Issue - meetings

That the Committee welcomes the savings and benefits delivered by the project, the proposed steps to close the project and thanks all staff involved for their contributions to it.

The Chief Officer (Governance) introduced a report seeking comments to Cabinet on the savings and benefits delivered by the project and the proposed steps to close the project.  He summarised the outcomes from the review which had so far generated savings of £1.133m.  The streamlining of administrative posts had built greater resilience into the team, giving more flexibility to maximise resources.  A separate report on the next phase of the process to bring together the remaining portfolio administrative teams into two services would be considered later on the agenda.

In responding to questions from the Chairman, the Chief Officer gave an explanation on the consistency achieved across generic duties and salaries of the administrative team, and felt that this process could not be applied to other role groups other than administration.

Following a request by Councillor Arnold Woolley, the Chief Officer explained that the report made clear that the number of administrative posts identified at the start of the review was an estimate that had not been validated.  Posts had been taken out of the scope of the review for various reasons and other posts had been deleted with the savings accounted for elsewhere.  He agreed to provide a breakdown of the full-time equivalent posts which had been deleted by the review, including details of full-time and part-time hours.

Members expressed their appreciation to the officer team for their work on the review and were informed of the excellent support which had been given by a number of officers across the Council.  The Chief Officer agreed to pass on thanks to those involved.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee welcomes the savings and benefits delivered by the project, the proposed steps to close the project and thanks all staff involved for their contributions to it.