SUMMARY/PURPOSE

1. To formalise the delivery mechanisms for the Great Access to Great Services project.

BACKGROUND

2. At its meeting on 19 February 2003, the Full Council committed itself to realising the vision of a re-designed Council which was truly customer centred. The brand of Great Access to Great Services was adopted to identify and articulate that vision.

3. The vision is manifest in four core principles:

(a) 80% of enquiries should be dealt with at the first point of contact

(b) All customer facing points should be managed and act in a consistent way

(c) There should be a wide choice of methods of contact designed to meet customer needs – these should include electronic and traditional services as appropriate and all services should be available at all service points

(d) Information should only be captured once and then made available across the organisation and to appropriate partners

PROJECT BOARD

4. A further key element of the vision, as adopted by Full Council, is that the delivery mechanism should be centred around a Project Board. The nascent Project Board has been developing in the period since February and there is now a need to formalise this partnership and Terms of Reference.

5. The Terms of Reference at Appendix A are recommended as a sound basis for the work of the Project Board.

DECISION MAKING

6. Decision making in relation to the Great Access to Great Services agenda must be efficient and demonstrate the best principles of modernised local authorities if the council is to seize the opportunity to demonstrate that it has embraced the lessons of the CPA inspection that efficiency in service delivery is achieved through members setting policy and giving managers the freedom to deliver, and be held accountable, for their performance.

7. Accordingly it is proposed that the following principles will apply to decisions taken, in accordance with recommendations of the Programme Board, to deliver the Great Access to Great Services vision within existing budgets (including viring between existing budgets):

(a) The Head of Organisational Development, where necessary in consultation with the Deputy Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Resources, has a specific delegation in relation to the deployment of staff, buildings or other resources, or in relation to any procurement exercise to acquire goods or services.

(b) Where a decision is particularly sensitive, controversial or inherently risky, it will always be possible for that decision to be taken higher up the decision making hierarchy, including by the Executive collectively.

The Council’s policies relating to project management, procurement and risk management will apply to GAGS procurements.

FUNDING

8. A further principle of the vision is that spending on specific projects associated with delivering the vision will be funded by realigning existing budgets. The mechanisms for that realignment are outside of the scope of this report, being a matter for budget prioritisation and headroom exercises already underway and which will be completed under the budget and policy framework procedure rules.

9. There will, nevertheless, be many decisions on allocation of those financial resources which are made available to the delivery of the vision. In order that efficient and effective decisions are taken to effect the delivery of the vision, as driven by the Project Board, it is proposed that where the decision is necessary to effect a recommendation of the Project Board:

(a) Heads of Service have a specific delegation, in consultation with the relevant portfolio holder where necessary, to authorise transfers between budgets within a single service unit to further the GAGS agenda. Where proposed budget transfers are between two service units, agreement of both service heads and both relevant portfolio holders is required.

(b) Decisions with a corporate or strategic significance beyond the Great Access to Great Services agenda, or which entail changes to front line service delivery, will be taken by the Executive collectively.

OPENESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

10. The Resources Select Committee has added to its work programme an active and constantly developing scrutiny of the activity of the Programme Board and of the implementation of the Great Access to Great Services vision more generally.

11. The agenda and minutes of meetings of the Project Board are made available to all members of the Council via the GAGS part of the council’s intranet which is directly accessible from the intranet home page.

12. Significant decisions made under this delegation by Officers should be recorded on the attached pro forma and a central record kept by the Head of Organisational Development. It is also the responsibility of each Head of Service taking such a decision to maintain an auditable record within their own service area.

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

13. The Great Access to Great Services agenda is both the key driver and principle delivery mechanism for achieving the corporate objectives of improving the quality, accessibility and value of service provision.

CONSULTATION

14. The recommendations in this report refer only to internal decision making processes and consultation has accordingly been exclusively with internal stakeholders.

FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

15. The recommendations in this report are concerned with the mechanisms for taking decisions in relation to established budgets. Decisions taken under those mechanisms will require appropriate financial advice at the time they are taken, and no financial implications arise in relation to the recommendations.

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

16. The recommendations are consistent with existing schemes of delegation and reflect the principles of s13 Local Government Act 2000 and the two Functions and Responsibilities Orders of 2000 and 2001 which identify the areas of decision making under consideration as executive functions.

17. Decisions taken under the recommended mechanisms, if adopted, must be taken on a fully informed, auditable and reasonable basis.

