Agenda item

Lisa Jewell, Deputy Transformation Programme Manager, to inform the Commission of the progress of each review within the Transformation Programme.

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.