Agenda and minutes

Councillor Georgina Culley – personal

Councillor Mohammed Ibrahim – personal

Councillor Gul Khan - personal

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2015

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2015 and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services

Ian Curryer, Chief Executive at Nottingham City Council, delivered a presentation to the Committee, highlighting the Council’s ‘Good to Great’ operating model. The Committee previously considered the item at its meeting on 12 November 2014 (minute 37). During the presentation the following information was highlighted:

(a)  The Council’s organisational focus remains its citizens and its transition to being a ‘great’ customer services organisation. The ‘good to great’ operating model is made up of the following four connected strands: Great City, Great Services, Great Workforce and Great Council. At the centre of this approach is the Council’s vision to keep citizens at heart;

(b)  Over the past year, significant progress has been made in developing economic opportunities, including trade missions to India and China. The Creative Quarter has recently received international recognition with a prestigious European Enterprise Promotion Award for its work providing a strong blueprint that others could follow in helping their SME sector grow;

(c)  This year, Nottingham City Council has granted planning permission for the development of Broadmarsh shopping centre, helped 335 18-24 year olds into employment and secured an increase of 53% of company based inward investment on 2013/14;

(d)  There have been marked improvements in the Citizen Survey with satisfaction with the way the Council run things up from 66% in 2012 to 73% in 2014. In addition, belief that the Council offers value for money is up from 64.6% to 74% from 2012 to 2014;

(e)  Nottingham City Council continues to play a regional capital role in leading the D2N2 devolution agenda and is an active member of the Core Cities group. Councillor Jon Collins is the current vice-chair of the Core Cities and leading on growth, trade and investment. Allied to these achievements, the Council will have to balance ongoing financial pressures and continue to pursue increased efficiency through partnership working, especially health;

(f)  The Council’s approach to developing a great Council is built on the principle of a great workforce. This is the foundation of putting citizens at the heart and to ensure that changes the Council makes can be sustained;

(g)  The Council carries out a Colleague Opinion Survey and job satisfaction between 2012 and 2015 has increased from 62% to 68%. Despite the challenging financial times, satisfaction with job security has increased from 33% to 45%;

(h)  The Council has recruited 165 Change Champions to help service areas develop a better understanding of the changes that are needed for a streamline and effective service;

(i)  2015 saw the launch of the Council’s ‘Being Great Fund’ where a pot of £50,000 was available for small scale schemes within the Council. Tangible service efficiency was achieved through this process;

(j)  Developing great services will ensure that the Council is delivering fit for purpose services in a way that is right for its citizens. One of the first steps to achieving this is ensuring excellent customer service practice runs right through every Council function;

(k)  The Council’s Customer Programme has been reconfigured and relaunched this year and will change the way that services are delivered in Nottingham. In 2016, the Council will develop its content management system to enable a ‘digital by default’ approach where citizens can resolve their queries online.

Following questions and comments from the Committee, the following information was highlighted:

(l)  Prior to working with overseas countries such as India and China, the Council carries out an assessment of those countries that could provide an economic benefit to the City of Nottingham. There is a possibility of future work with USA but this is dependent upon capacity and resources. By the end of the year, the Council will have spent £80,000 on its overseas economic links and has thus far generated 12 new jobs. There had been interest from the Kenyan Commissioner to explore possible links for tourism and the mining trade and this could be developed further if plans for a D2N2 combined authority;

(m)  The 165 Change Champions have been sought from a range of backgrounds and salary grades to provide a robust representation of the Council’s workforce.

RESOLVED to

(1)  thank Ian Curryer and Richard Henderson for their informative presentation on the Council’s Good to Great programme;

(2)  invite the Deputy Chief Executive and Corporate Director for Development and Growth to the Committee to outline the Council’s national and international development programme;

(3)  review the Council’s Great Workforce Programme and Service Improvement agenda in 2016/17;

(4)  review the Customer Access Programme in 2016/17.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services

Rav Kalsi, Senior Governance Officer introduced the report of the Head of Democratic Services setting out the programme of activity for this Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Review Panels for 2015/16.

RESOLVED to agree the work programme for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Review Panels for 2015/16, as summarised in the report.