Agenda item

            The Director of City and Neighbourhood Services submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1        In March 2017, Committee agreed the objectives for the Change Programme as:

·        Integrated city wide and area working in addition to improved delivery of services;

·        Improved focus on customers, partners and relationship management;

·        Increased efficiencies, value for money, employability and skills opportunities;

·        Enhanced political and community engagement; and

·        The creation of a new departmental culture and identity, including future structure.

            Work has been ongoing over recent months, and this report presents progress and next steps to be agreed.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is asked to:

·        Agree the overarching narrative for the developing area management structure.

·        Agree that the Director, supported by Corporate HR/OD, take the appropriate next steps towards implementation, including formal consultation with affected staff and TU representatives.

3.0       Main report

            Key Issues

3.1       An emerging functional diagram is appended to this report, setting out at a high level a direction of travel in relation to the next tier of management supporting the Director and Assistant Directors, to enable the effective management of a department of scale and ensure integrated support for the anticipated area management model.  This includes four ‘portfolios’:

1.     Neighbourhood Services;

2.     City Services;

3.     City Waste Services; and

4.     Support Services.

            Area Working

3.2       In the objectives outlined above, the integration of services is a key driver.  For elected Members, this is particularly important on an area basis, to enable their place-leadership mandate.  In order to meet this, the department, supported by Corporate HR/OD, has been examining the functional implications to organise its services on an area basis.

3.3       The starting point for this has been a core set of assumptions, based on previous discussions with elected representatives, and benchmarking work, on what a ‘model’ Neighbourhood Services Portfolio looks like, namely, that they:

·        Are passionate about outcomes for their area and local neighbourhoods

·        Provide dynamic operational leadership for the area, communicating the vision of neighbourhood regeneration

·        Are a single point for customers (internal/external), by designing professional services from the point-of-view of the customer

·        Stimulate a culture of pride and collaboration, with a ‘figure it out’ attitude amongst their teams to deliver the best for local places, with communities

·        Have the right mix of resources, skills and experience, good data and local intelligence

·        Are well-connected with elected Members, local communities and partners to prioritise and deliver creative, innovative solutions, including making connections and building collaboration with other parts of the city. 

3.4       In terms of the ‘right mix’ of resources, skills and experience, it is imperative that we ensure that a Neighbourhood Services Manager is sufficiently resourced to be effectively responsive, but also balances economies of scale that are value for money, and minimising duplication.  Work is ongoing in relation to the appropriate ‘blend’ of services in that portfolio, but likely to include community safety, community services, neighbourhood regeneration, as well as some elements of local operations.

3.5       The four senior officers would operate on a geographical basis – north, south, east and west – correlating to the District Electoral Areas around which the Area Working Groups are organised.  There will be a role for the AWGs in terms of setting priorities and in-year re-prioritisation, but this requires further discussion with them.  However, in the early stages, they will certainly have a consultative role, to draw in their local intelligence, as well as their understanding of competing priorities in their areas.

3.6       It is proposed that a number of ‘universal services’ e.g. regulatory services are held under a City Services Portfolio, where the economies of scale mean that there is no advantage at disaggregating to an area level.  A business planning process is developed by which the Neighbourhood Services Managers would ‘bid’ against an agreed annual, and in-year, where there are emerging priorities or seasonal ‘spikes’. 

3.7       The city centre area, geographically as defined by the City Centre Regeneration and Investment Strategy, will be included in the City Services portfolio, to ensure that interventions and operations are managed, appropriate to the objectives articulated in the CCRI strategy and Belfast Agenda.

3.8       It is imperative that there is a robust evidence-based planning, assurance and performance monitoring framework built around the structure.  The implementation of this approach to area management is wholly dependent on the integration of support services (e.g. HR; finance; policy/planning; communications), which in turn, is inextricably linked to the outcome of the corporate review of support services. 

3.9       In order to effectively support the Director and Assistant Directors, support a new area approach and to pull together the services from across the legacy departments, it is proposed that the above functions are integrated from across the services into a support function for the Directorate team.  Recognising that these functions are all being reviewed as part of the corporate OD programme, it is proposed that the arrangements that the department puts in place will be interim. 

3.10     It is proposed that the timeline for implementation for the Area Managers posts will be by December 2017.  It is anticipated that the Business Support and Development function changes will be made over the coming immediate months.  Consultation with the trades unions is ongoing and will continue in line with the agreed governance arrangements.

3.11     Financial & Resource Implications

            Proposed structure will be accommodated within financial parameters for the Change Programme and overall corporate efficiency objectives.

3.12     Equality or Good Relations Implications

            The Change Programme will continue to be screened for equality and good relations impacts.”

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.