this paper relates to item 12 clackmannanshire …

CLACKMANNANSHIRE COUNCIL

Report to Resources & Audit Committee

Date of Meeting: 11 March 2014

Subject: Support Services Finance and Performance report 1.9.13 – 31.12.13

Report by: Senior Support Services Manager

1.0 Purpose

1.1. This paper reports to Committee Support Services performance for the third quarter of 2013/14.

1.2. The report highlights service activity, achievements and performance between September and December 2013. It also identifies future challenges, opportunities and risks.

1.3. The report includes financial performance with the aim of providing a complete overview of performance for quarter three.

2.0 Recommendations

2.1. The Committee is asked to note the report, comment on and challenge performance as appropriate.

3.0 Service Activity - key issues

3.1 Introduction

3.1.1 The Support Services vision is to ensure that financial and human resources, IT systems and governance processes are aligned to the strategic aims of the organisation to facilitate the delivery of the Council's corporate priorities in a legally compliant, cost effective and efficient way.

3.1.2 The Support Services mission as set out in the service business plan is "to provide high quality, professional, value added proactive advice and support to enable senior officers, managers, elected members and staff in the delivery of their strategic and operational objectives" This includes advice and support to manage resources whether they are human, technological or financial.

3.2 Shared services - 3.2.1 A "taking stock" exercise took place in December where officers from support

services across Stirling and Clackmannanshire shared thoughts and ideas for future arrangements.

THIS PAPER RELATES TO ITEM 12

ON THE AGENDA

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3.2.2 The options for future support service delivery for the shared services are contained within a draft report that will be presented to the shared services programme board early in 2013.

3.3 Equal pay issues -

3.3.1 80 claims remain out-standing including those at employment tribunal. 68 of those claimants have been made offers but have not yet accepted. The HR service is considering how to resolve the out-standing claims and will be liaising with the Trade Unions on a national basis to reach agreement. One final settlement session will be arranged locally in April 2014.

3.3.2 Provision of £395k has been made in the Council's accounts for future claims. This figure includes an allowance for payment to HMRC for those claims which have been settled. The Council's external auditors consider this to be a prudent provision.

3.4 The annual internal audit plan was agreed at the Resource and Audit Committee meeting in May 2013. Progress against the plan continues to be on schedule and three internal audit reports are submitted to Committee today. The draft plan for 2014/15 is also presented for approval at today's meeting.

3.5 Budget Challenge Four corporate business cases are being progressed. The four themes are: Voluntary Severance, Procurement, Terms & Conditions and Income & Charging.

3.5.1 The revised version of the Voluntary Severance process has been launched through Connect and Service Managers. This introduces more flexibility in releasing employees expressing an interest in this option. At the time of writing nine employees have submitted expressions of interest and are being processed through the system. Savings associated with those applications confirmed as viable will be set against the £100k budget savings identified for 2014/15.

3.5.2 The Procurement Manager has now set up a "Procurement Matters" group comprised of identified employees across all services. The aim is to improve understanding of the procurement process and practice, reduce risk and generate additional savings. Methods of tracking and managing the savings achieved are also being discussed with a view to achieving the budget savings set out as part of the budget process.

3.5.3 A joint two year proposal for changes to Terms & Conditions was presented to employees through a series of employee meetings in November. Trade Union members asked Trade Union Officials to respond with a counter-proposal. The counter proposal would result in a reduction in the working week and subsequent budget saving. Further Trade Union meetings and a ballot on the final proposals and management response are due to take place in January and February 2014. The overall aim remains as protecting as many jobs as possible for existing employees.

3.5.4 The Council published its charging register in May 2013. A review of existing income and charging arrangements has been carried out as part of the 2014/15 budget challenge process. An increase is proposed for the majority of

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charges. Opportunities to increase existing charges or impose charges for discretionary services will be recommended in the budget paper.

3.6 The Legal Service has entered into a contract for the provision of an online legal information and research tool effect from 1.12.13. This action will result in annual savings of £5k; a significant saving for a facility which includes everything the legal team require to carry out their work. To date, the team's experience of the new service has been very positive.

3.7 An additional solicitor has been recruited on a temporary 2 year contract to provide additional support for social services in particular. The legal service will be better placed to meet the volume of legal work required by social services. The position is being funded through flexible use of the additional funding approved for the delivery of social services.

Two members of the legal team are working closely with social services by spending time in the service each week to gain an improved understanding of social services needs and to develop a closer working relationship with the service.

