Meeting documents

Members will be examining the progress towards the committee’s recommendations of the Transport for Bucks inquiry.  As part of this they will be monitoring and reviewing the progress of the various improvement strands/reviews that have been undertaken over the past year.

 

Ruth Vigor-Hedderly, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Gill Harding, Service Director, Place

Mike Freestone, Interim Contract Manager

Yogesh Patel, Business Improvement Director, Ringway Jacobs 

Ruth Vigor-Hedderly, Cabinet Member for Transportation, Gill Harding, Service Director, Place, Mike Freestone, Interim Contract Manager and Yogesh Patel, Business Improvement Director, Ringway Jacobs and Lee Mercers, Ringway Jacobs were welcomed to the meeting.

 

The Cabinet Member for Transportation thanked the Chairman and Members of the Committee for the opportunity to introduce team members and provide an update on Transport for Bucks.

 

The Chairman asked for an overview of work that has taken place.

 

The Cabinet Member for Transportation reported the following.

 

‘I was appointed as Cabinet Member for Transportation on the 1st April 2014. I was fairly familiar with the contractor, Ringway Jacobs (RJ) and had some idea of how BCC worked as RJ as the client.  I was also very aware of public dissatisfaction which related to the day to day delivery of the front line operational side of Ringway Jacobs and BCC as the client.

 

In April, I instructed Gate One, an independent consultant to carry out a full health on the contract between RJ and BCC which included transparency of the findings. The contract was five years old and legislation had changed considerably over the past five years.

 

In terms of the Localism Act, it was important to empower Members, officers and public to have an opinion and voice and to put forward new ideas to the client and contractor.  

 

Gate One were instructed on a 6 week contract.  Bart Smith was the appointed as the consultant for the review.

 

Whilst the health check of the contract was being undertaken, we still had to "keep the show" on the road, in respect of the day to day operational delivery.

 

The decision was made to go "back" to the old way of working.

 

Amersham depot was re-opened with David Molyneaux appointed as interim manager. The Handy Cross depot was re profiled. Wayne Pickford been appointed as the interim manager. Tim Fowler has been appointed as the interim Manager for depot at Griffin Lane.  An open evening is taking place at the depot on the 1st October during which new way of working will be demonstrated.

 

The new way of working allows the depots to have a wider range of freedom to be able to understand the need for change in each area they cover.  This is important as each area is so diverse; one size does not fit all. The LATs are based in at the depot in the area they represent.

 

Benefits of local delivery include:

·         a cost effective approach due to a higher volume of skilled operatives in one area at any one time

·         visible impact which creates confidence in the local communities

·         a more effective approach in terms of scheduling, simplifying the programme for ease of understanding

·         a personal approach and higher level of ownership will allow the LAT to take responsibility and to be held to account

·         KPIs will be set in each depot at local level allowing better management of the process in terms of monitoring the output locally.

 

The area based approach has allowed for:

·         multiple operations within traffic management has resulted in reduction in road disruption in terms of a 60% reduction in road closures.  The overall saving will be applied back into the operational daily delivery.

·         a better collaborative working mechanism for the local councillors, allowing them to track repairs and mutually agree work taking place within their wards.

·         Row, LATs, inspectors, gang area team leaders and managers are based in the local depot, focusing on an effective and efficient way of operational delivery for the highway.

 

I hope that this gives you a clear understanding of what we have achieved over the past four months’.

 

Mr Patel explained that he is the Business Improvement Director for Ringway Jacobs and is leading the work on the transformation in the TfB contract which encompasses actions identified through the various other reviews and audits carried out of the last year.  In terms of how the transformation has been structured and the key work-streams, a clear governance structure has been set up to try to distinguish business as usual in parallel to changes that need to made to the internal processes and procedures etc. of the organisation. A Transformation Board has been set up which meets on a monthly basis. There is also a Transformation Steering Group which meets on a fortnightly basis.  Membership includes representatives from the Senior Management Team from BCC and RJ.

 

There are eight work-streams which encompass actions identified during the reviews and audits by Gate One and Tom McCabe; Organisation Structure/HR; Communications; Culture; Values/Efficiencies; Customer Journey: Information Flow; Contract Review; Strategy & Policies.

 

Organisational structure is about the move towards an area based structure.  This process would involve consultation at the top tier, clarification of roles, responsibilities, communication lines, accessibility and governance.

