Meeting documents

For Members to receive an introduction from the Managing Director and Directors of the new Transport, Economy and Environment Business Unit and to provide an overview of the new Business Unit’s structure, plan and key priorities for the 2015/16.

 

Neil Gibson, Strategic Director, Communities and Built Environment

Ian Boll, Director of Regeneration and Infrastructure, Policy

Stephen Walford, Director of Growth and Strategy, PAC service

Mike Freestone, Director of Transport, BCC

Gill Harding, Director of Strategic Business Plan

Neil Gibson, Strategic Director, Communities and Built Environment, Ian Boll, Director of Regeneration and Infrastructure, Stephen Walford, Director of Growth and Strategy, and Gill Harding, Director of Strategic Business Planning, were welcomed to the meeting.

 

Mr Gibson explained that Transport, Economy and Environment (TEE) is one of the three forward, outward facing Business Units for service delivery in ‘Future Shape’ the new business model for the County Council. The other two Business Units are Adults, Health and Communities and Children’s Social Care and Learning.

 

The formal ‘go live’ date for Future Shape is the 1 April 2015.  In reality, the TEE Business Unit is fairly well advanced and is ready for the go live now. It is not possible to go live until the 1 April as constitutional changes such as the introduction of Managing Directors and financial rules and regulations will enact from this date.

 

The Leadership team is comprised of five Directors for the following portfolios; Environment Services, Growth & Strategy, Regeneration & Infrastructure, Strategic Business Planning & Commercial Development and Transport Services. Work is still taking place on the metrics for the Business Unit. The spend for next year is in excess of £100m. TEE is a large business which is a combination of revenue and capital. The impact on Buckinghamshire is far in excess of this amount. For example, there is £1m spend on East West Rail next year but this is a £150m project managed on behalf of Network Rail. There is very little in the Capital Programme for next year around major road growth for Aylesbury but tens of millions of investment will be facilitated via the Business Unit. Current work also includes project management of the Energy from Waste contract which has a value in the region of £50m. The impact goes a long way beyond the cash spend on an annual basis. As the Business Unit evolves and progresses, further metrics will be put in place to explain the impact the Business Unit has through web based systems and financial processes etc.

 

The TEE Business Unit will interact and work in the main, with four of the eight Cabinet Members; the Leader, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, the Cabinet Member for Transportation and the Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment. As work progresses to include Client Transport, input will also be sought from the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Members as appropriate.

 

Ms. Harding explained that the Transition Plan has been in place for a while although there is now more work and people involved.  A robust governance structure and process is in place. The decision has been made that the Programme Board will continue during the transition period and onwards after the 1 April 2015. Business Managers have now been recruited. They are the next level of accountability below the Leadership Team and are involved in commissioning and work-streams. Other key areas to highlight are;

 

·         The Transitions Programme is taking place in parallel with the other Business Units.

·         Interaction from other key stakeholders is key

·         Activity is happening at the same time as business as usual

·         The decision has been made to bring in a dedicated Works Programme Manager for three days a week to have overall accountability to deliver the work to the timeframe.

·         Other members come from business improvement team – the TEE is self- delivering which can be both difficult and challenging.

·         Key workstreams are taking place to ensure the success of the Transitions Programme. This includes recruitment, retention and development. Following the end of the first process with posts at risk being ringfenced, there is the move to an open selection process and advertising the vacancies externally.

·         The more senior vacant posts are to be advertised shortly.  The current high vacancy rate of 20% has been identified as a risk.

·         Communication is a challenging process in terms of the Future Shape and the Business Units as there is a lot of change taking place.  A variety of communications channels are being used such as weekly briefings with staff, updates on the intranet, regular employee representative meetings and stakeholder engagement. There has been positive feedback from staff within the Business Units in terms of the feeling that they are being sighted on the changes taking place and the reasons why.

 

Performance and behaviours

·         A message has been sent to all staff about the new commercial way of working

·         The DSP process will be robustly used to appraise past performance and to aid the objective setting process for those undertaking new roles.

·         Any gaps in training and development that are sited and will be addressed in order to help employees deliver their jobs.

·         The Business Units will have a training and development plan. There needs to be investment in staff to help deliver the service.

 

Mr. Gibson advised that there has been a robust interview process which included profiling of candidates to give a good insight of any training and development needs.

 

Ms. Harding explained that the County Council is currently going through the business planning cycle and is nearing the end of the MTP cycle. For different reasons Waste Management and Country Park Services hasn’t been through the same restructure process as other service areas have as yet.

 

The TEE Business Unit will take on the client transport function. How this will impact on the current model will need to be understood.

 

·         Work is taking place on financial structures with Corporate Finance to look at systems and what needs to be done to tie the work of the Business Units in with corporate structures. Systems and process change is needed to support this.  In terms of the amount of change taking place, it is important that staff know who to talk to and that the structure chart is updated regularly.

·         The TEE will be one of the first outward facing Business Units to come into effect on the 1 April.

·         The accommodation needs for TEE Business Unit need to be discussed (currently 168 staff)

·         In terms of Governance and Structure reviews, work is taking place with the Assurance to look at compliance with the new Operating Framework.

