Buckinghamshire County Council

Director of Transport Services

Candidate Information Pack

January 2016

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Contents

Page

Welcome Letter and Introductory Video from the Transport Services Cabinet Member and the Managing Director of Transport ∙ Economy ∙ Environment 3

About Buckinghamshire County Council 5

Context of the Role 7

The Role 11

The Person 13

Terms of Appointment 16

How to Apply 17

Indicative Timetable 19

Further Information 19

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Welcome Letter and Introductory Video from the Transport Services Cabinet Member and the Managing Director of Transport ∙ Economy ∙ Environment

Thank you for your interest in coming to join us as Director of Transport Services within our Transport, Economy and Environment (TEE) Business Unit. TEE is innovative, entrepreneurial and highly collaborative, with a focus on creating the Buckinghamshire of tomorrow. This is your chance to make a lasting impact on our county and its people.

The Buckinghamshire landscape is an ever changing and exciting one. Our growing regional presence presents even more opportunity to develop forward thinking, avant-garde service models and partnerships. Buckinghamshire is set for huge infrastructure change over the next few years: HS2 bisecting the county; East-West Rail providing new links into the rail network; our new Energy from Waste plant coming on line; new link roads unlocking strategic development sites, plus new pedestrian and cycle links; and a plethora of new demands on our transport networks and services. Facing the twin challenges of a significant growth agenda and evolving our asset base to meet the needs of that growing population, the road ahead is paved with threat and opportunity.

The Director of Transport Services is a high profile, exciting and challenging role. You will be a key member of the TEE Leadership Team, which as a whole is responsible for the running of the Business Unit. You will provide a primary lead in commissioning, contract management and financial control for all of the Council’s Operational Highways, Client Transport and Public Transport Services.

Working to the Managing Director and Cabinet Member, we are looking for an experienced and seasoned transport professional with an excellent grounding in transport operations including, but not limited to, frontline highways maintenance and improvements, management of major externalised service contracts, and understanding of community and public transport provision and Client Transport service operation. Ideally you will have senior experience in both client-based and contractor roles, giving a rounded perspective.

The successful candidate will be an advocate of innovation, excellence and efficiency. You will need to be focused, determined, resilient and committed to success in continually improving the county’s highways and transport services. You will be someone who can hold our contracted services to account whilst also being a visionary.

You will be politically astute and able to positively and confidently advise and assist Cabinet Members and other elected representatives in decision making and giving guidance to service delivery and improvement. Your political skills will need to be finely honed and capable of adapting to what can be a volatile, challenging and evolving universal service – one that is at the forefront of what residents, businesses and visitors experience every day.

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You will be able to inspire and motivate and continually drive for results, both through our in-house team and through our suppliers. Having successfully managed teams, you will be someone who is approachable, engaging and has the ability to influence and guide both directly and indirectly managed teams, client and delivery partners – all of which will be crucial to ensuring that the integrated partnership model with the Council’s providers pervades.

Responsible for £5bn highways assets, with c.£53m revenue spend, £10m income and next year’s capital is c.£20m,over the next four years, you will work with our Financial Director to ensure the Transport Services financial resources are well managed, income is maximised and there is a clear financial strategy for the longer term. New models of service delivery will have to be introduced to hit the challenging budget reductions already baked into our medium term financial plans. We have the ideas and the ambition – you will lead their implementation.

We like to think that we have a great team here in TEE: welcoming, friendly and striving to be the best that we can. We are ambitious and are on a journey of implementing a model which blends the best of public and private sector approaches. We hope you are intrigued enough to want to find out more and apply for this key role in Buckinghamshire.

Yours sincerely

Mark ShawCabinet Member for Transport Services

Neil GibsonManaging Director, Transport, Economy and Environment

Click here to view a video clip from Mark Shaw and Neil Gibson talking further about this role.

