SUMMARY/PURPOSE
1.
To approve a revised structure to enable the Council
to implement the emerging Change Management Plan.
RULE 15
ACCESS TO INFORMATION RULES
2.
This report appeared on the Forward Plan for decision on
28 September 2005, as part of the Change Management Plan. Consultation on
changes to service delivery structures was completed on time, allowing the
timetable for implementing the proposed changes to be brought forward. The
changes proposed will help to deliver a high performing, cost effective Council
and there is no reason to delay approval and implementation until the planned
decision date.
BACKGROUND
3.
Work has been underway over recent weeks on developing
a Change Management Plan for the Council.
4.
The first stage of this was to set out revised
proposals for the way in which the Council is to function. The Council has indicated its wish to focus
its priorities around four clear service blocks with those blocks mirroring the
political arrangements made by the Council and the four themes which will
comprise the Local Area Agreement.
These arrangements will provide a clear link between the community
priorities and the Council’s ability to respond effectively to them.
5.
The proposed structure for the Council as shown in
Appendix A will, in future, be focused around the four service directorates of:
·
Children’s Services
·
Adult and Community Services
·
Economic Development and Regeneration
·
Safer Communities
6.
Changes to management structures will follow adoption
of the new organisational structure.
7.
In respect of the centre of the organisation, it is
proposed to appoint two Assistant Chief Executives who will have responsibility
for delivering within the Chief Executive’s Department, the overall Change
Management Plan and the internal operation of the Council. This arrangement will free the Chief
Executive to support the Leader in developing the role of the Council as a community
leader and in strengthening its partnership approach.
8.
The structure also anticipates the appointment of a
new Head of Communications to work to improve the public profile of the
Council. That post would report through
the Assistant Chief Executives. Within
the Economic Development and Regeneration block it is proposed that a new Head
of Regeneration be recruited to focus the Council’s approach to regeneration
and to link relevant groups of staff within that Directorate who are being
drawn increasingly towards this type of work.
9.
For the time being, the post of Head of Housing
Services has been retained in the structure.
This is an area currently under review by the Commission and until that
review has been completed, no steps will be taken to recruit to that post.
10.
A Change Agent is to be recruited through external
advertisement. Competitive quotations
are being obtained at the present time and, subject to that process, the Change
Agent should be appointed by the end of September. The brief for the Change Agent will be as follows:
Using the IDeA procurement model to identify
and implement opportunities to improve identified services provided by the
Council and partners.
A key element of the project will be the
Council’s ability to review the progress made in each phase of the model and to
agree progression to subsequent phases.
Specific
required outcomes of the project include:-
·
Evaluate whether a Strategic Partnership can deliver improvements in the
efficiency, effectiveness and economy of Council operations against seeking to achieve
the changes purely in-house;
·
Identify which support and direct services could be delivered through
such a partnership;
·
Identify efficiency services through re-engineering of processes for
those services before implementing a Strategic Partnership.
·
Evaluate the various options for implementing a Strategic Partnership.
·
Prepare an impact assessment for preferred option, to show its potential
effect on the whole Island economy.
Then,
dependent on the decision taken at the feasibility stage:
·
Procure a strategic partner, including:
-
going to the market
-
briefing potential suppliers
-
evaluating bids
-
appointing a preferred supplier
-
negotiating a contract
·
Preparation for and Transition of services to the partnership
·
During all stages of the Initiative to communicate effectively with all
of its staff and stakeholders.
The chosen
consultants will be required to work collaboratively with the Council at all
times (defining precisely the methodology by which and the personnel with whom;
they will do this) and seek to optimise knowledge and competence transfer to
the Council’s staff.
11.
In essence, the role for the Change Manager will be to
identify efficiency savings within the “in scope” services and then assess on a
business case basis the case for including individual services in a strategic
partnering contract. The initial “in
scope” services will be:
·
ICT
·
Customer Services (including the one-stop shops and
other frontline service points to be agreed)
·
Revenues and Benefits
·
Exchequer Services
·
Procurement
·
The non-strategic parts of the HR department
·
The Building Management and Maintenance parts of
Property Services
12.
The plan has been the subject of extensive
consultation with staff on an individual and collective basis and also with
UNISON. Their views are referred to
under the consultation part of this report.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT PLAN
13.
These structural changes form the first part of an
overall Change Management Plan. This
Plan has been drafted by a small team over the last few weeks. They have interviewed each Head of Service,
have mapped all the manifesto commitments and analysed the different resources
required to deliver those commitments.
Annex 1 to this report demonstrates how this work is being pulled
together.
14.
Although there are pockets of excellent service within
the Council, the thrust of the Change Management Plan is that the Council needs
to raise its game across the whole organisation rather than in individual
components. Without a whole Council
approach, it will be much more difficult to meet the aspiration of the Island
for us to become a “high-performing and cost-effective council”.
15.
Delivery of the Plan will not be effective unless
there is significant change in the way in which staff are engaged, work is
prioritised and communication and consultation channels enhanced. The Plan proposes that five priority
objective groups are established. Beneath
each of these groups will be a small number of “Aim High Teams”. These teams will be drawn from across the
organisation with a view to engaging a wide number of staff in this Change
Plan.
16.
This is a significant period of change for the
Council. To that end, a period of
consultation on the draft Change Management Plan has commenced and is intended
to run through until 9 September. A key
part of that consultation process will be a staff conference in the first week
in September for around 150 middle managers.
17.
The Cabinet Secretaries have agreed to work with the
Change Team to ensure that all the different commitments are properly reflected
in the Plan.
18.
The intention is that the Plan will be brought back to
the Cabinet for formal approval on 27 September. The Cabinet is not scheduled to meet until 11 October but is
asked to agree to hold a special meeting on 27 September to allow the Plan to
be considered.
