Agenda item

Report CEO1196

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

The Shared Services Board, comprising of the Chief Executives and one other Chief Officer from Bromley, Bexley and Croydon continued to meet on a six weekly basis to review the workstreams with the greatest potential for sharing, which included Regulatory Services, Property Services, Shared Transport, Parking and Parks.  The Library Shared Service with London Borough of Bexley had gone live on 1^st January 2012, and in response to a Member’s query, the Assistant Director: Organisational Improvement confirmed that Officers were continuing to investigate potential savings that could be realised by moving to a Libraries’ Trust. 

The Project Manager: Organisational Improvement had been seconded for two days a week to the Public Health Transition Team at NHS London, supporting the transfer of Public Health from Primary Care Trusts to Local Authorities.  Work was being undertaken with the six London Boroughs which made up the NHS South East London cluster to support the design of a Public Health model which was fit for purpose.  Workshops were also being carried out with health and local authority leads from London Boroughs across the NHS South East London cluster to establish whether a shared model of public health was viable, and to consider if services could be shared across the cluster or two or more boroughs within the cluster.  A Member highlighted the support that was being given to London Borough of Bexley to help analyse and challenge their Primary Care Trust’s financial submission to the Department of Health which had led to them receiving the lowest Public Health shadow allocation across the country, and queried whether the level of funding allocated to Bromley was also being challenged.  The Chief Executive confirmed that work was being undertaken to address the issue of funding across the NHS South East London cluster, and that this was also being taken forward by the Health and Well-being Board.  In considering the public health offer in the Borough, a Member underlined the work being undertaken in the community to support healthy lifestyles by the Mottingham Community and Learning Shop and the Cotmandene Community Resource Centre.

In considering civic centre site accommodation, a Member queried whether options had been developed for the future use of Joseph Lancaster and Ann Springman Halls.  The Chief Executive confirmed that following the completion of the refurbishment of North Block in May 2012, it was planned to vacate the Old Town Hall, Exchequer House, Joseph Lancaster and Ann Springman Halls.  Significant savings would be realised from a reduction in site running costs whilst the future of these buildings was considered by Members.

With regard to customer service improvement, ‘Tell Us Once’, the service that allowed customers registering a death to inform several Council and Government departments at once had been live since October 2011.  In response to a query from a Member, the Director of Resources confirmed that the Registrars Service had decided not to progress with the ‘Tell Us Once’ service for births at this time as there was less obvious customer benefit and no significant savings to be realised in introducing the facility.

An invest to save project to develop autism specific secondary provision within the Borough to meet a projected increase in demand for places over the next ten years and reduce the use of independent providers was currently being developed.  In response to a query from a Member, the Director of Resources confirmed that the Local Authority took account of parental choice in the provision of schooling for their child and noted that the Local Authority had a duty to provide an appropriate placement for children with special educational needs.  The Assistant Director: Organisational Improvement highlighted that the Council was making increasing use of Pupil Resource Agreements to work with parents in providing an appropriate placement for their child, although parents and carers did have the legal right to challenge the Local Authority if their preferred option was not funded. 

In considering the recommendations of the New Technology Working Group, a Member highlighted the proposal to develop increased use of technology options, such as e-forms and social media.  The Assistant Director: Organisational Improvement confirmed that there was a need to use social media to both manage the Council’s brand and communications and to engage with the community through a broad range of channels, consistent with other local authorities and private businesses.  The Member also noted the proposal to centralise the management of Council web portals to provide increased consistency and efficiency and underlined the importance of ensuring that specialist knowledge was not lost.

A Member highlighted the need to investigate the potential to share services with the third sector and asked that this workstream be added to future updates on the Organisational Improvement Programme.

RESOLVED that progress made to date on projects lead by the Organisational Improvement Team and the new works projects that members of the team were currently supporting be noted.