Agenda item

            The Strategic 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       At its meeting on 23rd November 2018, the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee noted an update report and progress achieved in relation to the City and Neighbourhood Service (CNS) Transition and Improvement Programme (T&IP). 

 

1.2       The purpose of this report is to provide Members with a further update on the progress of the CNS T&IP.

 

2.0       Recommendation

           

The Committee is requested to note the contents of the report and the progress achieved in relation to the CNS T&IP and priorities since November 2018. 

 

3.0       Main Report

 

            Key Issues

 

3.1       The CNS T&IP is part of the Continuous Improvement (CI) programme for the Council.  It is one of the biggest, most ambitious and complex change programmes undertaken by the council.  It is directly supports the delivery of the outcomes, objectives and priorities within the Belfast Agenda, Corporate Plan and the Council’s Improvement plan.

3.2       The programme name was refreshed in April 2019 from “Change” to “Transition and Improvement” to better describe our approach to delivering improved ways of working and service delivery transition. The CNS T&IP will improve customer service, remove duplication, make long-term cost savings, make services more sustainable, and empower staff improve decision-making.  The core objectives of the programme are to:

 

·        Improve customer focus;

·        Increase efficiencies and creating a fit for purpose service design

·        Improve service delivery (city and neighbourhoods)

·        Integrating services to enhance working practices

·        Delivering the waste agenda

 

3.3       The programme has evolved as projects have concluded, became part of other programmes, such as Customer Focus to provide better alignment, or are now part of normal business improvements.  In 2019/20, the programme will focus on creating fit for purpose services, and improving neighbourhoods. Projects have been prioritised based on organisational and departmental needs and four interrelated priorities were identified, see below:

 

Priority	SRO	CNS Lead
Creation of an Open Spaces and Streetscene Service	Ryan Black Director (Neighbourhood Services)	Stephen Leonard Neighbourhood Services Manager
Regulatory and Enforcement Services improvements	Siobhan Toland Director (City Services)	Valerie Brown City Services Manager (Regulation)
Resources and Fleet Services improvements (which includes waste management, waste collection and fleet services)	Siobhan Toland Director (City Services)	Tim Walker City Services Manager (Resources and Fleet)
Review of Community Provision (which is the start of a process looking at the umbrella of community-type services i.e. community safety, good relations, community development, health and well-being)	Ryan Black (Neighbourhood Services)	Alison Allen Neighbourhood Services Manager

*Area and neighbourhood working, and better integration and coordination of service provision will be themes running through these priorities, which is a cross cutting priority for the council. 

 

3.4      An update of the Departmental functional model, previously agreed by Committee in June 2017 and November 2018, has been circulated.  There are some minor amendments to the previous versions. The functional model facilitates the development and design of integrated services and the regeneration of neighbourhoods. The model will be further developed as the programme progresses and where applicable structures will be stabilised to address any temporary arrangements currently in place and provide permanent employment opportunities. In relation to the management structure, the senior leadership posts have been established and filled (i.e. two Director posts, four Neighbourhood Services Managers, City Services Manager (Regulation) and City Services Manager (Resources and Fleet). These managers work collaboratively together and play a pivotal role in leading priorities within the T&IP.

 

3.5      The Continuous Improvement (CI) team is also supporting the delivery of the priorities.  A service design approach to transition and improvement has been introduced, focusing on the need to deliver integrated services to customers, making sure that the right people, skills, infrastructure and processes are in place to enable this.  The involvement of stakeholders i.e. customers, Elected Members, Trade Unions, management and staff at the outset is crucial and any changes will be designed and delivered in collaboration with them, to help understand needs and improve our ways of working.  The CI team are combining this with a programme/ project management approach to help deliver the pace of change required. 

 

3.6      The communications and engagement plan has been refreshed for the programme and also supported by project level plans. The Marketing and Communications Team continue to support the programme and priority projects and support managers through the transition and improvement process.  Given the number of staff within the CNS Department, to enable effective cascade of key messages, ‘toolkits’ have been developed for managers to use when communicating with their staff, so that wider audiences are reached and managers are equipped to deliver concise and consistent messages and answer questions.  This enables all staff to understand changes and the future vision of our services. Context briefings have been organised for managers and staff to attend over the summer, see project level information below for more detail.  Change management workshops have also been organised for managers in August/ September to help them to support their teams through transition.

 

Priority Project Delivery Progress (since November 2018)

 

3.7      Each of the priority projects are at different stages of development and/ or delivery. A snapshot of progress has been provided for each of the priorities below. 

3.7.1    Open Spaces and Streetscene (OSS)

 

·        The OSS vision is to create: “A service where we see it, do it, or report it. We have pride in our work, maintain environmental standards, and work together to maintain the public realm with and for our city’s residents and visitors.”

 

·        An important objective is to create permanent employee opportunities, ensuring that local people can avail of good jobs that pay well and provide opportunity for advancements. The new management structure includes a wider career pathway in terms of public realm cleanliness and environmental upkeep (Open Spaces and Streetscene).

 

·        Consultation on the OSS new managementstructure and JDs is now complete.

