Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Nick Harrison  Democratic Services Officer

Media

Items
No. Item

40.

Apologies for Absence/Replacement Members

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Mrs W Bowkett. It was reported that, under Regulation 13 of the Local Government Committee and Political Groups) Regulation 1990, Councillor C R Oxby was replacing Councillor Mrs W Bowkett, for this meeting only. An apology was also received from Miss Alexandra Sayer (Parent Governor Representative). It was also noted that apologies for absence were received from Andrew Crookham (Executive Director – Resources).

 

 

41.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

42.

Minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2020 pdf icon PDF 261 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:     That minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2020, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

43.

Announcements by the Chairman, Executive Councillors and Chief Officers

Minutes:

 

Chairman

The Chairman reported that he had attended a meeting of the Executive on the 6 October 2020 and presented the comments from the Board on the Corporate Plan Performance Framework and the Performance Reporting against the Council Business Plan 2019-20 – Quarter 4. He had highlighted the Board's congratulations in relation to the Quarter 4 performance, and for the Performance Framework, he also highlighted that a number of criteria in the support high aspirations ambition would only be reported annually and that the Board had requested that consideration be given to ways in which this ambition could be monitored on a quarterly basis to show current performance.

 

Further to his announcement at the last meeting about Scrutiny Panel A conducting a short review of Developer Contributions, the first meeting was held in mid-October and would meet again at the start and end of November. It was proposed that the Panel would present its draft final report to the Board at its meeting on 17 December.

 

Chief Executive

The Chief Executive reported that the last tranche of Covid-19 funding had been recently received in the sum of justover £4m. Consideration would now be given to how the money could be used to mitigate the impact of Covid-19.

44.

Consideration of Call-Ins

Minutes:

None had been received.

45.

Consideration of Councillor Calls for Action

Minutes:

None had been received.

 

46.

Covid-19 Recovery Update pdf icon PDF 257 KB

(To receive a report from Dan Quinn, Assistant Director – Corporate recovery, which provides an overview of the partnership approach and governance arrangements to manage Lincolnshire's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic)

Minutes:

The Board considered a report presented by the Executive Director of Place and Deputy Chief Constable, Lincolnshire Police, on behalf of theAssistant Director Corporate Recovery, which provided an overview of the partnership approach and governance arrangements to manage Lincolnshire's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The report set out the progress and activity of the Lincolnshire's Local Resilience Forum (LRF) since August, highlighting the challenges faced and the threats, risks and harm that required mitigating.

 

Since August there had been a significant resurgence of the disease nationally and this had been reflected locally with an increase of infection within the communities in Lincolnshire. As of 19 October 2020 the figures for Lincolnshire were 4,945 confirmed cases, 813 cases in the last seven days. Since the start of the pandemic there had been 159 Covid-19 deaths in a hospital setting and 291 total Covid-19 deaths. These were people who had had a positive Covid-19 test result and died within 28 days of the first positive test. The numbers for Lincolnshire were lower than areas within the East Midlands region or reviewed against a national context. Lincolnshire was currently at Local Covid-19 alert level: medium.

 

Councillor M Hill, Leader of the Council, reported that  the Lincolnshire Outbreak Engagement Board had met on 28 October and having taken advice from the Director of Public Health, had agreed that there was no reason to change the current alert level at this point in time. There had been a recent rise in the infection rate, especially in Lincoln, and officials would be keeping a watching brief on the rates on a daily basis. The Chief Executive reported the Board had been set up to provide political ownership and governance for the local outbreak management response and to ensure consistent messaging with Lincolnshire's population by overseeing public facing engagement and communication.  It would discharge its responsibilities by means of recommendations to appropriate governance boards and relevant partner organisations.  The Board would provide progress reports and updates, as required, to the Covid-19 Recovery meeting of the Lincolnshire Council Leaders, including District Council leaders, Chief Executives and Police and Crime Commissioner. The Board was chaired by the Leader of LCC. Other members of the Board included District Council Leaders, the Police and Crime Commissioner, NHS non-executive representatives from CCG and NHS providers, representative from Healthwatch Lincolnshire and Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

 

Members considered the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

·         There was support for the Board to receive regular updates, especially as the infection rates were changing regularly and the Board needed to monitor the economic and social impact as well as the Council's and Government's responses and support plans.

