Finance and Resources

Directorate

Finance and Resources

Responsible Officer

Nigel Manvell and Alison McManamon

Signed off by

Chief Executive

Last Updated

31 March 2021

Outcome

1. City to call home

Key area of action

1.1 Reduce homelessness and rough sleeping

1.2 Provide genuinely affordable homes

1.3 Improve private rented housing

1.4 Improve council housing

1.5 Make better use of existing housing capacity

Outcome

2. City working for all

Key area of action

2.1 Build community wealth

2.2 Transition to a sustainable economy

2.3 Support local businesses and charities

2.4 Enhance skills and provide housing for the city’s workers

2.5 Develop our visitor economy

Outcome

3. Stronger city

Key area of action

3.1 Tackle crime and antisocial behaviour

3.2 Increase participation in civic and community life

3.3 Address the causes of poverty and its impact on our communities

3.4 Improve access for disabled people

3.5 Remain a proud City of Sanctuary

Outcome

4. Growing and learning City

Key area of action

4.1 Support high quality early years provision

4.2 Ensure that schools continue to improve and all children do well

4.3 Ensure that no child or family is left behind

4.4 Deliver high quality youth services

4.5 Promote lifelong learning and transition into adulthood

Outcome

5. Sustainable City

Key area of action

5.1 Become a carbon neutral city by 2030

5.2 Create and improve public open spaces

5.3 Reduce, re-use and recycle

5.4 Develop an active and sustainable travel network

5.5 Promote and protect biodiversity

Outcome

6. Healthy and caring City

Key area of action

6.1 Increase healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities

6.2 Support people to live independently

6.3 Support people in ageing well

6.4 Support carers

6.5 Ensure that health and care services meet the needs of all

Outcome

7. Council Attributes

Key area of action

7.1 Measuring our progress

7.2 Well run council

7.3 Fair and inclusive council

7.4 Modernising council

7.5 Customer promise

7.6 Our Workforce

7.7 Working in partnership

Mission

As part of the Orbis partnership we will provide excellent corporate services to all staff and customers and help the council to deliver its strategic priorities and manage its risks, achieving both as efficiently as possible. 

1. Design and embed a new Welfare Framework, aligning with the Corporate Income & Debt Programme
2. Create balanced 4 year Medium Term Financial Strategy including managing the impact of a Pay Review
3. Support the council’s modernisation programme
4. Deliver corporate services that meet customer requirements (internal and external)
5. Continue to modernise and improve the offer from IT & Digital including with respect to external customers
6. Develop and engage with staff to deliver good quality services and change within the directorate and across council services
7. Keep the council safe including an emphasis on mitigating information and data risks

Orbis Shared Service Partnership

Some of the of support functions within the Finance and Resources Directorate are part of the Orbis Shared Service Partnership with East Sussex County Council and Surrey County Council (except for Property, Finance and HROD).

The Orbis vision is as follows:

‘To be a trusted partnership delivering value to customers and residents through our expertise, innovation and passion.’

Orbis has identified its key opportunities as follows:

• Strengthen the value we add to our local areas while remaining sustainable
• Adopt new approaches and technologies that enable integration where possible
• Remain an intelligent partner by improving our insight and information
• Build a high performing workforce that is fit for the future

Finance and HROD

The Finance and HROD services are primarily sovereign services that need to align closely with the strategic and corporate objectives of each authority. In this respect only a small number of common services are integrated including, for example, Insurance, Treasury Management and Financial Accounts production. Finance and HROD services aim to provide the organisation with high quality Strategic Business Partner support.

Revenues and Benefits Service

The directorate also has a critical, front-facing service that is key to supporting the council’s Welfare Framework and provides a holistic welfare support service, as well as administering Housing Benefits and collecting very substantial revenues for the council from Business Rates and Council Tax. The focus of this team is to develop and embed a new Welfare Framework for the council while continuing to improve our collection performance and practice.

