MINUTES FROM EXECUTIVE 24
SEPTEMBER 2003
56.
REPORT
OF THE DEPUTY LEADER
Corporate Contact Centre Premises, Terms of Reference –
GAGS Programme Board and the Land and Property Gazetteer Project
At the request of the Deputy Leader, the three above papers
were discussed as one.
The three reports set out the Council’s vision of improved
service delivery to its customers. The
proposals would have immense implications for the way in which the Council
operated. It was envisaged that 80% of
queries would be dealt with at the first point of contact and the Deputy Leader
emphasised that this level of service could not be delivered by traditional
methods.
The Deputy Leader noted the concerns of some, given the
widespread nature of the project and the high level of change in working
practises that would be required.
Mention was made of a letter which had been received from Unison setting
out their concerns.
The Deputy Leader outlined the potential of involving
partners in order to examine what options were available to the authority.
Members noted that even if a partner were to be chosen, this would take 18
months to 2 years and would not address the current need to improve service
delivery. It was emphasised that the only way of delivering a more efficient
and effective service would be if it was supported by staff.
The reports set out details of using
Enterprise House as a corporate telephone contact centre. To achieve a more
customer centred organisation a Programme Board had been established to oversee
the restructuring of the way the organisation provided its services. The Board had determined that this could be
achieved by forming a distinction between customer facing services and support
services. The Board had been meeting for several months and had now progressed
sufficiently to formalise its terms of reference. These were set out as
appendix A to the report. The Land and Property Gazetteer Project was an
initiative had been introduced by the Department of Environment for a national
dataset that would contain address information based on every property and land
parcel throughout the England and Wales. All local authorities would be
required to submit and maintain a Local Land and Property Gazetteer to be
included into the national dataset.
The Executive discussed in detail the financial implications of the
three reports including the need to look at the project as part of the whole
budget making process. Financial advice was received and members emphasised
that there would be no further investment in the project until sufficient
details were known relating to next years budget position, when other bids had
been made.
During the debate, the
following amendment was moved by Cllr Kendall and was voted on and lost.
THAT the implementation of this
resolution be delayed for so long as was necessary for normal budget processes
to deliver sufficient clarity in relation to the 2004/05 budget to allow
implementation and that a virtual call centre be implemented as soon as the
programme board approves a business case in order to test the efficacy of staff
training and robustness of systems
Following further debate it was moved and seconded that due to the potential effect on service delivery in this and future years, and in order to deliver the recommendations of the Resources Select Committee
THE EXECUTIVE RECOMMENDS
THAT FULL COUNCIL:
(a)
Confirms
that the budget allocations for 2003/04 and in future years (including those
allocated to underwrite the rent at Enterprise House, for strategic development
of ICT and from savings generated by the implementation) can be used to deliver
the two GAGS projects, as set out below;
(b)
Notes
that the Executive will, at any time, delay expenditure on a corporate call
centre if necessary to protect the standards of service delivery and/or to
achieve greater clarity in relation to the 2004-05 budget.
RESOLVED:
THAT subject to approval by
Full Council of the budget recommendations set out above:
(i)
THAT
the first floor of Enterprise House be used as the location for a corporate
contact centre, subject to there being, in the opinion of the Portfolio Holder
for Resources, no suitable alternative user for Enterprise House;
(ii)
THAT
the Head of Organisational Development, in consultation with the Deputy Leader
and the GAGS Programme Board, be given a specific delegation to deliver the
corporate contact centre and to ensure all aspects of best value were fully
addressed;
(iii)
THAT,
if necessary in delivering paragraph (i), the Executive receive a separate
report in the near future on the use of the ground floor of Enterprise House;
(iv)
THAT
preliminary investigation be undertaken of the potential costs, savings and
reallocation of benefits to the Council of engaging with a strategic partner
and that a report be brought back to the Executive before the end of the year.
(v)
THAT
the Head of Organisational Development, in consultation with the Portfolio
Holder for Resources, be given a specific delegation to purchase, implement and
operate an accredited Gazetteer System
(vi)
THAT
the costs of the Gazetteer system, based on the projections set out in the
report, be met from budgets made available for the strategic development of ICT
(vii)
THAT
the implementation of this resolution be delayed for so long as was necessary
for normal budget processes to deliver sufficient clarity in relation to the
2004/05 budget to allow implementation.
In relation to Paper C2, Terms of Reference – GAGS Programme Board the Executive in order to effect the recommendations of the Resources Select Committee and to ensure an open, inclusive and accountable delivery process,
RESOLVED :
(i) THAT the terms of
reference set out at Appendix A to the report be approved, with the following
amendments:
“Member of the Opposition
Group” be deleted from Members of the Programme Board and that “A trade union
representative, Member(s) of the opposition group(s), such further elected
members as are necessary to reflect diversity of member opinion”; be added to
Members of the Programme Board
(ii) THAT the specific delegations set out in paragraph 7(a) and 9(a) of the report be approved
(iii) THAT a request that, within it’s discretion to set its own work programme, the Select Committee for Resources continue to keep the delivery of the Great Access to Great Services Vision under scrutiny