Reasources Select Minutes - 6 September 2004

14. MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2004 were confirmed.

15. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Mrs B Lawson declared a Personal Interest in Minute 17 as a member of the GAG’s Review Board.

16. COUNCIL’S FORWARD PLAN

A question was asked regarding Prestwood Grange Farm, Ryde. The Portfolio Holder for Resources advised the meeting that negotiations were still on-going and it was hoped it would be resolved by the Executives meeting on 8 September 2004.

17. SCRUTINY OF THE GAGS PROGRAMME

(Mrs B Lawson left the room for this item)

The Select Committee received the report of the Deputy Leader of the Council who was also the Chairman of the GAGS Review Board. The Deputy Leader explained that since the conception of the GAGS initiative there had been a dramatic change in emphasis. Priority was now being placed on the 2005 E-government targets. It was explained that there had been a lack of resources to carry out some of the more time consuming initiatives and therefore prioritisation had been necessary.

Members asked if any future partnership arrangements were planned. It was advised that there were insufficient resources to deliver the full GAGS agenda and expert help would need to be sought. The Select Committee asked what further resources were required to successfully deliver the agenda. It was noted that there was an issue with technology, E-procurement had not yet been completed due to the amount of work involved and lack of resources. Other issues related to lack of budget support.

In discussion Members reiterated that the Council had signed up to the successful delivery of the GAGS agenda, however progress so far had been slow. It was asked whether there had been any blockages. The Deputy Leader explained that Planning Services and the Highways department had been the first services to be reviewed, however both faced problems. It was asked whether Highways would become part of the Corporate Call September by September 2004. It was explained that the Highways department were currently looking at a Private Finance Initiative (PFI), however as part of this initiative it was required that the department maintain its own call centre. Therefore a business case was being undertaken, in an attempt to resolve this conflict with the Councils GAGS Policy. Mindful of this, Members questioned why the PFI was being considered if elements of this would conflict with this Policy. It was indicated that the PFI could be used to delay the implementation of GAGS. It was indicated that although many supported the principals of GAGS, change was not welcomed in certain areas. The Select Committee fully supported the Councils GAGS agenda and considered that service areas needed to be instructed to follow the corporate policy.

It was suggested that GAGS would find more budget savings by reducing the number of direct dialling in numbers

The Deputy Leader indicated that he saw no prospect of being given any additional resources and would endeavour to work within existing budgets. Members sought assurance that any savings arising from GAGS would be taken from the service area and reallocated as appropriate. The Deputy Leader supported this sentiment although explained that this sometimes proved difficult.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY ALL PORTFOLIO HOLDERS :

The Select Committee fully supports the delivery of key front line services through the Council’s Call Centre and encourages all Portfolio Holders to examine their service area to accelerate the migration from services into the Corporate Call Centre, as part of this and future years budget round.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY THE HEAD OF ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT :

The Committee supports the time table to incorporate Highways within the Corporate Call Centre (subject to a satisfactory business case) and encourages the Head of Organisational Development to propose to Portfolio Holders when appropriate new front line service areas are ready.

The Committee recommends that the Head of Organisational Development reviews each significant front line services with a business case, to determine if it satisfies the criteria for inclusion within the Corporate Call Centre

The Committee recommends that the Head of Organisational Development review the existing DDI number network with a view to rationalising this network with the appropriate financial saving into the corporate call centre.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY THE DEPUTY LEADER OF THE COUNCIL :

The Committee fully supports the work of the Deputy Leader and encourages him to drive on with the Council’s Policy to incorporate front-line services into the Corporate Call Centre.

The Committee request that the Deputy Leader advise the Committee of any problems he encountered in delivering this important policy.

18. GREAT ACCESS TO GREAT SERVICES – ACOUNTABILITY TERMS OF REFERENCE

(Mr S Milford declared an “interest” as he had been attending meetings of the GAGS Programme Board in a non-voting capacity as the union representative and had also been involved in the GAGS Front Office Working Group)

At the Select Committees Development Day Members had expressed some concern regarding the accountability and reporting lines of the GAGS project. The suggested Terms of Reference aimed to clearly identify the project structure, ascertain any perceived weaknesses in accountability and outline any options for clear accountability to allow the project to be carried out more effectively.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY THE HEAD OF SELECT COMMITTEE AND BEST VALUE SUPPORT :

That the Terms of Reference be agreed and that a future report be brought back to the Select Committee in November 2004.

19. PROCUREMENT OF GRAPHIC DESIGN

Members received the report of the Portfolio Holder for Resources which provided some initial analysis of the Council’s graphic design requirements and whether the Council was procuring in the most economic, efficient and effective way. This report had been requested following the Select Committees recommendations regarding printing procurement within the Council.

It was noted that the initial investigations indicated that approximately £121,000 of graphic design was procured externally and approximately £131,000 internally. These findings provided a snapshot of graphic design requirements within the Council. It was noted that some services may produce documents on a cyclical basis, which would effect the figures from year to year. In discussion Members considered that a corporate standardised approach should be taken with graphic design. It was suggested this could be achieved through centralisation of graphic design.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR RESOURCES :

The Select Committee requested that further analysis be undertaken into the demand, type and volume of graphic design requirements within the Council, to enable more detailed scrutiny before recommendations could be made.

20. REVIEW OF THE USE OF CONSULTANTS

Consideration was given to the draft scope for a review of the use of consultants which had been requested at the Select Committees meeting on 5 July 2004.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY THE HEAD OF SELECT COMMITTEE AND BEST VALUE SUPPORT :

That the draft scope be agreed and a Task Group comprising Mrs Lawson, Mr Morey and Mr Pearson be established to undertake the review.

21. THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE FULL COUNCIL HELD ON 21 JULY 2004

“This Council recognises that the majority of Executive delegated decisions made speed up the process and increase capacity. Furthermore the Council recognizes that the issue of land and property acquisition and disposals have proved controversial in the past”

“In light of these issues the Council instructs its officers to amend the Constitution regarding Executive delegated decisions in respect of land and property to ensure all transactions in the area within an agreed threshold of £20,000 are scrutinized by the Resources Select Committee who should then instruct whether the transaction should be taken by delegated powers or by the Council’s Executive”

The Select Committee considered the recommendation that had been made by Full Council on 21 July 2004. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised the meeting that there were two particular areas of wording which required some clarification. Firstly to clarify the sentiment of the Councils recommendation, which had been that all land and property transactions above an agreed threshold of £20,000 be scrutinised by the Select Committee. Secondly that the word ‘instruct’ be amended to a word similar to ‘recommend’ or ‘advise’.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services would draft a protocol to enable the recommendation to be implemented. It would be considered at the Councils meeting in September 2004. If Members do not approve the terms of the protocol the recommendation can stand and be referred to the cross party corporate governance working party.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources advised Members that delegated decisions were only taken under the advise of the Monitoring Officer and considered that the current system worked well.

An example of a draft pro-forma for dealing with these property transactions was circulated.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services clarified that when the draft protocol was considered by the full Council in September, Members should refrain from revisiting the original debate under this agenda item.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR RESOURCES :

(a) The Select Committee recommends the Portfolio Holder provide a quarterly pro-forma of all property transactions over £20,000 to enable the Committee to make recommendations at to whether the transactions should be taken either by delegated powers or the Council’s Executive.

(b) The Select Committee recommends that the value bands in the pro-forma be reduced and also incorporates a column to indicate if a full report is available on that transaction.

(c) The Select Committee recommends that Portfolio Holders do not take delegated decisions in the area which they reside.

CHAIRMAN