POLICY COMMISSION MEETING

Meeting	Policy Commission for Economy, Tourism, Regeneration and Transport
Ref	E.PC. 8/11/06
Date	8 November 2006
Time	18.00 hours
Place	Committee Room 1, County Hall, Newport
Purpose of meeting	Formal Public Meeting
Attendance	Commission	Cllrs George Brown (Commissioner), Henry Adams, Ivan Bulwer, John Hobart, Lora Peacey-Wilcox, Fitzgerald-Bond
	Cabinet
	Cabinet Secretariat	Cllr Alan Wells
	Other Councillors	Cllrs Andy Sutton, Arthur Taylor, David Knowles, Vanessa Churchman, Ian Stephens
	Officers	Miss Vanda Niemiec, O&S Team Ms April West, O&S Team Barry Cooke, Property Management Group Matt Bridger, Legal Services David Price, Head of Organisational Development Maureen Burge, Customer Service Centre Cate Sheen, Customer Service Centre
	Stake holders	Brian Harris, Ryde Town Management Committee Tony Gordon, Ryde Town Management Committee
	Apologies	Cllr Charlie Hancock
Agenda Items
1. To agree the notes of the previous meeting	1.1 The notes of the meeting held on 11/10/2006 were agreed.
2. To invite Members to declare any interest they might have in the matters on the agenda	2.1 Cllrs Henry Adams and Ivan Bulwer declared an interest in item 4 as they are members of Ryde Town Management Committee.
3. To receive evidence on Procurement enquiry Part 1 E4/06 Matt Bridger, Legal Services (IW Council)	3.1 Legal Services work closely with the Procurement section, to ensure that contracts that are entered into by the Council are lawful and on terms acceptable to the authority. 3.2 A Procurement Compliance Assessment was commissioned by the authority in April 2005 to review the procurement activity within the council. 3.3 Recommendations included improving training on procurement, good practice awareness and improved communications across all departments, which have been adopted. 3.4 Legal and Procurement professionals have pressed service areas to involve them in all contracts at an early stage in the process. There has been a distinct improvement in the management of larger contracts where this is now standard practice. 3.5 Most problems that do occur are in smaller value contracts and those entered into more than 2 years ago. Almost all would have been avoided had internal legal advice been taken on performance obligations at the time the contracts were let. 3.6 A networking group has recently been set up for Local Authorities in the South to share ideas and resources, in respect of procurement. 3.7 The Commission accepted that Mr Bridger’s presentation was made solely from a legal standpoint. Senior management strategy to improve the procurement process across the Council was not covered by his brief and there may have been significant progress at a strategic level.
4. a To receive evidence on Hubs enquiry E6/06 Brian Harris, Ryde Town Management Committee Tony Gordon, Ryde Town Management Committee	4.1 The Ryde Town Management Committee had discussed Hubs at its meeting held on 25 October 2006. 4.2 The members of the committee are supportive of the co-location of services for the convenience of local residents. 4.3 They are aware of speculation that the transport interchange planned for Ryde might include some publicly accessible services, eg. a Tourist Information Office and a Police office. 4.4 Further public consultation is needed to determine which services would benefit from being co-located. 4.5 The committee supports the on-going use of Ryde Town Hall and Theatre as a theatre and to provide a council chamber. 4.6 They consider that Ryde Town Hall could and should be used to provide additional public services. 4.7 Due to the topography of Ryde, the committee wishes to deliberate further on the accessibility of services. They consider that the location of any Hub away from a central location would have a seriously detrimental impact on businesses. 4.8 Presenters drew attention to the apparent availability 2-3 years ago of Health sector funding for healthcare facilities in Ryde. 4.9 The location of back office activities incorporated in a centrally located Hub facility could improve efficiencies and support local businesses. 4.10 Ryde Town Management Committee agreed to collect views on this topic.
Action	Statistical information to be provided to the Committee in respect of the numbers of people who visit the Ryde Help Centre.
4. b To receive evidence on Hubs enquiry E6/06 David Price, Head of Organisational Development (IW Council) Maureen Burge, Maureen Burge, Customer Service Centre (IW Council) Cate Sheen, Customer Service Centre (IW Council)	4.11 With the progress of technology, the same level of services can be provided from a variety of locations. 4.12 The Council needs to work ‘smarter’ in the provision of services, including the use of self service/help facilities that can be provided by use of the Internet and telephone. 4.13 A facility for video-conferencing could be considered to enable face-to-face conversations without the need for officers to travel to other offices. 4.14 Specialist officers could visit the hub to provide face-to-face advice on a regular basis. Eg. a duty social worker/planning officer could attend one morning a week. 4.15 The co-location of council services needs to be decided prior to the consideration of including other public sector services, such as the Police or Health. 4.16 The Council utilises a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, to deal with all contact with the Customer Service Centre. 4.17 Front line staff are able to use the system to answer many enquiries at the first point of contact, without the need to seek advice from a specialist officer. 4.18 The Council has received positive feedback from the public on the services offered by Ryde Help Centre. 4.19 The main difficulty for the public is knowing where to access relevant services. It is easy for them to know if they require a service from the Police or Health Authority, but the services offered by the Council are so varied, that it is not always easy to know who, or how, to contact the relevant service.
Action	The Commission to receive a demonstration of the CRM system.