·         Lincolnshire was currently in Tier 1 (medium risk) of the government's three-tier Covid-19 alert system and Nottinghamshire would move to Tier 3 (highest level restrictions) from 30 October. Police advice was not to travel into or from Tier 3 areas unless essential. Public sector employees working in essential services should continue to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

47.

Transformation Programme Overview pdf icon PDF 41 KB

(To receive a report from Andrew McLean, Assistant Director – Corporate Transformation, Programmes and Performance and Clare Rowley - Head of Transformation, which invites the Board to consider the Transformation Programme which is being presented to the Executive on 3 November 2020. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received a report from the Assistant Director Corporate Transformation, Programmes and Performance and the Head of Transformation, on the Transformation Programme which was being presented to the Executive on 3 November 2020. The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item. The Executive would be asked to support the scope of the transformation programme, along with the approach recommended for running and managing the programme and provide feedback on any matters to support successful delivery.

 

The Council had developed a Corporate Plan which set out the goals and ambitions it wished to achieve for its residents over the coming years. It had been recognised that there was a need to focus and resource activity to deliver the Plan, driving innovation and efficiency that was best delivered through a corporate transformation programme, supported by change management and recognisable benefits realisation.

 

The Transformation Programme encompassed a number of wide-ranging projects that would positively impact upon residents, communities, staff, businesses, visitors and other stakeholders engaged with the Council. The programme was organised into three overarching workstreams of Our People, Our Communities and Our Processes, each of which had a number of projects delivered within them, with enabling technology acting as a key driver throughout. Dedicated funds of £10.790m had been identified to support the delivery of the programme and comprehensive governance arrangements were in place to oversee delivery.

 

The overall aims of the programme were to: develop a strong vision, direction and identity; put our customers at the heart of everything the Council did; become an employer of choice; be more flexible and agile in how the Council operated; have leadership that was collaborative and empowering through a distributed leadership approach; develop a culture that promoted ownership and  accountability. A detailed overview of the objectives and deliverables for each of the workstreams and the projects currently being delivered was detailed in the report.

 

It was reported that the Council's effective response to the Covid-19 pandemic had accelerated and focussed its ambition for change, specifically the opportunities for greater digitalisation and automation, which would assist the Council to proactively manage its future financial challenges and protect the services delivered to the residents of Lincolnshire.

 

Members considered the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

·         There was a request for periodic reports to the Board on the progress of the projects overall (work planned, expenditure and completion dates), including an evaluation of the costs and in particular the benefits of each project.  Information on successes and failures could also be reported.  It was also suggested that service specific projects could be considered by individual scrutiny committees. 

·         Each councillor was a source of intelligence on how County Council services were being delivered in their particular division. There should be consideration of whether and how this intelligence can be used as part of the Transformation Programme.  There was a suggestion that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Board  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

48.

Smarter Working Programme Update pdf icon PDF 41 KB

(To consider a report from Karen Cassar, Assistant Director – Highways and Kevin Kendall, Assistant Director – Corporate Property, which invites the Board to consider a Smarter Working Programme which is being presented to the Executive on 3 November 2020. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board considered a report and presentation from the Assistant Director Highways and the Assistant Director Corporate Property, on a Smarter Working Programme which was being presented to the Executive on 3 November 2020. The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item. The Executive would be asked to note and support the Corporate Leadership Team's vision, goals and objectives for Smarter Working and the ongoing work to enable delivery of the project and, note the outcome of a Smarter Working Staff Survey.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic had required the workforce to work in a very different way with staff delivering services through innovative and creative approaches and IMT enabling staff to work virtually. This had opened up the opportunity to radically review how work was undertaken in the future. The Smarter Working programme had been established and sought to explore and define how the Council could operate in a more flexible and blended way to the traditional approaches to work, building on the strengths of our current delivery model.

