REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR RESOURCES

IMPLEMENTATION DATE : 20 OCTOBER 2003

SUMMARY/PURPOSE

1. Members are asked to endorse the findings of the completed Best Value Review of Personnel Services.

BACKGROUND

2. The Best Value review of Personnel Services was undertaken by a small group of Elected Members, officers and trade union representatives and completed during the summer of last year. Directors’ Group requested an ‘external challenge’ to the review and GWT Consulting were commissioned to undertake this additional work. The assignment was undertaken by Tim Rothwell, GWT’s Director of HR Consulting whose brief was to check that the issues highlighted in the Best value report properly reflected all the key challenges facing the Council’s personnel management service and that the priorities it sets are the right ones. He also examined the detail of the Best Value Service Improvement Plan and gave specific consideration to the future staffing structure of the personnel service.

3. During December 2002 and the early part of this year, he undertook a range of discussion interviews with Elected Members, service users, service providers, District Audit and Unison. The key thrust of his report, a full copy of which is available in the Elected Members Resources Room together with the original report, is that the personnel function becomes a key player in the future development and delivery of Council policy and takes a proactive lead on issues such as Organisational Development and the people aspects of service delivery. Service users reflected to Tim Rothwell that the Council does not have a modern human resource function – it has a personnel administrative service, albeit a relatively effective one but that position needs to change if the Council is to move forward. Tim Rothwell feels the original review did not reflect this and his report makes 14 recommendations which are attached as a separate appendix (appendix 1) to this report.

4. A number of the recommendations have already been actioned. The function has been renamed Human Resources and the Head of Personnel and Training Services redesignated Head of Human Resources. A People Management Strategy, which was a key recommendation of last years CPA, together with an action plan which largely supercedes the original Best Value service

5. improvement plan, has been drafted and approved by the Executive and the ‘protocol’ of roles and standards of people management activity is part of the Strategy’s action plan covering the next three years. The health and safety advisory function is to be brought back in-house but will be placed within in the remit of Consumer Protection, complementing its health and safety responsibilities in the private sector. The contract for the provision of occupational health services will need to be tendered in due course and whilst there is a recommendation that recruitment should not be re-centralised at this time, centralising recruitment, particularly on-line recruitment, within the proposed Call Centre set up as part of the GAGS agenda would seem to be an ideal opportunity to ensure that service to the public is improved and a high standard of good practice is applied and maintained.

6. Other issues are currently under consideration. Defining the strategic and operational people management roles of Elected Members and managers is a key part of the People Management Strategy. Whilst it is important that decision making is delegated to the most appropriate level within the organisation, those making decisions need to be held accountable. The role of the ‘Vacancy Panel’ clearly needs to be reviewed in this context as do the constitutional aspects of staffing and related decisions. This review will take place during the Autumn.

7. The HR policy area needs to be appropriately structured and resourced if it is to have the capacity to deliver the strategic service that is now required. This is especially so as the Council needs to have in place HR policies and procedures that will enable it to become an attractive employer, deliver its objectives and which recognise services may be delivered in a variety of ways. There is a clear need to move away from the reactive service of the past by strengthening the strategic capacity of the HR function whilst at the same time ensuring that there is a consistent approach to people management across all services. Three distinct arms are envisaged; Employment Strategy, Business Support and Organisational Effectiveness with each being headed by a qualified HR professional.

Employment Strategy is a key area of the future HR function. It would drive the development of new and the revision of current employment policies and procedures and would also be responsible for monitoring and producing workforce data and statistics for workforce planning purposes.

Business Support will provide the essential operational support activity to Directorates. Acting more as a people management consultancy service, it will provide an employee relations advisory service to line managers helping them to interpret and apply the Council’s employment policies and procedures to ensure consistency and fairness of application. Job evaluation, contract administration and other associated activities are also an essential part of Business Support.

Organisational Effectiveness will provide the corporate training and development service, developing appropriate strategies to respond to the changing competence and training and development needs of the Council’s workforce and commissioning training as necessary.

8. The Directors’ Group support the restructuring along these lines and have agreed to make any additional resources available from within existing budgets to enable the restructure to be effected in the current financial year.

9. The Resources Select Committee considered the Best Value Review and external challenge report in its scrutiny session on 21 August 2003. The minutes are attached at appendix 2.

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

10. The CPA inspection and, in particular, the Best Value review have highlighted the need to adopt a more proactive, strategic approach to people management within the Council and this will support delivery of the corporate plan through organisational development and ensuring HR policies and procedures are ‘in tune’ with the Council’s business needs.

CONSULTATION

11. A consultation exercise was undertaken with key stakeholders as part of the Best Value Review. Further consultation was undertaken by the consultant conducting the external challenge.

FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

12. The restructure of the HR Section to strengthen the strategic aspects of the function cannot be done at the expense of the day to day operational service. Additional resources will be required but the re-evaluation of two posts whose grades do not reflect their current level of responsibilities will offset, in part, the additional costs. The marginal salary costs of establishing two new additional posts (net), including a Trainee HR Officer to ensure longer term succession planning, is likely to be £35,000 per annum. Directors have agreed that during the current year this should be found from existing budgets.

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

13. Employment of staff, on reasonable terms and conditions, is provided for by S112 Local Government Act 1972. The Review and the action plan are designed to ensure efficient and continuously improving delivery of corporate standards of Human Resource Management.

OPTIONS

1. To note the Best Value Review and recommendations of the Resources Select Committee.

2. That any restructuring as a result of best value review and external challenge should be considered as part of the 2004/2005 budget process.

EVALUATION/RISK MANAGEMENT

14. Consistent and effective service improvement will rely on the Council’s capacity to manage and develop its employees. Key to building this capacity is the need to develop leadership, improve recruitment and retention, train and develop managers and non-managers, manage sickness absence, develop work-life balance strategies and improving internal communications. If these are not addressed proactively then there is unlikely to be a realistic prospect of service improvement.

15. As future funding will not be guaranteed until the 2004-5 budget is set though the service planning process there is a risk that the improvement plan will need to be revisited, in the event that the necessary funds are not made available.

RECOMMENDATIONS

16. Approve options 1 and 2.

BACKGROUND PAPERS

17. Best Value Review and External Challenge reports (available in Members’ Resource Room)

Contact Point : Max Burton. Tel: (01983) 823121 email: [email protected]

M BURTON

Head of Human Resources

R BARRY

Portfolio Holder for Resources