BOROUGH OF POOLE
RESOURCES OVERVIEW GROUP
13 TH APRIL 2004
The meeting commenced at 7.00 p.m. and concluded at 9.30 p.m.
Present:
Members of the Committee
Councillor Mrs Butt (Chairman)
Councillor Belcham (Vice-Chairman)
Councillors Bulteel, Clements, Mrs Deas (substituting for Councillor Sorton),
Eades, Mason, Montrose, Pethen (substituting for Councillor Smith),
Mrs Stribley and Wilson.
Also attending
Councillors Gillard, Leverett and Wretham
Members of the public present at the meeting - 0
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Smith and Sorton (with the above substitutions).
2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Clements – M.5 – Workforce Plan – as a Member of the Learning
Skills Council.
Councillor Mason
– M.8 – Customer Access and Service Strategy – as the owner of a retail establishment.
3. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 nd January 2004 were submitted for approval, and confirmed as a true record.
4. IMPLEMENTATION AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE BOROUGH
OF POOLE’S RACE EQUALITY SCHEME
The Chairman commenced by stating that, as the Equality’s Champion,
Councillor Wretham had been invited to attend this meeting for the consideration of this item.
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Colin Hague, Head of Personnel and Training Services, presented a report which gave progress to date on the implementation of the Borough of Poole’s Race
Equality Scheme which would enable the consideration of key issues for further development of the scheme in 2004/05 and beyond.
Members of the Committee were provided with background information regarding the Race Relations Act 1976, which had subsequently been a amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. This gave a statutory duty to all public authorities to promote race equality. Each public authority must aim to:-

Eliminate unlawful racial discrimination;
 Provide equal opportunities; and
 Promote good relations between people from different racial groups.
In addition, public authorities, including all Local Authorities, were specifically required under this legislation by May 2002, to publish a race equality scheme.
Members were then provided with further information regarding the content of this scheme.
The Borough of Poole Race Equality Scheme was both approved and welcomed by the Executive on 11 th March 2003. In the process of development of the scheme, all Council services were ranked in priority order in relation to the relevance of the service area to race equality. All services would be expected to develop a relevant and proportionate Action Plan for the updated Race Equality
Scheme to be published in June 2002. Further information was then provided to
Members on:

Information relevant to resources services and the Borough of Poole Race
Equality Scheme;
 Key issues and development for different service areas
Personnel and Training Services
Marketing Services
Legal Services
Financial Services
Democratic Services
IT Services and e-Government
Policy Directorate
Community Safety
In conclusion, Members were advised that whilst there had been considerable work undertaken in 2003 to develop an effective approach to race equality and diversity issues, there was still more work to be achieved at Corporate and Service
Unit level.
The Chairman recognised the difficulties in capturing/storing data (data stream capture).
A Member referred to residents of the Borough who may feel isolated due to the fact that they did not speak English and questioned how quickly translation could take place.
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Colin Hague, Head of Personnel and Traini ng Services, referred to “language line”, which was a phone line service that could translate the most frequently spoke languages. A Member questioned whether this service was 24 hours a day, Colin
Hague, Head of Personnel and Training Service, undertook to provide this information direct to the Member.
The Chairman referred to the Managing Diversity training sessions that were currently taking place and encouraged as many Members as possible to attend these sessions.
The Chairman suggested that the word s “as they arise” be added to the second recommendation for approval. On being put to the vote, this was carried.
RECOMMENDED that
(i) Members unanimously welcome and note the progress made to date on the implementation of the Race Equality Scheme, as it related to the resources theme; and
(ii) Members identify issues and priorities for consideration, as they arise, in the further development of the Race Equality Scheme for 2004/05 and beyond.
5. WORKFORCE PLAN
Colin Hague, Head of Personnel and Training Services, presented a report which gave information on arrangements relating to Workforce Planning. The
Workforce Planning process ensured organisations had the right number of employees with the right knowledge and skills in place at the right time. The process also assisted the Council in tackling problems such as staff shortages, staffing costs and supported making fairly accurate predictions about the future demand for different types of employees. Further information was then provided on the following areas:-
 National Pay and Workforce Strategy;
 Other Workforce planning models;