 

The report outlined the vision, goals and how performance would be managed as objectives would focus on results and outcomes rather than presence. It also included:- how the use of office space across Lincolnshire could be maximised through designing options to create even smarter ways of working; how the risks to the environment from climate change could be managed; how to attract even more highly-skilled staff, retaining existing employees and being the employer of choice; how to improve connectivity and technology to improve business processes and reduce waste. The report highlighted that the number of office buildings would reduce by 50% and there would be savings from reduced maintenance and running costs. Reference was also made to the proposal for 'bookable workspaces' and how work spaces and offices would be occupied in the future, with no officers having their dedicated offices.

 

A Smarter Working survey had been completed by 2,610 employees. The survey addressed the benefits and challenges of working from home and a Smarter Working Project Group would be identifying priority actions to be taken, informed by the analysis of the survey results, to support smarter working now and in the future.

 

Members considered the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

·         It was suggested that the proposed hybrid arrangements should aim to maintain the benefits of team?working and office contact, for example, informal training, creativity, idea?sharing, and providing mutual support to colleagues. The future arrangements should aim to be sustainable and workable and consolidate on the learning so far.  Providing opportunities for peer to peer meetings without the involvement of managers was seen as one area for consideration.

·         It was suggested that there should be an emphasis in the proposed hybrid arrangements on reducing isolation and enabling social contact, supporting both physical and mental wellbeing of members of staff.

·         In addition to the challenges, there was a request for mitigations to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

49.

Performance of the Corporate Support Services Contract pdf icon PDF 449 KB

(To receive a report from Sophie Reeve, Assistant Director – Commercial and Arnd Hobohm, Serco Contract Manager, on the Performance of the Corporate Support Services Contract)

Minutes:

The Board received a detailed report from the Assistant Director Commercial and the Serco Contract Manager, on the Performance of the Corporate Support Services Contract against contractual Key Performance Indicators specified in the Corporate Support Services Contract between December 2019 and September 2020. The last report to the Board had been on 19 December 2019.

 

The report noted that the general picture was one of good performance overall during this review period. The effect of Covid-19 on Serco services had mainly been felt in IMT and Corporate Support Services. Additional IT support and technology had been provided to staff. The number of contacts received by the service increased rapidly from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. A dedicated Covid-19 line had been established, which handled 23,187 additional Covid-19 related contacts between 1 April and 30 June, at a cost to the Council of £228,095. However, this additional cost would be claimed against the Covid-related funding, and was offset in part as a result of a decrease in contacts across other services, and so the overall Customer Service Centre budget for 2020/21 remained on track. It was noted that all Serco services continued to be provided during the pandemic and at no time have any services been discontinued or suspended.

 

Members considered the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

·         There had been difficulties in keeping pace with the call demand regarding adult and children's services as there had been increased demand, however a comprehensive action plan was in place together with additional support which was now making a positive difference on capacity.

·         The Board were pleased to see a positive report and were supportive of the work being undertaken.

·         There would be a review of the Mosaic finance project KPI and how it would be measured in the future and the Chairman requested that an initial meeting be set up with himself and key staff to discuss the details following the Board meeting.

 

RESOLVED:That the report and comments outlined above be noted.

 

 

50.

Overview and Scrutiny Management Board Work Programme pdf icon PDF 281 KB

(To receive a report which enables the Board to note the content of its work programme for the coming year)

 

Minutes:

Members were advised that this item was for information only and noted a change to Work Programme for 17 December. The Business World ERP System Re-Design Progress Report would be deferred to 28 January 2021, as a result of a review of the timelines and potential change to the go-live date. This was in part because of the impact of Covid-19.

 

RESOLVED:   That the work programme be noted.

 

 

 

 
 
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