Agenda item

(a)       That the report be noted; and

(b)       That the five work streams (Assets, Customers, Finance, Procurement and Workforce) become the subject of separate reports to future meetings of the Committee.

The Head of ICT and Customer Services introduced a mid year progress report on Flintshire Futures, the corporate programme for modernisation and change.  He said that there was a Flintshire Futures Programme Board with Member representation which included the Leader, Deputy Leader, Cabinet Member for Corporate Management and the Chair of Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The primary focus of the Programme was to deliver efficiencies through Corporate Change, Service Change, Regional Collaboration and Local County Collaboration. 

The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that the recent work had focussed mainly on Corporate Change projects in 5 workstreams, customer, procurement, assets, work force and finance and that there was a lead officer for each area.  He went on to explain that lead officers would attend subsequent meetings to report on the individual work programmes. The “customer” projects involved the Flintshire Connects service, the first of which was due to open at the end of October in Holywell.  He added that a report would be considered by Cabinet shortly on plans for future centres across Flintshire.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that the Streetscene contact centre service had been very popular and that he hoped it would be developed to cover other service areas.  The other priority was promotion of customer self service on the web. He cited the success of the “doggy do app” which had around 1000 downloads and that there were plans to extend the facility to cover other council services.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services then spoke about the £1 billion assets owned by the council, with office accommodation costing £1.75 million per annum to run.  He said that rationalisation was needed and that office space could be potentially reduced by 50% if we radically changed the way we worked.         

                        With regard to procurement about £150 million was spent on goods and services each year and that currently there were 44,000 suppliers.  There was a need to negotiate more effectively, on a regional and national level.  The electronic procurement system P2P would be in use by all departments by the end of March 2013.

                        The Head of ICT and Customer Service then spoke about maximisation of income and management of debt and modernisation of internal processes.  He said that some work would be linked to fees and charges and some linked to the budget process.  Progress on the workforce work stream had already delivered an excess of £4 million in savings from senior management restructure and service reviews. The programme would now look at reduction of management costs and organisational layers to reinvest into front line services as well as preparing staff for change.  The I-Trent system had allowed staff to manage their own personal details and expenses electronically.  The use of interim staff and consultants is currently under review.

                        The Leader of the Council thanked the Head of ICT and Customer Services and all the other officers involved in Flintshire Futures.  He said that the Programme was a first line in defence to the forthcoming cuts and that the Programme needed to be developed further.  The Leader welcomed the inclusion of Councillor R.B. Jones on the board as he considered member input to be important.  He went on to explain that any new civic centre premises would have to deliver considerable savings.  There would be benefits from national procurement, but there was a need to ensure a balance of local suppliers.  The Leader of the Council concluded that many local authorities were conducting programmes similar to Flintshire Futures and that some employed consultants to do the work.  He added that it was very positive to see this work done in-house.

                        Councillor C.A. Thomas said that this was a very big project and recognised that it was important that it was communicated to people why savings were necessary.  Councillor Thomas said that she had been unaware of the relocation of the Leisure Services to Deeside and had approached the Director for information.  She added that departments needed to work smarter and gave the example of invoice delays in a department which now invoiced customers and the amount of time spent on Job Evaluation Questionnaires.   The Leader said that full council support was needed for change and an understanding of the consequences if they did not support change.  The  relocation of Leisure services had not been communicated well and it was hoped that regular updates from the board will avoid any reoccurrences.  Councillor Thomas said that she hoped the changes were about value for money and not just efficiency.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that there had been moves to improve the Job Evaluation process by the use of a lighter touch with less resources but still equality proof and evidence based.

                        Councillor R.G. Hampson asked how quickly assets, such as Canton Depot, could be sold to raise capital.  The Head of ICT and Corporate Strategy said that the market conditions had to be considered and that there was an asset disposal plan in place.

                        Councillor I. Dunbar said that the Flintshire Connects office was a welcome addition to Holywell town centre.  He said that similar offices needed to be set up in towns in deprived areas, such as Deeside as soon as possible.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that local area need was taken into consideration and that an options appraisal on sites in Deeside would be undertaken shortly, with further information available in the next few months.

                        Councillor P.J. Curtis said that good communication was key to success. Councillor Curtis said that he was due to visit the Flintshire Connects office in Holywell the following day and would find out if the Town Council would consider moving into the premises.  Councillor Curtis said that the issue of car parking charges needed to be resolved.  The Leader of the Council said that the issue needed further discussion in the budget.

                        Councillor P. Shotton said that the roll out of the apps had been a success. The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that the Council were looking to extend the app service to report faults and had already seen a few providers who could offer such a service.   The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that sufficient levels of staff in the back office would be needed to deal with the likely increase in enquiries. 

                        The Chair said that if people used apps to report faults, such as street lighting, it would save residents contacting the council by telephone or face to face with the resulting saving in staff time.

The Leader of the Council said that office space needed to be rationalised, but the market conditions were not favourable.  Councillor P. Shotton said that he had been surprised to learn that the Council had such a large number of suppliers and asked about progress in the reduction of the use of consultants.  The Head of ICT and Corporate Services in response said that suppliers should not be on the system if they did not have a corporate contract, and that they were being challenged.  He said that control mechanisms had now been put in place to minimise the use of consultants which involved business cases, clear objectives and director sign off.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development  explained that the Consultants and Interims project, under the Workforce Workstream of Flintshire Futures, had established a joint project team comprising HR, Audit, Procurement and Senior Management.  The first priority was to scrutinise existing consultancy expenditure and agree where immediate savings might be made, including how rates were to be negotiated in the future.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the report be noted; and

(b)       That the five work streams (Assets, Customers, Finance, Procurement and Workforce) become the subject of separate reports to future meetings of the Committee.