Annex 1
REIGATE AND BANSTEAD BOROUGH COUNCIL
OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
IMPLEMENTING ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT (IEG) SCRUTINY REVIEW PANEL
24 MARCH 2005
Held at 6.30 p.m. in the Front Committee Room at the Town Hall, Reigate.
Present: Councillors M.G. Ormerod (Chairman), R.M. Bennett, M.A. Brunt and N.D.
Harrison.
Officers in Support: Paul McCallum, Director of Resources,
Graham Friday, Head of Finance and Procurement,
Hew Penfold, Programme Manager, Business Solutions
Chris Phelan, Scrutiny Support Officer
1.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Councillors S.A. Kulka and T.D. Stoddart.
2
REMIT OF THE PANEL
It was noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 2 March 2005
established the Panel to give consideration to the Council’s activities in relation to
implementing Electronic Government and agreed that its remit would be to examine
whether:
1.
2.
3.
3.
the IEG programme is delivering value for money;
the IEG priorities accord with the Council's priorities and are achievable in
the time frame established; and
the direction of travel is focussed in the appropriate areas to achieve
maximum benefit for the public and the Council.
INFORMATION TO SUPPORT THE PANEL’S WORK
The Panel was provided with the following to assist its work in considering the IEG
programme:
• a copy of the IEG submission and the response received from the Government;
• a presentation on the implementation of the IEG programme;
• an indication of the overriding principles that guided decisions related to the
availability of electronic information;
• details of the BV Performance Indicator 157;
• the publication “Modern Councils, Modern Services – Access for all” prepared by
the ODPM.
4.
IEG PROGRAMME REPORT TO THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
The presentation on the IEG Programme included details of the following:

IEG4 submission to the ODPM and how it related to previous submissions
including clarification on the Council’s priorities in the Corporate Plan and
Change Programme;

Achievements made to date, next steps to be taken, the management of the
process and current/future funding;

ODPM Priority Outcomes including reference to the different responsibilities for
1st and 2nd tier authorities;

A comparison between the IEG4 submission and the BVPI 157 information;

The Council’s ambition to be 100% compliant with the IEG4 by December 2005.

The focus of the programme being towards the citizen becoming self-servicing;

The likelihood that a further £150K Government funding would be provided in
2005/06;

The projects likely to result in financial efficiency savings in 2005/6 and the
2006-09 Corporate Plan’s recognition of the IEG work;

That further IEG submissions would be required in July and December 2005
which would form part of the future CPA analysis assessment;

The total capital spent after three years of the programme was £4.3m. This had
mostly been invested in infrastructure (£1.4m) and capability provision (£2.2m);
and

details of partnership work with suppliers (e.g. Novell & Orange), which had
provided the opportunity to share risks and reduce costs, including work with
Surrey e-Partnership.
Value for Money
The Panel noted the capital investment that had been made and how much of it had
been focussed on infrastructure changes. This had allowed the back office systems
such as council tax, planning etc to be updated. Links to the Help Shops had also
been upgraded and the website was now hosted in-house (reducing the reliability
on external providers).
These developments had started to generate efficiencies. Cumulative savings of
approximately £450k-£490k per year were anticipated to be achieved from 2005/06
onwards with an expected pay back on the total investment within 6 years.
The Benefits Realisation Method, introduced during 2004, commissioned projects
that would, on the whole, achieve actual financial benefit (with some exceptions of
responding to legislative changes or “stepping stones” for future benefit). The Panel
noted that the Change Programme built on the strategic direction in the Corporate
Plan, which focussed on overall priorities and the cultural changes to be embedded
to provide for customer needs.
Council Priorities
The Panel recognised that the main Organisational Development themes within the
current Corporate Plan were “Driven by the Customer; Improving and Optimising
our Performance and Learning and Developing”.
The IEG programme of work was core to the Organisational Development element
of these priorities, to be formed through the “Change Triangle”.
This work would be further developed in the core objectives for Organisational
Effectiveness as set out in the draft Corporate Plan for 2006-2009, which
compliments and expands upon the existing Change Programme.
Direction of Travel
It was noted that the Government had set a “target” of 100% electronic enablement
by December 2005. It was envisaged that the approach adopted would allow this to
achieved, however it was noted that some priority outcomes would be completed
later which allowed for the Council to prioritise the work that would help the
development of the organisation with the priorities that have been set for it.
Detailed points
The following detailed points arose from the scrutiny exercise as summarised
below:


Where was the Council placed in comparative terms in the League Tables that
measure and compare overall IEG performance; and
Where appropriate efforts be made to purchase bespoke solutions/packages
that provide the solution to IEG requirements e.g. web pages for Councillors.
Conclusion
The Panel concluded that:
1.
The Director of Resources, Head of Business Solutions, Head of Finance
and Procurement and Business Solutions Programme Manager be thanked for their
efforts in supporting the work of the Panel, preparing the information presenting it to
the Panel.
2.
It was satisfied with the E-Gov work being undertaken and that it
demonstrated, on the basis of the information available and the methodology and
approach being used, that it was providing value for money.
3.
The programme was following a carefully managed order of priorities that put
the Council’s needs first and, at the same time, securing the Government’s IEG
priorities. It was noted that there may be further value in additional promotion of the
efforts of the E-Gov team to explain how this work was undertaken.
4.
It was assured that the direction of travel being undertaken by the Council
was clear, focussed and set with a purpose of ensuring that the Council became
more efficient with the customer being the main beneficiary of the investment. There
was a possible development on the tracking of feedback received as part of the
continuous improvements to services.
5.
To support the continuous improvement of the service it was suggested that
4 or 5 high level Performance indicators be added to the quarterly performance
monitoring information brought to the Committee. This would compliment the
approach envisaged for the 2006-09 Corporate Plan and a number of suggestions
for the indicators were made including:




customer uptake of online services offered;
systems for recording the number and type of enquires and the performance of
closing the loop on them;
volumes of online services taken up; and
indications of where problems had been notified and what management action
was being taken to resolve them.
Next Steps
It was noted that the Panel’s report would be presented to the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee meeting on 27 April 2005 when it would be helpful to have a
summary presentation of the IEG work undertaken to demonstrate to the
Committee the overall volume of work being undertaken. This would also allow the
Panel’s conclusions to be put in context.
5.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
None.
6.
DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING OF THE PANEL
The Panel concluded its remit with this report and noted that no further meetings
would be required.
The meeting closed at 8.20pm.
Chris Phelan
Scrutiny Support Officer
Democratic Services
01737 276114
chris.phelan@reigate-banstead.gov.uk