Minutes
Best Use of Resources Board
0930am Wednesday 8th July 2011
Lounge Assembly
Standing attendees
Mark Baker (Chair)
Steve Waight
John Eagles
Pat Welch
Mark Rowe
Gary Bailey
Ian Stocker
Paul Hollister
Sally Chart
Hilary Oglieve
Simon Paine
Michelle Redshaw (Minutes)
Director of Finance
SPA
Deputy Treasurer, SPA
Chief Executive, SPA
Head of Finance
Head of Procurement
Head of HR Operations
Head of IS
Support Services Manager (West Sussex)
Force Risk Manager
Federation
Executive Assistant
Representatives & additional attendees
Dave Tonkin
Force Diversity Manager for Supt Neil Honnor
Adrian Rutherford
Head of local HR
Lorna Mackay
Insurance Manager
Apologies
Marion Fanthorpe
Nick Wilkinson
C/Supt Graham Bartlett
Sue George
John Cartwright
Peter Evans
Director of Human Resources
ACC Protective Services
Superintendents’ Association
Head of Corporate Communications
Head of Facilities
SPA
PART I – Open Session
1
Apologies
Recorded as above.
2
Minutes of previous meeting
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The minutes from the meeting on the 7th June 2011 were agreed as an accurate
account with 1 amendment. The updated action log is attached to the minutes.
3
Procurement Policy – Gary Bailey
Written proposals for changes to the current policy will be complete by next month
to bring in line with changes to standing orders/financial regulations agreed by the
SPA in May, changes in force structure, finance and business review. Mark Baker
informed the meeting that as a Force we are considering changes to some of the
authorisation limits. Currently in consultation with the legal team.
Meeting with Dave Tonkin’s team to ensure that the equality side of the business is
covered. Hilary Oglieve mentioned that Business Continuity needs to be in included
in the plan. She will meet with Gary to discuss this.
Pat Welch questioned how flexible are our processes and how flexible can we be?
SW commented that off contract spending can often end up costing you more. Mark
Baker responded by saying that there is flexibility for emergencies.
Dave Tonkin stated that perhaps we should be raising awareness across the force
as staff don’t necessarily see the beneficial rates for cancellations etc and think they
can get cheaper deal off contract. SC concurred this view as we are all aware that
there are more than likely hours lost by staff looking for cheaper alternatives to the
contract price. Mark Baker agreed that a force message should go out for the key
contracts at time of updated policy.
ACTION 112 – Michelle Redshaw to add Procurement Policy to September agenda
for BURB
4
ISD Review – Paul Hollister
The restructure is looking at how we provide technology across the force and
support the force in Serving Sussex 2015. There are a number of proposals in place
and a reduction in staff is one of them. This will see a benefit of £900k per year by
2015. The savings will come from post reduction and a restructure. ISD are looking
to move away from the current bespoke pay banding and Paul is in consultation
with Unison regarding this. The size of the management team has been reduced.
Paul is in consultation with the staff and there have been over 300 questions and
some counter proposals. He hopes to complete by mid October 2011.
Mark Baker reassured the meeting that managing business and change was being
considered during the consultation period. Hilary commented that there is a risk with
regard to pay bands and this should be included on risk register. John Eagles
sought assurance that work/projects will be completed within the capital budget. PH
stated that we are not looking to hire contract staff only by exception.
Dave Tonkin commented that the Home Sec’s recent speech touched on IT. Paul
Hollister responded informing that we will end up with more nationally run systems
and we will form part of the debate for the future.
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Service Order Review – The total value of service orders is £8m. Paul Hollister has
gathered information on current contracts and specifications and will provide
options for business users to reduce costs. Work will be undertaken with
procurement to see whether costs can be reduced. Currently not sure how many of
the contracts are negotiable
ACTION 113 – Paul Hollister to provide an update on the Service Order Review at
the September board.
