The report of the Deputy Chief Executive is enclosed.

The Committee considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive which provided a summary of progress that has been made to date in implementing the governance recommendations from 2017/18 Annual Governance Statement (AGS). The report also outlined the next steps in the process of producing the Annual Statement for 2019/20. The AGS provides explanation of the governance challenges the Council is facing and these are reported on a six monthly basis to ensure the challenges continue to remain in focus on how they are addressed.

The Chair welcomed the report, in particular, the comprehensive coverage on the range of governance challenges it provides.

The Committee considered the actions listed in the report and the Chair invited the Committee to ask questions.

Members referred to the Our Manchester Behaviours process involving staff self-assessment and Listening in Action events. Members agreed that it was important to ensure that the Our Manchester approach in the delivery of Council services was consistent across the authority. Reference was also made to the reducing number of staff attending Listening in Action events and an assurance was sought from officers that all staff will be provided with the opportunity and time to attend an event regardless of their role within the authority and location.

Officers noted the comments and suggested that a comprehensive response to the points raised would be included within the next Annual Governance Statement.

A member reported that the Resources and Governance Human Resources Sub-Group could consider the issues raised regarding Listening in Action and the Our Manchester Strategy as part of an annual report to be submitted on the BHeard survey.

The Chair referred to the Our Manchester Experience and requested that the work to refresh the experience take into account the feedback of the Older Peoples Board, in particular the wealth of local knowledge and experience that older people possess about the city. Also the observation that listening to residents is crucial to the success of experience.

A member referred to the number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made to the Council annually and asked officers to provide information on the time taken to respond to each request made and how much of the information requested was usually already available within the public domain and the cost to the Council.

It was reported that the Council receives up to 3000 (approx) FOI and other information requests annually and this generated a significant cost to the Council in processing and providing responses. Based on the popular information requests submitted, information is included on the Council website in order to address future requests. The Annual Complaints report will include details on the number of complaints and requests received however, this did not include use of resources such as staff time spent on the requests or cost.

A member referred to the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements across the Council on asked officers if this was on schedule to be achieved.

Officers undertook to report back to the Committee on the current position regarding GDPR.

The Chair referred to Action 11 within the report and requested that the Human Resources Sub-Group consider the issues raised relating to the improvement of governance and communication of workforce policy and associated guidance, including embedding new ways of working.

Councillor Russell reported that the subject of improvement of governance and communication of workforce policy and associated guidance, including embedding new ways of working was not on the current work programme of the Sub-Group. Councillor Russell undertook to include the topic in the work programme for future

consideration.

Decisions

1.    To note the report submitted and the assurance provided.

2.    To request that the Annual Governance Statement includes a response to concerns expressed regarding the consistency of the implementation of the Our Manchester behaviours across all areas of the Council’s services and staff.

3.    To request the Resources and Governance Human Resources Sub-Group to consider a report that provides feedback on the BHeard survey, an update on the training and implementation of the Our Manchester Strategy and to update on the arrangements for Council staff to attend Listening in Action events.

4.    To note the comments made regarding the Our Manchester Experience and to pass the comments on to the officers involved in the refresh of the experience.

5.    To request that, as part of the Annual Complaints report, officers include details on the number of Freedom of Information and other subject access requests made to the Council and provide details of the average length of staff time taken to process a request and costs involved.

6.    To request the Resources and Governance Human Resources Sub-Group to consider issues raised within Action 11 of the report submitted relating to “improvement of governance and communication of workforce policy and associated guidance, including embedding new ways of working”.