Agenda item

To consider the Corporate Peer Challenge Feedback Report and Action Plan scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 13 April 2022.

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise and comment on the report and if required make recommendations or observations as appropriate.

Cabinet member invited to attend for this item: Councillor Drew Mellor, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Finance

The Cabinet report for this item is included with the agenda for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

The Chief Executive presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each member of the Board and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these minutes in the Minute Book. There were a number of issues raised by the Board in the subsequent discussion which were responded to by the Chief Executive and Head of Policy and Performance, including:

·     The meaning of culture within the report and how this was explained to Council Employees. The Board was advised that this was in reference to the way things were done at the Council and the way the Council wanted things done. The cultural values of the organisation were set out soon after the formation on the Council. However, it was acknowledged that there was still some way to go in moving people from preceding Councils to the BCP way of doing things.

·     Corporate Strategy – very general and broad in its scope which has meant that people start choosing what relates to them in. It was noted that there was a great deal of complexity within a council providing over 600 services in comparison to a company with a single focus. It was noted that values can really drive behaviours, but internal communication needed to be much stronger and there was a lot of emphasis being placed on this. It was suggested that two values which could be put forward were: ‘excellent at customer care and communication’ and ‘spend money as if it was your own money’.

·     A councillor asked about retaining and enhancing all non-digital channels. It was noted that the plan was to free-up channels by getting most people using functional digital, thus allowing those for whom accessing digital channels was challenging better access. It was hoped that as many as possible would self-serve. It was suggested that it should be accepted that these changes would impact people but that the impact would be ameliorated.

·     A Board member agreed with the comments within the report regarding reputational damage and that the parities should be less politically critical of each other.

·     A Board member commented that it was good that the report recognised the need for less jargon and there was definitely a need to get rid of this.

·     A Board member commented that it was good to see target dates within the action plan going forward as Board members had previously requested this detail. However there seemed to be a delay in implementation of some of the actions. The Board was advised that there would be significant steps towards these actions before the indicated dates and received assurance that all the targets were achievable.

·     A Board member commented that there was a lot of criticism inside the document directed at members rather than officers and that it was disappointing that there wasn’t a member present to answer questions on these issues. The Councillor asked how members could help address some of these issues. The Chief Executive responded that politics in a no-overall control or very tight margin Council was always difficult and BCP Council had undergone more political changes. Councillors should respect each other and try to present issues through a community rather than a political perspective. It was important for things to be as transparent as possible and for members to try to live up to the principles within the member code of conduct.

·     The Chairman commented that the report had picked up, in relation to transformation, many of the concerns shared by many on the Board. The report indicated that the projected savings and level of investment in the transformation programme should be reassessed, and the Council would look at any problems arising in the normal review process. The Chief Financial Officer advised that this report had been written prior to putting together the budget for 22/23 and there were a lot of changes with regards to transformation included within the budget. The overall size of the transformation programme was increased and there were a number of new proposals which had associated risks.

·     In response to a question from the Chairman the Chief Executive advised that he was confident that the Council had the ability to deliver the transformation programme. However, there would be some difficult decisions required with regards to the implementation of transformation.

·     There were concerns raised regarding the timing of this report as the original review took place in November and Cabinet were only just receiving this report in April. There was concern that the response to this was slipping in the same way as transformation. It was explained that with regards to the action plan, the Council didn’t just want to take the headline recommendations but wanted to include smart targets within the action plan. He proposal was to have the peer team back in place for the end of the summer.

·     A Board member commented that the order of transformation was altered a little over a year ago in terms of addressing the people issue first ahead of the technical transformation. It was noted that in most cases people were set up in the structures through the Smarter Structures Process, but other people related issues had not yet been implemented including the pay and reward structures.

·     There was a concern raised around the dates for review of the Urban regeneration company and the Chairman confirmed that the Board would like to scrutinise this.

At the conclusion of the item the Chairman placed on record the Board’s thanks to the Chief Executive, the Chief Financial Officer and the Head of Policy and Performance for the report and responses to the Board’s enquiries.