Council
18th September 2013 / AGENDA ITEM 4(a)
LEADER OF THE COUNCIL – COUNCILLOR BLACKBURN
Financial Management
Financial performance monitoring in the early part of 2013/ 2014 highlighted financial pressures emerging in Children’s Services, Strategic Leisure Assets, Adult Services, Concessionary Fares, Parking Services and Leisure and Operational Services. The latest month 3 financial performance report for 2013/ 2014 was reported to the Executive on 9th September.
Asset Management
Talbot Gateway Central Business District
The new highways network is now fully reopened to traffic, with the exception of a small section of Deansgate pending completion of statutory United Utilities works. Footpaths around the Council offices and Sainsbury’s supermarket will be completed in line with the respective contracts.
Work continues to progress well on the Council offices, with glazing, internal partitioning and first fix Mechanical and Electrical works ongoing.
Stowe Lions
An event will take place at StanleyPark on Saturday 7th September to celebrate the return of the replica Stowe lions, including a range of family entertainment and activities, unveiling ceremony and afternoon tea.
Revenues, Benefits, Invoices and Payments
Council Tax collection at the end of July was 36.9%, which is 0.5% less than the same period last year. The high number of payment arrangements made this year reflects the payment difficulties many people are experiencing. The Business Rates collection figure shows a slight improvement on last year at 36.6%, compared with 36.3% for the same period in the previous financial year.
The average time to process new benefit claims and changes is currently 24 days.
The Benefit Cap has now gone live with 93 households affected in Blackpool, which is significantly less than the estimates we were initially given. However, some have lost most of their Housing Benefit. Where possible customers have been contacted to explain the change and to discuss the options open to them.
Work is ongoing to improve the core processing system. This includes a quality assurance module, improved automation of processes and a self-service module for customers.
Council Tax Reduction Hardship and Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) applications continue to be received. Council Tax Hardship expenditure to date is £1,758 and Discretionary Housing Payment expenditure is £122,000. The Discretionary Support Scheme had 289 crisis applications (63% approved) and 63 community care grant applications (46% approved).
Both teams dealing with these areas have now been co-located due to the commonality in issues arising for customers and so that a consistent approach to discretionary awards and assistance can be provided.
Transactional Services
The new Finance Process Manager System is continuing to be rolled out throughout the Council. This new process involves scanning all invoices in the Creditors Section and either matching the invoices automatically to purchase orders that have been raised or sending an electronic copy of the invoice to the section requisitioning the service to code the invoice and authorise it electronically before collating into a payment batch. As at the end of August, the system will have been rolled out to approximately 80% of the Council.
The proportion of sundry debt collected that has been passed to the Corporate Debt Team for collection for the year 2012/ 2013 was 87.4%, which is extremely good in the present economic climate. There has been an increase in the number of instalment plans set up which is taking longer for customers to pay the Council and involves more monitoring to ensure customers continue to pay.
The Paris Payment System was upgraded in July due to Payment Industry Standards Legislation (PCI DSS) to enable the Council to be compliant in taking and recording payment information. The system will now be investigated by Global Payments and scans undertaken to ensure the Council is PCI compliant.
There is a small tender exercise being undertaken in relation to the Payment Kiosks in Customer First which are due to be replaced in January 2014. Two companies have submitted tenders and these will be evaluated in the next few weeks.
Blackpool Fylde and Wyre Credit Union
Savings held in the Credit Union exceeded £1.5m for the first time and growth has continued. The Credit Union joined the Credit Union Expansion Project from 1st August and was successful in a bid to Barclays Community Finance Fund.
Risk Services
The Investigations Team performed excellently in quarter one of this financial year and identified overpayments to the value of £490,500 (£313,100 local authority overpayments and £177,400 Department for Work and Pensions overpayments).
The Council’s Prosecution Policy has been reviewed to ensure that this takes account of the new Council Tax Reduction Scheme. The revised document has been approved by the Corporate Leadership Team and will be taken to the September Finance and Audit Committee for final approval.
The Council has decided to use the Government Procurement Services (GPS) framework to procure both insurance and broker services from 1st April 2014 onwards. The substantial buying power of the Government Procurement Services combined with the Council’s review of its insurance programme should ensure that value for money is achieved whilst ensuring that fit-for-purpose cover is in place.
In quarter oneof 2013/ 2014, the number of negative assurance statements for internal audit work completed was significantly higher than in other periods. An analysis of assurance statements issued since 2011/ 2012 shows an increase in the number of negative assurance statements issued by the team. This implies that with no change to the internal audit testing regime the budget cuts are adversely impacting upon the Council’s level of risk in undertaking its business.
