Issue - meetings

To receive an update on the fit for the future programme. 

Sarah Longman, Programme Support Manager and Anna Robinson, Strategic Director, introduced the paper and answered questions on this item.

The committee discussed the paper, and the following points arose from the discussion.

• The £6 million projected savings are cumulative over the life of the project.
• Customer services excellence requires concerted work on the part of all services and this is being pursued via the Customer Service Excellence Award which contains a lot of good practice
• The principle is to start with what customers want and need and then to remove process waste. Service quality is not reduced by FFTF. Sometimes alternative ways of delivering services are proposed
• Fit for the Future provides teams with the tools to enable teams to do the work themselves.
• The consultants contract is fixed price and we expect their work to end by Q2 in 2013/14. The Programme Support Manager’s role will continue until the end of next year to oversee the implementation.
• Strategic management board do not want to lose momentum with performance points and other improvements and will be considering how to maintain this

The planning department is currently undergoing Fit for the Future. There is an increasing need for planning officers to enter into dialogues with district and parish councillors, members of the public, developers and agents. The software (Ocella) will free up more staff time when it is fully bedded in. Planning department adjustments have resulted in additional costs in the short term and the anticipated savings have not been made.

Permanent and temporary staff have been recruited to Planning to assist with the increased number of planning applications this year, due largely to the lack of a five year land supply.

Wantage Civic Hall is part of a project to make it more commercially viable.

The Cabinet members for finance and corporate affairs and leisure and economy were involved and would be able to liaise with ward members.