Agenda item

The Transformation Report – Putting Our Customers First is to be presented to the Panel.

With the aid of a report by the Managing Director (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Transformation Report – Putting Our Customers First was presented to the Panel. The Executive Councillor for Transformation and Customers was in attendance to present the report.

Members were informed that the report was the first six monthly report on Transformation. The Executive Councillor added that he recognised that some Members are not happy with the term customers and suggested that the term citizens would be better.

A Member noted that the report states that staff resources are to be redeployed and enquired if there are to be redundancies in the future. In response the Panel were informed that the programme is running on existing resources and staff have been seconded from their existing teams. The Council are hoping to take as many staff as possible through the process of transformation. The Executive Councillor stated he could not comment on the possibility of redundancies.

The question of how does the Transformation programme fit in with the closure of the customer service centres in Ramsey, Yaxley and St Neots, in particular the mantra of ‘starts with the customer ends with the customer’ was raised. In response the Executive Councillor stated that the closure of the customer service centres was identified by the Zero Based Budgeting exercise and then ratified by the budget process. Members were told that the reason for this was that a small percentage of customers use the centres and this becomes fewer and fewer as the years progress. The Council are responding to the different ways that customers want to interact with the Council. Staff at the customer service centres have identified alternative routes for vulnerable customers to interact with the Council.

In response to the question are the Council making progress in respect to ICT, the Executive Councillor stated that the website has won awards and that there is a three year programme in progress which will see improvement in the ICT service.

The Executive Councillor informed the Panel that the Council are reviewing at a different operating model. The Councils current structure creates silos and doesn't encourage collaboration and flexibility, whereas Transformation will create a more cross cutting model. This is particularly important when considering the impact in how customers interact with the Council.

A Member asked if Transformation will introduce an effective complaints procedure and in response the Panel were informed that currently Transformation is looking at who the Council are today, who is the customer, what they want and then build what they want. The Member responded that they thought it was important that the Council gets the complaints procedure correct and that it should be at the top of the agenda.

The Panel questioned whether the cost of hiring external specialists is more than the skills the Council have had previously with former Members of staff. In response Members were informed that the Council wanted to train project managers however the Council did not have that skill internally so brought in a specialist to train people to become project managers.

It was asked where is the framework for the main principles so that Members know that the principles are being met. In response Members were informed that as the operating model is designed the matrix will be developed.

In response to a question regarding the budget, the cost and expected savings for the Transformation programme were discussed.