Agenda item

Purpose: To provide an update on and overview of the Council’s New Ways of Working programme.

The Commission considered a report presented by Melanie Best (Item 6 on the agenda) which provided background to the New Ways of Working (NWOW) programme and outlined the value that the programme has added to the Council.

Questions were considered around how the NWOW programme had made a difference. It was felt the report lacked practical examples and articulation of financial savings delivered. It was suggested that heads of service should record efficiency savings. In response to these comments, it was noted that there was a huge number of potential transformation projects that would deliver tangible savings, and there was a wider report available with 680 recommendations, which could be made available to those who required more information.

Other comments were made around the programme’s success especially within the Housing service. Also, it was noted that joint working in Adult Social Care was now a flagship project within the Integrated Care Partnership. 

It was acknowledged that the pandemic had accelerated the delivery of recommendations in relation to digital services and the pace of change had been exceptional in the first three months.

It was suggested that the NWOW process should adopt a more all-encompassing, holistic approach, with a coordinated look at Council issues across the board to ensure there was a cultural change, with customers at the heart of the process. The phone system was identified as being in particular need of improvement.

It was queried as to why there were significant differences in the number of improvements proposed for different services.  Development and Planning was the first to be examined two to three years ago and had relatively few recommendations, while Countryside and Transport was one of the last and had many more recommendations. It was explained that Planning had already gone digital and many improvements had already been implemented. Also, later reviews had benefitted from experience and lessons learned from previous ones. It was noted that there had been a change of approach part-way through, when it had been realised that the Council did not have the capacity or capabilities to deliver the original model.

A concern was raised regarding creating further digital exclusion among residents who were less technological able. The recycling centre booking system was cited as an example and the omission of a phone number for those unable to book online was highlighted. It was noted that existing communications channels would be retained and the Customer First Programme Board was looking at digital exclusion issues.

Members asked why some Council services were not fully covered by NWOW. It was explained that preparation work for Strategy and Governance had commenced before it had been removed from the programme and the Public Health service would be included at a later date. Assurances were given that due to the creation of the new Transformation Portfolio, all services would considered.

Members asked how customer feedback would be sought and suggested that mystery shopping would provide an effective mechanism for understanding issues. It was explained that the Digital Services, Programme and Customer Services Teams would get together on a monthly basis to look at customer complaints, which could be considered alongside NWOW reviews.

Members suggested that future reports should state whether anticipated benefits had been realised and that they should also set out a medium-term work programme.

There was a suggestion that a culture change was needed within the Council to encourage continuous innovation. It was noted that the findings of the reviews had been welcomed on every level at the Council with a high degree of participation and feedback from staff, but a facilitated approach was needed to ensure reviews were carried out.

Furthermore, the organisation would continue to review the output from the programme in order to transform and improve services as part of the transformation programme of work, which will be led by the Transformation, Digital & Programme Team within the Customer Engagement and Transformation unit of Strategy & Governance.