BOROUGH OF POOLE

COUNCIL EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

20 MARCH 2014

The Meeting commenced at 7.00pm and concluded at 9.00pm.

Present:

Councillor Brown (Chairman)

Councillor Mrs Haines (Vice-Chairman)

Councillors Miss Carpenter, Godfrey, Maiden and J Rampton (Substitute)

Also in attendance:

Councillor Sorton, Portfolio Holder for Efficiency, Improvement and Resources

Councillors Howell and Mrs Parkinson

Members of the public present: 2

Officers present:

Tim Martin, Head of Legal and Democratic Services

Katie Lacey, Head of ICT and Business Support

Carl Wilcox, Head of Human Resources

Mark Gollop, Democratic Support Officer

CEE56.14 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Chandler and Mrs Cox.

CEE57.14 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTEREST(S)

No declarations of any disclosable pecuniary interest(s) were received.

CEE58.14 MINUTES

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council Efficiency and Effectiveness Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 30 January 2014, having been previously circulated, be taken as read and confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

CEE59.14 NOTICE OF MOTION – REVIEW OF COUNCIL DECISION MAKING

PROCESSES

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services outlined the objective of the Motion that was received by Council on the 25 February 2014.

The Motion referred from Council was Moved and Seconded in the following terms:

“All Councils face major challenges in providing services appropriate to the levels of finance likely to be available in the future.

The Council has a need to make significant savings during the period of the MTFP and future years and it is vital that decision making processes are efficient, effective and representative of community views.

The Council therefore resolves to conduct an in-depth review of its decision making process, including consideration of alternatives to the Leader and Cabinet system, with a view to reinforcing the democratic process and increasing transparency.

The review should begin promptly and be scheduled to be completed in time for any proposed revisions to be adopted by the Council immediately following the May 2015 Council elections”.

Signed: Councillors Miss Sally Carpenter, Mark Howell, John Rampton, Mrs Charmaine Parkinson and Mrs Chris Wilson.

The Officer referred Members to his guidance as set out in the brief covering Report and advised that they carefully considered what precisely should be the purpose of a Review. The first decision for the Committee was to determine whether to recommend to Council that a review take place. A review would be resource hungry and therefore the Committee needed to consider whether they were in favour of the review taking place. The Committee’s conclusions would be submitted to Council for further deliberation when it considered the Motion on the 22 April 2014.

The Chairman invited signatories of the Motion to address the Committee. The following views were presented:

·  The Council elections were due next year and time was of the essence. A Working Party should be set up and tasked to complete its work before the elections.

·  There was a lack of democratic accountability in the current Leader and Cabinet system. Despite being elected to represent their local communities, most Councillors had very little leeway. Decision making was too top down, concentrated in the hand of a small clique and needed to be more horizontal.

·  The Cabinet system did not reflect the political balance across all Members in a way that a Committee decision-making format would.

·  A Committee system would better reflect the views of local people, encourage more interest in local politics and result in better decision making.

·  As the Council were looking at efficiencies and savings, it should consider its decision making processes. The current system was divisive, inefficient, undemocratic, prevented Members working together and was incomprehensible to the public. A reformed system could provide both cost savings and better democracy.

The following issues were raised by Members:

·  There was a need to examine the current system and whether it could be made to work better without actually changing it as the Motion proposed.

·  It was the nature of most political and administrative structures that key decisions were taken by small groups of senior people. It was far from certain that a reformed system would be more efficient and effective. One option could be to align the current Committee structure with a more efficient Cabinet system.

·  There were grounds for a Review but it should not be rushed or be dictated by the electoral timetable. To do so could result in the wrong decisions and undesirable consequences.

·  42 Members making decisions did not mean an inefficient system of decision making. South Gloucestershire Council had 70 Members and yet had proved that through a structure consisting of Council delegating responsibilities to Committees, a more democratic and efficient decision making structure had resulted.

The Officer queried the wording in the Motion where it stated, “The Council therefore resolves to conduct an in-depth review of its decision making process”. The Council had not resolved such an action. This was a matter for the Committee to discuss, reach conclusions and then refer back to Council for further consideration.

The Chairman commented that most Members agreed the case for Review. The question was whether the present system was unfair and required overhaul, or could the system be made to work better? The following points needed consideration:

·  A new decision making system could come into being only to find it did not work well and there were calls to return to what the Council had now.

·  A Review tasked to be completed in time for the 2015 Council elections could not anticipate the subsequent political balance and what a new Administration’s intentions were regarding a Working Party’s conclusions.

·  A Review would need to compare various systems and seek expertise outside the Council as part of a consultation process.

It was agreed that the following recommendations be made to Council:

(i)  That the Committee supports the principle of a Review of the Council’s current decision making structure and its strengths and weaknesses.

(ii)  That the Committee seeks an appropriate timescale for such a review, including lessons to be learnt from other Local Authorities who operate transparent, inclusive democratic decision making structures.

Voting: For – Unanimous

CEE60.14 ICT DEVELOPMENT 2013/14 – Q3 UPDATE

The Head of ICT and Business Support presented the Information Report to update Members on the Council’s ICT Development Programme for 2013/14.

The key issues were highlighted as follows:

·  There were three main areas being considered:

(i)  ICT infrastructure within the Council.

(ii)  Service Units and where they required changes to their IT systems.

