RESOURCES SELECT COMMITTEE – 21 AUGUST 2003
BEST
VALUE REVIEW OF PERSONNEL SERVICES
HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES
REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
This report presents and comments on the external challenge to the Best Value review of Personnel Services. It is included in the workplan for the Resources Select Committee.
ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
The
Committee is invited to comment on the Best Value review
BACKGROUND
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.
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 to this report.
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 the last years CPA, 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.
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.
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 realations 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.
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.
RELEVANT PLANS, POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Comprehensive
Performance Assessment 2002
Corporate
Plan
BVPI’s
in respect of ‘Corporate Health’
CONSULTATION PROCESS
Elected
Members, managers, trade unions and other stakeholders were consulted as part
of the review process.
The staffing complement of the HR service will increase by two full time equivalent posts with a initial net salary cost of approximately £35,000 plus on costs in a full year. This will be met from within existing budgets.
APPENDICES ATTACHED
Extract of summary and recommendations from the consultants report.
BACKGROUND PAPERS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT
External Challenge report
People Management Strategy
Contact Point : Max Burton,
Head of Human Resources F 3121,
[email protected]
MAX BURTON
Head of Human Resources