Agenda and minutes
PDF 199 KBVenue: County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN
Contact: Andrew Baird
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Minutes: None were received. |
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING 25 FEBRUARY 2016
To agree the minutes as a true record of the meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.
Notes: · In line with the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, declarations may relate to the interest of the member, or the member’s spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom the member is living as husband or wife, or a person with whom the member is living as if they were civil partners and the member is aware they have the interest. · Members need only disclose interests not currently listed on the Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests. · Members must notify the Monitoring Officer of any interests disclosed at the meeting so they may be added to the Register. · Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest. Minutes: There were none. |
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QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
To receive any questions or petitions.
Notes: 1. The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (30April 2016). 2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (29 April 2016). 3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.
Minutes: There were none. |
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For Members to consider and comment on the Committee’s actions. Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest:
None
Witnesses:
Ken Akers, Head of HR & OD
Key points raised during the discussions:
1. The People, Performance and Development Committee (PPDC) requested an update on the final appraisal completion rate for the Adult Social Care Mental Health team for the year 2014/15. The Head of HR & OD stated that the appraisal completion rate for this Service been adversely impacted by the fact that many Surrey County Council (SCC) staff working within the Mental Health team were managed by employees of Surrey and Borders Partnership (SABP) which had caused some confusion regarding the appraisal process that SCC staff were supposed to go through. This was further compounded by problems some SABP managers had had getting on to SCC’s system in order to complete the appraisal process. Members were informed, however, that these problems had been addressed and that it was anticipated that this would significantly boost the appraisal performance of this Service for 2015/16. It was agreed that the Committee would receive details of the final completion rate for Adult Social Care Mental Health teams in 2014/15. 2. Attention was drawn to Action A29/15 on the Actions Tracker which requested confirmation on the backfill cost related to the leadership structure changes. Members noted that the Committee had still not received this information and requested that it been circulated to PPDC in advance of the Committee’s next meeting on 3 May 2016.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
i. The Head of HR & OD to provide the Committee with details of the final appraisal completion rate of the Adult Social Care Mental Health team for the year 2014/15/ to be provided on the 2014/15 (Action Ref A14/16). ii. Information related to Action A29/15 to be circulated to the Committee in advance of its meeting on 3 May 2016 (Action Ref A13/16).
RESOLVED:
To note the tracker.
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STAFF SURVEY RESULTS
This report provides an update to Members of the People, Performance and Development Committee (PPDC) on the results of the Staff Survey. This is the first SCC Staff Survey undertaken by Best Companies and will be used as a benchmark for future staff surveys. The next survey is due to be launched in October 2016 and the results will be brought to PPDC in early 2017. The Council Overview Board has also considered the results of the survey and recommended that individual scrutiny board review the data for areas within their remit. Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interests:
None
Witnesses:
Rachel Crossley, Chief of Staff
Key points raised during the discussions:
1. The Chief of Staff introduced the report, highlighting that the results of SCC’s first staff survey since 2011 had been largely positive, prompting Best Companies, who conducted the survey, to give SCC a ‘One to Watch’ rating. Members were informed that there were a number of areas of the survey where staff rated SCC highly including in team management and team ethic. The Staff Survey also outlined some areas where employees felt less positive about SCC. Specifically, the results of the survey demonstrated that staff perceptions of senior management; how employees felt they were remunerated by the Council as well as staff wellbeing were areas that needed to be addressed. The Committee was told that steps were already being taken by SCC through the Pay and Reward Consultation to understand and address concerns about staff perceptions of whether they received a fair deal from the Council. 2. The Committee requested further detail on what measures were being taken to improve perceptions of senior management among staff. The Chief of Staff stated that there may have been some ambiguity regarding who employees viewed as the leader of the organisation and this could have had some impact on the results of questions in the survey relating to senior management. Members were advised that Directorate action plans were being developed and being used to improve engagement between senior managers and staff. A significant proportion of respondents gave neutral responses (neither agree nor disagree) to questions regarding senior management of the organisation and this group is seen as critical to engage through the action plans. 3. It was acknowledged that a significant amount of money and resources had already been committed to improving leadership culture in the organisations through coaching programmes designed to strengthen management engagement with staff across SCC. The Committee stressed the importance of ensuring that members of the senior management team are engaging with staff throughout the organisation, particularly those working in more remote parts of the County. 4. Members highlighted the Staff Survey’s low response rate and asked what steps would be taken to improve the number of responses for the Survey that would take place in October 2016. The Committee was informed that Best Companies required that staff not be excessively encouraged to take part in the survey which had limited the extent to which SCC was able to promote the Staff Survey. This meant that awareness of the Staff Survey among employees was not as high as it could have been which therefore impacted negatively on the response rate. Plans were in place to increase awareness of the next Staff Survey primarily by highlighting the email about the survey to staff and ensuring that it doesn’t end up being treated as spam. Members emphasised the importance of informing employees how their responses to the Staff Survey will be translated into organisational change – the results and the subsequent action plans ... view the full minutes text for item 31/16 |
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FUTURE ARRANGEMENTS FOR IMT LEADERSHIP - ORBIS
To seek endorsement from the People, Performance and Development Committee regarding arrangements for future Information Management and Technology (IMT) Leadership across the Orbis partnership. Minutes: Declarations of interests:
None
Witnesses:
Ken Akers, Head of HR & OD
Key points raised during the discussions:
1. The report was introduced by the Head of HR & OD who informed the Committee that Paul Brocklehurst had requested voluntary redundancy following the proposal to merge the Information Management and Technology Lead roles for Surrey County County and East Sussex County Council (ESCC) as part of the Orbis Joint Partnership. 2. Information was requested on the amount of money that SCC would save through the amalgamation of the IMT Lead roles for SCC and ESCC. The Head of HR & OD indicated that this would lead to a saving of a half a salary for this role. 3. The Committee asked how redundancy payments were calculated. The Head of HR & OD advised that redundancy payments are equal to a week and a half per year of employment with the Council. 4. Members paid tribute to the work that Mr Brocklehurst had done in transforming and modernising the IT infrastructure of SCC. The Committee agreed that the Chairman would write a letter to Mr Brocklehurst thanking him on behalf of the Council and Surrey residents for his working since joining the organisation.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
i. The Chairman of PPDC to write a letter to Paul Brocklehurst thanking him on behalf of Surrey County Council and Surrey residents for the work his he has done to improve IT since joining the Council (Action Ref: A15/16).
