To comment on the report to be considered by Cabinet on the 31 March 2016.

The Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services, Simon Fletcher, referred Members to pages 17-38 of the agenda and explained that the report introduced a refreshed RBWM Transformation Programme (strategy) 2015-18.  It was noted that the programme was designed to respond to the changing face and funding structure of local government and enable the Royal Borough to become a change ready and ‘Agile’ organisation.  Members were informed that the report would be going before Cabinet on the 31 March 2016.

Members were given a short presentation and were informed that the Royal Borough had been transforming for a number of years now.  It was noted that the Royal Borough had achieved £20.5million savings since 2013/14.  Members were informed that savings for 2016/17 – 2019/20 needed to be made.

Councillor Targowska arrived. 

The Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services went onto explain that over the next couple of years the Royal Borough needed to respond to challenges and aim to be an agile Council. 

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  That the 10% reduction in Council tax by 2017/18 (referred to on page 29 of the agenda) was a cumulative figure.

Ø  That the names on page 30 of the agenda (transformation programme governance arrangements) needed to be updated.

Ø  That the ‘TBC’ figures would be available by the end of April.

Ø  That all March dates in the report needed to be amended to April.

Ø  That the Version 0.4 date on page 35 of the agenda needed to be amended to read 07/01/2016.

Ø  The Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services agreed to confirm the 50% (tbc) 2015/16 savings figure from the staff survey so it could be included in the minutes.

Ø  That the Council was committed to retaining fact to face and over the phone conversations particularly for those without internet access. 

Ø  That the Council was considered to be multiple businesses and as such did not have the money to invest in being able to see every transaction for a particular individual.

Ø  That 150 Fundamental Service Reviews (FSRs) were due to be undertaken in total – 80 had so far been undertaken / scheduled in to take place.  It was noted that the majority would be completed by the end of the financial year. 

Ø  That the need to complete the FSRs was considered high risk.

Ø  That the Council was looking at joint ventures and providing services itself. 

Ø  That between January and the end of march 102 of the management team would have been trained to help complete the transformation programme. 

Ø  That the Royal Borough wanted to be the local government employer of choice.

Ø  That the figure of 720 on page 33 of the agenda (baseline of complaints received in 2015/16) related to resident complaints.  The Chairman commented that he did not like the fact that some of the 4000+ complaints were considered valid and some were not.

Ø  That the Council was starting to group complaints to enable trends to be available in the future.

Ø  That the complaints process consisted of three levels / stages.

The Crime & Disorder Overview & Scrutiny Panel unanimously agreed to recommend to Cabinet the following:

i.   Approves the refreshed RBWM Transformation Programme 2015-18: An Agile Council.

The Panel thanked the Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services for an excellent report.