Meeting documents

Apologies were received from David Watson and Alan Stevens. Lin Hazell substituted for David Shakespeare.

To disclose any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 September 2013.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 September 2013 were agreed as a correct record. In relation to item 6 (capital) Members noted that Richard Schmidt had circulated a written response to the question raised regarding Aylesbury Vale Academy.

Public Questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in the county to put a question to a Scrutiny Committee about any issue that has an impact on their local community or the county as a whole.

Members of public, who have given prior notice, will be invited to put their question in person.

The Cabinet Member and responsible officers will then be invited to respond. 

Further information and details on how to register can be found through the following link:-

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-council/scrutiny/get-involved/

There were no public questions.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

Members noted the outline programme for the budget process. As the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing was unable to attend for the meetings in January, her budget was being scrutinised on 17 December 2013. The Chairman informed Members of the proposed Inquiry into BCC Governance and Accountability which was particularly important in view of the Future Shape of the Council Programme. He also told Members that the Environment Localities and Transport Select Committee were discussing Section 106 funding, which was on the agenda today and that any comments would be fed through to combine Member views. Finally Members were reminded to complete the Transport for Bucks survey.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources and the Service Director for Service Transformation attended to present this item. They introduced the item as follows:-

·         The Council faces significant financial and service delivery challenges and to respond to this and create a more sustainable organisation for the longer term the Council has developed a Target Operating Model (TOM) to describe the purpose, look, feel and key design principles of the future organisation (Future Shape).

·         The presentation attached to the report shows at a high level the outline plan for the delivery of the consolidated business case over the next 90 days.

·         The Chief Executive had arranged a meeting of 11 local Upper Tier and Unitary Councils to explore opportunities for developing collaboration between surrounding County and Unitary Councils that could potentially tackle areas of high spend (strategic alliances).

Members asked the following questions:-

Over the next few years it will take a huge leap to make the Future Shape a reality.  How long do you expect this to take?  What should we be investing in now in order to make this happen and generate savings?

The Cabinet Member reported that they were working on the Business Case which should be completed after Christmas. There are five key sub programmes and Priority Based Resourcing exercise for the next phase of transformation. This will bring together the proposed Corporate Headquarters, the Commissioning Framework and the Business Units. The Council will be enabled by people and organisational Change and assets, infrastructure and ICT. The transformation programme was a significant undertaking and a delivery timeframe of 18-24 months. The Cabinet Member emphasised the importance of exploiting technology and driving the use of digital channels in service redesign (digital by design). There would also be investment in staff to ensure they have the skills to deliver services in the new structure. There was a Future Shape Programme Officer Board which the Cabinet Member attended. The proposed changes were being made in an inclusive way and officers had been asked to contribute to the ‘Future Shape’ of the Council.

The five sub-programmes designed to save £60m are general and non-specific.  Other than strategic alliances, please give specific examples of how significant new income will be generated; and areas of the business where operating costs will be further reduced?

The Buckinghamshire Learning Trust and the Local Authority Trading Company already have enhanced income targets and the proposed alternative business structure for Legal Services should bring in enhanced income. Further work was being undertaken on where trading units could bring in income generation and how business units could deliver in the market place. The commercially minded Council would search for opportunities to generate income and deliver services in a different way. The Service Director –Transformation reported that another way of serving clients was to offer a bronze service to all but to give a silver or gold service for those customers who were happy to pay extra. These services would be available on the marketplace and entrepreneurial activity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Gill Harding will update Members on the Property Transformation programme and the Rent Review process in relation to the Council’s agricultural estates.

Gill Harding, Senior Manager in Place Service and Rachel Howes, Rural Estates Officer updated Members on the Property Transformation Programme and the Rent Review process in relation to the Council’s agricultural estates. Members noted the following points:-

·         Because of the Council’s financial challenges there was a need to transform services and to look at the commercial aspects of the service.

·         The Corporate landlord gives the opportunity to redesign the service to suit future service provision.

·         Internal transformation was committed to a savings target of £185k in the Medium Term process prior to Place transformation. Place Transformation achieved £500k to date.

·         Members were informed of the existing asset management process. The proposed property service structure was to have three arms; strategy and programme development, delivery assurance and soft facilities management.