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About Buckinghamshire County Council

Buckinghamshire is a very attractive and diverse county which lies within easy reach of central London and the South East, bordering Oxford in the West and the outskirts of London in the East. The county is proud to have some really outstanding areas of natural beauty, including the Chilterns, the Vale of Aylesbury and stretches of the River Thames, as well as the growing towns of Aylesbury and High Wycombe. What helps to define Buckinghamshire and what makes it special are venues such as the Olympic Rowing Venue at Dorney, Pinewood Studios, the Prime Minister’s Chequers retreat and Stoke Mandeville Stadium (the birthplace of the Paralympics). These nationally important locations, as well as twice the national average of Voluntary and Community Sector organisations and a combination of rural and urban challenges, bring complexity and the need for policies and infrastructure which can react, flex and proactively drive a wide-ranging agenda for our many different community needs. 

Buckinghamshire County Council is an historically high performing, well led organisation with a good track record of achievement – albeit this reputation has taken a hit with our children’s services now being in ‘special measures’. In this context, we are well placed to tackle the varied and sometimes challenging set of priorities that we face. We have good links with our District Councils, other public agencies and the private sector. These relationships and their successful management will continue to be critical to developing and delivering services that are relevant and tailored to the diverse needs of local communities across Buckinghamshire.

Restructure – Future Shape

The age of austerity is set to continue until at least 2020, if not beyond. The world is changing and Buckinghamshire County Council needs to change with it. We could continue to salami-slice budgets and start cutting services, but we have chosen to operate commercially by taking the best of the private sector and merging it with the best of the public sector. The Future Shape programme will enable us to be financially self-reliant and continue to improve outcomes and deliver high quality services for the people of Buckinghamshire.

The Future Shape model enables us to operate more commercially —empowering Business Units to be entrepreneurial — innovating, driving down costs and making it easier for our customers to do business with us.

Our structures are changing, but the real change will be driven through our new processes and ways of operating.

The key features of Future Shape are:

We implement solutions that will ensure the Council is financially sustainable and more self-reliant to tackle the social and economic challenges now and for the years ahead.

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Members will set priorities with residents and ensure that they are delivered through stronger outcomes-based commissioning and performance management.

Residents will find it easier to do business with us, be able to serve themselves and get better access to services delivered digitally.

Services will be delivered with key partners and through a wider mix of cost effective, fit for purpose delivery models and providers.

A leaner, flexible and commercially skilled workforce, who are equipped and incentivised to work together across different structures to deliver our priorities.

We will continue to make better use of all our resources and assets and everyone will be aware of opportunities to innovate.

We appreciate there is a lot to do; organisations don’t change overnight. This is an ambitious programme of change in order for us to become a commercially-minded council.

We have an opportunity to create an organisation that is future proof — charting new waters. With a strong Member steer we believe that together we can deliver the change we need.

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Context of the Role

Transport ∙ Economy ∙ Environment Business Unit

The Transport, Economy and Environment (TEE) Business Unit is one of five new Business Units established as part of the Council’s Future Shape transformation programme and new operating model.

Within the Business Unit we have a diverse portfolio of business areas, from Waste and Regeneration to Strategic Business Planning and Operational Highways. Five Delivery Units (as outlined below) were created and each unit is headed up by a Director.

Director of Strategic Planning & Commercial Development Director of Growth & Strategy Director of Regeneration & Infrastructure Director of Environment Services Director of Transport Services

Individually the Directors have full budget and operational responsibility for the performance of their functional areas, and work directly with the Finance Director and their relevant Cabinet Members. With the Managing Director, the Directors collectively form the TEE Leadership Team.

TEE’s key objective is to respond to strategic outcomes set by the Council (Cabinet and Headquarters) through the delivery of transportation, economic growth and environment services for Buckinghamshire, the place and its communities, both now and in the future. In broader terms, TEE is a service provider and a facilitator on behalf of the Council to Buckinghamshire as a whole.

The current Strategic Plan objectives key to the Business Unit are:

Safeguarding our vulnerable Creating opportunities and building self-reliance Keeping Buckinghamshire thriving and attractive

Growth & StrategyIncorporating all economic growth, statutory plan making, and strategy development linked to transport, economy, environment and infrastructure.

Regeneration & InfrastructureManage the development and implementation of our major regeneration initiatives, new build schemes and infrastructure programmes, working in partnership with others.

Transport ServicesOversee all of our Operational Highways, Client Transport and Public Transport Services.

