Archived decisions

Decision Maker:

Efficiency Panel

Date of Decision:

22 September 2009

Decision Title:

Report of the Efficiency Board

Decision Reference:

951

Report From:

Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

Contact name:

Karen Murray

Tel:

01962 847876

Email:

[email protected]

1.

Executive Summary

1.1

The purpose of this report is to confirm the Efficiency Board's current programme of work.

1.2

The Board's initial portfolio of projects is estimated to deliver between £10 and £15million of new cashable efficiencies over the course of the next five years; further opportunities for efficiencies and productivity gains will be identified as the joint work of the Panel and Board progresses.

2.

Context

2.1

In October 2008 the Cabinet approved:

· the development of a three-year efficiency programme related to the corporate reviews (now completed and being implemented) and the medium-term financial strategy

· the outline efficiency plan and asked the Chief Executive to bring forward in 2009/10 as part of the budget process

· the establishment of a corporate efficiency fund.

2.2

Since receiving Cabinet approval the original broad efficiency themes relating to procurement, workforce costs, corporate services and a number of cross-cutting issues have been developed. A programme has also been established by the recently formed Officers' Efficiency Board. Initially the work of the Board is concentrating on "quick win" projects, monitoring the delivery of the procurement corporate service review recommendations and developing a forward programme of projects.

3.

Portfolio of Efficiency Projects

3.1

Procurement

The twelve workstreams are expected to deliver around £10m of efficiencies identified in the table below:

Table one: Procurement workstreams

Category of Spend

Target Savings (£000s pa)

Fostering

300

Domiciliary care

2,500

Learning Disability Services

1,200

Children Transition

40

Home to School Taxis

1,100

Home to School Buses

250

Specialist, Technical and Consultancy

2,100

Education, Training, Information and Conferences

400

IT Equipment and Services

320

Other common use goods and services¹

660

Purchase to Pay Process Savings

1,000

Construction (Property and Highways)

TBC

Total Estimated Savings

9,870

A Project Initiation Document (PID) has been prepared and challenged with the key outcome from this being the exploration of bringing forward some of the savings.

Given the value of procurement at £600m this area has the potential to release further significant efficiencies.

The Roots Review, a report reviewing arrangements for efficiencies from smarter procurement in local government, was recently undertaken by Bill Roots and is attached to the report as Appendix 2.

3.2

Reducing Workforce costs

There are ten workstreams under this overall heading covering reduced travel costs and reductions to the pay bill. The PID is going through its challenge stage and the workstreams need to be prioritised.

Some efficiencies have already been achieved in related areas and these are being quantified (includes recruitment portal, subsidised car-leasing scheme removal).

¹ Includes plant, machinery, office suppliers, furniture, cleaning and janitorial, printed and pre-recorded media

3.3

Good Housekeeping

Five workstreams have been identified to date which will target reduced energy consumption, data-checking and opportunities to reduce the use of IT hardware, eg printers. This area has many links to Hampshire Workstyle which, over time, will enable considerable efficiencies relating to space and storage.

3.4

Review of Income and Charges

Initial ideas have been flagged and need further exploration and discussion. This could be a good theme for a joint member and officer workshop.

3.5

The portfolio of efficiency projects is appended and the Panel will note the inclusion of the Corporate Service Review opportunities which are being overseen by the Change Board. It is expected that these will deliver further savings. For example, the IT implementation will yield at least a further £1m of efficiencies relating to streamlined administrative processes.

4

Conclusions

4.1

The Board, while only established for a few months, has already identified opportunities for significant new cashable efficiencies and has made good progress putting in place robust plans to achieve these.

4.2

Further opportunities exist and some of these may be appropriate to explore through a joint workshop approach.

5

Recommendations

It is recommended that:

5.1

The Panel endorse and comment upon the current portfolio of projects.

5.2

Consideration is given to developing joint workshops to explore further opportunities.

Hampshire safer and more secure for all:

no

Corporate Business plan link number (if appropriate):

Maximising well-being:

no

Corporate Business plan link number (if appropriate):

Enhancing our quality of place:

no

Corporate Business plan link number (if appropriate):

OR

This proposal does not link to the Corporate Strategy but, nevertheless, requires a decision.

Links to previous Member decisions:

Title

Reference

Date

Corporate Efficiency

294

27 October 2008

Direct links to specific legislation or Government Directives

Title

Date

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report. (NB: the list excludes published works and any documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.)

Document

Location

None

1. Short term efficiency gains (also longer term)

1.1 Reduce workforce costs & improving productivity

1.2 Procurement CSR implementation - accelerated savings

1.3 Facilities management / good housekeeping

1.4 CSRs implementation

2. Longer term efficiency gains

2.1 Reduce workforce costs & improving productivity (also short term)

2.2 Procurement CSR implementation (also short term)

2.3 Facilities management / good housekeeping (also short term)

2.4 Hampshire Workstyle

2.5 Rationalise accommodation, assets and property

2.6 Transformation through technology / IT Services CSR implementation / greater standardisation / mandating of office systems

2.7 Improved approaches to charging and income generation including external grants and contributions

2.8 South East Improvement Partnership (SEIP) projects e.g. construction

2.9 Manage expectations / set and communicate service standards

3. Efficiency gains beyond HCC

3.1 Leverage more benefit from partnerships

3.2 Negotiate more value from contracts / getting better deals from contracted services

3.3 Get more value from / rationalise accommodation, assets and property

3.4 Shared services within HCC, County-wide, and regional