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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED – (i) That the topic selection form as attached to the report COGC/99/22 be accepted onto the work programme for December 2022 . (ii) That the work programme as attached to the report COGC/99/22 be agreed subject to the aforementioned amendments.
AGREED (i) That a further update be provided in 6 months. (ii) That the Scrutiny Facilitator circulate a link to the outcome measures in the Council Plan regarding the priority of ‘Ensuring a Modern and Resilient Council.’
AGREED (i) Whilst the year 2022/23 would set the new baseline for performance data, that historical data prior to the Covid pandemic be included, where possible, to assist the Committee in establishing any trends. (ii) That performance data regarding leavers and starters be reported on a six monthly basis. (iii) That the sickness absence data include the percentage of sickness absence within each Department. (iv) To recommend that the scoring criteria used by different Departments for PRCD’s be monitored by HR to ensure consistency and that details of the PRCD process are included in the next interim update report to Committee. (v) That the next interim report cover the period April – September 2022.
Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Mark Pritchard (Lead Member for Finance and Performance) and Paul Rogers.
AGREED – To sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2022.
Decision as recorded
AGREED – (i) That the topic selection form as attached to the report COGC/99/22 be accepted onto the work programme for December 2022 . (ii) That the work programme as attached to the report COGC/99/22 be agreed subject to the aforementioned amendments.
The Chief Officer Governance and Customer submitted a report COGC/99/22 allowing Members to consider the Scrutiny Topic Selections Form which had been submitted and the work programme of the Customers, Performance, Resources & Governance Scrutiny Committee (attached at Appendices 1 & 2 to the report). During discussion the following proposals were put forward – · Council Owned Farms and Land – To be scheduled for the December 2022 meeting. In the meantime, an information updated was requested to be circulated to Members of the Committee as soon as possible, outlining the current position for the remaining assets (to include how rent levels compare nationally). · Office Accommodation Review – To be deferred from the December to 19 January 2023 meeting. · ICT and Digital Strategy –To be deferred from the November to 16 February 2023 meeting. AGREED – (i) That the topic selection form as attached to the report COGC/99/22 be accepted onto the work programme for December 2022 . (ii) That the work programme as attached to the report COGC/99/22 be agreed subject to the aforementioned amendments.
Decision as recorded
AGREED (i) That a further update be provided in 6 months. (ii) That the Scrutiny Facilitator circulate a link to the outcome measures in the Council Plan regarding the priority of ‘Ensuring a Modern and Resilient Council.’
The Lead Member for Finance & Performance and the Lead Member for Corporate Services submitted a joint report COGC/92/22 which provided Members with an update of the Modern Ways of Working (MWOW) Programme. Following the lifting of Covid restrictions the report detailed the positive approach taken to the Modern Ways of Working programme arrangements. In introducing the report, the Lead Member for Corporate Service referred in particular to the way in which the MWOW programme underpinned the Council priority ‘Modern and Resilient Council’. This identified the need to ‘develop an organisational culture where people felt engaged, valued and empowered and had the right skills to perform. It also encouraged working towards the development of a digital Council that enabled the modernisation of engagement with customers. During the debate the following points were noted, in particular: · The Council was undertaking a programme of works in relation to the MyAccount on-line system. It was noted that updates were being carried out in priority order, based on service demand. The Environment Department had been the first to receive the update and the system had been re-designed to establish clearer processes, particularly in terms of improving customer feedback/communication. The Head of Digital agreed to follow up Members’ concerns regarding customer feedback on highway issues. · Concern was raised by a number of Members regarding messages on Council telephony lines advising of long waiting times. The Head of Service, Digital stated that this was an ‘automatic’ advisory message. She advised that it was not possible to determine the actual amount of waiting time, but that the average waiting time recorded on the system was 3 ½ mintues. Customers were encouraged to report issues on-line, where possible. It was important to the Council not to create barriers for customers. · The Heads of Service, Performance, Improvement and Partnerships advised how the PRD process was a useful tool in terms of managing team outcomes. The Chief Officer Social Care further advised that management of staff and management of teams had been able to continue during COVID and was continuing as the Council moved through the MWOW agenda. It was noted that good remote meeting facilities were available which supported the management of individual caseloads. · Feedback from staff around the benefits associated with the MWOW programme included the flexibility and ability to manage time in the most effective way, reduced time spend on travel and support of mental health and well-being. The only identified frustrations were in relation to the need to gain confidence in the elements