(iii)  Corporate initiatives and where ICT was part of the solution.

·  Three Parts of the Council’s infrastructure were in the process of being upgraded and consisted of the following:

(i)  CITRIX – the central operating system.

(ii)  MS Exchange – managed email to Council desktops and mobile devices.

(iii)  Windows 7 – to replace the ageing XP operating system on all 2000+ desktops.

·  Adult Social Care was a key consideration in the overall ICT upgrade due to legislative changes that affected it.

·  Council staff based at St John’s House had moved out and as per the attached Appendix, the move of staff from floors 6 and 7 of Crown Buildings was underway.

·  The Cabinet Office required that the Council’s IT systems were fit for purpose and compliant. The Council faced a very tight timescale to attain these standards.

The following issues were raised by Members:

·  Did the Council have control over all mobile devices used by Members and officers?

The Officer responded that the Council’s mobile devices were currently managed by policy, but that a proof of concept was underway so that any device that accessed the Council’s data and systems was managed as per the requirements for PSN compliance set out by the Cabinet Office.

·  Why was the exiting of staff from the Crown Building mentioned in the Appendix when this was more a legal and contractual matter?

The Officer explained that the ICT aspect was very deeply intertwined with changes in the usage of buildings and movements of staff from one location to another.

·  There were some problems with using tablets, particularly for Members. They could also be difficult to read during meetings.

The Officer acknowledged that in some situations tablets could be more difficult to use than paper and that an adjustment from paper to digital could take some time and effort, although this would get easier.

·  Why use iPads in particular when there were plenty of other products in the market that Members and officers could use?

The Officer explained that the Council had considered and tested other products, such as Lenovo, but concluded that iPads were more “user friendly”.

The Chairman concluded that the Report had been very useful and helpful. He added that the Committee should have an Update before the end of 2014/15 and that this be indicated as on the Forward Plan.

RESOLVED that the content of the Report be noted and revised as above.

CEE61.14 EMPLOYEE DATA FOR YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2013

The Head of Human Resources presented the Information Report to update Members regarding statistical information concerning the Council workforce.

The key issues were highlighted as follows:

·  Staffing numbers had contracted from 2010 to September 2012, but the numbers increased again since.

·  A significant proportion of the total 2013 headcount were part-time or working shorter hours, such as adult learning employees.

·  Public bodies were required to monitor employment of targeted categories: gender, disability, race, religious affiliation etc. However, potential employees were not obliged to declare such identities at the recruitment stage or subsequently, and it was, therefore, difficult to obtain accurate figures.

·  The Borough’s workforce was ageing. Recruitment of under-25s now made up just 4% of the workforce. At the other end of the spectrum, the default retirement age could no longer be enforced, so more staff were opting to remain beyond the age of 65.

·  The Council workforce was predominantly female at around 70%. Was it easier to recruit women or was there any element of inadvertent sexual discrimination?

·  Figures for staff sickness and turnover for the last few years were as specified in the Report, but showed a decline in the year ending December 2013.

The following issues were raised by Members:

·  Why were there 125 appointments in the last 6 months of 2013 when there were 105 posts advertised?

The Officer explained that while there would appear to be a mismatch, it could be due to the timing of when the posts were advertised compared to the time when the appointments were confirmed.

·  What was regarded as a healthy level of staff turnover?

The Officer suggested a figure of 8-14% of employees per year. Too low a figure would not be a sign of success, but of a lack of new talent coming into the workforce.

·  Casual employees and interns were not discussed in the Report.

The Officer confirmed this, but would be able to present a separate report on casuals and interns at a future Meeting.

The Chairman requested this be put on the Forward Plan.

·  Why were sickness rates high compared to the Private Sector?

The Officer explained that rates varied between Service Units and could be determined by certain factors. It was high among refuse staff because of nature of the job. In Adult Social Care it could be due to the lifting of disabled, frail or infirm clients. Some roles involved a lot of contact with the public where there were high rates of verbal abuse and threatening behaviour. Such factors caused stress-related illnesses and led to absenteeism.

·  Did the Council conduct a closure questionnaire on its departing employees?

The Officer responded that a discussion would normally take place between the employee and line manager, and that employees could choose to complete a questionnaire as well as or instead. The biggest grievance issue was lack of career progression.

·  What factors had caused the headcount to increase again since 2012?

The Officer explained that it was largely due to Poole becoming the lead employer in inter-authority and/or County-wide initiatives, for example, Adult Learning and the Stour Valley and Poole Partnership (SVPP).

The Committee commended the Officer for the quality of the Report and for having covered such a wide range of topics in 12 pages, but supported further investigation of apparent anomalies in recruitment, particularly with regard to gender and ethnicity balances. The Chairman also suggested that officers needed to plan ahead for the future regarding workforce planning and recruitment, particularly with regard to young people so as to avoid the risk of stagnation.

RESOLVED that content of the Report be noted.

CEE62.14 FORWARD PLAN

The following Items should be added to the Forward Plan:

·  ICT Development Plan for 2014/15.

·  Borough of Poole Employment – Casuals and Internships.

·  Social Media, Filming and Photography at Council Meetings (Annual Update).

·  Advertising and Sponsorship (Annual Update).

It was also suggested that there be an update of the Action Plan aspect of the Corporate Property and Asset Management Strategy.

Chairman

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