1.1

Corporate Plan Link

• Modernising council 7.4
• Reduce homelessness and rough sleeping 1.1.11
• Address the causes of poverty and its impact on our communities 3.3.1

Action/deliverable

Directorate Modernisation Programme:

• Continue to mitigate for welfare reforms and universal credit on an operational level including implementation of a Welfare Framework redesign
• To include researching and recommending a service design that incorporates the council’s long term intentions around welfare support into core budgets and evolving the council’s Welfare Reform response into an ongoing framework for Welfare Support and economic wellbeing, bringing services together as appropriate.
• Identify ways we can increase support for those struggling to afford the cost of housing. This will include making full use of discretionary payments.
• Examine the impacts of poverty on individuals and communities and deliver an action plan to make life fairer for those affected by poverty and the consequences of living in poverty

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Revenues and Benefits

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024 

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Local Government Association (LGA)
• JobCentre Plus
• Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
• Community and Voluntary Sector (CVS)
• Health and Adult Social Care (HASC), Families, Children and Learning (FCL)

SMART Measure of Success

• Financial impact on the council, for example:
  • Council Tax Reduction (CTR) caseload
  • National Non Domestic Rates (NNDR) and Council Tax collection rates
  • Housing Rent Arrears where linked to Universal Credit, and increased benefit entitlement.
• Measure numbers of customers assisted:
  • by Debt Prevention
  • Welfare Rights and Discretionary Help and Advice Teams
  • outcomes where available.
• Welfare Framework redesign
  • Report progress to a new Welfare Framework board commencing Spring 2021
  • Report back on local policy interpretation of LGA-led demand analysis in Spring 2021
  • New Welfare Framework agreed by the board and members and put in place May 2021

1.2

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

Investigate and recommend a design for Council Tax Reduction (CTR) that makes the scheme simpler and addresses incompatibilities with the universal credit model and the consequent impact on collection. Covid-19 has limited the council’s ability to progress this, due to the extra cost of the existing scheme and limited officer time for development.

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Revenues and Benefits

Start and end date

April 2020 to December 2021 

Key Internal /External partners involved

• JobCentre Plus
• DWP
• CVS
• HASC
• FCL

SMART Measure of Success

• Detailed review of the scheme completed August 2021 and approved December 2021 for 2022 to 2023
• Implemented in Annual Billing process March 2022, to take effect from 1 April 2022
• No unplanned negative impact on collection rates or customer service metrics

1.3

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4

Action/deliverable

Corporate Modernisation - Ensure Welfare Framework is aligned with and supports the best practice outlined in the Corporate Debt Policy and the activities in the Corporate and Debt Programme.

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Revenues and Benefits

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Corporate Debt Board
• Welfare Framework Board

SMART Measure of Success

Programme severely impact by Covid. Revised timelines are as follows:

• Corporate Debt Policy revised and approved for April 2021
• Embed the corporate debt function in Revenues and Benefits permanent budget (April 21)
• Restructure Revenues and Benefits to incorporate Corporate Debt function aligning to intent of Corporate Debt Policy (Autumn 2021)
• Training programme for debt collection hubs rolled out from June 2021
• Aim for best practice in relation to financial vulnerability to be applied by all debt collecting hubs by Autumn 2021
• Welfare framework development and (Local Government Association) LGA compilation of best practice to inform future phase of improvement.
• Corporate Debt Board to review programme in May 2021 and report to Welfare Framework Board when it is formed

1.4

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4

Action/deliverable

Modernisation Programme - deliver the council’s Corporate Debt programme, in order to improve debt collection and recovery.

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Revenues and Benefits

(Revenues and Benefits Manager)

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Members
• Corporate Modernisation Delivery Board (CMDB)
• Chief Finance Officer (CFO)
• Corporate Debt Board

SMART Measure of Success

• Reductions in bad debt provision, such as debt that would have otherwise been written off
• Increased and/or earlier collection of old debt
• Increase in debt collection via HMRC Data Sharing Pilot
• Reduction in referrals to Enforcement Agents

1.5

Corporate Plan Link

Improve private rented housing

1.3.7

Action/deliverable

Provide support and advice for private renters including support for groups impacted by welfare changes including disabled people and those at risk of eviction.

