Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed members and led introductions.

Cllr Afzal Shah, Richard Billingham (Service Director Human Resources), Cathy Mullins (Interim Service Director Policy, Strategy and Communications), Julie Oldale (Interim Service Director Finance)

To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

Cllr Gollop referred to Item 10 Business Change Outturn Performance Report for Quarter 4 of 2015/16 and asked the Committee to note that he had served as Assistant Mayor and Executive Member for Business Change and Resources Scrutiny Commission in the previous municipal year and had been responsible for progress towards delivery of the Corporate Plan 2014/17.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting as a correct record.

The Committee AGREED the minutes of the last meeting as a correct record.

Subject to the following addition at Minute 85 k. ‘It was generally agreed that there was some tension between transparency and scrutiny vs commerciality and that there was a need for increased speed in commercial decision making.’ Add the words ‘However, it was also agreed that the maximum transparency possible should be attained.’

Action: Louise deCordova

The following points were noted in discussion:

Reference Minute 85 f. Bristol is Open.  An update to be provided on the progress to date since March 2016.

Action: Dominic Mason

To note the progress of actions from the previous meeting.

The Committee noted the progress of actions from the previous meeting.

The following points were raised in discussion:

Ref. Action 7.Income Generation. Members asked whether options for the Inquiry Day event had been progressed. Scrutiny Officers confirmed that there had been an overlap of interest between Business Change and Place on this topic.  An Inquiry Day involving both Scrutiny Commissions could be progressed if members were minded to prioritise this within the 2016/17 work programme.

Action: Johanna Holmes

To note any announcements from the Chair

The Chair recognised that the Business Change Directorate had undergone significant structural change which had resulted in amendments to the planned agenda.

The Chair proposed that the key to the commission’s success would be a work programme which took a strategic view over a 3-4 year period, underpinned by robust and rigorous scrutiny; delivered in a respectful way.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on Tuesday 12 July 2016.

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on Friday 15 July 2016.

None received.

The Commission received a position summary from the Strategic Director for Business Change which referenced the number of interim positions currently in post. There was a renewed focus to deliver stability for the team, the workforce and for councillors.  Recruitment had commenced for two statutory posts, Service Directors for Legal and Finance.  The Directorate Leadership team would need a short time to reflect on the Mayor’s Bristol Plan; the Local Authority financial position ; and the need to protect frontline services; against the backdrop of emerging national picture and central government policy.

Officers tabled the Business Change structure chart. (attached)

The Service Directors for Change and Legal and Democratic Services introduced their service areas. 

The following points were raised in discussion:

1. It was agreed that Service Directors for HR, Policy, Strategy and Communications and Finance introduce their areas of service at the next meeting.

Action: Service Directors

2. It was noted that Citizen Services had moved into the Neighbourhoods Directorate and Procurement had moved to the People Directorate.

3. Restructuring was an inevitable next step in the move towards an automated self-serve environment.

4. A Finance Improvement Programme report was being considered by the Audit Committee, the outcomes would be shared at the next meeting.

Action: Anna Klonowski

5. Members asked for the current position with regards to the statutory Head of Paid Service post. Officers confirmed that the Strategic Leadership Team were covering the position on a weekly rotating basis. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that this was a legitimate temporary measure whilst the selection process for an interim Head of Paid Service was being progressed.

To elect a Vice-Chair of the Scrutiny Commission, outline the terms of reference for the Business Change Scrutiny Commission and propose meeting dates and times for occurrences of Scrutiny within the 2016/17 municipal year.

The Commission considered a report of Democratic Services which set out the Commission’s Annual Business for 2016/17.

The Commission RESOLVED:-

(i)         To elect Cllr Stephen Clarke as Vice-Chair of the Scrutiny Commission

(ii)        To note the Commission's Terms of Reference as set out in the report.

(iii)      To confirm the meeting dates and times for the Commission in 2016/17 as set out below:

To note the Business Change Performance Report for 2015-2016, Quarter Four.  The report and appendices are a summary of the main areas of progress towards the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2014-17.

The Commission considered the report from the Strategic Director of Business Change in respect of the Quarter 4 Outturn Performance report 2015/16. The report and appendices summarised the main areas of progress towards delivery of the Corporate Plan 2014-17.

The following points were noted in discussion:

      a.            Ref. BU163 – Percentage of ICT requests using self-service.  Members asked for clarification on the -12% variance from target.  Officers confirmed that work was being progressed to improve the take up of the self-service offer. Customers would be consulted and the outcomes would inform a tailored communications plan, supported by service level agreements to support delivery.

      b.            Ref. BU205 – Number of Knowledgebase hits to Advice Centre calls. Members asked for clarification of the terminology used.   Officers advised that this related to the number of calls received from customers that prompted the use of pre populated ‘knowledgebase’ scripts used by advice centre staff to answer telephone enquiries.  Officers to confirm the targets expected.

Action: Dominic Mason

       c.            Ref. BU171 – % procurement spend with 'Small and Medium sized Enterprises' (SME's) s. Members requested detailed analysis to include local spend.  Officers confirmed that the definition of ‘local’ was still under consideration with a scope of BS16 a preferred option.  Officers to report back to Committee.

Action: Shahzia Daya

      d.            Members referred to the progress against the major projects within the Single Change Programme (SCP) and asked whether progress had been made with reference to the use of Salesforce to enable councillors to track local case work.  Officers confirmed that a solution for this work was still under consideration.  Committee Members asserted that progress on this would be both useful and welcomed. The Strategic Director confirmed that future reports would be presented with a prioritised view of projects within current financial constraints.

      e.            Members referred to the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution and asked for clarification regarding the current position and whether customer facing staff now had access to the full functionality of the system.  Officers confirmed that whilst the Citizens Account had been achieved this was not yet functional with the CRM tool.  Further enhancements were needed to provide a single software platform. A staff training programme would then need to be developed.  Officers to update the Commission on the current position with reference to a local casework solution.

Action: Shahzia Daya

        f.            Ref. BU115 – Customer satisfaction (%) with ICT service desk service.  Members questioned the rationality of reporting this type of target at Scrutiny level.

      g.            Ref. BU011 – Percentage of financial audits concluding the level of control is acceptable or above.  Members commented that the analysis reporting a considerable improvement on quarter 2 painted a confusing picture. Officers were asked to report back on the areas that had not measured a satisfactory level of control.  Officers confirmed that detailed reports were already considered by the Audit Committee but could be shared with the Commission.

Action: Julie Oldale

      h.            Officers reassured Councillors that Finance Services had commenced an improvement programme which was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To consider an update to the change programme.

The Commission received a presentation from the Interim Service Director, ICT/Business Change.  (attached) The overarching objectives being to synch with the Mayor’s Bristol Plan; address the financial savings targets; and guide major changes to ensure business continuity.

The following points were noted in discussion:

      a.            It was confirmed that the executive member for Business Change was invited to engage regularly with the Directorate Leadership Team.

      b.            Members voiced concerns that a significant impact of channel shift was a loss of confidence in systems. Citizens feedback suggested that the online tools to engage with Waste and Parking services did not deliver; and any frustration was compounded by the reduction in support staff and digital telephony systems.

       c.            Officers confirmed that that work was being carried out in service areas to ensure that when frontline and telephony systems moved to digital services that teams had plans in place to resource the transition period in the right ways through citizen centric contracts.  This was being monitored through regular reporting of the customer experience and took steps to address areas of concern.

      d.            Officers confirmed the need to re-engage and restore confidence to Councillors in order that Councillors were able to provide the support needed to drive through the necessary changes.

The meeting closed at 11.20am