 

Communication needs to become part of business as usual in terms of key stakeholders being kept informed. This could be in the form of weekly internal bulletins or monthly member bulletins.

 

Culture Change – going forward, the ways of working need to be aligned.  Buckinghamshire County Council is a member-led organisation. How this impacts on contracts needs to be taken into account.  There is also the issue or making sure the right skills set is in place.

 

Value and Efficiency – work is taking place to capture what is already being done in terms of demonstrating value for money and going forward, ensuring this is in line with contracts.  This includes clarity about what benchmarking and market testing means and how productivity fits in with risk and innovation in this type of contract.

 

Customer Journey – this includes how engagement takes place with members of the public and how issues are identified and dealt with effectively and efficiently.

 

Information Flow – this is not just customer information. It is also about finance, asset, condition and programme information and how this all relates to an efficient and effective way of working where data is entered and analysed at a single point which can be turned into knowledge and pro-active decision making.

 

Contract Review – this includes looking at the contract to see if there are areas that need to be amended to suit the new way of working. This includes scope.  There could be areas of activity currently in the TfB contract which are not necessarily appropriate for BCC to carry out through the contract. Similarly there may be activities that are currently carried out in the BCC environment that may be more suited within the TfB contract. All of this work is taking place as a joint activity with BCC. Around this is the clarity of the governance structure of how the contact operates and making sure the performance incentives such as KPIs are aligned and have a measureable outcome.

 

Strategy and Policies – ensuring that detailed strategies and polices around technical issues such as potholes are aligned to the way the contract operates, to BCC objectives and the 5 year vision and individual business plan activities and Task Orders.

 

Consistent across these work streams is a review of processes, people issues, systems and tools that support these processes and people.

 

During discussions, the following questions were asked.

 

The update given is wide ranging and informative about the areas being investigated.  Unfortunately there was no mention of the timescale of the review and they are going to come to some kind of conclusion. Mr Patel explained that there was a timescale of about six months. The review started in July.  The main bulk of the work will be completed by the end of the calendar year. Work around culture change will continue as this needs to be embedded.

 

It has become apparent that there were flaws in the management of the previous contract with Ringway Jacobs. It has to be questioned when the contract was extended, were there flaws in this process? The Cabinet Member for Transportation said it would be inappropriate for her to provide an answer to this question as neither herself or the current team were in place when the contract was extended. This can be discussed with the Chief Executive and Strategic Director, BCC.

 

Why did RJ not carry out a review of the processes in place and keep up to speed with the changes that were occurring without the original report of the Environment Select Committee and the change of Cabinet Member. Surely a proactive contractor should to do this as a matter of course? The Cabinet Member for Transportation said this was a very valid question.  The contract is a two way street. As part of the transformation process, there is now a different portfolio holder and management teams in place.  This question needs to be addressed to the Chief Executive. There is an element of lessons to be learnt.  The short forensic analysis is being carried out to satisfy that we are back on track and there is nothing untoward. Once approved, the report can be shared with the Committee.

Action: Cabinet Member for Transportation/DSO

 

A meeting is to be arranged with the Chief Executive and Strategic Director, BCC and the Chairman of the ETL Select Committee to discuss historic issues about the previous RJ contract and value for money.

Action: Policy Officer

 

There are currently interim managers in place in the Handy Cross and Griffin Lane depots.  When will permanent managers be appointed to enable stability? Mr Patel reported that the consultation process has been completed on the top tier management team.  In terms of the HR process, the vacancies for depot managers will be advertised this week and recruitment will take place in the following few weeks.  The aim is to have appointments at Area Manager level by the end of September.

 

The Cabinet Member added it is very important to have stability and confidence in the depots. The two interim depot managers are very experienced members of staff. They have previously been in manager posts and have been elevated to their current role.

 

There will inevitably be savings as a result of the reviews taking place.  Who is going to benefit from these savings? The Cabinet Member for Transport explained that she is looking to bring any savings back into the local delivery which is absolutely fundamental as budgets have been cut and Central Government is not funding as it was. Details of the savings in Transportation portfolio and the re-investment are to be circulated to Committee members when available.

Action: Cabinet Member for Transportation/DSO

 

One concern is that LATs and Depot supervisors do not appear to be aware of the Capital Maintenance Programme (CMP) for their area.  How can this be rectified? The Cabinet Member for Transportation said she was disappointed to hear this as the CMP and schedule of the programme of works has been emailed to Members. This can be resent.  All LATs’ should be aware of CMP work which is being carried out in the infrastructure at any time. This will be followed up with the Acting Manager. The depot in Griffin Lane will not be fully operational until 1 October 2014.  In terms of daily operation, Members can go into the depot to look at scheduling etc.  LATs will have the opportunity to embrace and empower new ways of working and opportunities.

