BV5(a)  -  page 3

Best Value Review of Personnel: Progress against the 10 key actions

Action	Commentary	Status	
1	Maintain the devolved structure of personnel and introduce measures to ensure that it is working effectively and to improve that effectiveness;	Formal professional reporting lines have been introduced between Directorate Personnel/Human Resources Officers and the County Human Resources Manager.  This ensures a co-ordinated and consistent approach on corporate matters while allowing Directorates to address their own service requirements.  Personnel Standards have been published and will be monitored in due course.  Compliance with these standards will indicate the effectiveness of the working arrangements within the service.  Corporate seminars on topics such as the implementation of job evaluation, data protection requirements and issues surrounding the implementation of MIS have taken place.  Directorate plans have been drawn up which incorporate the elements of the Personnel Strategy.  Developing our Staff also made recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the human resources function.  This will be considered as part of the impending review of human resources.	Actions completed but further consolidation and monitoring is required.  A report on the status of the Standards will be completed by April 2004.	
2	
Increase delegation to Chief Officers in areas of re-grading decisions and establishing new posts	New arrangements have been included in the Constitution as agreed by Personnel Sub-Committee	Completed	
3	
Abolish the requirement to re-advertise temporary posts which become permanent where it can be shown that the temporary post holder is satisfactory	New policy on temporary employment is now in place across the Council including schools	Completed	
4	
Develop and introduce guidelines for managing poor performance of all employees	Work on this major aspect of the review was started in 2001.  Two seminars with managers and representation from Performance and Review and Unison were held and facilitated by ACAS.  However, due to the bringing forward of the job evaluation exercise and the heavy commitment of resources to the implementation of MIS this work has not progressed as planned.  This is now a top priority for action.  However, in the meantime guidance on performance management generally is set out in the pocket guide to performance management which is published this month.  There are also links to the current review of the appraisals process (see item 6 in Appendix 2)	
APPENDIX 1

Outstanding.  Head of Human Resources to develop action plan to tackle this issue.	

BV5(a) – page 4

Action	Commentary	Status	
5	Develop a cross-departmental personnel strategy and departmental annual plans with measurable targets and objectives.	The Personnel Strategy has been published and departmental plans have been developed to incorporate and implement this.  However, feedback from various reviews including the CPA corporate assessment, and the BV Review of Developing our Staff have identified the need for a major review of this strategy.  This is a priority for the Resources Directorate (see item 3 in Appendix 2).	Actions following from the Best Value review have been completed where possible, but subsequent developments have overtaken this and a Human Resources Strategy will be developed.	
6	Develop, in consultation with unions, a consistent appeals procedure.	The Constitution now embodies revised procedures to bring as much consistency as possible and relevant members have been trained accordingly.	Completed	
7	Implement a job evaluation scheme across the organisation starting in 2003	This was by far the largest action from the Review.  The new scheme was successfully introduced on time in June 2003.  Further work regarding appeals and the implementation of the phasing requirements will continue.	Completed, subject to continuing follow up work.	
8	Improve provision of generic skills training within Oxfordshire County Council.	An assessment of needs was undertaken but not progressed due to lack of financial support from Directorates.  This topic was reviewed again as part of the Developing our Staff review and will be addressed as part of the impending Best Value review of Learning and Development (see item 4 in Appendix 2).	Outstanding.  This will be examined further in the forthcoming Best Value review of Learning and Development.	
9	Introduction of a Training and Development Forum.	The previous group, previously known as the Staff Training and Development Group, relaunched itself as an internal Learning and Development Network in August 2002.  This has proved invaluable in terms of helping to shape management development activities and has allowed the group to begin sharing best practice in the area of learning and development.   An external Learning and Development Network will be set up to include individuals from Oxfordshire County Council and other external partners such as Districts, neighbouring counties and other sectors.  This will offer opportunities for the sharing of best practice and joint working.	Completed