RESOLVED:
That the People, Performance and Development Committee agreed to:
i. support the redundancy of Paul Brocklehurst, Head of IMT at Surrey County Council ii. note the deletion of the role of Head of IMT for Surrey County Council and the establishment of the new role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) which will have a scope across the whole Orbis Partnership.
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IMPROVING RESIDENT EXPERIENCE: TELEPHONE AND VOICEMAIL POLICY UPDATE
Members of PPDC requested an update on what has happened since the new telephone and voicemail policy was approved by the Committee on 29 September 2015.
This report details what work has been done to implement and promote the new telephone and voicemail policy. The report also describes how this work aligns with the wider programme of work to promote a customer focused culture. Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interests:
None
Witnesses:
Mark Irons, Assistant Director, Customer Services
Key points raised during the discussions:
1. The Assistant Director introduced the report advising the Committee of the steps which had been taken to embed the telephone and voicemail policy since it was introduced. The Committee was informed that the policy had become part of the induction for the new members of staff and had also been adopted as part of the Customer Service Excellence Framework. Members were told that a mystery shopper style test would be used to assess how successful the implementation of the telephone and voicemail policy had been. This would be done through randomly choosing members of staff throughout different services in SCC at the weekend to check whether their voicemail messages comply with the policy. It was agreed that the results of the mystery shopper exercise would be circulated to the Committee. 2. Members stressed that residents should not incur a cost when attempting to get in contact with the Council by phone. The Assistant Director stated that all SCC numbers should cost no more than a local rate call for residents and confirmed that he would check the Council’s public use phone numbers to ensure that this was the case. 3. The Committee expressed concern that some services have introduced a policy of not responding to residents under any circumstances which was liable to damage SCC’s reputation. A Member of the Committee cited a specific example where a Service would not respond to a query by residents. The Head of Customer Services agreed to make contact with this Service to encourage them to revise this policy. 4. The Head of Customer Services acknowledged that more work did need to be done to embed a customer service culture throughout the organisation but highlighted that the Council’s frontline services were customer-focused including the contact centre which responded to 75 - 85% of calls within 20 seconds.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
i. The Head of Customer Services to follow up with the Transportation Review Team in regard to their policy of not responding to residents (Action Review Ref: A16/16). ii. Results of the voicemail mystery shopper exercise to be circulated to the Committee once this has been completed. (Action Review Ref: A17/16). iii. Progress report on the implementation of the Customer Service excellence policy to be provided to the Committee. (Action Review Ref: A18/16). iv. PPDC to be provided with information on the cost and waiting times for residents calling SCC Highways Emergency number (Action Review Ref: A19/16). v. PPDC to receive information on why the Shared Services Finance Team was not following the Telephone and Voicemail Policy (Action Review Ref: A20/16).
RESOLVED:
That the People, Performance and Development Committee continued to support the promotion of the new telephone and voicemail policy and the wider programme of work to promote a customer focused culture.
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EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC
Recommendation: That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information under the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act. Minutes: RESOLVED: That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information under the relevant paragraphs of Schedule 12A of the Act. |
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SENIOR PAY POLICY EXCEPTIONS REPORT APRIL 2016
The People, Performance and Development Committee (PPDC) acts as the Council’s Remuneration Committee under delegated powers, in accordance with the Constitution of the County Council. The purpose of this paper is to highlight decisions taken / recommendations on pay that fall outside the published Pay Policy. Minutes: 20/16 SENIOR PAY POLICY EXCEPTIONS REPORT APRIL 2016 [Item 10]
Declarations of interests:
None
Witnesses:
Ken Akers, Strategic HR Relationship Manager
Key points raised during the discussion:
1. The Head of HR & OD introduced the report. The Committee asked a number of questions which were responded to by the officers present, before moving to recommendations.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
None
RESOLVED:
The Committee approved the recommendations set out in the confidential report, these recommendations are highlighted in the Part 2 minutes. . |
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of People, Performance and Development Committee will be on 11 May 2016. Minutes: The Committee noted that its next meeting would be held on 30 June 2016. |