspects of the project is subject to further examination, as a variety of technologies could be used to deliver the requirements; there is more testing to be done to finalise solutions and different options have different cost profiles. A further report will be produced on this, and no major expenditure commitments will be made on the project until the best solution has been agreed.
3.5 If the project proceeds, the decisions on location, technology, and working methods will need to be further explored, and a detailed implementation plan setting out the pace and targets for each phase of the project will need to be established. This is already a part of existing planned work to be completed by end January 2006 and requires discussions with individual services. A project board constituted in accordance with the Council's policy should be established to manage the project. Budget provision exists for the remainder of this current year. Additional funding for 2006/07 is ongoing in project costs at 3.2 above. This is sufficient to deliver the project. The next phase of work will produce a more detailed implementation plan to include the preferred site, expected by mid-February 2006 and consideration will need to be given in the financial plan to authorising implementation of the findings of this plan.
3.6 Costs will be covered by realisation of savings of cash up to 5% productivity improvement. First full year effect of productivity savings expected to be felt in Year 4.
4 THE REPORT
4.1 WorkSMART is a major culture change project affecting where, when and how we work. It supports the Council's aims to improve customer satisfaction and increase access to services.
4.2 Detail of the report is contained in the summary report at Attachment 1 and in the confidential background papers available to the Executive from the project manager (this paper is kept confidential as it could adversely affect negotiations as described in paragraphs 8 and 9 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.
5 RISK MANAGEMENT
A risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations has been undertaken, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance. The top 5 risks are set out at Attachment 3 to this covering report .
6 RATIONALE
The drivers for this project originate from the Council's Corporate Plan. A summary of the principal drivers is to:
get better value from investment in office accommodation and internet technology,
create financial headroom, releasing revenue through productivity improvement,
create greater organisational flexibility,
introduce sustainable practices as a means to achieve organisational shift and increasing capacity through more efficient use of resources,
review asset holdings,
scrutinise current custom and practice to identify ways to free up staff resources without loss of service.
All supported by
93The Council will invest in management and staff to develop the culture needed to manage change well and to deliver continuous improvements and efficiency and effectiveness.94
WorkSMART represents medium term to long term opportunity to release valuable resources and meet the Council's Gershon targets for efficiency gains in a structured and transformational way.
7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED
7.1 In regards to technology and property a considerable number of options have been and are being considered for solution.
7.2 Research and experiences that inform this project in regards to time and location flexibility indicate that the two need to be introduced synonymously with new technology in order to realise benefits for the customer.
8 CONSULTATION
8.1 Executive Councillors, Staff, HoS, Section 151 Finance Officer, Chief Executive, Monitoring Officer
8.2 Feedback from Directors Group - the majority of feedback has been incorporated into the project summary at Attachment 1 under the heading Recommendations. In addition, the following has been requested by Directors Group:
Ensure that the HR Strategy Implementation Plans and WorkSMART People workstream are aligned
Ensure that the timing of introducing One Stop Shops as part of the Customer Access Programme are aligned so that the timescales of this project can be met
8.3 Workshops with Heads of Service / their managers
8.4 Buildings roadshows for staff
8.5 Verbal updates and discussions at Directors Group and with Executive at informal meetings
8.6 Verbal briefing with Joint Secretary TU (formal meeting being proposed pre-Exec December)
8.7 Public presentation to Resources OS Panel - the following comments from Overview and Scrutiny Resources Panel are reported here for Executive consideration together with officer comment in brackets
Instead of having two main Council offices (Hollies and another site), consider having only one main Council office rather than two
Carry out formal consultation with TU's before presenting to Executive (being planned)
Where productivity improvement could be identified should be explained (a summary of other authorities experiences informing this project is shown at Attachment 4)
This project should be an advantage for staff, the organisation and in recruiting staff as well as for the Councils customers
Does the Council have enough project management skills in house to deliver this project
EDRMS or similar - great potential for the organisation and to improve customer satisfaction, a Records Management Policy needs to be introduced (this work is already in train by the Information Security Manager)
The sensitivity analysis should be considered fully by the Executive
Time is a specific sensitivity and should be mentioned on it's own
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Contact person |
Angela Parratt - 01225 396576 |
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Background papers |
None that are not exempt |