Agenda item

To receive a report by the Head of Customer Service on the Facing the Future programme. This report is for the Panel’s information and will not be submitted to the Cabinet.

(Councillor J A Gray, Executive Councillor for Resources, was in attendance for the discussion on this item).

With the assistance of a report by the Head of Customer Services (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel received an update on progress made to-date with the delivery of the Facing the Future programme. The Executive Councillor for Resources reminded Members that Facing the Future continued to be an important initiative as it was imperative that the Council delivered efficiencies across the Authority. Although a number of proposals had been put on hold, it was envisaged that progress would begin to be made more rapidly now that the restructure of the Council’s Senior Management Team had been completed. In addition, all Cabinet Members were currently reviewing all outstanding ideas and proposals within their portfolios.

Having noted an overview of the current status of the 460 individual proposals within the programme, Members were advised that the full list was maintained centrally and included target dates, status flags and latest updates.  Programme management responsibilities would shortly be transferred to the newly established Corporate Team.

The Head of Customer Services explained that to support the delivery of the programme and improve staff skills for delivering change, a number of Officers had now received training on the ‘Lean’ improvement technique. Members were also reminded that there were twenty five to thirty proposals relating to potential Shared Services. Updates specifically on Information Technology and Legal would be provided at the next meeting.

Prior to opening up the item for general discussion, the Chairman outlined his intention that this report should form the start of the Panel’s review of the progress of Facing the Future. With this in mind he had requested a further update in November 2014.

In considering the contents of the report, Members were informed that the list of ideas in Facing the Future was monitored by the Head of Resources and that savings were entered into the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) as they were identified. They were assured that it would be possible to identify savings generated by the programme within the MTFS when it emerged in December 2014. The Panel also discussed the potential need to ‘backfill’ posts to enable trained Officers to deliver specific projects and were informed that should this be the case, the business case for change would include a full cost/benefit analysis.

Having discussed the additional information which might be required to enable them to challenge Cabinet Members, it was agreed that this should include financial information, details of savings to-date, savings predicted and specific information relating to individual Cabinet Members’ remits and outstanding proposals. To support their ability to monitor this programme, Members requested access to the centrally maintained list of Facing the Future proposals. 

In response to comments that it would be useful to provide planned timeframes for delivery of individual projects, Members were informed that the centrally maintained list required Officers to complete dates for the evaluation of business cases for individual projects and projected delivery dates. Having been reminded that the role of individual Cabinet Members was to provide oversight rather than to deliver specific projects, it was

RESOLVED

(a)  that the progress made in delivering the Facing the Future programme and the steps in place to continue delivering successes be noted; and

(b)  that the Corporate Team Manager be requested to prepare an update for the Panel’s meeting in November 2014 to include financial information as requested.