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Environment ServicesManage all of our Operational and Regulatory Waste and Environment Services.

Strategic Business Planning & Commercial DevelopmentProvide business insight and professional expertise in financial management, performance, assurance, customer insight, business development and improvement, horizon scanning and the commissioning of services.

What we do

Buckinghamshire, one of the fastest growing economies in the UK, is facing an exciting period of major growth: £55m of infrastructure investment, high-profile business developments at Pinewood and Silverstone, major housing growth proposed in Aylesbury and High Wycombe, an unprecedented range of national infrastructure schemes and much more to come. 

Our aim within TEE is to manage the major growth pressures within Buckinghamshire in a tough financial climate. Commercial and innovative, we are developing policies that strike the right balance between environment protection and growth.

We are adopting innovative solutions to service delivery and growth through our own Buckinghamshire Development Company, devolving services to parish councils, creating big data partnerships in transport and landscape and introducing new models of delivery in client transport.

We partner with businesses and community sectors in virtually everything we do; playing to the strengths of these sectors to deliver first class services to our customers.

Shaping the Future

Across TEE and in close partnership with external organisations, we are driving a number of major infrastructure projects, including HS2 mitigation, East West Rail and Energy from Waste.

Energy from WasteAt the forefront of our waste management strategy, the Energy from Waste facility being built by FCC Environment for Buckinghamshire County Council is officially due to open in Spring 2016.  It will thermally treat up to 300,000 tonnes of residual waste per annum, comprising of both household and commercial waste that would have otherwise been sent to landfill. The contract is worth £275m and will save Buckinghamshire tax payers over £150m over the 30-year life of the contract.

HS2High Speed 2, the proposed new railway that will run from London to Birmingham, will have a huge impact on Buckinghamshire. We are engaging

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with HS2 Ltd through the parliamentary process and we have sought to ensure that the very best mitigation is put in place.

East West RailEast West Rail will establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England. It is our role to ensure that the East West Rail project delivers on expectations for Buckinghamshire residents.

OneTransportOneTransport – funded by Innovate UK – will see the creation of a transport data hub, which companies, app developers and other local authorities can access for a small fee. Transforming how we use transport data, we will have a complete view of traffic flows and information, enabling a regional response to traffic and incident planning.

And there’s more…From 007 to Dragons’ Den – Buckinghamshire is home to the UK’s answer to Hollywood and is a hotbed for successful business start-ups. Find out what else puts us ahead...

If we put all the roads and footways we look after into a straight line, they would stretch from Aylesbury to New York

Ambitious plans to transform Aylesbury into a ‘destination of choice’ are underway

We’re home to the world famous Pinewood Studios – where Star Wars, Harry Potter and James Bond movies were shot

Our new Energy from Waste Plant will produce enough energy to meet the demands of up to 36,000 homes

Last year we filled over 14,000 dangerous potholes By 2016, an estimated 52,500 plus homes in Buckinghamshire and

Hertfordshire will enjoy superfast broadband connectivity, with speeds of up to 80Mbps through the Connected Counties programme in conjunction with BT

In the last 8 years, we have invested over £100m to improve our roads We look after three Country Parks covering 850 acres - they attract

more than 750,000 visitors a year Buckinghamshire's new business formation rate of 89.4 businesses for

every 10,000 residents is the 3rd highest of all 27 county council areas With over half of businesses formed in Buckinghamshire in 2010 still

trading, the county has the 2nd highest three-year survival rate of any county council area

We aim to increase the county’s recycling rate to 60%

Our Workforce

A large part of our service provision is outsourced to external providers and as a result, we are a smaller Business Unit compared to that of our internal partners (Children Social Care & Learning; Communities, Health & Adult Social Care; and Business Services Plus), with a current headcount of 202.

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Whilst we are a smaller Business Unit, we do recognise that our workforce is our biggest asset. TEE has developed a People Agenda to ensure that people are at the heart of strategic and operational decisions. This People Agenda covers a number of strategies including engagement, recruitment and retention, health and wellbeing, reward and recognition, learning and development, performance management and organisational change.

