Agenda item
SCRUTINY OF THE INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Minutes:
The Interim Chief Executive, Mr Ade Adetosoye, attended the meeting to respond to questions from the Committee. Mr Adetosoye gave a brief introduction highlighting the following issues and challenges–
- Since 2010, the Council had seen a 75% reduction in the funding it received and there would be further reductions going forward.
- The projected growth in the population coupled with increasing life expectancy meant that there would be an increase in demand for the services provided by the Council.
- The increase in the number of statutory duties placed on the Council would need to be considered in the context of reductions in funding.
- There would need to be a fundamental review of how services were provided and the Transformation Programme was the beginning of this fundamental review. The Transformation Programme would be delivered over 4 years and set out the Roadmap for the changes that were required.
- The Transformation Project had six different work streams and there were 8 key priorities within the Work Plan. The six work streams of the Transformation Project focused on what needed to be done differently in order to address the budget gap of £32m over 4 years: Housing, Environment and Community Services, Professional Services, Adult Social, Children’s Social Care, and Work Place Modernisation.
- There needed to be a focus on how Officers and Members could work together to shape the key priorities going forward.
- The delivery of the new environment contract, the delivery of the new Housing Strategy, planning decision timescales, and transforming adult social care would be key challenges for the future.
- In terms of governance; risk management and the audit process would be important. As part of this, through the commissioning process there would also be a review of the top 10 key contracts.
- The Interim Chief Executive circulated the Transformation Programme Roadmap to Members of the Committee.
Mr Adetosoye then responded to questions, making the following comments –
· A number of savings had already been delivered including £1.5m resulting from a restructure of the senior management team. Further savings were outlined in the Housing Transformation report included with the Executive agenda for 21 May 2019. Other savings were still being identified but the Council was only 4 or 5 months into its Transformation Programme. Details of the savings that had already been made could be provided to Members following the meeting if required.
· As part of the Transformation Programme there would be a need to review the staffing structures supporting the organisation. There was a need to have the capacity to respond to issues and services would need to be aligned in a logical way where the opportunity presented. Changes to the Council’s internal structure would need to be considered during the review of service delivery.
- The commitment of Bromley staff was unquestionable and the majority of staff within the Council worked in excess of their contractual hours. Some staff within professional services such as accountants and lawyers were required to undergo regular training in order to retain their professional registration. Any training was discussed and agreed as part of the Council’s ‘Discuss’ appraisal programme. Staff recognised the need to achieve value for money and any costs associated with training were signed off by Chief Officers. The Council retained its reward programme for staff who performed really well.
- The Local Authority was obliged to deliver statutory services and a core statutory review was being undertaken by the Director of Corporate Services to ensure that risks were appropriately managed. Going forward there would also be a need to review the delivery of discretionary services.
- In terms of the transformation of Adult Social Care; there would need to be a move towards early help. Mental health, service integration, and learning disabilities would also fall within the Adult Social Care transformation work stream. Whilst the Adult Social Care work stream was currently on track, the transformation of services would not happen overnight. Work on the Transformation Programme had started in February 2019. The housing work stream had been identified as a priority and work had continued apace with initial savings being reported to the Executive meeting on 21st May 2019. The Interim Chief Executive provided assurances that work on the other five work streams was on track and there would be a full report to Members in July 2019. In the intervening period all the documentation associated with the Transformation Programme was available on the Council’s intranet. It was suggested that the Members’ Portal on the intranet should be updated to enable easy access to the information for all councillors.
- The Interim Chief Executive stressed the importance of Members and Officers working together as it was fundamentally important that the Transformation Programme was co-designed and co-delivered.
- The Interim Chief Executive confirmed that the Council would continue to follow the same established commissioning processes. Gateway reports would continue to be presented to Members. In terms of procurement there would be a need to ensure that providers delivered on the contracts they had with the Council and there was a clear role for scrutiny in this process.
- There would be a new Corporate Plan - a blend of Building a Better Bromley and Transforming Bromley. A report on the new Corporate Plan would be presented in September 2019.
- Bromley remained a ‘Member-led’ authority. Key decisions affecting the operation of the Council and the delivery of services were taken by Members. Officers acted on Member decisions. The Executive gave a clear direction and steer and PDS Committee were involved in shaping the directions given by Executive.
- In respect of the Transformation Programme, an intensive staff engagement programme had been developed. 400 Members of staff had attended the engagement sessions that had taken place. The Interim Chief Executive had also undertaken one to one sessions with individual staff and this had provided the opportunity to listen to staff directly. A Staff Working Group had been established and frontline staff had attended the Roadmap sessions that had been held. There was also an ‘Ideas Generating Forum’ with which staff had been engaging.
- The relationship between the Council and Bromley CCG going forward needed to be based on a “one single plan, two separate budgets” model. There was a clear need to align strategies (as in the case of the Joint Mental Health Strategy) but it was fundamentally clear that budgets stayed separate.
- The Roadmap document set out the key aspirations in terms of delivery. It was also a useful guide for staff in terms of expectations and what needed to be delivered. Outcomes from the Transformation programme would also be measured.
- The Council’s application for SEN School specialising in autistic provision had received approval and the Local Authority was engaged in the process of securing a provider. The new provision was delivering significant savings going forward. SEN Transport issues were also being reviewed as part of the Transformation Programme.
- The outcome of reviews into Fairer Funding and the Devolution of Business Rates were still outstanding.
- The Interim Chief Executive confirmed that he was fully aware of the key challenges around pensions and he would be working closely with the Section 151 Officer.
- The Interim Chief Executive agreed to ensure that Members were notified when senior staff left the organisation whenever possible.
The Chairman suggested that in addition to the ‘Transformation Programme Update’ standing item, the Committee also had ‘Commissioning Update’ as a standing item.
The Committee thanked the Interim Chief Executive for his update.