OPTIONS

i) to support the proposed terms specific delegations and terms of reference

ii) to amend or reject the proposed terms specific delegations and terms of reference

EVALUATION/RISK MANAGEMENT

18. The proposed specific delegations and terms of reference are consistent with the role of the Programme Board as outlined in the GAGS paper approved by Full Council in February, 2003 and formalise previous expectations.

RECOMMENDATIONS

19. It is recommended that the Executive approve:

(a) The Terms of Reference set out in Appendix A.

(b) The specific delegations set out in paragraph 7.

(c) A request that, within its discretion to sets its own work programme, that the Select Committee for Resources continues to keep the delivery of the Great Access to Great Services vision under scrutiny.

SCRUTINY

20. The Resources Select Committee scrutinised the proposals contained in this paper at a meeting held on the 15th September, 2003.

· The Committee recommended to the Executive that item (a) be endorsed subject to the amendment that a trade union representative be included on the GAGS Programme Board.

· The Committee had a split vote on item (b) and made no recommendation to the Executive on this item.

· The Committee endorsed recommendation (c) and will continue to include elements of the GAGS programme in its work plan.

BACKGROUND PAPERS

21. Great Access to Great Services paper - February 2003

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Contact Point : David Price, ( 82-3502, [email protected]

John Lawson, ( 82-3207, e-mail: [email protected]

DAVID PRICE

Head of Organisational Development

PETER HARRIS

Deputy Leader of the Council

Appendix A - Great Access to Great Services

Programme Board

Proposed Terms of Reference

The Programme Board will consist of:

Deputy Leader of the Council (Chair)

Portfolio Holder for Resources

Additional nominated Executive Member

Additional nominated Non-Executive Member

Member of the Opposition Group

Chief Executive Officer

Head of Organisational Development

Head of Finance

Head of Human Resources

Head of Policy

Head of Property Services

Education Department representative

Social Services representative

Internal Audit representative

Organisational Development Project Manager

The Programme Board will:

1. Drive the delivery of the corporate vision of Great Access to Great Services, particularly the following four principles:

80% of enquiries should be dealt with at the first point of contact.
All customer-facing points should be managed and act in a consistent way.
a wide choice of methods of contact designed to meet customer needs with all services be available at all service points
Information should only be captured once and then be made available across the organisation and to appropriate partners.

2. Inform and advise on procurement decisions in pursuit of the Corporate vision.

3. Inform and advise upon the deployment of human and other resources in order to deliver the Corporate vision.

4. Identify and advise on the removal of barriers to delivering the Corporate vision.

Powers and Decision Making

The Programme Board will:

1. make recommendations by consensus and be bound by the principals of collective responsibility;

2. not bear any decision making powers;

3. make recommendations for decisions to be taken and implemented by the Full Council (on budget and policy matters), the Executive (on issues of strategic and corporate significance), Portfolio Holders (on high level operational and service specific strategic issues), and Strategic Directors/Heads of Services (in areas within their delegated powers).

The Head of Organisational Development will bear responsibility for ensuring the recommendations of the Board are delivered through normal decision making processes.

Accountability

The Board is an integral part of the GAGS vision approved by the Full Council. It does not have any formal constitutional position and performance management accountability is through the decision making structures of the Council, particularly the scheme of delegations to Officers and to the Executive/Portfolio Holders.

The Select Committees, particularly the Resources Select Committee, will have a vital role in contributing to the development of the Great Access to Great Services vision, ensuring its delivery is efficient and timely and in holding the decision makers in the delivery processes to account. The manner in which the Select Committees undertake this role is entirely for themselves in the context of their own work programmes. Members of the Programme Board will hold themselves accountable to the Select Committees, individually and collectively, for the manner in which they conduct the business of the Board.

Appendix B

OFFICER DECISION RECORD

This form should be used to Decision Ref. No

record executive decisions taken by officers

under the scheme of delegations.

Box 1

DIRECTORATE: DATE:

Contact Name: Tel. No.

Subject Matter:

Box 2

DECISION TAKEN:

Box 3

RELEVANT BACKGROUND CONSIDERATIONS:

Box 4

CONSULTATION UNDERTAKEN:

Box 5

OPTIONS CONSIDERED & REASONS FOR THE DECISION:

Box 6

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS:

Advised by (insert name):

Box 7

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:

Advised by (insert name):

Box 8

Delegation being exercised:

(refer to scheme of delegation OR decision by Executive/Portfolio Holder/Regulatory Committee)

Box 9

Signed: Date:

I have consulted on the above decision, (for use if it is considered appropriate to consult the relevant Member in taking a decision).

* Signature of Leader, Deputy Leader or relevant Portfolio Holder

Signed:_____________________________________ Date: _________________

* Signature of Select Committee (if appropriate):