Our Finances

For 2015/16 TEE has a planned expenditure of £200m with a total income of £45m. By 2019/20 the income levels will be 44% of the net budget.

The annual value of the Business Units platinum contracts (those worth in excess of £1m per annum) is £68m and from 2016/17 we will be managing 79% of spend of the Council’s top 5 platinum contracts.

Transport Services

Main service provision lies with Ringway Jacobs, contracted as Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB), who employ c.250 staff in the delivery of highways maintenance management - including traffic management, streetworks and parking functions - in an open book partnership, acting as the County to its Highways Act et al responsibilities. This partnership has been ongoing and evolving since 2009 and is set to run up to 2024 as a maximum.

An improvement/transformation plan has been in place and continues to drive the partnership.

In this financial year, c.£60m of revenue and capital expenditure will be run through this arrangement. The value of the highways assets is c.£5b, of which the main element is roads and also includes bridges, street lighting and other highway assets.

A new and developing service addition lies in the provision of creating a Client and Public Transport service by an amalgam of external and internal providers into a new team by 1 April 2016. Significant performance and financial targets are being set for this new team and a key challenge lies in this getting up to speed promptly, particularly in seeking to develop a community self-service model.

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The Role

Purpose

To provide the client leadership, contract management and financial control for all Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) Operational Highways, Client Transport and Public Transport Services (collectively defined as Operational Transport Services)

To support the Cabinet and BCC HQ to achieve the corporate aims and outcomes of the Council’s Strategic Plan, and the Managing Director Transport, Economy and Environment (TEE) and TEE Board to achieve the outcomes in the TEE Business Unit Plan

Dimensions

Principal Accountabilities

Understands, anticipates and defines the need for all operational Transport Services in Buckinghamshire

Advises the Cabinet Member for Transport, Cabinet Member for Education & Skills, and the Managing Director of TEE on the strategies for meeting the needs of the Council and its residents, businesses and parents for operational Transport Services

Advises the Cabinet Member for Transport and the Managing Director of TEE on the medium term and annual resource planning requirements for operational Highways and Public Transport Services to include revenue, capital and asset planning, and monitors deployment

Advises the Cabinet Member for Education & Skills on the medium term and annual revenue planning requirements for Client Transport Services and monitors deployment

Works closely with all other TEE BU Directors to help develop and deliver all TEE Business Plan service outcomes

Works with the TEE Commercial Director to source and commission the right external or internal delivery arrangements necessary to meet the required operational Transport Services

Establishes the performance and contractual management framework that continually drives general performance, value for money (vfm), customer focus and innovation through external/internal delivery arrangements

Directs the client team supporting the Director of Transport Services in their role, ensuring it has and maintains the skills, knowledge and capacity necessary to intelligently performance manage commissioned delivery arrangements

Develops appropriate relationships with a wider range of key stakeholders with a vested interest in operational Transport Services

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including: Local Council Members, District Councils, Town & Parish Councils, Voluntary and Community Services (VCS) Organisations, Schools, Bucks Business First, neighbouring Transport Authorities, Government Departments and other national bodies

Decision Making Accountabilities

The role is directly responsible for managing and monitoring a delegated budget

Operational Transport Services Client Team cost is c.£0.5m Ringway Jacobs TfB Contract c.£26m TfB Capital Programme c.£23m Amey Client Transport Contract c.£17m

Management accountabilities

Client Team = c.11 posts Amey Delivery Unit (to be in-sourced on 1 April 2016) = unconfirmed

but estimated c.20 posts (excluding bus and taxi drivers) Ringway Jacobs Delivery Unit = unconfirmed but estimated c.250 posts

Other Key Stakeholders

Cabinet Member Transportation Cabinet Member Education & Skills Leader of the Council Chairman Environment Transport & Localities Select Committee Chairman Regulatory & Audit Committee MD TEE Other TEE Directors HQ Director Assurance Director of Public Health MD and Senior Management Team (SMT) of Ringway Jacobs and

Parent Companies Regional Director Amey Industry Bodies District Council CEOs/Directors Town and Parish Councils

Priorities in the first 12 Months

Evaluate and assess contracts, ensuring that business and operational plans are stable and achievable, and make any necessary contractual adjustments

Ensure that models that have been identified to deliver financial savings are implemented

Develop and evaluate new service approaches to deliver the best customer experience and value for money out of the business

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Embed a culture of customer experience, commercial thinking and innovation running throughout the TEE Business Unit

The Person

It is important that in your supporting statement, you seek to address and provide evidence, as far as you can, for each of the criteria identified in Part One of the person specification below. The preliminary interview will further probe these criteria as well as exploring Parts Two and Three.

