Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - 4th Floor - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Earl Piggott-smith  Email: earl.piggott-smith@wolverhampton.gov.uk /01902 551251

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and Introductions

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting. The Scrutiny Officer will then read out a list of those invited to the meeting to confirm who is in attendance.]

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cllr Zee Russell, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised it was being live streamed to the press and public. A recording of the meeting would be available for viewing on the Council’s website.

 

2.

Meeting procedures to be followed

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cllr Zee Russell explained the protocol to be followed during the meeting for asking questions and reminded everyone that microphones should be muted and cameras off, unless have been invited to speak by the Chair.

 

3.

Apologies

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received from the following Cllrs:

 

Cllr John Reynolds

Cllr Rupinderjit Kaur

Cllr Jacqueline Sweetman

 

4.

Declarations of interest

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest recorded

5.

Relighting Our Council pdf icon PDF 229 KB

[Charlotte Johns, Director of Strategy, to present report]

 

This item is being considered as pre-decision scrutiny and will therefore not be available to call-in once a decision is made by the Executive

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Charlotte Johns, Director of Strategy, introduced the report. The Director of Strategy advised the panel that the Relighting Our Council strategy document sets out at a high level the approach of the Council to developing a flexible and agile operating model to best meet the needs of the City and which also responds to the learning from the global pandemic.

 

The Director of Strategy commented that the pandemic has led to changes in the ways of working and has shown how technology used more effectively can help to improve productivity and efficiency, reduce the carbon footprint of the Council, and support improved staff health and well-being.

The Director of Strategy outlined the background to the development of the strategy, the guiding principles that informed the approach and the benefits to the Council. The Director of Strategy gave details of the key areas of focus for future work in the development of the Relighting Our Council approach.

The Director of Strategy gave details of the initial performance data and the funding to deliver the revised Relighting Our Council programme plan to the panel.

 

The Director of Strategy advised the panel that Mark Taylor, Deputy Chief Executive, was also in attendance to answer any questions about the draft report. The draft report will be presented to Cabinet on 17 November 2021 for approval. The panel were invited to comment on the draft strategy report.

The panel supported the principle of flexible working and the approach to developing a new flexible and agile operating model detailed in Relighting Our Council vision and strategy draft document.

 

The panel suggested that consideration should be given to the tools and strategies that would be used to collect information and help the Council to understand what productivity and performance looked like for employees working remotely. The panel understood that a key part of the approach was performance management and noted that some initial performance information was included in the report.

 

The panel suggested that consideration is given to providing productivity and performance data at departmental level to allow for comparison across the Council. The panel understood that the initial performance data already provided would continue to be built on and requested that departmental and work pattern information be provided when available.

 

The panel welcomed the assurance from the Director of Strategy that a key part of the approach would be to continuously assess how and if processes were working, through ongoing engagement with employees and key stakeholders, and that if something was not working then changes would be made to the strategy.

 

The panel highlighted the reduction in the number of respondents who took part in the first life in lockdown survey compared to the second survey and queried the reasons for this. The Director of Strategy reassured the panel that in addition to the lockdown survey data there had also been a range of other employee engagement activities and consultation exercises, including continuous dialogue with employees, trade unions and other key stakeholders to gather their views  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.