3.8 Annual Governance Statement - Work is under way to map and consider similar improvement processes within the Council. Duplication of effort and requirement for resource could be reduced, resulting in information being used once to inform several processes including business planning.

3.9 HR & Payroll system. The project has now moved into phase two, which aims

to introduce Managers and Employees Self Service by 31 March 2014. Auto-enrolment is complete. The 1% payrise agreed for the majority of employees was implemented in December's pay with arrears paid in the same month. A number of Management Information reports are now being produced with the aim of agreeing the suite of documents for future use.

3.10 Welfare Reform - The Council received additional funding of £264k for

Discretionary Housing Payments in October 2013 which will allow the revenues team to allocate funds to applicants who did not meet previous criteria. The team has also been publicising the availability of the additional funding to encourage residents to either re-submit applications or apply for the first time. Funds will be targeted through the rest of the financial year to those in the most need. A members briefing took place in November to bring members up to date on allocations and the impact of the previous six months. The Welfare Reform Working Group continues to meet on alternate months and is actively looking at workstreams around employability, debt advice and recovery.

3.10.1 Applications for the Scottish Welfare Fund continue to be received at a lower level than anticipated. Consideration is being given as to how to improve community awareness of the two funds with Officers working closely with community organisations.

3.11 The Accountancy team continues to support the on-going budget challenge sessions. The Accountancy Manager retired in November 2013, the new post of Chief Accountant was filled by an internal applicant through an external recruitment and assessment process. The second new Team Leader took up post in January 2014.

3.12 Kilncraigs - ICT Infrastructure largely complete. Servers installed and operating in the new server room. This included a complete redesign of the

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Council network to move it from its old design to a new design which will future proof the network for years to come.

3.13 The Support Services Team Leaders Group now meets regularly. An extended team meeting is held on a quarterly basis that includes all Support Services Team Leaders and Service Managers. This group is proving useful and contributes to the service planning process. The Team Leaders group acts as a pivotal management link between Service Managers and teams and provides a link between the strategic/tactical and operational/delivery roles of Support Services. To date achievements include receiving external updates on shared areas of interest, sharing draft policies for comment and discussing emerging risks and identifying potential mitigations. Feedback is being provided as required to the Senior Management Team.

Performance

4.1 The majority of support services work supports the corporate priority of ensuring the Council is effective, efficient and recognised for excellence. However, both legal services and the revenues and payments team support the corporate priority of ensuring vulnerable people are supported.

4.2 The KPIs reported are those agreed for the Support Services business plan for 2013/14. A number of the agreed performance indicators relate to corporate performance and some will only be reported on an annual basis. Comments are made within the Covalent report (Appendix A) with some additional information below.

4.3 DWP system changes (ATLAS) remain outwith the control of the Revenues Service; files are duplicated with electronic and hard copies being received by the team leading to duplication and a requirement to quality check both copies and filter out the duplicates. This continues to impact on the number of days required to process claims. The DWP improvement team has agreed to work with the service to assist with solutions to the problems being encountered. Arrangements are being made for the improvement team to visit in February 2014.

4.4 Rent arrears as a percentage of rent charged shows a small decrease of 0.77% at end of quarter three from 7.77% at the end second quarter of 2013/14. Although the overall arrears figure has increased from 5.45% at end March 2013, rent arrears are now starting to reduce. Overall rent arrears now account for 7.0% of rent charged.

4.5 Improved performance in the collection of debts with overall debt continuing to reduce. Longer term sundry debt levels have showed a small reduction in quarter three with a £40k reduction in debts outstanding over 90 days from quarter two. This has reduced £110,000 since quarter one.

4.6 Sickness rates for support services staff decreased from quarter two to 3.6% in quarter three, a drop of 0.79%. The service has supported a number of employees who were absent through long term sickness to return to work on a phased return basis.

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5.0 Financial Performance

The undernoted table outlines the financial position as at the 31 December 2013, comparing the projected expenditure for this period with the profiled budgeted expenditure. An analysis of variances in respect of each service area is attached in the Appendix B to this report.

Annual Budget

Budget to 31.12/2013

Outturn Variance

£000 £000 £000 £000

Director 115 87 115 0

Accountancy 1,344 857 1,364 20

Revenues & Payments 1,398 1045 1,481 83

Head of Support Services 114 85 98 (16)

Governance 1,545 1168 1,501 (44)

IT 1,818 1344 1,769 (49)

Total 6,334 4586 6,328 (6)

5.1 The variance shown against ICT is due to the delay in recruitment to two technical posts and staff reducing hours.

5.2 The variance shown against Accountancy is due to changes in staffing structure, handover period for the post of Chief Accountant, agency cover for long term absence.

