Agenda item

Considered – A progress report on the Transformation Portfolio activities, introduced by Gary Fielding, Corporate Director for Resources.

Brigette Giles, the new interim Director of Transformation provided an overview of her work history and the knowledge and experience she was bringing to her new role.  She went on to provide an overview of the report, her perspective on progress to date and her insights on a way forward. This included an overview of:

·          The two cross cutting themes as detailed in section 3.2 of the report that affected the whole organisation and required change.

·          The projects and activities to be delivered to ensure the Council had the right processes, technology, and skills in place.

·          A number of service specific programmes designed to deliver a significantly changed operating model.  In particular, improving the Council’s use of data to inform future decisions, improve preventive services and deliver early intervention.

Brigette Giles went on to note:

·          71 restructures had been undertaken to date across the organisations- two key areas still to be restructured were HR and Business Support

·          The Council had not needed to rely on any external consultants to deliver the convergence work to date, which would have been costly to the Council if used.

·          The need to ensure customers could continue to interact with the organisation in the way that best suited them.

·          The two-stage approach required to bring about fundamental change within the organisation i.e. convergence (bringing together the 8 legacy councils into one new Authority and carrying out the necessary restructuring of staff) and transformation (delivering ambitious improvements to deliver the MTFS savings and ensure the successful long-term operation of the Council).

In response to Members questions, officers confirmed:

·          Productivity would continue to be monitored via the same performance management structure, made easier by improved data gathering.

·          There was an additional £1m budget allocated for the rollout of Windows 11, and the process of rollout included working with a charity to recycle end of life equipment.

·          Introducing Windows 11 was a pre-cursor to amalgamating legacy IT systems.

·          Residents concerns around communicating with, and receiving feedback from the Council were noted.  It was recognised that not all residents liked transacting electronically and it was confirmed there was no intention to remove face-to-face.

·          An IT Architecture road map for convergence works was in place and could be shared as part of the next Transformation update.

·          There was a corporate willingness to invest more to address homelessness and opportunities were being sought.

In terms of what was required moving forward, Brigette Giles suggested:

·          Improvements to the Council’s website to make it fit for purpose, with the aim of providing a 360° view of a customer inquiry online for both the customer and the council.

·          A change to the culture of the organisation – delivering a one-team ethos would likely take 4-5 years to achieve.

·          An overarching vision for the next 5-10years to drive progress.

·          A streamlining of the internal governance structure and processes to allow more focus on service delivery.

·          Improved engagement and communication with the workforce - a new Plan was being developed.

·          Senior management confidence to delegate decision-making needed building up.

Members recorded their thanks to Robert Ling the previous Director for Transformation, and it was

Resolved – That:

i.           The update report be noted.

ii.         The next Transformation Update include a specific focus on IT and a copy of the IT Architecture road map.