56.
MINUTES
RESOLVED :
THAT the Minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 10 September 2003 be confirmed.
57.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Interests were declared in the following matters:
Mrs S A Smart, Mr P G Harris and Mr H Rees declared a
personal interest in Minute 59 as Directors appointed by the Council to the
Isle of Wight Partnership
58.
FIRE
AUTHORITY INTERGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN – CONSULTATION DRAFT
The Executive received a presentation on the Fire
Authority’s Integrated Risk Management Plan and Improvement Programme. This set out the underlying fire policy
together with year on year planned improvements that would improve service
delivery. The document stressed that
the emphasis had been refocused from intervention to prevention. Members emphasised that budget implications
arising from the Risk Management Plan would need to be considered as part of
the budget planning process.
RESOLVED :
(i)
THAT the Fire Authority Integrated Risk Management
Plan and the Improvement Programme be approved for public consultation
(ii)
THAT
no decision by the Executive be taken in relation to either the Fire Authority
Integrated Risk Management Plan or the Improvement Programme until the
consultation process had been completed
(iii)
THAT
a further report be brought to the Executive setting out the outcome of the
consultation and recommending final drafts of the Fire Authority Integrated
Risk Management Plan and Improvement Programme in the light of that
consultation.
59.
REPORT
OF THE DEPUTY LEADER
Corporate Contact Centre Premises, Terms of Reference –
GAGS Programme Board and the Land and Property Gazetteer Project
At the request of the Deputy Leader, the three above papers
were discussed as one.
The three reports set out the Council’s vision of improved
service delivery to its customers. The
proposals would have immense implications for the way in which the Council
operated. It was envisaged that 80% of
queries would be dealt with at the first point of contact and the Deputy Leader
emphasised that this level of service could not be delivered by traditional
methods.
The Deputy Leader noted the concerns of some, given the
widespread nature of the project and the high level of change in working
practises that would be required.
Mention was made of a letter which had been received from Unison setting
out their concerns.
The Deputy Leader outlined the potential of involving
partners in order to examine what options were available to the authority.
Members noted that even if a partner were to be chosen, this would take 18
months to 2 years and would not address the current need to improve service
delivery. It was emphasised that the only way of delivering a more efficient
and effective service would be if it was supported by staff.
The reports set out details of using
Enterprise House as a corporate telephone contact centre. To achieve a more
customer centred organisation a Programme Board had been established to oversee
the restructuring of the way the organisation provided its services. The Board had determined that this could be
achieved by forming a distinction between customer facing services and support
services. The Board had been meeting for several months and had now progressed sufficiently
to formalise its terms of reference. These were set out as appendix A to the
report. The Land and Property Gazetteer Project was an initiative had been
introduced by the Department of Environment for a national dataset that would
contain address information based on every property and land parcel throughout
the England and Wales. All local authorities would be required to submit
and maintain a Local Land and Property Gazetteer to be included into the
national dataset.
The Executive discussed in detail the financial implications of the
three reports including the need to look at the project as part of the whole
budget making process. Financial advice was received and members emphasised
that there would be no further investment in the project until sufficient
details were known relating to next years budget position, when other bids had
been made.
During the debate, the following amendment was moved
by Cllr Kendall and was voted on and lost.
THAT the implementation of this resolution be delayed
for so long as was necessary for normal budget processes to deliver sufficient
clarity in relation to the 2004/05 budget to allow implementation and that a
virtual call centre be implemented as soon as the programme board approves a
business case in order to test the efficacy of staff training and robustness of
systems
Following further debate it was moved and seconded that due to the potential effect on service delivery in this and future years, and in order to deliver the recommendations of the Resources Select Committee
THE EXECUTIVE RECOMMENDS THAT FULL COUNCIL:
(a)
Confirms that the budget
allocations for 2003/04 and in future years (including those allocated to
underwrite the rent at Enterprise House, for strategic development of ICT and
from savings generated by the implementation) can be used to deliver the two
GAGS projects, as set out below;
(b)
Notes that the Executive
will, at any time, delay expenditure on a corporate call centre if necessary to
protect the standards of service delivery and/or to achieve greater clarity in
relation to the 2004-05 budget.
RESOLVED:
THAT subject to approval by Full Council of the budget
recommendations set out above:
(i)
THAT the first floor of
Enterprise House be used as the location for a corporate contact centre,
subject to there being, in the opinion of the Portfolio Holder for Resources,
no suitable alternative user for Enterprise House;
(ii)
THAT the Head of
Organisational Development, in consultation with the Deputy Leader and the GAGS
Programme Board, be given a specific delegation to deliver the corporate
contact centre and to ensure all aspects of best value were fully addressed;
(iii)
THAT, if necessary in
delivering paragraph (i), the Executive receive a separate report in the near
future on the use of the ground floor of Enterprise House;
(iv)
THAT preliminary
investigation be undertaken of the potential costs, savings and reallocation of
benefits to the Council of engaging with a strategic partner and that a report
be brought back to the Executive before the end of the year.
(v)
THAT the Head of
Organisational Development, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for
Resources, be given a specific delegation to purchase, implement and operate an
accredited Gazetteer System
(vi)
THAT the costs of the
Gazetteer system, based on the projections set out in the report, be met from
budgets made available for the strategic development of ICT
(vii)
THAT the implementation
of this resolution be delayed for so long as was necessary for normal budget
processes to deliver sufficient clarity in relation to the 2004/05 budget to
allow implementation.
In relation to Paper C2, Terms of Reference – GAGS Programme Board the Executive in order to effect the recommendations of the Resources Select Committee and to ensure an open, inclusive and accountable delivery process,
RESOLVED :
(i) THAT the terms of
reference set out at Appendix A to the report be approved, with the following
amendments:
“Member of the Opposition Group” be deleted from
Members of the Programme Board and that “A trade union representative,
Member(s) of the opposition group(s), such further elected members as are
necessary to reflect diversity of member opinion”; be added to Members of the
Programme Board
(ii) THAT the specific delegations set out in paragraph 7(a) and 9(a) of the report be approved
(iii) THAT a request that, within it’s discretion to set its own work programme, the Select Committee for Resources continue to keep the delivery of the Great Access to Great Services Vision under scrutiny
60.
LIBRARY POSITION STATMENT
The Portfolio Holder for Education and Community
Development introduced the Library Position Statement, which was required to be
submitted to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The
position statement had replaced the Annual Library Plan and was a shorter and
more concise document, which would last for a one year only. The statement considered the strengths and weaknesses
of the service in several areas and set targets for improvement in the service
and members were informed that the assessment would be
based on the Comprehensive Performance Assessment four point scoring
system.
RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO FULL COUNCIL :
That the Library Position Statement be adopted and recommended for adoption by the Council.
CHAIRMAN