Part One - Essential experienceA demonstrable and proven track record of:

Successful commercial experience of leading outsourced services, either on client or supply side

Successful personal leadership of and impact on contracts valued £50m-£100m a year spend

Understanding and meeting needs of a customer-facing service Comprehensive understanding of the national issues facing the service

and the networks of support available Ideally, significant experience of building trust and positive relationships

with senior politicians and delivering in a political environment (or the capacity to swiftly develop such skills)

Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with a proven ability to maintain proactive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders within BCC, locally and nationally

Successfully innovating within service delivery Experience of leading transport or engineering related outsourced

services The ability to convey the messages and missions of the Business Unit

to a wide range of groups, including parish councils, staff, and partners The ability to ‘sense-check’ actions from a political viewpoint and

ensure that colleagues are aware of any risks associated with a plan or model

Highly Desirable

Degree or equivalent MBA or equivalent

Part Two - Personal qualities and styleTo survive and thrive in this organisation you must…

Have a strong and genuine interest and curiosity in Buckinghamshire as a place and what makes it special

Have a strong sense of vision, ambition and aspiration for the county as a whole, and for all of the diverse parts of our communities to be in

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charge of their own destiny, and to have the highest quality of life possible

Be enthusiastic about ensuring that the Council provides the best possible service to its communities and residents

Be ambitious and committed to helping the Business Unit, and the Council as a whole, to grow and elevate its position

Be willing to work flexibly in a hot-desk environment

Part Three – Chemistry and ‘fit’

Separately, we posed a range of questions to Neil Gibson, Managing Director of the Transport, Economy & Environment Business Unit

What are you, personally, like to work with?

Not a detail-focused manager Won’t be constantly peering over your shoulder and checking

up on you Will give you the space to work on your own accountabilities But if you need help, it will always be available Very outward-facing Tries to create a space in which you feel empowered to

operate Tries to offer support in anticipation of a crisis

What might this person be doing right now?

Could be succeeding in a leadership role within the commercial sector and be looking to move across to the public sector

Could be in a similar role in a smaller council and be looking to advance your career

Could be a ‘bright spark’ in a slightly more junior role within a council, looking to make the step up

If potential candidates have all the qualities and skills listed above, then you are looking for an exceptional person. If they are that good, why would they want to come here to Buckinghamshire?

Any one or a combination of:

Personal

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The ability to gain an improved lifestyle/quality of life for yourself and your family, and access to excellent schools for your children

You have an ‘empathy’ for Buckinghamshire You grew up here, you left at 18, you’ve had a great career – and now

this is a chance to seize a hugely challenging and rewarding role that could take you back to your roots and closer to family connections

We are centrally located, and close to London if that is important to you, with good transport links

Professional Buckinghamshire as an authority gives you a lot of space to thrive, and

lots of people have been able to grow swiftly within and with the business

This organisation genuinely empowers people to succeed If people need help, they get it; if people need room to operate, they

get it; the key measure, is do you deliver? At a time when many councils are making urgent and drastic budget

cuts, Buckinghamshire has challenging but clear medium term financial plans; again, that gives you a lot of room to perform and operate

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Terms of Appointment

Contract

This appointment is based on a permanent contract.

Remuneration

Competitive

Location

You will be based mainly based at the County Council’s offices in Aylesbury.

Pension

This post is pensionable.

Buckinghamshire County Council offers the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) through the Buckinghamshire Pension Fund. This scheme is a final salary pension scheme.

Annual Leave Entitlement

Your annual leave entitlement is up to 32 working days plus 8 public holidays per annum. Leave should be taken in consultation with your Managing Director. The leave period shall be from 1 April to 31 March. Those employees starting or leaving employment during the year are entitled to leave proportionate to the number of completed days' service during the year.