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Revenues and Benefits

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Communities Equalities and Third Sector (CETS)
• Housing Welfare
• Framework Board

SMART Measure of Success

• Co-create and develop response and support with Housing and report on options to the Welfare Framework redesign by July 2021.
• Embed preferred option by Autumn 2021

 1.6

Corporate Plan Link

Build community wealth:

• 2.1.2
• 2.1.4
• 2.1.5
• 2.1.6

Action/deliverable

Use city's spending power to procure local services for the benefit of our communities by:

• buying goods and services locally where possible
• changing the way we outsource services to help small local suppliers win council contracts
• bringing services in house if it will increase social value and improve the development and retention of a highly skilled council workforce

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Procurement

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Procurement Advisory Board (PAB)
• Policy Team

SMART Measure of Success

• Complete consultation on Green paper relating post-EU changes. Adoption of Procurement Policy Notes aimed at Social Value and Local Sourcing
• Local Sourcing policy embedded in revised Corporate Procurement Strategy by October 2021
• % of overall spend committed to local business to improve from 31% to 42% by March 2022

2.1

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

Maximising the financial integrity and sustainability of the organisation to minimise unplanned adverse impacts of financial pressures on organisational capacity, services and citizens through Medium Term Financial Planning and a 5 year Capital Strategy.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• All council
• Executive Leadership Team (ELT)
• Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
• CVS

SMART Measure of Success

Forward planning:

• Assumptions communicated with lead members (May 2021 to December 2021) including reporting to July Policy and Resources (P&R)
• Scenario plans agreed by P&R, ELT and Policy Chairs Board to ensure that budget-setting process has clear targets and guidelines for development of the 2022/23 budget
• Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) updated for next Spending Review (SR) expected Autumn 2021 for the 2022/23 budget round
• Council and CCG MTFS’s shared and aligned by February 2022 including Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) impact
• Options for addressing any identified Budget Gap in 2022/23 considered and approved by P&R and Budget Council

In-year performance and risks:

• Targeted Budget Management (TBM) on target at Executive Leadership Team (ELT) level including compliance with TBM Framework (such as Financial Recovery Plans (FRPs) in place) and identified corporate mitigations where required. Targets exclude COVID-19 impacts.
• Savings across all directorates monitored and reported (‘Public’ TBMs – June (Outturn), July, October, November/December 2021, February 2022). Savings targets exclude COVID-19 impacts.
• Unqualified external auditor opinion, including Value for Money (VfM). (External Auditor Annual Results Report including opinion on arrangements to secure economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the use of resources - report published in September 2021 for 2020/21).
• Preferred option/s for managing the in-year deficit considered and agreed by P&R Committee

2.2

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

Ensure financial risks that arise from policy and service developments are managed and mitigated appropriately and within available resources including:

• Welfare reform impacts
• Health and social care integration
• Pay reform and equal pay risks
• Corporate HR/Payroll and Finance system re-procurement
• Phase (4) Workstyles
• Housing and Homelessness policy and investments
• Major regeneration projects
• Insourcing of services, Community Wealth Building and the circular economy
• Carbon net zero financial implications, such as impact on parking

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• All council
• CCG
• Orbis
• Greater Brighton Economic Board (GBEB).
• Corporate Investment Board (CIB)
• Strategic Investment Board (SIB)

SMART Measure of Success

• Financial strategy (MTFS) in place and reflects financial implications of the Corporate Plan commitments and priorities (February 2022).
• Reporting on financial performance to Policy and Resources Committee
• Fully funded 5 Year Capital Strategy in place and maintained including Modernisation Resources
• Reporting and updates to Corporate and Strategic Investment Boards and GBEB
• In-year financial risks identified and reported to ELT, Leader’s Briefing, Policy Chairs Board and, where required, Policy and Resources Committee

2.3

Corporate Plan Link

Measuring our progress

7.1

Action/deliverable

[Mandatory] Defined accountability across the directorate to ensure timely and effective budget management including the delivery of spend to save proposals including any income generation targets.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Orbis
• DMT
• ELT
• Orbis Leadership Team (OLT)                   

SMART Measure of Success

• Expenditure within agreed tolerance of demand-led/income dependent budget excluding COVID-19 impacts
• Delivery of savings proposals excluding COVID-19 impacts
• Summary of Red Amber Green (RAG) ratings of corporate and directorate modernisation projects/programmes linked to the directorate
• Orbis net expenditure share within budget including joint delivery of savings proposals (March 2022) excluding COVID-19 impacts
• MOBO (sovereign) budgets and savings delivered on target excluding COVID-19 impacts

2.4

Corporate Plan Link

Our Workforce

7.6.6

Action/deliverable

Lead the Pay Review process, managing risks on behalf of the council, and designing a long-term sustainable pay structure for the council: recognise and reward great work.

