Meeting documents

Venue: Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury. View directions

Media

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Items
Note No. Item

14:00

1.

Apologies for Absence/Changes in Membership

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Mr Martin Farrow.

14:05

2.

Election of Chairman

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That Mr D Watson be elected Chairman of the Finance, Performance and Resources Select Committee for the ensuing year.

14:10

3.

Appointment of Vice-Chairman

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Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That Mr C Clare be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Finance, Performance and Resources Select Committee for the ensuing year.

14:14

4.

Declarations of Interest

To disclose any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were none.

14:15

5.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 198 KB

To agree the Minutes of the Meeting held on 08 May 2018.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 08 May 2018 were agreed as a correct record.

14:16

6.

Public Questions

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 the 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/getting-involved/

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

14:18

7.

Chairman's Report

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·         Preparatory work had been undertaken for an inquiry called ‘Planning for Effective Leadership’. Mr Charlie Clare would chair the inquiry, and the Chairman thanked Members for their contributions to the Inquiry Scope.

·         It was agreed that a number of follow up actions from the HR and OD item at the last meeting would now be incorporated into the Inquiry.

14:20

8.

Customer Service Standards Review pdf icon PDF 1011 KB

Mr Lloyd Jeffries, Director of Customer, and Mrs Kelly Baines, Head of Customer Experience, will present an overview of the Customer Service Standards Review.

 

Contributors:

Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Mr Lloyd Jeffries, Director of Customer

Mrs Kelly Baines, Head of Customer Experience

 

Papers:

Report attached.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources, Mr Lloyd Jeffries, the Director of Customer, and Mrs Kelly Baines, the Head of Customer Experience, to the meeting. Members received a report on the review of the Customer Service Standards and asked questions on the report. During the session and in answer to subsequent Members’ questions, the following main points were noted:

 

·         The new Head of Digital, Mr Ben Unsworth, started this week. He would be conducting a digital maturity assessment for the Council, which would help the Council to understand where existing strengths lay from a digital perspective and would highlight which capabilities would need to be developed further.  

·         The Digital and Customer Service teams were now located together. This enabled the business unit to review the end-to-end customer journey.

·         The reviewed Customer Service Standards aimed to create a customer service that would be more digitally focused, drive forward the channel shift towards digital communication, align with customer expectations which were continually increasing, and deliver clear staff accountabilities.

·         Part of the ‘Brilliant at the Basics’ programme was to get customer feedback and use it to improve customer services. Previously the Council was rated a 2* by the Society for IT Practitioners in the Public Sector or Socitm, and had now moved up to a 3*. The Directorate aimed to reach a 4* rating by the end of the calendar year. Three fixed-term web content editors were now employed, which enabled the Directorate to drive improvements.

·         Webchat had a soft launch on the Contact Us form and the HR service desk. It had received positive feedback.

·         The Directorate was looking to integrate social media into the Customer Service Centre as a communication option.

·         Office hours had changed as a response to customer feedback, from 0830-1730 Monday to Thursday, and 0830-1700 on Friday.  

·         The Customer Service Standards first launched in 2016. The review aimed to ensure that the standards had evolved in line with how customers accessed services at present. Mr Jeffries would provide an update on the Brilliant at the Basics programme and the Customer Service Standards Review to the next meeting in September.

·         Directorate recommendations included developing a Customer Experience Strategy; working with the Communications team during Customer Service Week to promote the new standards and ensure customers were engaged; to create an e-learning module on customer service; to build a network of customer service champions to encourage collaborative working in the best interests of the customer; and building customer focus groups so that residents had a voice. The recommendations had not been through governance channels yet.

·         Multiple channels of communication would equate greater cost. The Chairman asked whether there would be more or less communication channels in the future or the same number. Mr Jeffries responded that according to the vision of the Customer Experience Strategy, telephony would certainly drop, leaving a smaller customer service centre dealing with complex queries and hopefully doing more for frontline services by delivering deeper integrations. The aim was to expand communication  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

15:00

9.

Inquiry Scope Proposal

Members will consider and agree the draft scope for an inquiry on Planning for Effective Leadership.

 

Papers:

Proposal to follow.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

RESOLVED

 

Members will consider the inquiry proposal/draft scope and agree it as their next inquiry topic.

 

15:10

10.

Property and Assets Update

Mr Adam Smith, Director of Property and Assets, will provide Members with a presentation on the recently created Property and Assets department.

 

Contributors:

Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Mr Adam Smith, Director of Property and Assets

 

Papers:

PowerPoint presentation at the meeting.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Vice Chairman welcomed Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources and Mr Adam Smith, the Director of Property, to the meeting. Members received a report on the review of the Customer Service Standards and asked questions on the report. During the session and in answer to subsequent Members’ questions, the following main points were noted:

 

·         The Property Department was composed of four specialist teams - asset management, major projects, strategic programmes, property services.

·         Asset Management handled the County’s assets and investment portfolio and investment decisions. 

·         Major Projects delivered LASR (Local Asset Strategy Review) and the OPE project (One Public Estate).

·         Strategic Programmes ran for 2-5 years and involved more change management and transformation than a major project. Two programmes were running - the Aylesbury Town Centre Programme and Schools Capital Programme.

·         Property Services included facilities, soft services (such as reception and post room), hard services (planned preventative maintenance or PPM), and health and safety. Projects were worth up to £1 million.

·         To help manage the Property and Assets portfolio, a revised governance structure was being developed. The Asset Strategy Board would continue to take an overall corporate view in terms of capital slippage- setting overall asset budget, balancing different business unit priorities, and monitoring capital slippage throughout the year. The Property Board was a senior Member and officer advisory board dealing with the Property Strategy and  making recommendations about investment to the Cabinet and Full Council; and the Portfolio Progress Group monitored whether anticipated benefits from the projects were actually being delivered – ‘doing things right’ and ‘doing the right things’.

·         Every three months the Property Board updated the corporate management team (CMT), every 12 months the Property Board and Asset Strategy Board agreed the capital expenditure split, and every 6 months the two Boards joined to exchange information.

·         Strategies were divided into 5 areas - Finance, Benefits realisation, Risk management, Resource management (Property) and Stakeholder management. 

·         Challenges included retention of qualified staff, modernising local government and not knowing what the future would look like, and failure of tenants in the retail sector.

·         Opportunities included Aylesbury town centre regeneration, efficient use of existing staff through matrix management approach, and a focus on return on investment. All work was aligned to Council objectives.

·         Department aimed to establish the right culture within Property and the Council, as well as having the supply chain on board. This was linked to procurement strategies and how the Council sold itself to the marketplace.

·         For the Resources portfolio, the revenue budget was 2.2 million and capital budget was circa 11-12 million.

·         None of the departmental budget was outsourced, but contractors were managed efficiently through procurement protocols.

·         The value of investment in property assets was just under £75 million.

·         Revenue capital this year was targeting £8.4 million.

·         Weighted yield on the investment portfolio was 6.48%?

·         Top 20 corporate properties with descending current net book value taking land and buildings together included a number of schools. Carter Jonas had conducted the asset valuation. Members requested further detailed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

15:55

11.

Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 24 KB

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

 

Papers:

Work Programme attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members requested that:

·         the draft new Technology Strategy was added to the work programme

·         budget scrutiny dates were added to their diaries

·         pre-meeting invites were added to Member diaries as standard.

ACTION: Committee & Governance Adviser

 

16.00pm

12.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on 11th September 2018, 10am in Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The next meeting will be held on 11th September 2018, 10am in Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall.