Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes from the meeting held on 3 January 2012 were taken as read and signed as a correct record, subject to noting that Councillor A McInerney had submitted her apologies in advance of the meeting.

The Board was advised that no public questions had been received.

The Board was presented with a report from the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which presented background and supporting information relating to the development of The People Plan 2012-15 which was appended to the report (Appendix A). 

It was stated that The People Plan had been developed by the Organisational Development Group, which was chaired by the Strategic Director – Policy and Resources and included membership from the three Directorates and the Trade Unions.  It was also stated that the Council would face significant changes over this period and would continue to do so for the life of this next plan.  It was important therefore for the Council to have a plan that was flexible and able to respond to changing circumstances.

The Board received a presentation of The People Plan from John Gallagher – Policy and Strategy, and Brian Hilton – Learning and Development.  It was reported that the Plan had been developed taking into consideration two extensive pieces of work: The Staff Survey (2011) and the Workforce Profile (2011) and their presentations provided Members with the findings of both, as well as details of where the Learning and Development strategy fell in line with The People Plan.

The views of Members were sought on the contents of the Plan and approval was sought for its onward transition to the Executive Board for approval and adoption.

Members raised queries and discussed the staff survey results, the talent pool strategy, succession planning, Employee Development Reviews (EDR’s) and issues around the demographic profile of the workforce in the Council.  Members were also provided with examples of staff that had progressed through the system, with the help of training.

Members requested that annual updates of the Plan be submitted to the Board and agreed that the Plan could be submitted to the Executive Board for approval and adoption.

RESOLVED:  That the Corporate Services Policy and Performance Board:

1. supports the implementation of the Council’s People Plan 2012-2015; and

2. agree that the Executive Board be recommended to approve and adopt the People Plan 2012-2015.

The performance management reports for quarter three of 2011-12 were presented to the Board by the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources. 

The reports detailed progress against service objectives/milestones and performance targets, and described factors affecting the service for:

• Policy and Performance;
• Financial Services;
• Legal and Democratic Services;
• ICT and Support Services;
• HR, Learning and Development;
• Property Services; and
• Catering, Stadium and Registration Services.

The Board was requested to consider and raise any questions or points of clarification in respect of these reports.  Members queried the extensiveness of the reports and asked whether or not they could be summarised and focus only on targets that were not being achieved as well as highlighting targets that were achieved. 

Members were reminded that there would be a new reporting system in place next year (2012-13), a report and examples of this had been presented at the Corporate PPB on 6 September 2011 (Minute number 17 refers).   

RESOLVED:  That the second quarter performance management reports be noted.

The Board considered a report from the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources, which provided information on the progress in achieving targets contained within the 2011-2016 Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) for Halton.

It was reported that the SCS was a central document for the Council and its partners that provided an evidenced based framework through which actions and shared performance targets could be developed and communicated.  

It was noted that in October 2010 the coalition Government announced the end of Government performance management of local authorities through Local Area Agreements (LAAs).  Nevertheless, the Council and its partners needed to maintain some form of effective performance management framework to (a) measure progress towards our own objectives for the improvement of the quality of life in Halton; and (b) to meet the Government’s expectation that we would publish performance information.   Following extensive research and analysis and consultation with all stakeholder groups including Elected Members, partners and the local community and representative groups, a new SCS (2011-26) was approved by the Council on 20 April 2011.

It was commented that the SCS was a ‘living’ document which would provide sufficient flexibility to evolve as continuing changes within the public sector continued to emerge; it would also be subject to annual review.  The Board was advised that further details for each community priority were available on the Intranet.

The Mid Year Progress Report (1 April – 30 September 2011) was appended to the report in Appendix 3, together with Appendix 1: Summary Table of Measures selected for each of the Five Community Priorities, and Appendix 2a to 2e: Further detail for each Community Priority.

RESOLVED:  That the SCS Performance Framework 2011-16 and Mid-Year Progress Report 2011-12 be noted.