Accountable Lead Officer

Assistant Director, HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

Orbis       

SMART Measure of Success

• Ongoing monitoring of:
  • labour market
  • recruitment and retention
  • impact of market supplements
• Develop proposals and options to present to ELT, Policy Chairs and if necessary, P&R Committee (September 2021)
• Impact of the pay review, if agreed, built into MTFS and budget for 2022/23
• Maintain an equal pay compliant pay structure

2.5

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

Lead the assurance process on long term capital funding management to ensure that the planned investment is financially sustainable.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• All council
• Property and Design (AMP)
• Investment partners

SMART Measure of Success

• Fully funded 5 year Capital Strategy and investment programme in place (February 2022) for contractually committed, statutory or other unavoidable investment schemes.
• Reporting and updates provided to Corporate Investment Board, Strategic Investment Board, GBEB and P&R

2.6

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

Undertake an assessment of compliance with the Financial Management Code and take forward identified improvement actions.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer

Start and end date

April 2021 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

Whole council.

SMART Measure of Success

• Assessment completed by December 2021
• Improvement actions identified by March 2022

3.1

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4.1

Action/deliverable

[CP] Drive the Directorate Modernisation Board to seek the most effective and efficient way of delivering our services and be well placed to take advantage of social, cultural, environmental and technological change.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• All Directorates
• Executive Director HNC (Lead)

SMART Measure of Success

• Effective implementation of Orbis and F&R Directorate modernisation and service plans including achievement of savings, excluding COVID-19 impacts
• Services benchmarked for Value for Money (VfM), and unit costs developed and understood in accordance with the Enterprise Strategy approach
• New Welfare Framework agreed by the board and members and put in place April 2021)

3.2

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4

Ensure that schools continue to improve and all children do well

4.2.8

Action/deliverable

Deliver the actions of the Health and Safety Strategic Action Plan, and the outcomes from investigation activity carried out by Health and Safety executive (HSE).

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Health and Safety

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• HSE
• Schools Trade Unions
• Corporate Health and Safety Committee

SMART Measure of Success

• Appropriate allocation of resources to ensure the plan can be delivered
• Terms of Reference for the Assurance Group include direction and oversight of actions and link to the councils Covid19 recovery framework through the Ways of Working (WOW) Working Group
• Completion of all actions within the plan as per the deadlines stated (see dates in Strategic Action Plan)
• Strategic action plan reviewed to include Covid19 recovery and WOW work; and RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) Audit Report recommendations
• Appropriate allocation of resources to respond to any further activity that arises from the HSE’s investigation

4.1

Corporate Plan Link

Measuring our progress 7.1

Action/deliverable

[Mandatory] Directorate delivery of excellent customer services as per council’s Customer Experience Strategy.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer, Assistant Director HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Orbis
• Joint Management Board (JMB) /OLT
• Joint Management Committee (JMC)
• ELT/DMT’s
• Welfare Framework Board
• CMDB

SMART Measure of Success

• Customer satisfaction and ease of access (survey)
• Customer Insight Dashboard (improved complaints, compliments, response times and learning areas, excluding COVID-19 impacts)

4.2

Corporate Plan Link

Customer promise 7.5

Action/deliverable

Review systems of customer access and if appropriate develop a helpdesk within Business Operations using appropriate platform.

Accountable Lead Officer

• Assistant Director
• Business Operations

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Orbis
• All council

SMART Measure of Success

Decision on approach to helpdesk to be made by April 2021. Improvement in 2020 staff survey such as Increased customer satisfaction on 2019 result (customer feedback report).

4.3

Corporate Plan Link

Customer promise 7.5

Action/deliverable

The Brighton & Hove City Council Orbis Lead to represent the council as a strategic customer of the Orbis partnership to ensure that council officers and customers receive excellent corporate services.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Orbis (Surrey and East Sussex County Councils)
• JMB/OLT JMC CMDB

SMART Measure of Success

• Orbis-wide savings delivered including local target, excluding COVID-19 impacts
• Options for the next Orbis Business Plan (current plan expires March 2021), agreed by April 2021
• Orbis customer service monitoring is via local customer insight data

4.4

Corporate Plan Link

Customer promise 7.5

Action/deliverable

Ensure a robust, compliant and cost- effective Information Rights case handling framework in place to enable it to meet its legal obligations, including timescales under the General Data Protection Regulation, Data Protection Act 2018, Freedom of Information Act 2000 and associated legislation.

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Strategy and Engagement

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

All Directorates

SMART Measure of Success

Compliance with Information Commissioner expectations in relation to Freedom of Information (FOI) and Subject Access Request (SAR) cases.

5.1

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4

Action/deliverable

Corporate Modernisation Programme - Digital Customer:

Enable the successful delivery of digital improvement projects and programmes through the co-design and co-delivery of underpinning technologies, platforms and services in IT&D including:

• Curation of existing digital platforms
• Introduction of new capabilities to meet the requirements of the corporate strategy and service innovation initiatives
• Support for the development of workforce digital competency

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Strategy and Engagement

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Orbis
• All council
• Digital and Tech Board (chaired by Chief Executive)

SMART Measure of Success

• SMART measures to be defined under a new digital strategy (realignment of digital activity to respond to Covid demand prevented the development of measures in 2020)
• Specific measures to be determined by specific modernisation projects that digital capabilities will enable

5.2

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4

Action/deliverable

Corporate Modernisation Programme – Digital Organisation:

• Develop a scalable and resilient technical architecture which provides a secure, highly available platform for business services

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Strategy and Engagement

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Orbis
• All council

SMART Measure of Success

• A secure technology environment which is compliant with national regulatory regimes
• Standardised infrastructure across Orbis partners generating procurement economies of scale and single point of support
• Provision of a ‘High Availability’ offer for critical services to minimise interruption to business
• Improvement to relevant performance measure, for example major incident or business losses due to downtime, in line with CMDB expectation

6.1

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4

Our Workforce

• 7.6.1
• 7.6.2
• 7.6.3
• 7.6.5
• 7.6.7

Action/deliverable

[Modernisation Programmes – Our People Promise (Corporate)]

Deliver ‘Our People Promise’ (PP) priorities to ensure the council is able to recruit and retain the workforce it needs, and to improve the motivation and morale of staff as measured in the Staff Survey.

Accountable Lead Officer

Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• All council
• Trade unions
• Staff forums

SMART Measure of Success

• Response to Covid-19 and Recovery:
  • Update PP promises with current activities that deliver priorities
  • Deliver new Covid-19 Pulse Survey April /May 2021
  • Capture benefits of new ways of working that have resulted from the response to Covid-19 including reduced commuting and business travel
• Deliver specified and non-cashable benefits for the project/programme (March 2022)
• Improvement in staff survey results against ‘I feel valued by my employer’ question (Staff Survey – May 2021 to 65% (61% 2020))
• Improvement in workplace diversity regarding representation of staff with a protected characteristic as defined by established Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) (March 2022)
• Fair and Inclusive Workplace and Services Modernisation Programme benefits table in place with targets and allocated leads and clear progress achieved (March 2022)
• CP actions to be developed as measures of success including:
  • 7 recruiting and retaining the right people
  • 7.6.2 clear employer offer and support to perform well
  • 7.6.3 staff wellbeing; 7.6.7 good place to work
  • 7.6.5 opportunities for training and developing skills

6.2

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4

Our Workforce

7.6.4

Action/deliverable

[Corporate Modernisation Programme] Through the delivery of the Fair and Inclusive Workplace improve the experience of staff across the organisation as measured by the staff survey. Be a fair and inclusive employer that values diversity and individuality.

Accountable Lead Officer

Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Staff forums
• Trade unions

SMART Measure of Success

• Action plan from Directorate Equality Delivery Group (DEDG) in place and clear progress - March 2022
• Fair and Inclusive Workplace and Services Modernisation Programme benefits table in place and clear progress - March 2022

6.3

Corporate Plan Link

Support carers

6.4.3

Action/deliverable

Make the council an exemplar in supporting staff who are carers.

Accountable Lead Officer

Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2021 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• HASC
• Staff forums

SMART Measure of Success

• Flexible working policies reviewed (September 2021)
• Special Leave policy reviewed and launched (September 2021 P&R)
• Work with the Staff Forums to re-launch the Carers Passport (September 2021)

6.4

Corporate Plan Link

Ensure that health and care services meet the needs of all

6.5.4

Action/deliverable

Extend the council’s ‘My Shop’ card offering discounts in local shops, cafés and leisure venues and subsidised transport to care workers across the city.