5.3 The variance shown against Revenues & Payments relates to implementation costs of phase 1 and 2 of the Payroll/HR system. A full reconciliation of these costs has now been carried out and costs will be reallocated or credited against service budgets accordingly. This will result in a reduction in the Revenues & Payments overspend. The majority of the outstanding issues from phase one have been resolved.

5.4 The variance in the Governance service is due to staffing underspend as a result of secondment with projected backfill for part of the year and the delay of the job families project.

5.5 Expenditure to 31.12.13 demonstrates expenditure of 72.1% of budget. Forecast outturn is for a £6k or 0.01% underspend. It should be noted that £13k of this projected outturn remains associated with occupational health contracts managed by the governance service. Expenditure in this area is variable and based on the number of staff referred to or accessing the services provided.

5.6 The Support Services annual budget provision has been reduced by £95k to take into account the savings associated with Voluntary Severance. Three employees opted to take up this option and left employment during quarter two.

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6.0 Progress in Delivering Planned Budget Savings in 2013/14

6.1 Support Services will be delivering savings of £229k in the 2013/14 budget year as set out during the Budget Challenge process. Budgets have been realigned by £220k with the out-standing balance of £9k being met through additional income

6.2 The 2012/13 budget incorporated savings of £19k for Support Service The project specification will be completed by 30.3.14. Project will be tendered by 30.6.14 leading to part year savings being realised in 2014/15 with the full £19kin 2015/16.

The table below summarises the position.

7.0 Achievements

7.1 Set out below are the achievements reported by all support services for the period September 2013 to December 2013.

7.2 HR and Payroll system delivery This new integrated system was delivered and implemented as planned with a go live date of 1 April 2013 and has now moved into phase two. The project team members have developed skills and knowledge that will assist the Council with future developments in the system. Management Information will be clearer, accurate, current and more readily available in the future.

7.3 The first draft Management Information reports now being produced and circulated for comment to ensure format is relevant and useful to managers. Initial reports include absence data and overtime usage.

7.4 Auto-enrolment was successfully implemented for September and October payrolls. 800 employees were enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme. 84% of employees who were enrolled have remained in the scheme. Confirmation received of registration for Auto-enrolment which means that the Council is a fully compliant employer.

7.5 Support Services was reassessed for CSE compliance. The result was confirmation of accreditation with 3 areas assessed as compliance plus. This result confirms the services commitment to customer service and is recognition of the improvement actions that have been implemented. A small number of support services staff take the lead for the submission and worked with the assessor during the assessment.

7.6 The job families pilot was completed with the outcome presented to CMT. The full project was approved in principle and will commence during Q4.

Description of Saving Saving 2012/13 Progress Comment

£ £ Procurement of a Corporate Arrears Recovery System

(19,000) 0 Project team now set up and system will be procured by 31.3.14. Savings will be realised in 2014/15

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7.7 Runner Up Scottish Gazetteer Custodian of the Year at Geoplace Exemplar Awards 2013 in London

7.8 The annual Procurement Capability Assessment took place in November. This assessment considers all elements of procurement and makes comparison with national standards. The Council achieved a score of 37%, an increase of 6% from 2012. This demonstrates the improvements that the changes made in Contract Standing Orders and the introduction of the Corporate Procurement Process (The Procurement Journey) are starting to make.

Clackmannanshire Council has continued to increase its spend on products and services sourced locally within Clackmannanshire with that figure now standing at 28.8%. This information is published on Clacksweb and updated on a regular basis.

7.9 The revenues team submitted a bid with community partners for Lottery

funding to enable the provision of a basic banking service for residents of Clackmannanshire. The bid was successful and Clackmannanshire will receive £131k over two years to support the set up and operation of a basic banking service by Grand Central Savings. The arrangement is similar to that of a Credit Union but will accept those customers that would not be able to set up a Credit Union type account. Based on the profile of Clackmannanshire, this arrangement will benefit many of those who are restricted from operating a bank account currently and will provide support to manage income and budgets. Once Universal Credit is introduced, this will provide a significant benefit to Clackmannanshire. An implementation plan is being drawn up in conjunction with community partners.