 

·        APSE^[1] representatives visited the councilon the 6/ 7 June 2019, where CNS and the TUs had the opportunity to ask questionsabout experiences of implementing similar models in other councils. 

 

·        Staff engagement on the service vision is underway with context briefings organised for approx. 100 managers and supervisors in August 2019, which will be rolled out to wider staff (approx. 500) in September/ October. 

 

·        Good practice study visits have been planned for officers - 10 October 2019 (Nottingham) and 11 October 2019 (Wakefield), two similar sized and well performing authorities.

 

·        Going forward the applicability of frequencies, routes, and quality standards will be assessed. ^[2]Evidence suggests that the success of our anti-litter campaigns and enforcement activities over a number of years have meant that littering has reduced in certain parts of the city. Likewise trends in parks to reduce ornamental planting, install 3G/ 4G pitches and more playgrounds, or introduce wildflower meadows and increase bio-diversity, will mean we plan things differently when compared to historic arrangements. Any changes to service delivery in terms of routes or frequencies will be based on actual need, and aligned to the Customer Focus Programme. An equality screening is underway in relation to service users in addition to a rural impact assessment.

 

3.7.2    Regulatory and Enforcement Services

 

·        The service vision is to: “Provide a fit for purpose regulatory service, delivered both city wide and at a neighbourhood level. An integrated service that maximises resources, reduces duplication and is customer focused, responsive, accessible, visible, and evidence based.”

 

·        The City Services Manager (Regulation) appointed in November 2018.

 

·        Staff engagement workshops (with cross service representation) have been ongoing since January 2019  reviewing how the different services manage front line regulatory interventions such as dog fouling, littering and ASB, and using a simple process mapping to identify good practice and opportunities for working better together.

 

·        A draft regulatory tool kit is being developed to support consistency and cohesiveness in the delivery of regulatory services, particularly in the front line.  Further development will include standard process maps for key front line services, competency framework, standardised performance management and a training and development framework.

 

·        Work continues on the service design approach based on the service delivery option agreed i.e. single multi-functional regulatory service, which a focus on developing integrated front line neighbourhood teams. 

 

·        Work continues to stabilise the senior and functional management tiers for regulatory services and recruitment of the second City Protection Manager was completed on 14th August 2019.

 

·        A draft proposal is currently being developed outlining how we move to an improved service, incorporating plans for transition and improvement and stakeholder communications and engagement. 

 

3.7.3    Resources and Fleet Services

 

·        Waste collection, waste management and fleet services merged together in 2018 and reporting lines realigned to enhance single point accountability across the functions.

 

·        Regular update reports have been presented to the People and Communities Committee over the past year.  These reports have provided updates in relation to the continued interventions being implemented with regards to waste management, waste collection and fleet services.  Some update highlights since November 2018 include:

 

o    Public waste framework consultation concluded and results presented to members in January 2019;

o    Currently exploring options to replace vehicles with modern alternatives;

o    An application for DEARA funding secured to introduce a pilot wheelie box scheme in 2019/20; and

o    Continue to invest in communications and outreach activities to engage with partners and stakeholders to promote ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ behaviour change and making it easy for people to do this.

 

·          This is currently being re-scoped and following a prioritisation exercise, an improvement plan will be developed to be implemented over the next 2/3 years.  The improvement plan will include the development of a combined service vision and application of the service design approach. 

 

·          Additional resources will be required to support this priority work going forward, so that the pace of change required is accelerated.

 

·          Note that the OSS project includes the development of two new multi-functional designations, which will be deployed based on service demand, on a more departmental basis. Around 180 posts will continue to be allocated to Resources and Fleet. These are drivers and general operatives, and will help to develop the conditions where the department and its workforce can be more flexible. 

 

3.7.4    Review of Community Provision

 

·          The review of community provision was commissioned following council approval in November 2018.

 

·          Phase 1 discovery ‘think piece’ has been completed, which was based on research and informed by feedback from staff via 5 engagement workshops (attended by 105 staff) and an online survey (32 responses), with participation from the 7 service areas.

 

·          The draft ‘think piece’ report was presented to DMT in June 2019 and a visioning exercise took place on what future community provision might look like.

 

·          Feedback on Phase 1 will be shared with staff in August/ September including the approach for Phase 2.

 

·          Work is underway to scope the work required to take forward Phase 2. 

 

The CNS T&IP and the important priorities and projects outlined above are inter-related and aligned to other improvement programmes delivered across the council, including the Customer Focus programme and the suite of organisational improvement projects being delivered by CI, who will continue to co-ordinate interdependencies. Cognisance will also be taken as we move towards area/ neighbourhood working, which will be a cross-cutting priority for the council.   

 

Financial and Resource Implications

 

3.8       At present there are no financial or resources implications associated with this report.

 

Equality or Good Relations Implications/

Rural Needs Assessment

 

3.9       As part of the CNS T&IP, where necessary projects, programmes and activities will be subject to equality screening and rural needs assessments in line with the council’s processes.”

 

            After discussion, the Committee adopted the recommendation.