Issue - meetings

(a)       That the report be noted; and 

(b)       That a progress report be submitted to the September 2013 meeting of the Committee. 

The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced the report to provide Members with an overview of the Workforce Workstream within the Flintshire Futures Programme and provide a progress report. 

            The report detailed the key objectives and the progress to date for each of the four areas of the workstream.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development explained that Organisation Design and Development would have a significant impact on the Council and would assist in looking at the size and shape of organisation going forward. She stated that £4m savings had already been achieved across the Council but that there was now the need review service delivery models, the integration of business units, review of management layers and overhead costs.  On readiness to change, it was reported that the behavioural competencies had been redrafted to define the competencies required for employees at every level to meet the organisational challenges of the future.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development advised that Members would receive regular updates and an appraisals workshop was to be held for Members in March 2013.  The implementation of iTrent, which Members would also receive updates on, would encourage the move to a paperless environment.  The fourth key objective was Consultants, Interims & Agency – Procurement and Expenditure and the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development explained that a significant amount of work had been undertaken to understand the level of use and the spend incurred and ways of reducing the dependency.  Details of efficiency targets would be shared with Members when these were available. 

            The Cabinet Member for Corporate Management thanked the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development for the report and said that it was essential to modernise, work together and adapt to move forward. 

            In response to a question from Councillor P. Shotton on collaboration with other authorities, the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that collaboration and partnership working was always part of the considerations when looking at redesign.  A number of examples across the organisation had been successful and included the collaboration for Occupational Health Services with Wrexham County Borough Council and the training arrangements in place with Deeside College.  She spoke of the ongoing work to review the classification and categorisation of consultants and it was reported that it was intended to start up a working group to undertake an options appraisal to identify the most effective means for procuring and managing consultants in the future. 

            On the issue of iTrent, the Chief Executive said that the saving was in time and process and that some of the bigger consultancy costs were linked to big projects which would end when the project ended.  On collaboration, in his experience, sharing experience created bigger savings. 

            Councillor P.G. Heesom welcomed the report and commented on previous problems with the HR service and the much improved service which was in place today.  He referred to the use of consultants and interim post holders and said that it was important  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77