Agenda item

Mr L. Breckon CC, Lead Member for Resources, and Mr J. Poland CC, Lead Member for Transformation and in support of Resources, have been invited to attend for this item.

The Commission considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources which provided information on the proposed 2025/26 – 2028/29 MTFS as it related to the Corporate Resources Department.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 10’ is filed with these minutes.

In addition to the Acting Leader and the Lead Member for Resources, the Chairman welcomed the Lead Member for Transformation and in support of Resources, to the meeting.

Arising from discussion and questions, the following points arose:

(i)               A Member commented on the allocation of capital resources to the Investing in Leicestershire Programme and questioned if this was appropriate given the financial pressures faced.  The Director provided reassurance that investment in the Programme would not be made unless this was supported by a sound business case and was expected to generate a revenue income stream in line with the Strategy. The IILP had been positive, generating income to support the delivery of other Council services for a number of years, reducing the level of savings needing to be made, and provided support for local businesses.

(ii)              Beaumanor Hall was expected to generate a reduced loss this year.  It was acknowledged that significant work had been undertaken to build a more sustainable business from the property but that this continued to be difficult.  A Member challenged why the property costs for Beaumanor Hall were not shown against the revenue income it generated suggesting that this did not provide a transparent view of how well this traded service was operating.  It was noted that services were presented in the budget based upon responsibility which allowed central overheads to be seen clearly.  When decision making was made this information would be brought together for a holistic view to be taken.

(iii)            A member commented on the difficulty some residents had getting through to officers and challenged whether this was as a result of the Ways of Working programme. The Director advised that feedback from a recent staff survey suggested that productivity had increased significantly following the introduction of hybrid working, but that work was ongoing to improve the capture of data to support this view. 

(iv)            It was noted that the Council had not made a decision to mandate officers come into the officer for a set number of days per week like some other organisations had chosen to do.  Instead, the Council supported managers to determine the appropriate level of flexibility that best met the needs of their service area.  They were considered best able to determine when performance management, objectives and targets were not being met and how to address this.

(v)             The Director commented that hybrid working stemmed from the Covid 19 pandemic which forced home working upon a range of organisations to ensure these could continue to operate during that difficult period.  Since then, all organisations have been adapting to a more flexible working approach.  How well this worked varied depending on the needs of the business.  The Director provided reassurance that the Council was seeing unprecedented growth at a time when staff resources had been reduced,  but that despite this performance was being retained which indicated that productivity was good amongst staff.  The Lead Member emphasised that hybrid working was now expected by employees and that offering this helped to improve recruitment and staff retention.

(vi)            The Council’s Customer Programme sought to improve the customer experience when contacting the Council.  Improvements had been made but it was acknowledged that some areas of difficulty were still being worked on.  For example, focus was now being given to reducing failure demand contacts, automated responses being provided where appropriate to keep people informed of progress regarding their enquiries.  Also, steps were being taken to reduce call waiting times, call back options were being explored to prevent callers having to wait in a queue.

(vii)          Supporting recognised trade unions was part of the employment offer.  The Council currently funded 4 full time union representatives at a cost of approximately £250,000 per annum.  Relations with trade unions were considered valuable, particularly when actions plans needed to be delivered ensuring a coordinated response and that support for staff was available.  The Director confirmed there were no proposal to reduce the level of support provided as this was considered an important part in ensuring good employee relations, especially during significant periods of change.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the report and information now provided be noted;

(b)  That the comments made by the Commission be presented to the Cabinet for consideration at its meeting on 7^th February 2025.