To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 3 September 2019

Decision

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on the 3 September 2019 as a correct record.

To receive the minutes of the HR Sub Group held on 31 July 2019

Decision

To note the minutes of the meeting held on the 31 July 2019 as a correct record.

To receive the minutes of the Ethical Procurement Sub Group held on 31 July 2019

Decision

To note the minutes of the meeting held on the 31 July 2019 as a correct record.

Report of the Interim Director of ICT attached

This report provides an update on the proposed reshaping of Council's Information and Data Strategy and includes an update on the resilience of the Council's IT service provision.

The Committee considered a report of the Interim Director of ICT, which informed members on the proposed reshaping of Council's Information and Data Strategy and included an update on the resilience of the Council's IT service provision.

The main points and themes within the report included:-

·                The Council had been deemed by the Cabinet Office to be PSN compliant in May 2019 and there was ongoing communication with the Cabinet Office to demonstrate current progress to date and against remediation activities;

·                An update on ICT resilience and key projects;

·                Progress that was being made with the Council’s Data Centre Programme, which aimed to replace the existing core infrastructure and single data centre to a new solution hosted across two data centres;

·                Work that was to being undertaken under the Network Refresh Programme, which was critical for the ongoing performance and resilience of the networks operating within the Council and would be the first total refresh of the entire infrastructure;

·                The requirement to replace the current core telephony and contact centre systems due to the manufacturer withdrawing support as of the end of March 2020;

·                The implementation of Liquid Logic, which had replaced the Council’s previous Children’s and Adults case management system;

·                The need to refresh the current IT Strategy, which would be focused on enabling Manchester’s ambitions and would set data and information standards and future innovation and ways of working; and

·                The ICT revenue and capital budget positions

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:-

·                More information was sough on the repurposing of the Sharp Data Centre;

·                Will the new Data Centres be located on two separate sites to address any issues should one site stop working;

·                What was the overlap period between the Sharp Data Centre and the new Data Centres being used;

·                In terms of the partnership agreement with UK Fast, what was the level of hand off to the Council in so much as was the Council purely renting space in their facility, renting infrastructure from them or taking a complete platform from them;

·                What was the duration of the agreement with UK Fast and would the agreement scale up and down in size subject to technological advancements, such as cloud based storage;

·                Was the re-accreditation for PSN in April2020 on target to be met;

·                Were there specific risks identified in the re-accreditation for PSN associated to the under resourcing of staff;

·                Given that Liquid Logic had only been in operation since July, it was suggested that the Committee received a future report on its implementation how it was being utilised and the benefits that were being derived from its use;

·                Based on his experience, how did the Interim Director of ICT view Manchester’s ICT provision when compare to other local authorities;

·                How long was the Interim Director of ICT contracted to work with the Council and what progress was being made with filling the role on a permanent basis;

·                When was the Council’s telephony system last updated and when was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

This report provides an overview of the one year Spending Round announcements made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 4 September 2019, and the potential financial implications for the City Council.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which provided an overview of the one year Spending Round announcements made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 4 September 2019, and the potential financial implications for the City Council.

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer briefly outlined the main points and themes within the report, which included:-

·                As a consequence of the current position with central government the full spending review and anticipated reforms associated with the Fairer Funding and Business Rates retention had been delayed for a further year which had led to significant uncertainty of future funding beyond 2020/21;

·                In Local Government terms, the announcement was the most positive recently and was described as a 4.3% real term growth (taking into account the council tax referendum and social care precept allowed increases), however, the additional grant funding was not confirmed beyond 2020/21 and there remained considerable risks around the levels of public spending overall, the distribution of funding across local government and between geographical areas, and the impact of anticipated business rates reforms and reset after 2020/21;

·                The main elements of the Chancellor’s announcement on Local Government finances and where applicable, specifically how this related to Manchester included:-

·                Council tax referendum threshold set at 2% plus an additional precept of 2% for Adult Social Care;

·                The distribution of the social care grant had taken into account the local council tax base which was favourable to Manchester; and

·                The Greater Manchester100% Business Rate pilot would continue for a further year.

·                The detail of the announcements would be confirmed in the Local Government Finance Settlement due in early December.  Local authority allocations for the increased social care grant had recently been published, which set out the policy choices around the distribution options;

·                Budget reports were planned for Scrutiny in January and February 2020; and

·                Going forward, there would be a need to review the requirements of the new Public Value Framework included in the Spending Round announcement, which meant there would be a greater focus on linking outcomes to use of resources.

