Agenda item

This report updates members on progress with the Council’s wide-ranging Transformation Programme. It follows the second quarterly report presented to the Joint Sub-Committee on 25^th July 2019 and reflects progress towards substantial service improvements, whilst delivering £49.7m of annual savings by 2022/23.

The Sub-committee is RECOMMENDED to note and comment on the report.

It was agreed to take Agenda Items 5 and 6 together.

Philip Dart introduced the third quarterly report, noting that there had been significant progress despite the challenges of timing, pace and capacity.  It was planned to have a more fundamental review after 6 to 9 months and that is now taking place with conclusions expected to be reported to CEDR, the Chief Executive’s leadership team, before Christmas.  Transformation is not taking place in isolation and must take place alongside all change activity and other developments such as the Integrated Care System.

Officers responded to Members’ questions as follows:

·         There are three programme managers overseeing transformation but it involves everyone right across the council.  It should not be seen as an add-on.

·         Some services have been holding off on developments, waiting for transformation.  For example, the ICT section where there is now a sense of progress and improved morale.

·         The levels where staff are involved vary according to the project.  The review of Business Administration and Support is currently at Extended Leadership Team (ELT) level with support from subject matter experts.  In Finance there has been full staff consultation at appropriate times.

·         There needs to be a clear demarcation between engagement in shaping proposals and staff consultation where formal HR processes begin.  Everything must be done properly and consistently.

·         There have been no redundancies at this stage.

·         Changes to the property strategy are complicated by the Carillion aftermath so in that case a director has been appointed and close links established with the transformation programme.

·         Planning is starting for the next Medium Term Financial Plan.  Transformation must support and reflect that plan. There will be some shifts, for example the Integrated Care System and more partnership working.

·         There is a need to get away from judging everything on the original PwC work which is increasingly out-of-date.  The priority is to maintain and improve services and make them sustainable.

·         The Chief Executive acknowledged that there is a need to articulate more clearly the individual savings from the different projects.  The real test of progress is the gap in the overall budget each year between spending and funds available.

·         The programme is progressing as fast as possible – any faster and there is a risk of affecting both business-as-usual and transformation.

·         Most of the risk is related to timing.  For example, the redesign of the Provision Cycle is going to take longer because of future proofing it to take account of the Integrated Care System proposal.

·         The “further £26.3m of planned Transformational savings” referred to in section 2.1 of the report (Agenda Page 8) is included in the overall £49.7m savings.  The figures are set out more clearly in Annex 1, Agenda Page 21, paragraph 2.

·         Some vacant posts are being held back to provide redeployment opportunities where some service redesigns result in fewer posts.  Voluntary redundancies may also be an option taken.

·         On the review of Strategic Capability there are currently more posts than people.  It is important that the Council has the best possible demographic information and the best analytical skills.

·         Communications should be a central function rather than being duplicated in different sections.  For this to work there must be confidence in the central function.

·         Monthly business management and monitoring reports have been the first new process under the new performance management framework.  There needs to be a clearer relationship between the Corporate Plan and the measurement framework.

·         The redesign of the Provision Cycle function is introducing a joint function with Cherwell District Council.  It will be done in such a way as to provide for further joint working with other local authorities and/or the NHS.

·         There will be a new ICT strategy proposed before Christmas.  It is not anticipated that it will involve staff changes.  There will be investment and implementation costs.

·         The transformation programme is starting to look more at the front office, having focused on back office functions up to now.  This will include looking at how services are received by people.  For example on Highways, we have statistics on phone call response times and call abandon rates but nothing for instance on measuring customer satisfaction.

·         There is not a start or finish to transformation.  It needs to be continuous – a consistent direction of travel.

·         On Annex 1, it was agreed to simplify the presentation of the figures and how they are presented as well as to better describe the use of high/medium/low confidence ratings.

·         The Transformation Cabinet Advisory Group helps to steer the direction of travel, ensures the programme is member-led.  It has previously looked at the provision cycle and culture change.  The next meeting will look at future options for customer service.

The Chairman thanked officers for the update.  Transformation was going well but she looked forward to seeing the financial information presented more clearly in the next report.