Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy
Transformation Programme Manager, attended the meeting and informed
the Commission of the progress of each review within the
Transformation Programme.
The Chairman welcomed Lisa
Jewell, Interim Deputy Transformation Programme Manager to the
meeting.
The Chairman suggested and it
was agreed that questions would be raised at the end of the
presentation unless there were matters that needed clarification as
the presentation progressed.
Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy
Transformation Programme Manager introduced herself to the
Commission and advised that the presentation was an update on the
Transformation Programme since September 2018 and alerted Members
that the order of her presentation had changed slightly to the
slides that had been included with the agenda pack in that the
position of slides 4 and 6 had been swapped.
In addition to the
presentation, Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy Transformation Programme
Manager advised the Commission that:
- The Transformation
Programme to date had been largely successful.
- The £12m
savings target had been delivered.
- Virtually all
activities had been changed in line with new Council’s
narrative.
- There was good
progress being made in effecting the cultural change necessary to
help customers to help themselves.
- The Transformation
Team’s skills had been updated in line with change
management.
- A core team of
project managers who also had change management experience and
training had been created.
- During December 2018
the Transformation Team and the Corporate Management team (CMT) had
carried out a prioritisation exercise and had reviewed around 80
projects which had been measured against value and impact,
resources required and the general level of health and confidence
around the projects. This had informed
what could be achieved and when.
- The recommendations
from the prioritisation exercise had gone to CMT in Jan
2019.
- The 2019/20
prioritised projects had been identified and all projects were
being approached using the same 4 phases of the commissioning
approach methodology.
- Most of the projects
were in the ‘analyse’ phase.
- The Adult’s
Transformation project had been the focus.
- Some new projects had
been brought into the programme this year and the focus was on the
property joint venture, commissioning review and quality assurance
and governance.
The highlights from the key
programmes were:
- Within the Core
transformation Programme there were 5 projects.
- The Library Review
and Parks and Countryside Review were now closed as transformation
projects and had moved over to business as usual.
- The development of
the new Country Park was a stand-alone transformation project.
There was oversight and coordination of the park’s delivery.
Members would be kept up to date though Overview and Scrutiny via
transformation.
- The Library Review
had established self-service kiosks in all 9 library branches
including the Harmans Water Library which was due to open on 8
April 2019.
- Open + technology
installation was nearing completion in Sandhurst and Binfield and
positive reviews and interest had been received.
- The Depot project was
being re-scoped. Kevin Gibbs, Executive
Director: Delivery was the project sponsor.
- The Property Joint
Venture was underway.
- The Adults Programme
was now formally part of Transformation and had been handed over to
the People Directorate leadership team to establish the governance
arrangements.
- There were 9 projects
that had been identified. 2 were mostly
completed and 7 were in the ‘analyse’
phase.
- The Children’s
Programme had made good progress and had achieved savings of
£825,000 during the year to date.
- Early Help Family
Hubs had been launched and were operational.
- Edge of Care had
prevented up to 20 young people from going into care.
- The Children’s
Transformation Team had supported children’s social care
during the Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI)
- Work was ongoing and
continuing to develop practice quality and consistency to support
the implementation of Family Safeguarding.
- Transformation
supported the delivery of culture change and how this was
facilitated within the ‘One Council’ culture by
focussing on culture change and change management.
- A clear programme for
leadership and management development was being developed to
support the culture change that underpins
transformation.
- To make sure
everything happened at the right time, ICT strategies were being
integrated.
- The forward focus was
around finding savings and making the transformational changes
necessary.
- Increased savings
needed to be found through increased efficiencies and savings.
- The
transformation/change programme would now extend beyond the initial
4 year period and the key aim was still not to affect
services.
- Engaging with
partners and other councils to learn from best practice was a
current focus.
- The key lessons
learnt were captured and carried forward into the new
projects.
Arising from questions from
Members it was explained that:
- One of the key
components of transformation was organisational change and
development and the transformation team remained focussed on
that.
- In terms of ICT a
number of programmes like customer experience were moving to
digital by default.
- It was important to
ensure that the Council’s ICT strategy and programmes were
fully aligned with the transformation programme to help enable the
various changes to be implemented. Fine
tuning, adjustment and closer working were required to ensure this
happened.
- The highest priority
ICT changes were implemented to achieve the primary
focus.
- Resident satisfaction
with transformation projects was measured. When a project was closed a measure was obtained
against the baseline starting point of the project.
Timothy Wheadon, Chief
Executive advised the Commission that:
- Going forwards there
would be a review of resident opinion via the biennial resident
survey.
- The transformation
programme was designed to change and enhance library services
rather than take a red pen to the budget book. Services had generally not been cut, and in the
cases of some, such as libraries, they had been enhanced with
extended accessibility and opening hours.
- In addition a new
Country Park was being created and adult social care had introduced
a digital marketplace and increased resident choice. Transformation had delivered enhanced
services.
- The day to day
feedback was that people appreciated what was being
done.
Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy
Transformation Programme Manager advised the Commission
that:
- Bracknell Forest
Council had joined a regional partnership that was called the
Berkshire Film Office that had a website now operational.
(www.berkshirefilmoffice.co.uk)
- The Berkshire Film
Office launched on 6 March 2019 and was for organisations looking
to use location filming. Pinewood had
expressed an interest.
- Bracknell Forest was
competing against other local authorities and was building skills
and experience to deal with the film companies to encourage the use
of our spaces and locations.
- It was observed that
the Borough, Parish and Town Councils should work closely together
if they are approached for location filming.
ACTION:
Lisa Jewell Interim Deputy Transformation Programme Manager to
advise the Commission which of the 10 projects listed on the
Adult’s Transformation 2019/20 Prioritised Projects slide
would be carried forward. Earlier in
the presentation the Commission had been advised that 9 would be
carried forwards.
ACTION:
Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy Transformation Programme Manager to
advise the Commission which projects identified in the
Adult’s Transformation 2019/20 Prioritised Projects were the
two that were nearly finished.
Timothy Wheadon, Chief
Executive advised Members of the Commission that:
- The transformation
programme had delivered significant savings over time and needed to
continue within the context that the organisation itself had
slimmed down.
- The capacity within
the organisation to provide leadership for the projects and how
best to address them was being looked at although increasing
leadership capacity was not being considered.
- The Transformation
programme needed to be managed within the current capacity meaning
fine tuning of what was to be brought forward was constantly
required.
It was pointed out that there
is a period of about a month after Christmas where it might be
possible for Lapland to be used as a film set.
The Chairman extended thanks
for her attendance and for her presentation to the Commission to
Lisa Jewell Interim Deputy Transformation Programme
Manager.