Contracts and Purchasing
Significant progress is being made in delivering the 2013/14 work programme signed off by Departmental Management Teams earlier this year. Strategy, policy and procedures continue to be updated to reflect the introduction of the Social Value Act in January 2013, to incorporate equality into procurement practice and to encourage suppliers to develop ethical supply chains. A Social Value Toolkit has been finalised to share case study and good practice across the Council. The Executive recently considered and approved the Council’s Supplier Charter, a statement of intent, which sets out some guiding principles, which the Council will adhere to and to which it invites its contracted suppliers and the wider business community to adopt.
The Council’s standard terms and conditions are also being updated to align our contract management processes with all of the above initiatives in the procurement sector. This will proactively encourage contracted suppliers to embrace and adopt these principles throughout the delivery of the contract.
Tenders completed and contracts awarded since the last report include:
- Kitchen Equipment (Light) - WV Howe
- Scrap Metal - Rowan Scrap Metal
- Air Handling and Air Conditioning-Allcool
- Paper Collection - Helping Hands
- Mobile Phone App - U6 Media
- Cash Collections - G4S
- Office Furniture - Jenkinsons
- FyldeCoast Strategic Housing Market Assessment - Turley Associates
- Consultancy – Heritage Based Visitor Attraction - Austin Smith Lord
- Events Management - Andrew Cheeseman.
The Collective Energy Switching Scheme for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to source cheaper energy supply from the marketplace has been launched. Small and medium sized enterprises’ have until 15th October 2013 to register their interest. In addition, a second tranche of the scheme for households will run in parallel with the same closing date for registration. Both schemes will be promoted locally to maximise the number of registrations.
Child Poverty
Blackpool is one of only 15 areas through to the second and final bidding stage for funding from the Big Lottery’s Fulfilling Lives – A Better Start project. Potentially worth up to £50m over 9 years, this would deliver projects to improve the communication and language development, social and emotional development, and nutrition and physical development of 0-3 year olds. In addition, there would be support for pregnant mothers, for parents and a range of wider initiatives in seven of our most disadvantaged wards. The bid is being developed through the NSPCC as part of a partnership arrangement, which includes the Council, Health and other key voluntary, community and faith sector organisations.
Staff and Public Communications
Media events have been held to launch the new features in the 2013 Illuminations, the official handover of QueensPark to developers and the 100 apprentices in 100 days challenge.
The customer care standards have launched internally and externally this month. Promotion includes a summary of the standards located at customer facing receptions.
A new website for adoption services has been developed and launched in line with the marketing plan The site aims to increase the number of quality enquiries from prospective adopters to the service with a view to increasing the number of approved adopters.
The new external Council website has launched successfully. It has simplified navigation and content that focuses on the tasks and information we know our residents are looking for. It is AAA accessibility compliant and mobile compatible. We are currently testing two different home pages to see which version visitors to the site find easier to navigate.
MJ Award
Blackpool Council was Highly Commended at the 10th Anniversary of the Municipal Journal Awards in the Workforce Transformation category. Our entry focussed upon improving employee Health and Wellbeing and using this as an innovative strand of Blackpool Council’s workforce transformation strategy. The health and wellbeing initiatives included within our entry have resulted in behavioural and cultural change and is evidenced through regular surveys, which show staff engagement has increased, the latest customer satisfaction survey results show a 12% increase up on a previous survey.
Living Wage
Following the Council’s decision to pay the Living wage of £7.45 per hour with effect from 1st April 2013, 154 employees (excluding schools employees) have benefited from these arrangements and increases in Gross pay ranged from £106 per annum to £1285 per annum with the average increase being £541 pa (or £45 per month). Since the 1st April 2013, four Blackpool schools have adopted the Living Wage and the Governing Bodies of the remaining schools are considering implementation. The Living Wage is also now referenced as part of any Procurement process. In recognition of the work undertaken, Blackpool Council has received the UK Living Wage Employer Accreditation Licence.
Apprenticeships
Over the past 13 months, we have made significant progress in establishing Apprenticeship training and placements throughout Blackpool Council and at Budget Council a further £140,000 was allocated to further support the apprenticeship schemes. In order to maximise return on investment it was decided that an application process would be developed to allow services to apply for a part funded apprentice and for services to demonstrate how they would have the greatest impact on the worklessness agenda and support our priority groups. We received applications for a wide range of services within the Council from Horticulture to Accounting and expect to place a further 16 apprentices with this further investment.