A maximum of five days’ annual leave (pro-rata for part-time staff) may be carried forward to the next leave year. We also offer an annual leave purchase scheme, which allows up to 10 days additional leave to be purchased each year.

Travel

You must be able to drive, since the role will involve some travel for business purposes of c.3000 miles per annum.

Period of Notice

This post is subject to four months’ notice on either side to end the contract of employment.

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Probation

You will be subject to a six-month probation period.

How to Apply

This guidance contains important information to help with your application.

General Conditions

We recognise and welcome our responsibility to remove any barriers in our Recruitment and Selection process for disabled people. We have tried to do this, but if you have a disability and identify any barriers in the job description please tell us of these in your application. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to the job wherever possible and it would help us to know your needs in order to do this.

To apply for this role, we would like you to provide the following:

A motivation statement (ideally no more than 2 sides of A4), which explains why you are applying for this role and the contribution, style, skills and experience you will bring to it.

A supporting statement, providing evidence/examples of how you match the ten key requirements (and two desirable requirements) of the role as outlined in Part One of the ‘role profile’.

A comprehensive, up to date and current CV ensuring all gaps in employment and education history are fully explained.

Contact details of two referees so that we are able to take up your references if you are shortlisted for final panel interview (referees will not be contacted without your permission).

A completed Equal Opportunities monitoring form (see below). We are keen to ensure that our jobs are accessible to all members of the community and use this data to monitor our progress in doing this.

The equal opportunities and monitoring form can be found at the end of this pack. This is a word document that you need to complete and return to us by email.

Please ensure you return the above documents by the end of the closing date, 22 February to BCC1044@davidsonpartners.com

Following long listing you will be contacted directly with an update on the status of your application.

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On the following pages, there is an indicative timetable for this appointment.

Please ensure that you let us know in your covering letter if there are any specific dates that present you with a problem.

If you have any specific queries about the role, or wish to have an informal and confidential discussion, then please call or email our advisors at Davidson & Partners:

David Gourlay: david.gourlay@davidsonpartners.comM: 07939 017816

Jack Williams: jack.williams@davidsonpartners.comM: 07885 670 504

Hamish Davidson: hamish.davidson@davidsonpartners.comM: 07932 698 807

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Indicative Timetable

Closing date: 22 February

Longlisting: 01 March

Preliminary interviews: 07-14 March (Inclusive)

Shortlisting: To be advised

Assessment and PartnershipInterview Panel& Final Panel Interview: To be advised

Further Information

Profiles of the Cabinet Profiles of Council Members List of Council Committees Buckinghamshire County Council Strategic Plan – 2015-17 Buckinghamshire County Council’s Management Structure Document

Click here for a Dropbox folder where you can download further information documents

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EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING FORM

Buckinghamshire County Council has a policy of equality of opportunity for those wishing to serve in public appointments. This means that applications are welcome from all suitably qualified individuals irrespective of, for example, race, gender or disability. In order to ensure that the sponsoring organisations policy is being complied with, applicants are asked to complete the questions below. This provides statistical information on gender, ethnic background and disability. Such information, no matter how it is requested, is always published in statistical summary form and no individual can be identified. Thank you for your co-operation.

GenderMale Female

Where did you hear about this role?

Disability Please see the guidance notes for a definition of disability.

Do you consider yourself to be disabled? Yes No

Ethnic Origin - Please tick from the list below which best describes the ethnic group with which you identify

White Black or Black British Chinese or Other Ethnic Group

1A British 2A Black Caribbean 3A Chinese

1B Irish 2B Black African 3B Any other background

1C Other White 2C Any other Black background

PleaseSpecify

PleaseSpecify

PleaseSpecify

Asian or Asian British Mixed

4A Indian 5A White & Black Caribbean

4B Pakistani 5B White & Black African

4C Bangladeshi 5C White & Asian

4D Any other Asian background

5D Any other mixed background

PleaseSpecify

PleaseSpecify

If yes, please specify:

Please indicate if you have any specific access requirements should you be invited for interview:

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