Agenda item

The Service Director Business Improvement and Communications will submit a report giving an overview of the functions of the Business Improvement and Communications Business Unit and related elements of the Annual Governance Statement process in accordance with the recently revised Audit Committee Terms of Reference and Work Programme.

The Service Director Business Improvement and Communications submitted a report giving an overview of the functions of the Business Improvement and Communications Business Unit and related elements of the Annual Governance Statement process in accordance with the recently revised Audit Committee Terms of Reference and Work Programme.

The report gave details of the five broad functions namely, Business Improvement and Intelligence (including the Overview and Scrutiny Function); Communications, Marketing and Campaign Management; Corporate Programme and Project Management; Equality and Inclusion; and Organisation and Workforce Improvement (including the Member Development Function).

The core purpose of the unit was to provide high quality, value for money, customer focussed, professional and strategic core services.  The Unit was responsible for driving and delivering business improvement and communication to ensure the organisation was a customer focussed, modern, efficient and commercial minded Future Council.

The Unit had a role in ensuring assurance against each of the following elements of the Annual Governance Statement  and Ms A Glew (Head of Organisation and Workforce Improvement), Mr M Rangecroft (Head of Business Improvement & Intelligence) and Mr J Horsley (Equality and Inclusion Manager) attended the meeting to present the various elements pertinent to their work area and to answer Members questions:

·         Management Arrangements

·         Performance Management

·         Equality and Inclusion

In the ensuing discussion, the following matters were raised:

·          In relation to Management arrangements

o   There was a discussion of and an explanation of why there was only a 51% completion of Performance and Development Reviews.  This could be for a multitude of reasons and did not mean that performance appraisals were not being undertaken.  A review of the current arrangements was being undertaken involving employees and managers from across the organisation in focussed workshops to look at potential improvements for the scheme to be implemented from April 2018.  It was stressed that quality information arising from PDR’s was paramount

o   Arising out of the above discussion details were provided of the launch in September of the POD (Personal Online Development) – this was a new learning management system to enable employees to book and manage their own training and development and from April 2018 would be used for the PDR appraisal process

o   Information was provided about the aims and objectives of the Organisational Improvement Strategy which, amongst other things, looked at all areas of the organisation, dealt with workforce planning and how staff required to be developed in order to have the skills required for the next three years

o   The Director of Core Services reminded the Committee that the Authority had achieved IIP Gold.  This was not something that was easily gained and should provide an assurance about workforce development and management

o   Workforce surveys provided useful information about management arrangements and, in addition, the Talk About/Drop in Sessions were useful tools to receive feedback about management and the management arrangements for the Council as a whole

·         In relation to Performance Management

o   Business Plans had been developed and could be amended in year (but were also timetabled) and provided Units with the reference documents they required.  This planning process involved a ‘look towards’ 2020.  Arising out of this, it was noted that Business Unit Delivery Plans had also been developed which helped individual team members to understand how they contributed to the Business Plan and Corporate Plan.  The PDR process , as well as regular team meetings, were equally important to ensure that individuals were meeting the Business Plan objectives

o   The Plans were subject to Directorate check and challenge which would be led by the Executive Director and the Business Improvement and Intelligence Team

o   There were a range of Indicators that enabled the tracking of performance.  One of the revisions the Service would like to see was the interconnectivity between ‘visions’ and ‘outcomes’

·         In relation to Equality and Inclusion

o   Each Authority was required to have due regard to the impact its policies and decisions could have over diverse groups and the tool used to do this was the Equality Impact Assessment Process.  The way in which this was undertaken was described

o   A random selection of reports submitted to the various ‘committees’ was examined to ensure compliance and feedback was provided where required.  Meetings were held with each Business Unit to try to develop forward plans and identify where there was likely to be an impact.  Advice was given so that any suggestions could be incorporated into reports

o   The Governance and Member Support Unit within the Core Directorate headed by Mr I Turner, Service Director Governance and Member Support, were tasked with ensuring that reports met the necessary requirements and the Executive Director Core Services had a role in ensuring that key issues were addressed.

·         General issues

o   There was a discussion of the role and performance of Scrutiny, and to Member attendance.  It was noted that attendance at meetings was not a measure of performance of a committee – issues relating to attendance would only be raised if there was a significant variance.  It was very difficult to assess and quantify the quality of the Scrutiny process.  Whilst very few items had been ‘called in’, issues identified had been taken into account when proposals were formulated.  Scrutiny was welcomed and some areas were particularly important and this was evidenced around safeguarding issues when Ofsted Inspectors had commented on the more focussed approach now being undertaken

RESOLVED that the report be received and Ms A Glew, Mr M Rangecroft and Mr J Horsley be thanked for attending the meeting and for answering Members questions.