Agenda item

1)       Mr Gough and Mr Whittle introduced a report which set out the background to the business planning process for 2013/14.  The new process placed the emphasis on reducing the burden of business planning with a lighter touch process. It was important to increase the consistency and synergy between business planning and both the performance management dashboards and directorate and divisional risk registers which underpinned the business plan actions, and were reported to the Committee on a regular basis .  The draft plans were still at an early stage of development, with further refinement over the coming months before approval in March 2013.

(2)       Members were invited to consider the risk register and the following individual draft business plans.

Risk Register

(3)       Mr Gough and Mr Scrivener noted comments and answered questions from Members which included the following:

• In response to a question on how frequently business units/divisions considered their risks, Mr Scrivener stated that officers from his team seek progress updates quarterly as a minimum, and that he regularly attends Directorate Management Team and Corporate Management Team meetings to discuss.  The frequency of monitoring would depend on the nature of the risk.
• Mr Gough explained that risks could manifest themselves in a number of ways and that once a risk was identified, mitigating actions would be set up and reviewed on a regular basis. Mr Scrivener confirmed that all divisions had their own risk register which identified the actions necessary to mitigate the risk
• Regarding the contingency plans for risks to the organisation, Mr Scrivener explained that within divisional business plans critical functions were identified and resources required outlined.    Organisational resilience was an important issue that features on the Corporate Risk Register and he assured Members that there were contingency plans for key areas such as ICT.

Human Resources (HR)

(4)       Ms Beer noted comments and answered questions from Members which included the following:

• In response to a question on why there was no start date for the HR work for the Troubled Families programme, Ms Beer stated that HR’s role with reference to this programme was to make sure that County Council staff and staff in partner organisations had the right skills to deliver the programme.  The start date was to be advised once the workforce development and terms & conditions issues became clearer.  HR would have a reactive role regarding what was needed to deliver the programme.
• Regarding HR’s role with the East Kent Partnership (EKP), Ms Beer explained that HR provided a payroll service to the three District Councils within the EKP.  There was a Service Level Agreement in place which set out clear deliverables under the delegation. In relation to Kent Teach, Ms Beer stated the work of HR with Kent Teach was a success and it was a realistic hope to generate income from this for schools outside Kent.  HR were keen to offer services to other Local Authorities across the country in order to provide an alternative to the private sector in areas such as criminal records checks. She confirmed that all income generating opportunities were included in this was included in HR’s trading plan.
• Ms Beer acknowledged that there was a real opportunity to provide HR services to schools that now had more freedom of choice in relation to service providers; HR could for example provide a quality recruitment service.
• In response to a question on training for apprentices, Ms Beer stated that part of the Organisational Development Plan for the County Council was to attract a younger workforce,  and that  the training and recruitment of apprentices was a part of this.

Governance & Law

 (5)      Mr Wild noted comments and answered questions from Members which included the following:

• In response to a question, Mr Wild explained that Legal Services were now using Iken case management software, and had a bespoke system tailored to their requirements.  The initial response to the system had been positive and it was intended to roll it out over the next 12 – 18 months. The main aim of the system was to reduce the legal services cost to the County Council as well as using it for external work. 
• In relation to the extent that the County Council used external legal services, Mr Wild stated that he was aware that certain work was undertaken externally and he acknowledged that some of this was best handled in that way.  However, in these cases it was important to ensure the best advice at the best price was procured. He stated that there were other areas of legal work which the legal department knew were being delivered externally and which legal services were looking at to see how effectively these were being undertaken and whether they could be undertaken in house.
• Mr Wild confirmed that there was an extensive Unit Risk Register and more detail could be included in the Corporate Risk Register provided to the Committee if Members wished.
• Mr Wild explained that the level of risk to be included in the Risk Register was a matter of judgement. The top level risks were included in the Risk Register and other risks flowed from these areas. 
• A Member stated that as this was the first year of the implementation of the Cabinet Committee system this should be monitored to see how effectively it was involving Members and whether Members felt that it was working.

• In relation to the work of the new Police and Crime Commissioner, a Member highlighted the importance of the Police and Crime Panel to the Community Safety landscape.
• Mr Gough noted the point raised on the wording of 18A at the top of page 56 regarding an increase in information being made available on the website not necessarily reducing the number of FOI requests.  He stated that an increase in appropriate information on the website   should make it possible to turn around some requests quicker by referring to this published information.  He confirmed that good progress was being made with putting more information on the website. Regarding the operation of the website he confirmed that this sat within the Customer and Communities portfolio. 

Business Strategy

(6)       Mr Cockburn and Mr Hallet noted comments and answered questions from Members which included the following:

• It was suggested that there should be a similar reference in the plan to KCC work in influencing national policy as there is to KCC’s work in Europe. Mr Whittle noted the point and stated that, although this was not set out in one place, there was reference to it in various places such as the development of the Corporate Spending Review. Mr Gough acknowledged that this could be set out with more details of specific areas to be influenced. Mr King outlined KCC’s work in Europe.
• In response to a question, Mr King confirmed that KCC worked closely with the Kent Members of the European Parliament and recognised that they were key influencing figures.

Finance & Procurement

(7)       Mr Wood noted comments and answered questions from Members which included the following:

• In response to a question on which were the difficult areas for his  Division in the next year, Mr Wood stated that there were challenges in all areas but particular areas were procurement in this difficult time, counter fraud with a small team dealing with an increasing workload and the changes to the Pension regulations.
• Regarding consultation and Member involvement, Mr Wood explained that big issues such as pensions were considered by the Superannuation Committee and the Budget Consultation was considered by Cabinet Committees and Cabinet.  He stated that the Budget Informal Members Group of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee which had been disbanded used to consider consultation relating to finance prior to them being signed off by the Cabinet Member, which had been very helpful.
• In relation to the target to be added for the payment of invoices, Mr Wood referred to the discussion on this at the last meeting of the Committee, and stated that the target would be added before the Business Plans were submitted to Cabinet so that it could be as realistic as possible.

ICT

(8)       Mr Bole noted comments and answered questions from Members which included the following:

• In response to a question on the roll out of Windows 8, Mr Bole explained it was not the Council’s policy to adopt new systems soon after their release and in the case of Windows 8 there was still not a professional version available. This was due late January/early February 2013.
• Regarding the ICT solution for Members following the May elections Mr Bole explained work was going on with Members to assess possible options for Members ICT. 

Property

(9)       Ms Spore noted comments and answered questions from Members which included the following:

• A Member highlighted the positive impact on planned maintenance following the centralisation of the County Council property estate. Ms Spore emphasised that a clear planned maintenance programme across the Council’s estate was essential, this enabled the prioritisation of urgent works and it was possible for the corporate landlord to take a holistic view across the estate.

General comments

(10)     Mr Whittle noted comments and answered questions from Members which included the following:

• In was suggested that in future there should be an index to each of the business plan in large reports to Committees.
• At Agenda setting meetings for this Cabinet Committee consideration should be given to including one or two of the business plans on the agenda for each meeting.

(11)     RESOLVED that the comments made by Members on the draft plans, ahead of the Key Decision by Cabinet to approve business plans in March 2013 be noted.