Printing Project – There are currently 1,200 devices across the force. This project is
looking to replace and reduce the amount of devices to 250. Brighton and
Shoreham will be pilots, the IS block are currently trialling 2 of the devices. Sally
Chart raised some concerns she wants to be sure that the devices can do
everything that each individual unit needs them to do i.e. Digital scanning.
ACTION 114 – Paul Hollister to check scope of printing device to ensure it includes
digital scanning and provision for printing from SAP.
Steve Waight suggested that it should be made more difficult to print in colour and
that the default setting should be black and white. There was then a discussion
regarding our own standard templates and the amount of colour used.
ACTION 115 – Mark Baker to speak to Corporate Comms about the use of colour
on the standard templates
Mark Rowe informed the meeting that finance dept currently use this facility and he
emphasised the benefits of it. Ian Stocker queried whether consideration will be
given to different units/depts needs, i.e. HR printing 1,000 letters. He was reassured
that there are different models and model and positioning will be considered.
Dave Tonkin suggested reducing the delete time to 2 hours; he also questioned the
devices reliability. He was assured that the contract will include servicing time
scales.
ACTION 116 – Paul Hollister to check whether SD cards can be used and read and
whether there is enough resolution to print photos.
5
Insurance Bench Marking – Lorna Mackay
Lorna Mackay took the meeting through her report and highlighted a number of key
points. The main concern being the cost of damage caused by our staff to our
vehicles. This needs to be improved, Lorna is working with Driver Training to
identify individuals and look at what penalties can be introduced to try and reduce
this figure. Steve Waight commented that it is not a good position to be in to have a
higher level of claims than our premium. He also found it worrying that a number of
our drivers seem to be able to hit stationary objects. Mark Baker informed the
meeting that the motor claims budget has been delegated to divisions and
departments to try and encourage command teams to take responsibility. Pat Welch
stated that this issue has been on going for years and is not justifiable, he supports
the work Lorna is doing to identify individuals. Sally Chart informed the meeting that
their was a policy to deal with vehicle damage and wondered whether it should be
re looked at, so that it can be applied consistently across the force and enforced.
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The other areas on which we need to improve our figures are defective equipment
and wrongful arrest (138 incidents costing £0.5m). Sussex is also 2nd highest in
region for Forced Entry claims.
Dave Tonkin asked whether the data on Wrongful arrest has been fed back to
divisions, so that the staff begin to realise the impact their work can have on the
force as a whole, and the comparison with other forces.
Lorna finished by saying that soft marketing experience has been kind to us but if
our claims experience continues in the same way then our premiums will go up.
ACTION 117 – Lorna to look at vehicle damage, wrongful arrest and other
equipment and report back to a later meeting with some proposals to help reduce
the amount of claims
6
Estates Update - Mark Baker
The next Estates Board meeting is on 19th July. A small team is visiting sites and
managers across the force to review our estate and opportunities to rationalise
accommodation in line with operational requirements.
7
Key Performance Information
7a
HR – The information was circulated before the meeting, the data on the number of
vacancies may change at the September meeting due to less use of agency staff.
Sickness for Police Officers is unchanged and is decreasing for Police Staff. Ian
Stocker provided information on new legislation which comes into force on 1
October 2011, giving agency workers the entitlement to the same basic
employment and working conditions as if they had been recruited directly, if and
when they complete a qualifying period of 12 weeks in the same job.
ACTION 118 - IS to include agency staff numbers in the HR dashboard
8b
IS – There is a planned downtime on CIMs and SAP for an upgrade. Service desk
ambers are due to staffing levels on IS service desk. The move to STORM has
reduced the amount of calls to the desk.
8c
Finance – Underspending by £4m for the 1st quarter £2.5m relates to Police Staff
and PCSO’s£750k is offset by agency costs.
Spending wisely - £19.6m has been removed from individual budgets so far.
Mark Rowe provided an update on the potential savings 2011-15. There was a high
degree of confidence that savings identified to 2011-13 would be achieved. Further
work was required for the years 2013-14 and 2014-15 to achieve the required
savings in those areas identified as red risks and to identify further savings to close
the remaining funding gap.