Planning Framework;
 Reviewing Workforce Planning;
 Management Team consideration; and
 Proposals for implementing Poole’s Workforce Plan.
A Member stressed the importance of the objectives being applied to the individual Services Unit’s Business Plans (as the golden thread). It was also suggested that this Plan should be reviewed annually.
In response to a Member question, Colin Hague, Head of Personnel and
Training Services, advised that it was important that within this process, Strategies existed which enabled the creation of “career pathways” to “grow our own”. Within this, it was also important to have Strategies to develop skills for Managers.
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Members were advised that Nottingham City Council had received additional central Government support for their Workforce Planning process, therefore, their principles were being used as a basis for own scheme.
RECOMMENDED that the identified proposals 9(a-g) as amended, be adopted in ord er to guide and steer Poole’s Workforce Plan. (Councillor Wilson abstained from this vote).
6. JOB EVALUATION
Colin Hague, Head of Personnel and Training Services, presented a report which updated Members on information and arrangements relating to job evaluation.
Since the last meeting of this Overview Group, data had been collected from a benchmarking exercise and a “sore thumbing“ exercise was being undertaken by the
Trade Union and Council officers trained in job evaluation in order to ensure data held was valid. Members were advised that computer software had just been ordered which enabled pay modelling and determination of job evaluation scheme points to pay. This would also enable the costing of job evaluation and assist with the determination of how detailed phasing arrangements may be applied.
In addition, the vacancy clearance panel had given authority to an APT1 graded officer, appointed on a temporary basis to assist with job evaluation.
Recruitment arrangements were currently taking place. The 2004/5 budget had enabled progress to be made on job evaluation this year.
The National Pay Negotiations for 2004 were expected to involve a national conditions of service requirement for authorities to carry out an equal pay audit. The
National Employers were recommending Local Authorities to progress with job evaluation taking account of equal pay principles and the potential for equal pay claims.
Further update reports would be presented to future meetings of this
Overview Group.
In response to a Member question regarding the proposed grading for the officer, Colin Hague, Head of Personnel and Training Services, stated that this post would be primarily administrative with himself taking the lead on job evaluation.
In response to a question raised regarding the cost implications of job evaluation, Colin Hague, Head of Personnel and Training Services, advised that if this was not proceeded with, individual claims could be made which could damage the pay structure. He advised that job evaluation would be controlled within budget and he added that phased arrangements on any pay rises could be an option.
In conclusion, the Leader of the Council, who had been invited to attend this meeting by the Chairman, in order to answer any budgetary matters, reiterated the earlier point made that provision had been made in this year’s budget to start a job
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evaluation process. However, this would be growth item for next year and possibly the year after.
RECOMMENDED that Members unanimously note the current position with regard to job evaluation.
7. PEOPLE MATTER SURVEY
Colin Hague, Head of Personnel and Training Services, presented a report on the People Matter Survey which was carried out during the Autumn of 2003. The report outlined information on the response received.
An Employee Survey had been carried out as an outcome of work by the
People Strategy Group. The Survey results had been analysed by Strategic
Planning Services. A 58% response rate was received which was excellent. Whilst this meant that we had not heard from 42% of employees, this does nonetheless involve a high overall level of response. Overall, the survey results were very positive with most people enjoying working at Poole, thinking the Council was a good employer and believing that they made a valuable contribution to the Council. A presentation relating to the feedback was then given to the Overview Group.
Following the analysis of the responses received, the following action has been taken:-

Officers had submitted a report to the Management Team from the People
Strategy Group;
 A copy of the survey has been sent to the recognised Trade Unions;
 Information on the survey has been placed on the Council’s Intranet Loop system;
 The Joint Consultative Committee have given consideration to the survey;