7.10 Implemented the 1% payrise plus payment of backpay for all single status and Craft employees.

7.11 Enhancements to business process in App/Flare system now emails job lines

to ACE recycling rather than the previous method which involved printing and posting. With thousands of transactions per year this represents a sizable efficiency.

7.12 PSN Compliance achieved. One of the first Scottish Councils to achieve accreditation under the Cabinet Office's new zero tolerance scheme. This was a significant achievement undertaking a huge workload and making many system changes to become compliant. Good system design resulted in much less disruption to services available to users compared to many other councils who had to withdraw services such as home access.

7.13 Kilncraigs - Complete schools infrastructure moved from old server room in

Kilncraigs to the new server room. This was a high risk activity which also included a successful test of Disaster Recovery plans for the schools infrastructure. Work was carried out while schools were on holiday to minimise disruption to service.

7.14 Emergency Planning - significant piece of work completed which now published information about vulnerable people to our GIS system so that the information can be used on maps for Emergency Planning/Disaster Recover purposes.

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7.15 Chartered Membership of CIPD gained by two HR Advisers 7.16 The new contract for Physio Service is working well with excellent feedback

from service users. This initiative has been instrumental in achieving a faster return to work and in some cases avoiding absence from work completely.

7.17 Successful review of Discretionary Housing Policy (DHP) with projected

allocation of DHP to March 2014 of £443k against a budget of £443k. 7.18 Arranged drop in surgery at Hawkhill Community Centre with Money Advice

and DWP to provide advice and information to the local community.

8.0 Opportunities, Challenges and Risk

8.1 The following opportunities, challenges and risks have been identified by Support Service Management team between September 2013 and December 2013.

8.1.1 The shared services options appraisal detailed at 3.2 could provide opportunities for more work to be shared across the support service teams in Clackmannanshire and Stirling, improving skills and knowledge and potentially delivering savings.

8.1.2 A continuing level of uncertainty exists related to the introduction of Universal Credit during 2014/15. The introduction of Universal Credit is further delayed with the framework not being made available until October 2014. This raises further risks of knowledgeable and skilled employees leaving due to uncertainty about the future.

8.1.3 PSN - despite achieving Compliance there is a risk that the Cabinet Office will continue to introduce new demands into the compliance regime which will introduce cost, increased resource requirements and which will constrain our ability to deliver mobile and flexible working. To mitigate this we continue to engage with colleagues at a national level to seek to influence the approved architectural designs. Preparations are underway for next year's compliance programme.

8.1.4 The future impact of Pensions Reform is being documented and financial impact and risk analysed. An implementation plan and communication plan will be produced through the payments team.

8.1.5 DHP funding for 2014/15 is anticipated to be at the same level as in 2013/14.

This will allow the most vulnerable in the community to continue to receive funding to offset the reduction in benefit resulting from under-occupation. Funding beyond this period is unknown which presents a risk for future years.

8.1.6 The Legal Services Team Leader retires on 31.3.14 resulting in the need for

succession planning, capacity evaluation and the recruitment of new team leader. Discussions are underway to consider options for the future.

8.1.7 Annual governance statement work is due to commence in Q4, which is a

time commitment for the Governance Service and those involved in the governance panel.

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9.0 Sustainability Implications

9.1 None

10.0 Resource Implications

10.1 Financial Details

10.2 The full financial implications of the recommendations are set out in the report. This includes a reference to full life cycle costs where appropriate. N/A

10.3 Finance have been consulted and have agreed the financial implications as set out in the report. N/A

10.4 Staffing

10.5 There are no staffing implications associated with this report

11.0 Exempt Reports

11.1 Is this report exempt? Yes (please detail the reasons for exemption below) No

12.0 Declarations The recommendations contained within this report support or implement our Corporate Priorities and Council Policies.

(1) Our Priorities (Please double click on the check box )

The area has a positive image and attracts people and businesses Our communities are more cohesive and inclusive People are better skilled, trained and ready for learning and employment Our communities are safer Vulnerable people and families are supported Substance misuse and its effects are reduced Health is improving and health inequalities are reducing The environment is protected and enhanced for all The Council is effective, efficient and recognised for excellence

(2) Council Policies

None

13.0 Equalities Impact

13.1 Have you undertaken the required equalities impact assessment to ensure that no groups are adversely affected by the recommendations? Yes No N/A

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14.0 Legality

14.1 It has been confirmed that in adopting the recommendations contained in this report, the Council is acting within its legal powers. Yes N/A