The report was also scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its meeting on 16 October 2019.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees’ discussions were:-

·                Clarification was sought that the education resource settlement was for three years, given that that all other announcements were only for one year;

·                Did Officers know whether the Fair Funding Review would be taking Greater Manchester into account or was it safe to assume that the region could continue on 100% Business Rate retention;

·                Were there any areas in the Chancellors announcement that were not as expected;

·                Were there any potential schemes that the Council could put forward in order to try and secure some of the £0.2bn that was being made available by Government to deliver better outcomes where those outcomes relied on more than one part of the public sector; and

·                Clarification was sought as to whether a number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer and the City Solicitor attached

This report provides a summary of the development of ‘Our Transformation’, a wider business transformation programme for the organisation, building on the corporate core transformation work already in progress

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer and the City Solicitor, which provided  a summary of the development of ‘Our Transformation’, a wider business transformation programme for the organisation, building on the corporate core transformation work already in progress.  The report was also supplemented by a more detailed presentation.

The main points and themes within the report and presentation included:-

·                The creation of ‘Our Transformation’ followed work to review and evolve the Corporate Core Transformation Programme to ensure that the programme was designed to deliver more radical change and be considered as a whole organisation approach;

·                The work also took into account the feedback from last year’s Beheard survey and follow up work where the message had consistently been that as an organisation, the Council had become too bureaucratic;

·                The work was a key driver in supporting the Council to achieve its goal of being a ‘well managed Council’, one of the seven key priorities set out in its Corporate Plan;

·                Details on a number of key priority pieces of work which were underway;

·                Proposals to scale up the work which had initially focused on the corporate core, provide governance and assurance and communicate and engage with the whole Council on the work

·                The Our Transformation Programme had an approved £500k savings target for 2019/20 and would be expected to deliver further savings going forward as part of the next Medium Term Financial Plan;

·                Internal engagement to date on the programme of work had been positive with a session at Senior Leaders Group dedicated to seeking feedback and encouraging involvement in the work from across the organisation;

·                Following the session a ‘call to action’ had led to a large number of individuals in a cross section of roles to come forward to be involved in the work; and

·                The Leadership Summit scheduled for 14 October would also be used to engage with the Council’s wider leadership, including in particular on the Accountability Framework.

The Executive Member for Finance and Human Resources commented that this was the start of a large fundamental piece of work that had the potential to change how the Council operated and requested Committee to bear this in mind in its scrutiny of item

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussion were:-

·                Members would have benefitted from examples of what was encompassed within the report to illustrate what the potential difference this piece of work could achieve;

·                The objectives of this piece of work appeared to be very inward facing and there was concern that there was no reference to actual outcomes that this piece of work aimed to achieve and how these would improve service delivery to Manchester residents;

·                There was a risk that part of the proposals around enhancing the digital experience could be interpreted that the only way residents could engage with the Council in the future was via the internet which would not be seen as empowering but rather limiting;

·                Members did not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit.

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report also includes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree.

The Committee considered a report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit which contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit, responses to previous recommendations.    Members were also invited to agree the Committee’s future work programme.

In relation to previous recommendations made by the Committee, responses had been received to the majority of these which pre-dated the Committee’s September 2019 meeting, and where appropriate, briefing notes had been circulated to Committee Members

A suggestion was made that the Committee might be interested in scrutinising the value for money of temporary accommodation for those who were made homeless

Decision

The Committee:-

(1)       Notes that where appropriate, briefing notes had been circulated to Committee Members in relation a number of outstanding recommendations; and

(2)       Agrees the work programme for future meetings, noting the suggestion put forward for inclusion on a future work programme.

The officers consider that the following item(s) contain exempt information as provided for in the Local Government Access to Information Act and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Committee is recommended to agree the necessary resolutions excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of this item.

Decision

To exclude the public during consideration of the following items which involved consideration of exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of particular persons and public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

This report provides an update on the actions identified within the February 2019 report to this Committee, in relation to staff misconduct and performance capability case management.  This is presented alongside up-to-date data on these areas and set in the context of the Council’s Our People Strategy.

Further to minute RGSC/19/16, the Committee considered a report of the Interim Director of HROD, which provided Members with an update on of the Council’s approach to managing staff performance and misconduct in line with the organisation’s agreed policies.

The report provided case numbers, key issues and trends in relation to the Council’s Disciplinary and Capability policies as well as broader information on the work of HROD to strengthen the organisation’s approach to people management.

The Head of HR Operations referred to the main points and themes within the report and alongside the Head of Workforce Strategy responded to questions from the Committee.

Decision

The Committee:-

(1)       Notes the report;

(2)       Agrees that the HR Sub Group receive reports on Legal Services HR Plan and the completion of Return to Work at a future meeting.