Accountable Lead Officer

Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to December 2021

Key Internal /External partners involved

• MyStaff Shop
• Carers’ Network

SMART Measure of Success

Options for extending MyStaffShop to carers in the city identified, costed and reported to ELT, Policy Chairs Board and, if required, P&R (June 2021).

6.5

Corporate Plan Link

Fair and inclusive council

7.3

Action/deliverable

[Mandatory]: Directorates to work proactively to understand, engage with and respond effectively to the city’s diverse communities and its changing demographic.

Accountable Lead Officer

Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Equalities Team
• CEDG
• DEDG

SMART Measure of Success

Service level actions are completed to timetable and monitored through the relevant DEDG and CEDG.

6.6

Corporate Plan Link

Fair and inclusive council

7.3

Action/deliverable

[Mandatory]: Directorate to actively support the corporate aim of diversifying the workforce at all levels, recruiting and retaining staff from all the city's communities.

Accountable Lead Officer

Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Equalities Team
• Staff Forums
• DEDG

SMART Measure of Success

• Increase alignment of workforce profiles across all grades and contract types with corporate targets (March 2022)
• Service level actions are completed to timetable and monitored through the relevant DEDG and CEDG
• Increase the numbers of people recruited and percentage of those who are BME or disabled at application, interview and appointment stages, as monitored by HR. Reduce percentage of leavers who are BME or disabled (March 2022)
• Increase % of managers who recruit who have been trained
• improve % of positive responses to 2021 staff survey questions relating to fair and inclusive index

6.7

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

[Mandatory]: Develop the quality and impact of the Directorate’s City and Council leadership.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer / Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

Orbis

SMART Measure of Success

• Reduce Directorate sickness rates
• Year-on-year improvement in 2019 staff survey index
• Results of Health and Safety audits
• Council-wide measures reflected in Our People Promise
• Measures of success for city-wide to be determined by each directorate

6.8

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4.2

Action/deliverable

Establish the new ways of working following the withdrawal of HROD from Orbis and in the light of the outcomes of the 31TEN review, and the refreshed Business Plan from April 2021 onwards.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer / Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• CMDB
• Orbis
• All Council

SMART Measure of Success

Council-wide:

Directorate:

• For Orbis services, links to new ‘blueprint’ service model aimed at increasing automation, self-service and ease of access to business intelligence and Management Information (MI) to reduce demands on support functions and enable efficiencies
• Roadmap for development or replacement of corporate HR/Payroll and Finance systems agreed including potential procurement timeline

6.9

Corporate Plan Link

Ensure that schools continue to improve and all children do well

4.2.7

Action/deliverable

Reintroduce a local authority supply teacher service to save schools money and ensure high quality teaching.

Accountable Lead Officer

Assistant Director HR&OD

(Lead Consultant HR Reward, Policy and Project team)

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• HR
• Trade Unions
• Headteachers
• Business Operations

SMART Measure of Success

• High level options appraisal prepared, shared and presented to Lead Member
• and implementation plan to deliver on decisions prepared by May 2021

7.1

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

• Investigate reported incidents of suspected fraud/irregularity and ensure appropriate sanctions are applied.
• Delivery a programme of proactive counter fraud work including data matching, the delivery of counter fraud training and the production of guidance for council managers and staff

Accountable Lead Officer

Audit Manager (Brighton & Hove City Council)

Audit Manager (Counter fraud)

Start and end date

April 2021 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• All council services
• Sussex Police
• DWP
• National Anti Fraud Network (NAFN). National Fraud Initiative (NFI)

SMART Measure of Success

• Deliver or support employee and corporate investigations
• Identifying overpayments arising from procurement fraud/duplicate payments
• Investigation of housing tenancy fraud. Undertake NFI data matching
• Deliver fraud awareness training
• Communication of counter fraud best practice across the organisation
• (All March 2022)

7.2

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

• Delivery of an agreed programme of work sufficient to provide an informed opinion on the internal control environment for inclusion in the Annual Governance Statement
• Deliver annual Internal Audit Plan whilst maintaining sufficient flexibility to focus on new and emerging risks

Accountable Lead Officer

Audit Manager (Brighton & Hove City Council)

Start and end date

April 2021 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• All council
• Audit and Standards Committee

SMART Measure of Success

Regular updates on progress to Audit and Standards Committee against percentage completion target (March, June, September  2021; January and March 2022).