15.0 Appendices

15.1 Please list any appendices attached to this report. If there are no appendices, please state "none".

Appendix A - Covalent performance report

Appendix B - Financial performance to 30.9.13

16.0 Background Papers

16.1 Have you used other documents to compile your report? (All documents must be kept available by the author for public inspection for four years from the date of meeting at which the report is considered)

Yes (please list the documents below) No

Author(s)

NAME DESIGNATION TEL NO / EXTENSION

Julie Burnett Senior Support Services Manager

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Approved by

NAME DESIGNATION SIGNATURE

Julie Burnett Senior Support Services Manager

Nikki Bridle Director Finance & Corporate Services

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Support Services Business Plan 2013-14 APPENDIX A Quarter 3 Progress Report KEY TO SYMBOLS

PIs Status Short Term Trends Long Term Trends

Compares actual performance with target

Compares actual performance with most recent previous

Compares actual performance with previous over the longer term

Alert Performance has improved Performance has improved

Warning Performance has remained the same Performance has remained the same

OK (performance is within tolerance limits for the target) Performance has declined Performance has declined

Unknown No comparison available - May be new indicator or data not yet available No comparison available

ACTIONS RISKS

Expected Outcome Current Rating = Likelihood x Impact (1 - 5) Status

Meet target/complete within target dates Rating 16 and above

Will complete, but outwith target Rating 10 to 15

Fail to complete or cancelled

Rating 9 and below

The likelihood of a risk occurring, and the impact if it does occur are each scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the least likely or the least significant impact. Detailed guidance on scoring is provided in the Risk Management Policy and guidance.

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1 HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY 9 The council is effective, efficient and recognised for excellence

PIs 0 0 0 0

Actions 0 7 2 0

2 DETAILED REPORT Support Services KPIs

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 Q3 2013/14 Covalent Ref. PI Description

Value Value Target Value Short Trend

Latest Note Lead

SUS CUS 001 Percentage of customers very or fairly satisfied with the overall service they received

N/A 86.60% 90.00% Annual measure Performance will be reported annually Julie Burnett

SUS CUS 002 Percentage of customers very or fairly satisfied with the way the service handled any problems


SUS CUS 003 Percentage of customers very or fairly satisfied with the quality of information they received


SUS CUS 004 Number of formal complaints received for Support Services 6 3 5 0

No formal complaints have been received in Q3 relating to any of the Support Services. Julie Burnett

GOV FOI SUS Percentage of Support Services Freedom of Information requests dealt with within timescale

96.20% 98.10% 100.00% 98.70%

An improvement on Q2 response rate. Work will continue with managers and teams to improve efficiency of how FOI requests are prioritised.

Julie Burnett

GOV CNQ SUS Percentage of Support Services Councillor Enquiries dealt with within timescale 100.0% 89.5% 100.0% 87.5%

Of the 8 Councillor enquiries received in Q3, 7 were responded to within agreed timescales. Julie Burnett

GOV SAB SUS Support Service sickness absence levels 3.47% 6.61% 3.50% 3.60%

Figures represent Q3 from 1.9.13 to 31.12.13. Reduction from 4.36% in Q2 and indicative of long term absentees being supported to return to work.

Julie Burnett

GOV PPL SUS Support Services staff turnover N/A 2.40% 2.00% 1.80% There were three leavers in Q2 Julie Burnett

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Latest Note Lead

SUS SUS 002 Percentage of Support Services projects completed on time N/A 82% 90% 80%

6 projects are running slightly behind. Same number as Q2. Slight decrease in indicator due to calculation against reduced total number of ongoing projects

Julie Burnett

ITS ITS 001 Percentage of users who can access the Council network remotely 15.0% 20.0% 30.0% 19.4%

245 Accounts are now set up for remote access (an increase of 10 users from Q2.) Target negatively impacted by an increase in total number of user accounts e.g. Additional 14 temporary accounts set up for Child Care inspection team to allow electronic file reading.

John Munro

ITS CUS 001 Percentage of customers satisfied with ICT services 97.0% 97.0% 98.0% 99.5%

An increase of 2% satisfaction improvement reported through the ICT customer satisfaction survey. John Munro

ITS ITS 002 Percentage of available hours lost on ICT systems due to unplanned incidents 0.060% 0.050% 0.050% 0.001%

Availability performance maintained from prior Qtr. Large number of changes required with PSN and moving equipment to Kilncraigs making maintaining availability challenging.

