Contact : Jill Lovelock Ext: 7591

1. Summary

1.1. This report presents the outcomes and improvement plan resulting from the Best Value Review of International Relations. At the meeting of 5 December 2002 the Policy Review committee received a report outlining the options for improvement. This report asks members to agree an improvement plan based on the main option which was to identify how the current service can be enhanced within existing resources (option 2) and what additional improvements could be achieved with increase resource input (option 3).

2. Introduction

2.1. The visioning exercise identified the following attributes which are required for an excellent international relations function:

_ a vision and strategy

_ 2 way internal engagement

_ effective communications

_ willingness to listen and learn

_ monitoring and evaluation

2.2. The issues to be addressed were:

_ political networks and lobbying

_ funds and projects

_ traditional links and partnerships

_ trade and investment

_ policy development and legislation

_ information dissemination

_ best practice

_ promoting Hampshire

_ staff development and retention

3. Review process

3.1. The review has been undertaken by a joint team of County Council officers, elected members (Councillors Pierce, Cartwight, Mrs Leversha, Collett and Roberts) and a representative from West Sussex County Council. The review has included an EFQM exercise, focus group workshops and a challenge event which included key stakeholders, business, Councillors, staff, consultants, other local authorities and partners.

3.2. The direct costs associated with this review are £2208. The review has so far taken an estimated 79 person days to complete.

4. Review findings

4.1. The main findings of the review were:

_ a perceived lack of strategy/clarity of objectives/monitoring/target setting and lack of inter-departmental consistency

_ the need for both flexibility and common approaches - to avoid stifling creativity

_ strong external support for HCC having a role in international relations but this role needs to be clearly defined

_ lack of awareness of benefits to residents (other than money) and poor perception of benefits by the media

_ multi layering/targeting of information to different audiences

_ making best use of existing resources other than money

_ there is strong support for Brussels office and European Officers Group - the support and expertise and partnership opportunities they provide

5. Outcomes

5.1. In response to these findings the review team considers that in order to generate improvements and enhance the service, the priority is to develop a corporate vision for international relations. This will provide a framework within which the Councils activities will have a clear focus, the benefits can be identified and communicated clearly and the flexibility, expertise and partnership work identified as current strengths can be exploited. This has led the team to the conclusion that the two options selected by the PRC in December cannot be developed simultaneously. Option 2, to enhance the service within existing resources, needs to be undertaken first and the outcomes set out in the improvement plan achieved, so there is a baseline against which additional resource input can be assessed. Once it is clear from the vision, effective communication, monitoring and evaluation, internal engagement and partnerships what the service looks like, then we can consider where and what additional resource could be applied to achieve further improvement.

5.2. The outcomes to deliver option 2 are:

_ corporate ownership and direction of County Council international activities

_ shared understanding by staff and the wider community of Hampshire of why and how international relations are undertaken by the County Council and its benefits to the people of Hampshire.

_ robust methodology for assessing the value of activities

_ effective corporate and departmental international partnerships that help deliver corporate and service priorities

_ increased Member and staff involvement in international relations.

6. Improvement Plan

6.1. The proposed improvement plan is set out in Appendix 1. This identifies the actions the review team consider necessary to deliver the outcomes set out above. The major resource required is officer time and it is intended that the actions can be implemented within existing resources.

6.2. The improvement plan will be monitored regularly, and arrangements need to be set up for this. The team as currently composed has finished its task in producing the improvement plan and will now disband, and a new smaller group will be set up for monitoring progress. The current team leader, David Tarrant, Deputy Director of Environment, will continue to oversee this task, together with Jill Lovelock from the Chief Executive's Policy Unit, Phil Thomas as staff representative and Rachel Gapp European officer from West Sussex County Council to provide continuing external challenge during the implementation phase. The PRC is asked to nominate members who will continue to be involved.

7. Outsourcing

7.1. The option on which the improvement plan has been developed is to improve within existing resources. This currently entails a mixed economy approach where external consultants undertake specific one-off tasks, often associated with developing funding bids, where this offers good value and flexibility to meet demand. This will continue. The second phase, to consider additional improvements with increased resource input, will include further investigation of outsourcing. The review indicated that there are providers who would be interested in parts of the service but there is no-one who could provide all of it or would want to. Implementing the improvement plan will identify appropriate opportunities where the increased resource input could come from outsourcing.

8. Conclusion

8.1. This has been a broad, crosscutting review. While the visioning exercise established a top-level outline for an excellent service, it became clear that this would need development, to establish widespread ownership and direction for all County Council international activities. This was not completed within the timescale of this strategic level review, because of the breadth of consultation required to achieve full engagement on this issue.

8.2. The improvement plan will deliver enhancements to the current service within existing resources, which will then provide the basis for pursuing the second option agreed by the PRC for additional improvements through increased resource input.

8.3. Robust monitoring arrangements are proposed which will ensure the improvement plan is kept under regular review and reports brought back to this Committee.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

File Location

International Relations Best Value Review