7.3

Corporate Plan Link

Measuring our progress

7.1

Action/deliverable

[Mandatory]: Ensure compliance within the F&R directorate/service with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Strategy and Engagement

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

All council

SMART Measure of Success

• All assets are assigned to an information asset owner to be recorded on asset register and reviewed quarterly – March 2022
• All IA reviews relating to data protection compliance achieve at least ‘Reasonable Assurance’
• All service redesign or system changes have answered the Data Privacy Impact Assessment triaging questions and completed an assessment if required
• All privacy notices reviewed and updated March 2022

7.4

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

Ensure that information governance is fit for purpose and keeps the Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) safe.

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Strategy and Engagement

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

• All council
• HM Government

SMART Measure of Success

• Information Governance Board KPIs and RAG rating on the Information Governance risk (March 2022)
• Compliance with requirements of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)
• Compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Ensure compliance with Public Service Network Code of Connection (CoCo), NHS Information Governance Toolkit and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance for payments handling
• Introduce compliance with the Cyber Essentials accreditation (March 2022)

7.5

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

[Mandatory]: Ensure each service in the directorate has an up to date and relevant Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Finance Officer/ Assistant Director

HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

Corporate BCP team

SMART Measure of Success

• Good quality BCPs in place for all services
• Reviewed annually or sooner if there have been service changes. (Next annual review September 2021)

7.6

Corporate Plan Link

Modernising council

7.4

Action/deliverable

[Corporate Modernisation Programme]: Procurement and Contract Management: Implement improved oversight over contract management across the council.

Accountable Lead Officer

Head of Procurement and Contract Management

Start and end date

April 2021 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

• Orbis
• ELT
• DMTs

SMART Measure of Success

• Clear and insightful Management information that sets out risk and areas for focus to the Procurement Advisory Board and ELT
• Mentoring / development targeted at key contract managers (October 2021)
• Cashable targets to be met where posts are funded by directorates for specific intervention

7.7

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

Embed consistency and consolidate and improve governance and control arrangements for high volume transactional and traded services.

Accountable Lead Officer

• Assistant Director
• Business Operations

Start and end date

April 2020 to March 2022

Key Internal /External partners involved

Orbis

SMART Measure of Success

• Improved performance on internal audit reviews to substantial assurance level (October 2021)
• New KPI’s to measure service performance and align with Orbis partners (March 2022)

7.8

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

[Mandatory]: Ensure Directorate has an up to date Health & Safety Risk Profile in place.

Accountable Lead Officer

• Assistant Director
• HR&OD

Start and end date

April 2021 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

Corporate HSW team

SMART Measure of Success

Completed Health and Safety Risk Profile covering all services and identifies the highest priority risk areas and services within the directorate. Reviewed annually or sooner if there have been service changes, a significant incident or changes to national risk priorities.

7.9

Corporate Plan Link

Well run council

7.2

Action/deliverable

Coordinate an independent review of the council’s Audit & Standards Committee, led by CIPFA, and enable implementation of recommended actions.

Accountable Lead Officer

Chief Internal Auditor (Audit Manager Brighton & Hove City Council)

Start and end date

April 2021 to March 2024

Key Internal /External partners involved

Whole council

SMART Measure of Success

• CIPFA review completed by December 2021
• Improvement actions identified by March 2022

Risk

Failure to create a sustainable vision for the future of the Orbis Partnership will lead to sub-optimal service outcomes and lack of participation by partners.

Risk

Not addressing staff wellbeing of Finance and Resources staff given the challenge of Covid-19 response, capacity, changed working procedures and new technology.

Risk

Council is not financially sustainable.

Risk

Corporate Information Assets are inadequately controlled and vulnerable to cyber attack.

Risk

The organisation is unable to deliver its functions in a modern, efficient way due to the lack of appropriate technology.

Risk

The needs and demands for services arising from the changing and evolving landscape of Welfare Reform is not effectively supported by the council.

Risk

Insufficient organisational capacity or resources to deliver all services as before and respond to changing circumstances and needs.

Risk

Ineffective contract management leads to sub- optimal service outcomes, financial losses, and reputational damage.

Risk

Challenges to ensure health and safety measures lead to personal injury, prosecution, financial losses and reputational damage.