The Employee Newsletter Splash included an article relating to the survey;
 All Service Unit Heads have been asked to brief information on the survey results for their Unit to employees;
 The People Strategy Group and Management Team are monitoring action taken arising from the survey; and
 Policy Directors will be paying particular attention to Service Units where a higher level of support and intervention would seem appropriate from the results.
RECOMMENDED that Members note the report and unanimously welcome proposals to identify areas for improvement.
8. CUSTOMER ACCESS AND SERVICE STRATEGY
Andrew Flockhart, Policy Director, presented a report which considered the scope of the Customer Access and Service Strategy and the process proposed to develop it in the coming months.
Members were provided with information regarding the background to the
Council’s e-Government Strategy which included proposals to develop a Customer
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Access and Service Strategy. The ODPM had made the Council’s commitment to pursue the development of this Strategy a condition of releasing the Government grant for eGovernment amounting to £500,000 over the two years 2004/5 – 2005/6.
Public expectations about how they contacted organisations who delivered services to them were changing very fast. Popular access to the Internet and mobile phones was relatively recent but appeared to be shaping public expectations very powerfully. At the same time, some groups in the community still rely heavily on
“face to face” contact with the Council. Therefore, the Council need to carefully consider the various needs in the community and anticipate the implications of changes in public expectation and then consider how it wished to plan to meet these in the future.
Further information was then provided on the following areas:-
 Scope of the Customer Access and Service Strategy;
 Process and timetable for development of the Strategy;

Governance arrangements; and
 Opportunity to bid to ODPM for resources.
In conclusion, Members w ere advised that improving the Council’s focus on people and businesses as customers represented a major change in ways of working. There were many choices open to the Council about what it should do and how it should do it and the next few months represented a crucial period in which these choices would be identified. The key to success in this area was a need for a common commitment of Members and officers to work together on the issues and to develop solutions that were “right for Poole”.
A Member referred to the MORI survey which had indicated that a large number of people still saw the telephone as the best way to contact the Council. In relation to this, a view was expressed that more training could be offered to staff on answering the phone. A Member suggested that this could form part of the
Corporate Induction and this would be addressed further.
Andrew Flockhart, Policy Director, suggested that it may be useful to speak to the newly elected Members of the Council in order to ascertain how they had found their experiences with the Council during their time in position. This would be addressed further.
RECOMMENDED that
(i) Members unanimously approve the scope of the strategy and the process proposed for developing it;
(ii) Members agree that a newly constituted Member Steering Group for e-
Government themes be formulated (extended from 3 elected Members to 5) to offer guidance and support for the development of the
Customer Access and Service Strategy and the political groups notify the Head of Democratic Services of their nominated representations (3
Conservatives, 2 Liberal Democrats); and
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(iii) Cabinet be requested to consider and approve the Council’s application to the Government for funds to support the development of the strategy.
9. CORPORATE PLANNING FRAMEWORK
Andrew Flockhart, Policy Director, presented a report which shared with
Members the most recent draft of the Corporate Planning Framework.
The development of a Corporate Plan and a Corporate Planning Framework was identified as a key action in the 2003/04 Best Value Performance Plan in order to support the delivery of the Council’s CPA Improvement Plan. The Corporate
Planning Framework explained the Corporate and Service Unit Business Planning
Process and performance management in Poole.
Performance Management was the process that monitored performance against targets, identifying opportunities for improvement and delivering change. For
Local Government, effective Performance Management required co-ordinated planning and review systems that enabled key decision makers, both political and managerial, to take action based on facts about performance. An initial draft was developed and shared with Service Unit Heads and elected Members with responsibility for the resources theme and the external Auditor. Feedback resulted in changes which had been reflected in a revised draft and it had been agreed that the final draft should be presented to this Overview Group for recommendation to
Cabinet for implementation in 2004/05.
Members were reminded th at this was a “live” document and would be subject to revisions and enhancement as new systems and processes were developed. One notable area being risk management which would be rolled out during the course of
2004/05 with a view to having fully risk based Business Plans in place for all Service
Units by March 2005.
Members commended the report stating that it represented a very comprehensive framework.
A Member stated that with regard to the preparation of the Service Unit
Business Plans, he would welc ome some recognition of the “Four C’s” being taken into account, in future years.
RECOMMENDED that Members unanimously welcome the Corporate
Planning Framework and recommend that Cabinet adopt this with effect from
2004/05.
CHAIRMAN
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