of the new software available. The Team Agreement Tool had been useful if gaining feedback in this respect. · The office accommodation review was underway and the ‘open plan’ office was one of the principles of this review. · Some Members referred to the problems they had been experiencing in trying to contact members of staff via the telephone and email and expressed concern that members of the public could be experiencing similar problems. The Chief Officer Governance and Customer advised that there would be instances where it would not be possible for Offices to answer the phone (i.e. they may be engaged in zoom meetings or skype call etc). It was suggested that staff be reminded of the Customer Access Standards. · The ICT End User Services Manager advised that soft phones had been rolled out to employees during the lockdown period enabling staff to be reached on their work number from anywhere using their laptops. The ICT department was in the process of double checking that all appropriate cover paths had been installed and this would ensure that phones were transferred appropriately and voicemails could be left. · Feedback from a recent staff survey showed that, on average, staff worked 3 ½ days from the office/on site and 1 ½ days from home. · A Member suggested that performance regarding Customer Access Standards should be tracked in order to ensure key areas were being met. AGREED (i) That a further update be provided in 6 months. (ii) That the Scrutiny Facilitator circulate a link to the outcome measures in the Council Plan regarding the priority of ‘Ensuring a Modern and Resilient Council.’
Decision as recorded
AGREED (i) Whilst the year 2022/23 would set the new baseline for performance data, that historical data prior to the Covid pandemic be included, where possible, to assist the Committee in establishing any trends. (ii) That performance data regarding leavers and starters be reported on a six monthly basis. (iii) That the sickness absence data include the percentage of sickness absence within each Department. (iv) To recommend that the scoring criteria used by different Departments for PRCD’s be monitored by HR to ensure consistency and that details of the PRCD process are included in the next interim update report to Committee. (v) That the next interim report cover the period April – September 2022.
The Lead Member for Corporate Services submitted a report CE/55/22 providing the Committee with the annual Workforce Monitoring Information report for the period of 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. In introducing her report, the Lead Member referred in particular to the need to establish new post pandemic baseline figures for future performance monitoring. She also referred to the need to recognise the exceptional set of circumstances that the workforce had experienced throughout the pandemic. In discussing the report, the following points were noted, in particular: · The HR Manager provided detail in respect of NJC rates and Local Authority comparisons. · A high proportion of agency spend was for existing vacancies that had been difficult to fill. The estimated existing budgets to offset agency spend totalled approximately £4.1m, therefore the actual agency cost was £2m of the total agency spend of £6.1m. · The Chief Officer Social Care advised that the Local Authority was currently carrying out a programme which was committed to training more in house social care staff to become Social Workers. Whilst this would not provide an ‘overnight fix’ it would help to support a long term plan which would result in 8 social workers who were committed to Wrexham. There would still be a need for agency staff in the short term. There was also a shortage of childcare lawyers. · The reasons for leaving employment were wide-ranging and not always related to pay. · The Chief Officer Economy and Planning advised that there was an acute shortage of professionals for a number of complex reasons. There had been national recruitment exercises to bring in planning officers from assistant to senior level. He advised that senior pay in Wrexham was comparable to other local authorities and that there was a limited pool of applicants generally in the market at present. · The Chief Officer Education and Early Intervention confirmed that the lockdown period had encouraged some individuals to consider life changes and that this may have impacted on the number of vacancies. She stated that Wrexham had been able to attract some high quality officers in certain specialist areas and that Wrexham was seen as a good employer. · A Member suggested that there was a need to recognise top performers within the Local Authority and this meant ensuring consistency across the board in terms of employee data collection. It was also suggested that PRCD’s should be monitored by HR on a regular basis to ensure consistency in scoring. This would help to ensure that the appropriate challenges were made and necessary support provided to enable improvement. AGREED (i) Whilst the year 2022/23 would set the new baseline for performance data, that historical data prior to the Covid pandemic be included, where possible, to assist the Committee in establishing any trends. (ii) That performance data regarding leavers and starters be reported on a six monthly basis. (iii) That the sickness absence data include the percentage of sickness absence within each Department. (iv) To recommend that the scoring criteria used by different Departments for PRCD’s be monitored by HR to ensure consistency and that details of the PRCD process are included in the next interim update report to Committee. (v) That the next interim report cover the period April – September 2022.
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