 

Mr Patel said that one of the key important work-streams is information flow.  This is not just the CMP.  It is any works going on in any particular area and a transparency of the process.  This requires clear systems and for processes to be more robust than they may be at the moment.

 

Ms Harding added that the County Council is on a journey to improvements.  The Cabinet Member for Transportation and team members should be advised of any concerns or issues so they can be addressed.

 

When the ETL inquiry into TFB was first started, it was felt that work took place very much in silo i.e. BCC, TfB and the Cabinet Member.  Work has taken place to create confidence, clarify understanding and give a clear picture of what would like to be achieved and how the process will be taken forward.  The team are to be complimented on the work that has taken place so far.

 

Other parts of the contract such as devolved services have not been mentioned. There still needs to be some aspect of oversight on areas such as grass cuttings etc.  The Cabinet Member for Transportation reiterated that BCC is a member led Authority and will remain so. There needs to be complete communication between the depots and local ward members as local members are the voice and method of communication for local residents and communities. In terms of weed spraying and grass cutting services being devolved, Localities are visiting all parishes to discuss any issues and concerns.  This has been successful in so far are there are certain areas in Buckinghamshire who wish to undertake grass cutting. This has to be

cost effective and viable for me to sign off and to ensure that we are current with Health and safety issues and what services are being devolved is legal because ultimately we are the Highway Authority. We are proactively looking at addressing the issue of weed spraying but there are limitations in the types of chemicals that can be used. This now goes back to each depot.  Each manager will be held to account for the grass cuttings and weed spraying in terms of the finish and quality etc.

 

Mr Freestone explained that from the client side, he has been in post since the end of April as the Interim Contract Manager.  Work has taken place to strengthen the client team to give it depth and gravity and more ability to challenging, checking and confirm what Ringway Jacobs are delivering through the TfB contract. My role is to lead the team and the challenge and to ensure that we are getting the right output for the right costs in the right way. This includes looking at contract administration overall and to make sure this works. The back office administration process of monthly monitoring has been slimmed down and made less complicated.  The process now works better. The Operations Manager is assisting with this work.  He is out in the depots 3-4 days a week checking and challenging what is being done as well as offering guidance.  The philosophy of this contract is that the client is not a director – the client is the checker. A Quality Manager has been appointed. There is also a Contract Support and Compliance Officer who deals with the monthly applications for payment. There are robust challenges in place. Additional monitoring also gives the ability to do things more coherently in the future. The Works Quality Consultant is out on site, checking the quality of delivery and output from RJ.

 

The report backfills some of the details about past issues. The Transformation programme has swept up a lot of these issues. Over 80% previous activities and plans have been resolved and signed off.  There is an audit trail to demonstrate this. The remaining issues are high level i.e. looking at the construct, scope and governance of the contract etc. which are being dealt with now

 

Ms Harding reassured Members that day to day work continues at the same as the review work taking place.  As part of the future shape structure, we were keen to have good people in post be that on an interim basis. As the new client team is introduced, the will be an overlap with the current and any new clients team that may come into place.

 

Is it possible to have a timeline of when the management structure of the depots will be finalised? Discussions are currently taking place about the management structure.  It is hoped that this will be finalised in 4-6 months.  An update of the management structure at the depots is to be circulated prior to the January meeting of the ETL Select Committee.

Action: Cabinet Member for Transformation

 

The 4 year plan is to be circulated to ETL Committee members.

Action: Cabinet Member for Transformation

 

The update at the January meeting should include information about the following;

·         Client teams

·         Value for money and benchmarking.  The timeline in terms MTP progress for 2015 has slipped significantly.  This needs to be evidenced.

·         Clarification of efficiencies

·         Why the contract was renewed so many times

·         Was the contract extended correctly or in the new ways of working, does the renewal of a contract have to be earned

·         Scope of the contract and negotiations

·         Who leads the MTP process in the client team?

·         Innovation and progress

·         How savings are being reinvested?

 

The Chairman thanked the Mrs Vigor-Hedderly, Gill Harding, Mike Freestone, Interim Contract Manager and Yogesh Patel for attending the meeting.