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ITEM BV12

BEST VALUE COMMITTEE – 23 JUNE 2004

BEST VALUE REVIEW AND INSPECTION OF HIGHWAY MANAGEMENT – PROGRESS ON ACTION PLANS

Report by Assistant Head of Transport (Highway Management)

Introduction

  1. A Best Value Review of Highway Management was completed in February 2001 and was followed immediately by a Best Value Inspection, which assessed the service as ‘Fair’ and ‘Likely to Improve’. The Review and Inspection report came to very similar conclusions about which aspects of the service needed improving. These are grouped under three broad headings:

  • Comparison, cost, service performance of specification issues.

  • Organisational structure and working with other organisations.

  • Operational issues of consultation, customer care, and the impact of works on road users.

  1. An action plan which accepted the Inspection recommendations and combined them with the Review improvement options was agreed by the Executive in December 2001. Progress on the Action Plan was reported in detail to the Best Value Committee on 18 June 2003.

    2. General Progress since June 2003

  2. Significant changes have taken place in the management structure of Environment and Economy following the appointment of the Strategic Director in April 2003.

  3. A Head of Service with a specific responsibility for Transport was appointed on 1 January 2004, supported by three Assistant Heads of Service one of whom, with a responsibility for Highway Management, was also appointed on 1 January 2004. An organisation chart is included in Annex 1 (download as .doc file).

  4. The new Assistant Head of Transport has been given the key task of improving the performance of the Highway Management Service and this includes progressing the various outstanding actions from the Best Value Action Plan.

  5. It was clear that fundamental issues of organisational structure, culture and process required attention before focussing o the detail of outstanding Best Value actions and steps are being taken to address these fundamental issues.

  6. The Area Engineers were each given the task of carrying out an in-depth assessment of the operation of the others "business". From this a "Single Source Action Plan" has been drawn up to address differences of policy and procedure between the North and South Areas and the HQ Maintenance Team. Action plan targets will be monitored quarterly and by exception at intermediate intervals should targets not be met.

  7. A process of monthly performance management monitoring has been introduced to check works progress and expenditure against predicted profiles.

  8. An external firm of consultants "OPUS" have been engaged to carry out a business process review and have been asked to report by the end of June on the changes which need to be made to bring us in line with best practice in highway management. The report will contain a time-framed action plan showing both inputs and corresponding outputs so that, should we choose to follow their advice, we can monitor progress both in terms of actions achieved and benefits gained.

  9. Even though the focus has been on broader issues progress has been made on individual Best Value actions over the last year and a detailed summary of progress is included as Annex 2 (download as .doc file).

    10. RECOMMENDATIONS

  10. The Committee are RECOMMENDED to:

          1. support the actions being taken by the Assistant Head of Service to improve the performance of the Highway Management Service;

          2. ask officers to report progress again in 12 months time;

          3. identify whether there are any matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member; and

          4. ask the Chairman of the Environment Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chair on scrutiny committee consideration.

 

BRIAN FELL
Assistant Head of Transport (Highway Management)

Contact Officer: Brian Fell Tel: 01865 815083

Background papers: Nil

June 2004

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