Proposed amendments to Council Service structure

17th October 2013

Highland Councillors will be asked next week to amend the Council’s Service structure to align teams into five Services rather than the current seven, delivering year-on-year savings of £350,000 from 2014/15.

New Chief Executive Steve Barron has prepared a report for consideration by the Council at its meeting on Thursday 24 October, which recommends changes - to be introduced in two phases - to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and performance of the Council’s services.

Mr Barron says discussions with members of the Senior Management Team had been very productive in establishing a consensus of support for an agenda of transformational change. A further report setting out details of the Service management teams will follow at the next Council meeting on Thursday 19 December.

The current seven Services are:-

• Education, Culture and Sport
• Health and Social Care
• Finance
• Chief Executives Service
• Housing and Property
• Planning and Development
• TECS

The proposed new Services are:-

• Children, Education and Adult Services
• Finance
• Corporate Development
• Capital and Development
• Community Services

In his report, Mr Barron states: “It is proposed to create a Children, Education and Adult Services Directorate which in essence is the logical, next-step integration of the main functions of Health and Social Care and Education Culture and Sport. This focus will be key to capitalising on the opportunities of Integrating Care in the Highlands and work on Early Years.

“The Finance Directorate will continue to provide the same range of services, reflecting the critical role it must play in supporting the challenges of financial planning over the next 5 years.

“The Assistant Chief Executive’s current responsibilities include those which are central to the transformation and modernisation agenda, particularly ICT, Human Resources and Performance. It is proposed to reflect this responsibility clearly by updating the title of the Director to that of Corporate Development. The teams within this Service must work to deliver a shift of focus from “business as usual” to transforming the ways in which the Council operates.

“The need to focus on improving the economy and creating jobs underpins the proposal to create a new Capital and Development Directorate in which all of the resources of the Council delivering capital developments are aligned with our teams which are supporting economic improvement.

“The Council delivers a wide range of services to communities every day and it is proposed to create a new Community Services Directorate which will facilitate the provision of these everyday essential services in a more integrated way – one which is more responsive to customer needs. Much of this community service activity takes place in local areas and the Directorate will deploy multi-disciplinary teams under Area Managers dedicated to getting the best out of the Council’s assets such that we achieve the twin targets of improved service and reduced cost. The Service will operate a model of service delivery and it will be a core function to promote community participation. It should be noted that the creation of this Directorate will involve significant change both in terms of structure and culture. There will be challenges to be addressed by leadership and training – this will require focus and specialist support.”

Mr Barron proposes to appoint one of the 5 Directors to the additional role of Depute Chief Executive. The Depute role would be developed to include a responsibility to establish more effective team working by the Council’s 21 Heads of Service – this is considered to be key to more collaborative working.

He says the changes will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will see the creation of two new Services – Capital & Development and Community Services. If agreed by Council, this could proceed immediately at a pace which signals intent while minimising disruption and limiting the risk of any temporary impact on performance. The aim would be to achieve full implementation of this phase by 31 March 2014.

A target of 30 September, 2014 has been set for the formation of an integrated Children, Education and Adult Service. This already has a momentum but the scope and risks associated with this change are such that this would take longer to deliver.

Mr Barron said: “In both phases it will be important to proceed at a pace which delivers early benefits while reflecting the sensitivities and consultation agendas associated with such significant change. Budget changes will be largely in place for the start of the next financial year 2014/15.”

He concluded: “These proposals and some consequential changes at lower level are designed to be cost neutral in the current year and to deliver recurring savings of £350,000 from 2014/15. This could be achieved without the need for compulsory redundancies but was likely to involve voluntary severance and redeployment.”