Agenda and minutes

The Committee was advised of apologies for absence from Councillors Graham Eyre, Liz Hogger, Tom Hunt, and Steven Lee and two substitutes as detailed above.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

The Chairman, Councillor Spooner, advised the Committee that, in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 2 [specifically, that ‘no councillor may be involved in scrutinising a decision in which he or she has been directly involved (unless that involvement was only as a member of an EAB)’], he would withdraw from the Committee and hand over to the Vice-Chairman for item 3, An Update on the Implementation of Future Guildford. 

The Chairman outlined his past involvement in the establishment of the Future Guildford project, including his role as a joint sponsor of the project until May 2019.  He indicated that he had envisaged the Future Guildford process would not focus solely on cutbacks, rather it would identify service areas that required more resource, enable improvements for service users, and shape the future Council.

To consider the implementation of Future Guildford to date.

In accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 2, the Chairman, Councillor Spooner, withdrew from the Committee.  The Vice-Chairman, Councillor James Walsh, took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

The Vice-Chairman explained the background to the item and welcomed Councillor Caroline Reeves, Leader of the Council and Lead Councillor for the Environment & Sustainability across the Borough, Transformation, Sustainable Transport, Economic Development, and Governance, the Managing Director, the Resources Director, the Chief Internal Auditor, the Customer Services and Business Improvement Manager, the Senior Specialist – HR, and Dave Mullin from Ignite Consulting.

The Managing Director led a presentation that summarised the update report submitted to the Committee, including the reorganisation of the Corporate Management Team, the progress and achievements of Phase A of Future Guildford, the Enterprise Resource Planning project, the service challenge element of Future Guildford, the ongoing work on the culture of the organisation, and reflections on the implementation of Future Guildford to date. 

The Committee was informed of the financial challenges facing the Council and advised that the organisation needed to deliver savings in addition to those already identified in the Future Guildford programme.

The meeting was advised of appointments and vacancies within the Resources and Strategic Services directorates.  The Committee was informed that the new post of Climate Change Lead would be funded by savings in Operational Services.  The Committee was advised that following the departure of staff within the ICT service the Council had recruited four staff on temporary contracts while recruitment takes place following transition. 

The Senior Specialist – HR advised the Committee that the compulsory redundancies during Phase A of Future Guildford had been minimal, with nine Compulsory Redundancies and nineteen Voluntary Compulsory Redundancies. 

The Committee was informed that the service challenge workstream of Future Guildford had led to expected increased income from planning pre-applications and streamlined joint working with Waverley Borough Council around the Family Support Team.  The Resources Director indicated that ongoing work by the procurement team on category spend and rationalisation of contracts would deliver efficiency savings.

The Committee was informed that following staff feedback, Phases B and C of Future Guildford had been merged into a single-Phase B.  With reference to Phase B, the Managing Director confirmed that future service models and options for frontline services would be presented for consideration by Councillors. 

With reference to learning from the first phase of Future Guildford, the Managing Director advised the Committee that information about Phase A could have been communicated better to staff not involved directly.  In addition, the consultation document was very large and would be simplified for Phase B.  The Committee was advised that the reactions of staff to Future Guildford differed widely and challenges needed to be addressed early.

The Managing Director indicated that the placement of services under directorates would be monitored and changed if necessary.

During the ensuing discussion a number of points were made and clarifications offered:

• The Managing Director indicated that the reorganisation of the Corporate Management Team and the reduction from  ...  view the full minutes text for item OS31