Issue - meetings

That the Committee formally receives the report but that the comments of Members be commended to the Policy & Performance team where necessary.

The Chief Officer (Organisational Change (1) )  introduced a report to consider elements of the 2014/15 Year End Improvement Plan Monitoring Report relevant to the Committee.  He advised that the following Improvement Plan sub-priority reports were attached at Appendix 1 and Appendix 2:

·         Organisational Change

·         Asset Strategy

                        The Chief Officer advised there were currently no high (Red) risk areas identified within the elements of the Improvement Plan Monitoring Report relevant to the Committee.

The Chief Officer (Organisational Change (1) ) reported on the sub-priority report for Organisational Change and referred to structural reviews and alternative models of delivery.   He highlighted the areas which had progressed well and areas where the measure had not been achieved as expected.  He advised that a further detailed report on Alternative Delivery Models (ADM) would be submitted to the meeting of the Committee to be held on 28 September 2015.

                        The Chief Officer (Organisational Change (2) ) gave an overview of the sub-priority report for Asset Strategy.  He reported on work and achievements during 2014/15  and referred to intensive work around the development of Community Asset Transfers.  He also commented on the work undertaken to develop and integrate services to achieve a more community based approach and cited the Connects Centre in Connah’s Quay as an example.  The Chief Officer referred to implementation of the agile and mobile working policy in the Authority which enabled the workforce to work in different areas and referred to the change workspace initiative and the need for scanning and storage of appropriate documentation.

                        The Chairman invited questions from Members.

                        Councillor Carolyn Thomas raised questions around the ADM and acknowledging  the need to achieve value for money asked if all services areas were being considered by the Authority, citing local service areas such as streetlighting, grass cutting, and play areas as examples.  She asked further questions around the Independent Review and the workspace initiative and raised concerns around the retention and storage of records for future reference. 

                        The Chief Officer (Organisational Change (1) ) responded to the questions concerning ADM and explained that the aim was to explore the feasibility of providing alternative delivery models that retained as many services and jobs as possible.  He commented on the need to work with the Chief Officers and their teams responsible for service delivery to identify what would be possible in terms of protecting services and being more cost efficient; this may or may not require changes to be made.  He said a report would be brought back to the Committee to update on progress following the Workshop to be held on 29 June 2015.  The Chief Officer also responded to the queries and concerns raised by Councillor Thomas in relation to play areas and asset transfer.

Concerning retention and storage of documentation and records, the Chief Officer (organisational Change (2) ) gave an assurance that work would be undertaken sensitively in conjunction with the Council’s Archivist to determine what documentation and records needed to be retained by the Authority and for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9