Agenda item

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 spend.  Governance was a key aspect, and a Members’ Star Chamber consisting of the Leader, the Deputy Leader and the Resources Portfolio Holder had been established to direct the corporate approach to savings.  A Member highlighted the need to manage the expectations of Bromley residents as future budget savings were determined.

Members discussed the role of Improvement and Efficiency Sub Committee in contributing to the delivery of the Corporate Financial Strategic Approach and would continue to consider how it might be further developed.  The Sub-Committee had a wide ranging membership which enabled strong cross-Portfolio working and would be well-placed to support the work of the Members’ Star Chamber. 

With regard to potential income streams, the Chief Executive had recently led two workshops involving all three boroughs around opportunities for sold services to schools which had been granted academy status.  The Council had an obligation to continue to provide services to those schools that were not academies.  However there was also an opportunity to develop a package of services to sell to academies, and work was currently being undertaken to develop accurate costings of service provision, as any services offered by the Council must be charged on a full cost recovery basis.  A Member highlighted the importance of ‘selling’ sold services in the marketplace, as there would be significant competition from the private sector.  Another Member suggested that schools would seek services to meet their specialist needs rather than a general package.

In considering Appendix 1: the list of Organisational Improvement Programme Projects, a Member highlighted the use of traffic light indicators to rate progress against project delivery, and noted that the Members’ Star Chamber should undertake a review on these projects to provide a corporate perspective on the status of a range of projects.

RESOLVED that the progress made to date on projects led by the Organisational Improvement Programme be noted.