John Munro

RAP 001 PAY Accuracy of payroll information 99.71% 99.60% 99.85% 99.85% 0.02% increase on previous quarter Julie Burnett

RAP CRD 001 Payment of suppliers within agreed timescales (30 days) 86.0% 82.9% 90.0% 85.5% Performance consistent with previous quarter. Julie Burnett

RAP 002 PAY Percentage of payroll queries resolved within 2 days N/A N/A 75.0% 98.0%

Performance remains the same as previous quarter of 2013/14. Julie Burnett

RAP CTA 001 Council Tax Collected Within Year 95.20% 95.30% 73.29% This is a reduction of 3.42% from Q3 in the previous year of 76.71%.

Susan Mackay

RAP CTA 011 Sundry debt in year collection 83.73% 83.62% 88.50% 66.33%

85.98% in Q3 2012/13. Total o/s debt in Q3 for 2012/13 was £1.473m with £1.26m collected in Q3 2013/14 this has increased by £785k to £2.258m with £1.5m collected

Susan Mackay

RAP CTA 019 Debt collection rates > 90 days 42.24% 39.30% 37.50% 34.30%

The debt >90days reduced £40k between Q2 and Q3 to £774k. This shows that old debt continues to slowly reduce.

Susan Mackay

RAP CTA 020 Number days taken on average to process new benefits claims 26 32 25 57

Increase in number of days compared to previous year, Problems with ATLAS continue to cause concerns. Service have invited in DWP Performance Team.

Susan Mackay

RAP CTA 021 Number of days taken on average to process changes to benefits claims 8 9 9 35

Increase in number of days compared to previous year, Problems with ATLAS continue to cause concerns. Service have invited in DWP Performance team.

Susan Mackay

RAP CTA 007 NDR in year collection rate 98.00% 83.9% This is a decrease of 0.32% from Qtr3 in the previous Susan

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Latest Note Lead

year of 84.22%. Mackay

HMO TEM 001 Current tenant arrears as a percentage of net rent due 5.26% 5.41% 5.80% 7.41%

Increased from 5.45% at 31.3.13. Resulting from the impact of Welfare Reforms. The arrears increased 0.37% between Qtr 1 and Qtr 2.

Susan Mackay

RAP CTA 022 Percentage of applications to Local Social Fund processed within 2 days (Crisis grants) N/A N/A 90.00% 100.00%

Applications are being processed within the stated time. Number of applications continues to be less than anticipated.

Julie Burnett

RAP CTA 023 Percentage of applications to Local Social Fund processed within 28 days (Community Care grants)

N/A N/A 90.00% 100.00%

Applications are being processed within the stated time. Number of applications continues to be less than anticipated.

Julie Burnett

RAP AUD 001 Percentage of Internal Audit plan completed N/A 100% 100% 90%

15 Audits now either completed or fieldwork at advanced stage. Detailed planning for Q4 audits and Annual Plan has now started.

Susan Mackay

SUS ACC 002 Percentage of statutory returns submitted within deadlines (RTI, HMRC, NDR, CTR, DHP, VAT, LFR, Pobe, Capital Returns)

N/A N/A 100% 95% CTR and HB return missed deadline by 1 day due to submission dates being brought forward. Julie Burnett

SUS ACC 001 Percentage of service financial reports produced to monthly deadlines N/A N/A 100% 100%

Service financial reports were supplied on time for each service committee. Julie Burnett

ACC B01 SUS Performance against phased budgeted spend - Support Services N/A 92.8% 100.0% 72.1%

Outturn to 31.3.14 is forecast at £6k underspend. £13k of this relates to corporate contract spend. Julie Burnett

SUS PRD SUS Number of Support Services staff recorded as having completed a PRD N/A 67% 100.0% 88.4%

88.4% of support services staff had received their PRD by 31.12.13. This leaves 18 employees' PRDs out-standing due to long term absence, new starters and a small number that have not yet been completed.

Julie Burnett

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Corporate KPIs



Latest Note Lead

GOV FOI COU Percentage of Council Freedom of Information requests dealt with within timescale 97.4% 98.3% 100.0% 94.6%

We will continue to work with senior management to improve efficiency of how requests are handled. Lisa Simpson

GOV CNQ COU Percentage of Councillor Enquiries dealt with within timescale (all services) N/A 84.00% 100.00% 90.90%

Of the 133 enquiries dealt with in the third quarter, 121 were responded to within the agreed timescales. Julie Burnett

GOV HAS COU Percentage of managers who have reviewed their Health and Safety Risk Assessment in the last 12 months

50.0% 75.0% 100.0% Annual measure Performance will be reported annually Julie Burnett

GOV SAB 01d Average Days Sickness Absence (Other Local Government) 7.9 days 21.1 days Annual measure Lisa Simpson

GOV SAB 01c Average Days Sickness Absence (Teachers) 6.9 days 15.7 days Annual measure Lisa Simpson

ACC B01 COU Performance against phased budgeted spend - Council N/A N/A 100.0% 75%

Minor underspend to year end projected.

