Agenda item

To advise the Commission of the Council’s Corporate Programme and its current areas of activity.

(Councillor Emma Webster declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 7 by virtue of the fact that she was a Member of the Fire Authority and Hungerford Fire Station had been listed as a work stream within the Corporate Programme. As her interest was personal and not prejudicial she determined to take part in the debate).

David Lowe introduced the report to the Commission and offered to provide an overview of the work streams detailed in the work programme.

Members heard that the New Ways of Working Service Transformation (ref 1 - 6b) intended to go through the processes and tasks within every service of the Council to consider opportunities to maximise efficiency using the resources available and considering technological solutions. This work initially focused on the Planning Service and the Education Service quickly followed. The first stage focused on data gathering to understand the current position and incorporated stakeholder feedback to provide a comprehensive report. A scrutiny task and finish group was established to review the data and their views were submitted to the Project Board for further consideration.

Item 7 related to the recent Financial Challenge reviews which had been an intense piece of work involving many Officers and Managers across the Council. The review intended to identify opportunities to reduce expected expenditure and contribute towards future saving targets. It was intended that this work would continue.

Councillor Lee Dillon advised that he had requested a copy of the minutes from this piece of work in order that the opposition party could have visibility of the discussions and pressures. Nick Carter agreed that he would speak to the Leader of the Council about this.

Item 8 detailed the focus on digitisation of some tasks (bookings, waste and courses). The aim was to improve the method of managing this work stream and also improve the customer’s experience. David Lowe stated that there was a larger piece of work focusing around the Waste Service review (reference 9) and that digitalisation was an element of this work.

Items 10 and 11 detailed the work to construct shared services in Emergency Planning and Legal respectively. David Lowe advised that the Emergency Planning shared service contract was signed and the new team (formed by Royal Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest and West Berkshire) would commence in April 2018. The Legal Services shared service discussion was ongoing with Bracknell Forest Council colleagues.

David Lowe explained that  the property foritem 15 (residential property - Fountain Gardens) was now purchased and offered and the next proposed project was the joint venture between West Berkshire Council and Sovereign Housing. It was intended that the replacement project would deliver the ability for West Berkshire to become a Social Housing Landlord.

Item 18 intended to look at ways to maximise the use of Central Government funding (known as the ‘Apprenticeship Levy’) to deliver internal training etc.

Item 19 aimed to look at the Council’s position in readiness for the General Data Protection Regulation changes due in May 2018. David Lowe noted that the item was on the agenda for discussion.

Item 20 registered the need to conduct a review into the changes proposed by the revised Homelessness Reduction Act (due in April 2018) and the Council’s position to ensure compliance with those changes.

David Lowe advised that the ICT demand management project aimed to look at areas of work which distracted the service from their key tasks and where this originated from - also considering levels of demand. Initial stages focused around information gathering in order to explore options going forward.

Items 22 and 23 referred to Major Infrastructure Projects (Sandleford and Grazeley). Councillor Hilary Cole advised that the discussion was ongoing with developers to ensure a suitable application was presented for the Sandleford development. Members heard that discussions continued with Wokingham Borough Council in respect of Grazeley Green but ultimately they were waiting for the final determination of the emergency planning area by the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

Councillor Webster asked why the Hungerford Fire Station had been referred to as a project within the ‘One Public Estate’ work stream in light of the fact that this involved minimal input from the Council.  Nick Carter advised that the programme listed all estates which fell into the ‘One Public Estate’ remit but he acknowledged that the work to deliver the Hungerford Fire Station was already underway. 

Councillor Tim Metcalfe advised that he thought the Waterside regeneration project was completed. Nick Carter explained that the final proposal was issued to the Executive in December 2017 to seek approval before it was issued to the Planning Service for further consideration.

Councillor Dillon suggested that plans for Theale School and Highwood Primary were added to the programme due to the complexities surrounding their progression. Nick Carter advised that the programme focused on corporately led tasks and therefore he was not entirely sure those items were appropriate for this programme.

Resolved that:

1)    The report be noted.