8d
Procurement – The information was circulated to the board members prior to the
meeting and there were no issues raised.
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9
Issues to be submitted to other Boards
Nothing specific to be raised at other boards
10
Any other business
The next meeting is on Thursday 8th September 2011, 1500 Lounge Assembly
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RESTRICTED
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Action log
Action
No
Agenda
item
Owner
Action
Update
Status
06.01.11 - not actioned but will be completed.
Ongoing
Meeting 04 11 10
83
3a
Mark Baker
To get information / advice why, from the
Departments where overtime has increased as
part of next budget monitoring report.
01.02.11 – Still not actioned. Jacky Hendley to provide a
quick review of the overtime spend across departments
and divisions at the next meeting on the 2nd March.
07.04.11 Overtime will be tabled at the June meeting
08.06.11 Marion to provide an update from the Overtime
working group at the next meeting
08.07.11 - Marion has met with Trish Heather and Laura
Knowles and a full report will be given to the next
meeting on reviewing the overtime position
Sept 11
Meeting 08 06 11
100
3
Paul Hollister
101
3
Paul Hollister
102
4
Mark Baker
To look at any savings that can be made re
HOLMES
To ensure that Gordon Bull is kept in the loop with
regards to decision points and timescales for the
renewal of the Exchange and Sharepoint
contracts
To provide timescales regarding the alternative
provision in Hove to the Estates members Board
08/7/11 - PH has spoken to Ian Putland (IT Lead for the
HOLMES project) and established that while this may be
a possibility, the savings won't be significant and we
won't be in a position until August/September until we
can be clear as to exactly what they might be. The
business case was predicated on a cost-neutral
collaboration which would provide enhanced capability
to both Forces but not necessarily a reduction in capital
spend.
Discharged
08/07/11 PH wrote to NW,GB, AL and CC regarding this
matter. GB will be included in the decision making
process.
Discharged
Hove – Will be weeks rolling in to months. Grove Road
should be ready in the next few weeks
Discharged
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Action log
Action
No
Agenda
item
103
Owner
Action
Update
Status
4
John
Cartwright
To provide the meeting with information on the
cost of running and maintenance at Slaugham
Manor.
08/07/11 - The info was sent to Peter Evans as
requested
Discharged
104
4
Mark Baker
Meeting arranged for 18/07/11
Discharged
105
4
John
Cartwright
08/07/11 The cladding work was not included in the back
logs works and would be at an extra cost of
Discharged
106
4
Estates
review Group
107
6
Adrian
Rutherford
108
9
109
11
110
11
111
11
Michelle
Redshaw
To convene meeting with John Cartwright, Steve
Waight, Alan Price to agree next steps with regard
to Union Place Worthing
To provide an update of whether Brighton
cladding works are included in £6.9m priority
backlog works.
to ensure that they apply strategic thinking when
considering new office space and also ensure
that the needs of our customers (the public) are
considered.
To report back on the progress of the project
group at the September meeting
Issues to be submitted to other Boards - Estates
Review - circulate the notes from section 4 of the
minutes.
Closed session
On going
08/07/11 KW ensured that Estates was included on the
BURB update for other boards
Discharged
Closed session
Closed session
Meeting 08.07.11
112
3
113
4
Michelle
Redshaw
Paul Hollister
Michelle Redshaw to add Procurement Policy to
September agenda for BURB
to provide an update on the Service Order
Review at the September board.
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Action log
Action
No
Agenda
item
114
4
115
4
116
4
117
5
118
7a
Owner
Action
Paul Hollister
to check scope of printing device to ensure it
includes digital scanning and provision for printing
from SAP.
to speak to Corporate Comms about the use of
colour on the standard templates
to check whether SD cards can be used and read
and whether there is enough resolution to print
photos.
to look at vehicle damage, wrongful arrest and
other equipment and report back to a later
meeting with some proposals to help reduce the
amount of claims
IS to include agency staff numbers in the HR
dashboard
Mark Baker
Paul Hollister
Lorna Mackay
Ian Stocker
Update
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Status
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