·         People were at risk during this process and a consultation was being carried out. 17 people had requested voluntary redundancy which had been granted. In the first round of recruitment 30 people remain at risk and 22 individuals are unaffected by the changes and have been slotted into the new structure.

·         There are a number of procurement programmes which include the maintenance procurement and the estates and asset management. There had been four bids on both tenders. The maintenance contract would be awarded mid-December to commence in March.

During discussion the following questions were asked:-

Is the £185k (page 52) a saving that has been committed but not yet delivered?  How much do you expect this programme to save, and what else will it enable us to do or be better at than before?

The Senior Manager reported that £500k was the minimum required to cover historic financial gaps. In terms of what it will enable the Council to do it will help rationalise the structure and streamline processes. The Council was entering a new era of becoming more commercial and reference was made to the good relationship this service area had built with schools. The Service would need to be more commercial and compete in the market and generate income. Until the structure was implemented it was difficult to put a figure on the final savings. Whilst the changes were challenging to staff they had embraced the change and had been engaged with the process. Reference was made to the previous failed procurement and the expectation that the inhouse bid would deliver savings. The Senior Manager reported that the inhouse bid was expected to work with the transformation savings. The procurements were two plus three year and therefore not long term. It was important to fully explore the right structure for the future and look at different delivery models before externalising.

Will this programme bring together all property roles and responsibilities across the organisation into one place?  If this isn’t the case then why not – what are the blockages or reasons for not doing this?

The Senior Manager reported that there was support from all the portfolios in the Council and there were a number of strands of which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

For Members to review the Section 106 report, provide comment and identify possible question areas ahead of the Environment, Transport and Locality Services select committee item on 6 November.

Members noted that John Rippon, Service Manager in Place would be attending the Environment, Transport and Locality Services Select Committee to take questions. Members of this Committee were asked if they wanted to identify possible question areas. A Member expressed concern that this Council had not replaced their Section 106 officer for a while which could have meant missed opportunities for the Council.

Another Member reported that Section 106 monies had been flagged up as an issue previously to the Cabinet Member and that it was important to monitor this area.

To consider and agree the Finance, Performance and Resources Select Committee Work Programme 2013/14.

The Scrutiny Officer referred to the Inquiry Proposal paper which had been included under the transformation item. This had been discussed at the Scrutiny Conference in terms of the roles of Members in the Future Shape of the Council and the importance of being involved in the early stages of commissioning. Members had discussed how the democratic function of the Council would look in the Future Shape model. Members made the following comments:-

·         Members need to have oversight of the day to day transaction with constituents to ensure the right areas are being prioritised and service users have access to the right services. The end user needed to be safeguarded.

·         The Member Development Programme was important to ensure Members have commercial skills and contract management training. Reference was made to p43 of the agenda and a quote from the Centre for Public Scrutiny on accountability, which is increasingly delivered through contract management. Members should be encouraged to attend these training sessions.

·         Reference was made to the table on the roles of Members and how they may change.

·         There would be less direct influence over service delivery and this needed to be monitored by Members.

·         A central resource for Members was very important so that they have the right channels of communication to take up any areas of concern.

·         This Select Committee should monitor this area.

·         An informal working group session would be set up to look at current evidence and make recommendations to feed into the Future Shape.

With regard to the meeting on 5 December 2013 there were 4 large items and the item on Customer Contact may be deferred. There would need to be an informal session with Members to update them on the Transformation Programme.

Budget Scrutiny – Outline of Member sessions

The outline of the Member Sessions for budget scrutiny were noted.

Balanced Scorecard and Joint Monitoring Report – Quarter 2

Members noted the item which had been submitted to the previous Cabinet meeting on the balanced scorecard and joint monitoring report.

A Member queried whether the number of specialist contractors included consultants as it looked like the actual spend per head was going up. Was this because the Council was employing more agency and specialist contractors? Members noted that there was an item on consultants on the next agenda where this could be discussed in more detail. The Cabinet Member reported that the total overall cost was coming down as people were being used in a more flexible way. 

In terms of the performance report Members agreed it would be useful to have a highlight report to delve into any areas of concern and a link to any backup papers.

5 December 2013 – 10am

Budget Scrutiny - 17 December 2013 – 2pm

5 December 2013 – 10am

17 December 2013 – 2pm (Budget scrutiny)