Customer First
The staff have been working to an action plan in order to ensure that customers are fully informed of the reduction in opening times for the Customer First Centre and telephone lines from 30th September.
To meet the requirements of the Payment Card Industry Legislation a new system for recording calls has been introduced to ensure that the call recording is turned off when payment card details are being given and entered on the payment processing system.
The current contract for uniforms ends in September 2013. Customer First has been leading the transition to ensure a new supplier is procured.
Customer First is again supporting the Council’s role to promote the Ready to Switch energy scheme locally, which contributes towards many of the Council’s priorities.
Council Efficiency Programme
The Budget for 2013/ 2014 required total savings to be found of £14.1 million. As at 30th June 2013 (month 3) 63.2% of the 2013/ 2014 savings target had already been delivered. The current full-year forecast predicts that 68% will be achieved by the year-end, which takes into account new in-year pressures and savings and work is underway to close this gap further with alternative savings plans.
The full-year effect of the 2013/14 savings in 2014/15 amounts to nearly 77.1% of the £14.1 million target.
Employee Development and Training
The Council has embarked on a brand new induction programme for all new employees, to ensure employees are well-informed when starting their new role. All new employees will now have to complete the new induction course on the Council’s e-learning website, iPool. The course has been designed to give all new employees an understanding of what we do, what our priorities, vision and values for the future are and how we expect them to worktowards ourethos of being a fair, trustworthy and professional workforce. There is an off line programme for staff who do not use computers as part of their working day.
Fairness Commission
The Fairness Commission held an open meeting on 21stAugust 2013, which was attended by 40 people made up of Fairness Commission Steering Panel Members, Fairness Commissioners and interested Members of the Public. The event was an opportunity for people to gain an insight into the work of the Fairness Commission since the last open meeting in January 2013 and to help influence the priorities and work plan for the coming six months. The Steering Panel met on 10th September 2013, when they formalised the work programme for the next six months, which will be delivered via a number of task and finish groups including; Night-time Economy, Early Action, Child Poverty, Welfare Reform and Consultation and Engagement
The membership of the task and finish groups will be made up of Fairness Commissioners with an interest or specialism in the areas of work. Each group will be led by a member of the steering panel who will feedback on progress at the steering panel meetings. All agendas and minutes will be publically available via the Fairness Commission Website.
Arts
Blackpool’s Annual Festival of Words, “Wordpool”, engaged over 1,200 adults and 1,100 children and young people. The festival was moved from late autumn to July in response to feedback from last year’s audiences. The new timing ensured more joined-up promotion of other library programmes such as Book Start Week and the Summer Reading Challenge. This year’s festival included a new outdoor event for families in StanleyPark.
Heritage
This autumn, young people in Blackpool are getting the opportunity to engage with Blackpool’s unique heritage collection. The “Pop-UpMuseum” project, supported by the Council’s Youth Fund, is part of our wide-ranging Community Heritage Programme. Working with local museum professionals and designers, several youth groups will be finding out about Blackpool’s history, working with the artefacts, which make up our fascinating local stories and designing their own pop-up museums. The museums will then be appearing in unexpected places around the town, giving residents the opportunity to take part and find out more.
GrundyArtGallery
The GrundyArtGallery is presently undertaking a major audience survey to understand more about the people that are visiting; the geographical reach of the venue; visitors’ opinions on the present offer and what they would like to see in the future. The Council’s Performance Management Team is supporting The Grundy in this work and the findings will be used to inform the future development of the venue and its programme. The current exhibition, “Dreamland,” with artist Zoe Beloff runs until 2ndNovember 2. It has received extensive regional and national media coverage all of which strengthens Grundy’s standing as a major contemporary exhibition venue and justifies Arts Council investment in the programme.
Libraries
Blackpool Library Service, working with the Council ICT team, is undertaking a pilot programme in Central Library using the latest Google Chrome technology. This is an innovative piece of work as this technology is new to library authorities in England. The pilot has been running through the summer and aims to improve the current public ICT service offer to our local communities, whilst at the same time providing an efficient, affordable and manageable solution for developing and sustaining the future service. Library customers are being asked to complete a simple evaluation survey of their experience using the technology and, to date, the feedback has been very positive. During September, the pilot will be fully evaluated and further paper will be produced looking at a range of public access ICT options.
Phones and IT