·         A launch event for the TEE business unit will be held at the end of March

·         A review will take place in August/September to discuss with staff what we thought was going to work, if it has worked and further changes to be made

·         Property Service will move to HQ and Shared Services.  There is the duty to ensure that the transition out of the TEE structure into the new structure happens in the most appropriate form.

 

Mr. Gibson explained that the Programme Board meets every two weeks.  Any headlines emerging from the Business Plan will be closely tied in with the budget MTP.

 

Strategic Business Planning & Commercial Development

Ms. Harding explained that the role of this business area is a supporting one but also an important one to drive forward efficiency savings, commercial development and devolution. This includes metrics and management in terms of finance and performance. It is the commercial arm to make sure the Business Unit is doing everything it needs to do and that the right assurances are in place.

 

Environment Services

Mr. Gibson explained that in terms of the elements of risk, there is the waste strategy and the need to get the EfW plant live by from 2016 as a £7-8m reduction has been assumed in the year it goes live and new income the year after. Country Parks are largely self-financing but a model is being looked at which will make them truly self-financing and sustainable over decades in terms of the capital investment they will need. Another aspect of the Business Unit is Development Management. Significant income is received from developers as the County Planning Authority.  As the Highway Authority, Bucks County Council plays a pivotal role with developers in the S106 process and making developments happen. Smarter working in terms of a management approach rather than a development control approach needs to take place. The Growth and Strategy team will lead on getting policy context and asks correct. Environmental Services will deal with operational liaison with developers.

 

Growth and Strategy

Mr. Walford explained that economic development includes liaison with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) which will be channelled across this area. There a co-ordination role to play across the Business Units in terms of the liaison and negotiation with the LEP. Growth and Strategy projects include infrastructure planning, translating S106 agreements into reality, transport and strategy policies, minerals and waste planning, and supporting and implementing sustainable resource strategies across BCC.

 

Regeneration and Infrastructure

Mr. Boll explained that this area focuses predominately on the delivery of capital projects. Where Growth and Strategy has identified schemes, Regeneration and Strategy will be tasked with infrastructure and regeneration to deliver the schemes.

The service is comprised of three teams; Highways, Infrastructure and Regeneration. Highways will look predominately at new roads which unlock development as identified in the Strategic Economic Plan. Infrastructure team work includes HS2, EfW and East West Rail. The Regeneration team work comprises of property major projects including new school builds and regeneration schemes such as Waterside North. It is entirely funded by capital so has to be very cost aware and commercially driven. The team is very much focused on project management expertise. They are all Prince 2 trained and are increasing becoming Agile trained. In terms of the question what will members of the public see is different; a key part of the work is a matrix managed approach to share expertise rather than working in silo. Cabinet Members will be kept aware of projects on a case by case basis.

 

Transport Services

Mr. Freestone explained that in terms of client transport is about enabling efficient, effective economic use of the transport network. The review of client transport and strategic transport is a big change mechanism coming forward during the year. Work is underway to build a model in partnership with colleagues in areas such as children’s services.  It is about making the best links to existing public transport operations to maximise benefits to the community at large. There is still a lot of work to be done.  Adult client transport is part of this work.

 

During discussions, the following questions were asked.

 

In terms of the use of agencies to recruit to short term interim posts, agency costs are usually about a third more. There is concern that money is not spent needlessly on agency staff when there is the need for a post to be recruited to permanently.  Ms. Harding said that using an agency can cost one third more or the same depending on the way the structure is terms of an internal member of staff and the add on costs. Where there are permanent posts in the structure, we are trying to ensure that the posts are recruited to on a permanent basis. Because of the amount of change, it is sometimes necessary to bring in interim staff to help deliver the service until permanent staff are in place. The other key issue is that is some areas of work, it is not clear whether there is the need or the budget for a permanent member of staff as some of work could be short term or innovative. The resourcing strategy is being discussed with our HR business partner to ensure it is the right approach for the business.

 

In terms of the new Business Units, how will members of the public see a difference in the way the services are delivered? Mr. Gibson said an example is the Energy from Waste plan which is being built in the north. Members of the public will see the plant being built and will feel their council tax is kept low as the waste is being processed and disposed of at a lower unit cost. There will not be any difference in terms of the way the waste is collected. In real terms the same services will be delivered at a lower unit cost.

 

Ms. Harding added that the aim is to try and ensure that any areas where there could or should have been improvements are incorporated in the journey. It is about how we internally try to deliver the services and about driving out efficiencies so that hopefully cuts to the public won’t be as great as they need to be.

 

Mr. Gibson explained that the Business Units are commissioned by the County Council though HQ around the services to be delivered at a cost or price the County Council can afford. A huge challenge is to generate new revenue/income/capital and to drive efficiencies and deliver on behalf of the County Council. The business model can be adapted to try to address changes in circumstances.

 

How many Cabinet Members does the TEE Business Unit report to? Mr. Gibson explained that the TEE business unit reports to four Cabinet Members. Cabinet Members are important stakeholders as when they sit as a Cabinet on behalf of the Council, they determine finance, strategies and policies etc. When they work with the Business Unit, they work as individual Cabinet Members. Each Cabinet Member is ‘man marked’ according to the specific area i.e. the Director of Regeneration would work with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources portfolio. However there will be cross portfolio working.