Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor Graham Arthur be appointed Chairman and Councillor Neil Reddin be appointed Vice-Chairman for the 2011/12 municipal year.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Judi Ellis.

Councillor Julian Benington declared that his daughter worked in a senior management position for Affinity Sutton.

To hear questions to the Committee received in writing by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Thursday 30^th June 2011 and to respond.

No questions had been received from members of the public.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 20^th April 2011 be agreed.

Report RES11048

In response to a question around the development of energy reduction and renewable energy schemes, Members were informed that consideration of these schemes was being undertaken by Executive and Resources PDS Committee and progress would be reported back to Improvement and Efficiency Sub Committee in due course.

Following the referral of a request by Improvement and Efficiency Sub Committee on 20^th April 2011 to consider the inclusion of energy efficiency and renewable energy generation measures in future developments across the Borough as part of the Local Development Framework, the minutes of the Development Control Committee on 30^th June 2011 were circulated to Members for information.  The Development Control Committee noted the report and the Chief Planner confirmed that work had already been undertaken to promote the measures outlined in the report.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Report CEO1179

The Sub-Committee received a report updating Members on progress made on the projects within the Organisational Improvement Programme.

The Records and Retention Policy was now being implemented and, where the criteria was met, files were being boxed and moved into storage with TNT.  Over 3,000 boxes of files had been securely disposed of, and scanners were being procured to support a move to electronic file storage.  In response to a query from the Chairman, the Assistant Director: Organisational Improvement confirmed that Yeoman House was currently vacant and could be used for storage, however it was hoped that the Council would be able to re-let this high cost space to a partner agency or obtain a release from the tenancy agreement which would generate more substantial savings.  The Assistant Director: Organisational Improvement underlined that TNT offered cost effective secure storage and would support ongoing management of the files held, retrieving them as needed and providing notification when the time to legally retain files had expired.  Councillor Nicholas Bennett noted that information of historic interest to the Borough should be retained.  The Assistant Director: Organisational Improvement confirmed that archivists had been involved in the review process and were working to ensure information of historic interest was not lost.

The Shared Services project with the London Boroughs of Bexley and Croydon was progressing.  The next meeting of the Shared Services Board made up of Borough Chief Executives and key Chief Officers would be held on 8^th July 2011, where a shortlist of projects offering the greatest level of opportunity would be presented.  A Member noted that it was important to ensure that boroughs had similar priorities when developing shared services.

The Chairman queried the workshop on Property that had recently been hosted by Bromley’s Finance Director for representatives of the three boroughs to scope out opportunities around Facilities Management and Asset Management.  The Assistant Director: Organisational Improvement confirmed that a comprehensive list of planned activities had been developed to investigate whether a move to shared services would be feasible.  The potential to share the Occupational Health Physician post across the three boroughs had been identified and could realise savings of between £20-£25k per annum.

Work on the Regulatory Services shared services work stream was currently being undertaken by the Organisational Improvement Team.  The agreed project plan set out a list of regulatory services comprising Building Control, Planning Enforcement, Land Charges, Environmental Health, Trading Standards, Pollution Control, Community Safety, Emergency Planning, Travellers Site Management and Housing Services.  A range of information had now been collated from Lead Officers across the three boroughs in relation to these services, and a report setting out the findings would be presented at the Leaders and Chief Executives’ meeting on 8^th July 2011. 

The Chief Executive provided Members with an outline of the Corporate Financial Strategic Approach which had been developed to support the delivery of future budget savings through ten key areas, including aligning policy and finance work, organisational redesign and procurement contract  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Sub-Committee received a presentation on the Civic Centre site accommodation review from the Head of Improvement, Efficiency and Effectiveness.  250 staff had been relocated from North Block to alternate accommodation across the Civic Centre Site, and the refurbishment work had now begun. 

Work to amalgamate Reception areas had also been initiated.  Planning Reception was now based in Main Reception, and Housing Reception would be relocated to ground floor, North Block where 13 meeting booths and 3 ‘secure’ interview rooms would be made available.  There would be an increased emphasis on self-service for payments and accessing information via the Bromley Council website in the redesigned reception areas, supported by staff acting as ‘floorwalkers’ to help customers as they arrived.

Following completion of the refurbishment of North Block in January 2012, Children and Young People Department staff would relocate into alternate accommodation on the Civic Centre Site, vacating the Old Town Hall and Ann Springman and Joseph Lancaster Buildings which would then be available for rental or disposal.

The Chairman highlighted the need to manage security issues related to the relocation of Housing Reception to ground floor, North Block.  The Head of Improvement, Efficiency and Effectiveness confirmed a number of security measures had been developed, including an appointments system, enhanced reception facilities and CCTV.  An appointments system was also now in place for Planning Reception and the Chairman underlined the need to communicate this to those using the service.

A Member queried whether the refurbished offices would be able to accommodate services following any organisational change.  The Head of Improvement, Efficiency and Effectiveness confirmed that a key aim of the refurbishment was to design office space in a generic way to more easily absorb changes to staffing structures and the office space needs of staff. This including shared work stations, touch down spaces, meeting rooms and general facilities provision including ICT and telephony services as well as wireless internet access.

RESOLVED that the presentation be noted.

Report CEO1179

The Sub-Committee received a report updating Members on work undertaken on the Aligning Policy and Finance reviews.  The areas identified for review in the initial work programme were Finance and Procurement, Public Protection and Transport and Highways.

Councillor Nicholas Bennett highlighted the importance of developing robust measures of performance when undertaking service reviews. 

RESOLVED that the work being commissioned by Extended Cabinet as part of the wider process in place for supporting Members’ future decisions on the next round of savings be noted.