Julie Burnett

GOV PRC 001 Percentage score in procurement capability assessment 31.0% 31.0% 33.0% Annual measure Performance will be reported annually Julie Burnett

ACC GRF COU Ratio of capital financing costs to net revenue expenditure: General fund 7.93% 7.75% 7.90% Annual measure Performance will be reported annually Julie Burnett

ACC HRA COU Ratio of capital financing costs to net revenue expenditure - HRA 20.63% 18.50% 18.50% Annual measure Performance will be reported annually Julie Burnett

ACC FNR COU Target level of uncommitted financial reserves is achieved. (£3.6m) £3,760k £6,300k £3,600k Annual measure Performance will be reported annually Julie Burnett

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Service Actions Covalent Ref. Action By When Reviewer

(Owner) Progress Expected Outcome Latest Note

SUS SUS 001 Complete review of financial regulations and proposals for any amendments 30-Sep-2013

Draft financial regulation circulated to Director for comment. Supporting Financial codes 60% drafted. Completion date revised to November to allow finalisation of Codes and time for review and consultation. Revised financial regulations will be presented to Council in March 2014.

SUS GOV 001 Implement relevant actions derived from revised People Strategy 31-Dec-2013 Lisa Simpson

People strategy agreed at Council in October 2013. Actions from the associated action plan will be included in the HR service operational plan for 2014, although some actions have already commenced.

SUS SUS 002 Support the move to one location at Kilncraigs (ICT & HR support for change management) 30-Nov-2013

ICT work: Major infrastructure developments progressing on schedule with servers and equipment installed and ready for use; New Ways of Working developments progressing with pilot complete.

SUS GOV 002 Complete the job families project (single status) 31-Mar-2014 Lisa Simpson

Initial pilot project agreed by CMT in July 2013. End date likely to be moved into 2014/15 as a result of re-prioritisation of resources. Report submitted to CMT in October 2013 and approval given to proceed with fully costed project plan to be presented to CMT in January 2014.

SUS SUS 003 Investigate how communication processes could be improved across support services and take action to make improvements

30-Jun-2013

Introduced Key Messages as part of the Finance & Corporate Services initiative. HoS attending service management team meetings to provide opportunities to answer queries and discuss issues. Extended team meetings held quarterly.

SUS SUS 004 Deliver phase 2 of the HR/Payroll project 30-Sep-2013

Phase 2 project team now identified and workstreams scoped. Work commenced in September 2013 with delivery date of March 2014 for completion of phase 2. Phase 1 still requires final close out. Update discussions planned with Midland 17 Jan 14.

SUS SUS 005 Implement SWIFT case management system for social services (childcare) 31-Mar-2014

Project being led by Social Services. System for Child Care procured. ICT Service providing technical assurance on the Project Board. Project meeting taking place regularly. Support Services is acting as Supplier to this project and 100% of all tasks assigned have been completed, but the overall project implementation timescales have slipped.

SUS SUS 006 Compliance with equality duties (HR specific) 30-Apr-2013 All policies and procedures EIA and future Job families and resulting changes in pay model will be fully evaluated

SUS SUS 007 All Support Services restructures complete. Learning and development plans agreed with a focus on building capacity and CPD.

30-Sep-2013

Revenues service now complete. ICT structure agreed. Accountancy complete. Parts of Governance service remain under review. Payroll team to be confirmed once itrent system is fully utilised.

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SUPPORT SERVICES RISK REGISTER Covalent Code Risk Description Status Current Rating 12 Target Rating 8

FCS SUS 001 Lack of corporate compliance with processes for legal, financial, technological and HR input into significant projects.

Potential Effect Council suffers reputational or financial loss and/or is unable to maximise best value as project outcome. Service has to change approach or objective to ensure corporate or legislative compliance. Dissatisfied customer.

Related Actions Internal Controls

Latest Note No change at this time. Risks will be reviewed at business planning session in January 2014 Managed By Covalent Code Risk Description Status Current Rating 15 Target Rating 10

FCS SUS 002 Services not aware of or not applying appropriate Council governance framework and strategy in practice.

Potential Effect Council suffers reputational or financial loss and/or is unable to maximise best value.



FCS SUS 003 Support service professional and technical guidance and advice is not followed.

Potential Effect

Risk to council and corporate management team of increased financial commitment, poor practice and reputational damage. Negative publicity or potential to overspend. Reactive actions required to fix problems - resource is diverted from planned work.


Latest Note No change at this time. Risks will be reviewed at business planning session in January 2014 Managed By

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Covalent Code Risk Description Status Current Rating 9 Target Rating 3

FCS SUS 004

No single information point that provides a complete view of corporate projects and corporate asset management plans. Require complete understanding of Business Transformation Process that will provide future direction for Council

Potential Effect Unable to provide effective and relevant advice when required. Unable to shape support services to ensure effective and efficient use of resources to support achievement of vision.


Latest Note Will make sure that links with MCB programme are strengthened to prioritise and support key corporate change projects. No change to score at this time. Risks will be reviewed at business planning session in January 2014

Managed By


FCS SUS 005 Failure or unavailability of secure ICT systems.

Potential Effect Impact on other services / remainder of Council / public


Latest Note The recently achieved PSN compliance will possibly reduce the scoring for this risk when it is reassessed in January 2014. However, future PSN requirements may result in the risk score remaining as it is now.

Managed By


FCS SUS 006 Rising stress levels across wider support services teams and other services

Potential Effect Impact on teams, Managers and individuals is increased workloads leading to incidents of stress in some employees. Impact on service delivery - reduced level of service, increase in workload for remaining employees.


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Latest Note

Levels of stress being monitored (as reported through system) Levels remain at approximately 15% of reported absence. However no demarcation between work and life related stress plus a number of "no given reason" reported which could skew figures. No change in score presently but levels of change anticipated in 2014/15 and beyond suggest hat score will increase.

Managed By


FCS SUS 007 Financial loss through system or process failure

Potential Effect Unable to mitigate the risk of unrecovered income (debt); expenditure controls are ineffective due to lack of time, resource, external factors or system failure



FCS SUS 008 Number of Support Services and Corporate projects requiring input from one or more support services.

Potential Effect Resource is diverted to projects resulting in fall in quality or delays in "business as usual"


Latest Note No change at this time. Risks will be reviewed at business planning session in January 2014 Managed By

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Support Services Budget v Outturn

Budget 13-14 Outturn 13-14£'000 £'000

Support Services 6,334 6,328

DirectorDirector Total 115 115

AccountancyEmployee overspends from Agency cover for staff absence, and change in structure chief accountant higher grade that Accountancy Manager also handover period of 2.5 months. reduction in Audit Fee Income to be received for finance support to OLP from June 2011 and Social Services 2 days/wkAccountancy Total 1,344 1,364

Revenues & PaymentsOverspend in payroll team due to ongoing staffing costs associated with implementation of new Payroll/ HR system. Assume curret levels of staffing continue Revenues staffing overspend (including agency staff), service now restructured, agency staff contract extendedWelfare Fund budget increased from corporate welfare fund, as per allocations given. Total budget £360K plus £60K Admin Staff. Overspend on staffing due to add'l support needed to deliver the service when only £60K allocated.Audit & Fraud recharge for Administrative penalties due to overpayment of benefitsOtherRevenues & Payments Total 1,398 1,481

Head of Support ServicesSupport Services Manager budgeted as Head of Service, and reduced hours from January 2014Supplies and services underspendsHead of Support Services Total 114 98

ITStaffing underspends, from vacancies filled part year and staff reducing hours.Overspend on computer maintenance support (contracts in place)Income generated from work carried out for GIS FVGIS contract renewed at lower amountOtherIT Total 1,818 1,769

Governance

Job Evaluation budget not required this financial year, will be used for job families project which has been delayed due to HR/Payroll project over runningUnderspends on Salaries, due to Vacancies, staff turnoverOverspend on payments to contractors due to contract with SERCO. New agreement from 1st April with increased costs for occupational healthNew process in place for employee physiotherapy referrals increased costs but better service which has resulted in employees returning to work quicker.No longer leasing the Compel System, may incur costs for new system when fully operational Procurement underspend from rebate system for Barclaycard expenditure Underspend on Supplies & ServicesGovernance Total 1,545 1,501

Support Services Total 6,334 6,328

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this paper relates to item 12 clackmannanshire …

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