Item 12 Appendix 1
West Dunbartonshire Council · 21 May 2025
Back to Corporate Services Committee — 21 May 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 Appendix 1 - Workforce Planning 24-25 Strategic Actions Overview actions. 31st March 2025 1. Our People (Workforce Profile) Strategy Develop and implement wellbeing, employee engagement, equality and training plans to enable capabilities, improved resilience and promotion of a diverse workforce. Service Progress Key Actions Exceptions Citizens, Culture and Facilities – Amanda Graham, Chief Officer • Continue to embed full team meetings in contact centre to ensure employees have opportunity for their voice to be heard. • Issued Employee Engagement survey to Facilities Management employees. Good response rate and action plan being prepared based on the return data to identify improvements and interventions. • Working practices to be updated in line with outputs from working groups across Facilities Management to enable a more consistent approach and improve engagement and informed service re-design and premise manuals. • Increase presence of Team Leaders across Facilities Management to strengthen working relationships across teams and enable further embedding of wellbeing training.
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2 Education Learning and Attainment – Laura Mason, Chief Officer • Continue working group in Children's Support Service to identify service improvements and contribute to service re-design, one aim of which is to provide a quality role for people thereby helping to improve retention rates. • Early engagement complete with TU partners and working group. Review of existing role and moving to consultation and implementation and new contractual arrangements in 25/26. Housing & Employability – Peter Barry, Chief Officer • Review and monitor gender and age of workforce in Building Services (BS) for WFP & equality requirements. Continually promoting BS services as a career path for non-traditional roles. Apprenticeship scheme is supporting age profile and mitigating aging workforce. As part of re-structure work there has been significant work undertaken around reviewing the makeup of the workforce including action plans for 24/25 and 25/26. • Review Succession planning requirements across teams (along with Critical Roles). • Building services created new posts within re- structure with successful internal candidates. Further work will continue in 25/26 • Consideration of team makeup given with consultancy team joining Housing Assets this year. Succession Planning considered in line with savings options with an understanding of team skills, knowledge and experience (key strengths). • Access to HR 21 for craft and front-line employees to enable leave to be monitored has not fully progressed although work has been undertaken to map this out. Due to limited resources this will be carried over to 25/26
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3 • A further Compliance W4U Officer role was filled (internally) in January 25 to support the Compliance team with regards to the Commissioned services and funder demands from Scottish and UK Governments. 2 Modern Apprentices commenced to support Admin- developing their skills and knowledge to support the achievement of their SQV and supporting the administration of W4U. • Continued improvement of wellbeing within Building Services - Significant progress made with long term sick and light duties and improved in-service process of HR practices in service. • Development of communication plan into digital channels - Information and briefings sent to all employees including key messages out of devices to operative emails. People & Technology – Victoria Rogers, Chief Officer • Reviewed & re-visit team meeting set up to ensure knowledge sharing and development to showcase individual & team successes in Business Support • Focus remained on ensuring the SWITCH process is effective with regular reviews of roles and supporting Council savings, service reviews and SOM compliance. Identification of long-term vacant posts and requirements have been reviewed for this purpose. • A review of the Succession Planning framework is underway and plan to roll out in phases. This commenced with CO and senior management • Council’s equality plan, particularly in relation to the use and collection of equality data and outcomes from various equality audits has been delayed due to resource being diverted to support VS/VER and re-structures.
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4 grades in 2024/25. • Manager Workforce Planning Sessions have emphasised the need for the internal job market to be exhausted in the first instance and connection to Council savings. Work will focus on improving the employee experience going forward. • Launch of new cycle to work scheme, counselling service and re-launched 'My Money Matters' across the Council and promoted a range of financial wellbeing webinars. • At service level HR have created a number of different forums for advisers to gain support and knowledge based on the changing demands in the service, for example VS/VER, pension and case management forums. • New team members have been inducted and settled. Learning needs and support have been provided to date based on requirements and skill/knowledge base. Job shadowing and a buddy system has provided beneficial • Completed and improved knowledge sharing practices now in place in ICT. Team meetings timeslots have been extended to showcase individual and team success. In addition, our annual in-person ICT team meeting presentations focus on success and achievements of previous year. • Annual ICT Customer Satisfaction survey - based on user feedback defined an action plan to improve the ICT service. All milestones completed with improvement actions in
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5 progress and will be a continuous improvement. • Further developments in the workforce planning console to support the management of intermittent absence and stress risk assessment process has been completed. • Trickle use continues to be promoted for engagement and there has been a realignment of the employee recognition awards with the Council's ACHIEVE values. Resources, Laurence Slavin, Chief Officer • Across the service teams are supporting flexible working arrangement especially in areas where skills and experience are hard to access, enhancing employee engagement and job satisfaction via 121 and team meetings and building a supportive and inclusive work environment. • In Asset management additional engagement across the team will come via Trickle Campion appointed. • Work shadowing is carried out across the service with development opportunities in particular across Building Services. Trainee surveyor post planned to deal with national skills shortage. • Temporary structure now in place which will allow for succession planning for Business Partner roles in Finance with a career pathway being established. • Asset Management commenced looking at a ‘growing your own’ initiative to develop staff. • The Lead Authority Model for Internal Audit with a third Council is no longer progressing. The Council will require to review the model internally. • The Shared Service Manager - Audit & Fraud was absent for a significant part of the financial year and therefore work has been delayed due to resources.
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6 Roads & Neighbourhood, Gail McFarlane, Chief Officer • Regular encouragement to review Trickle and promoted via Team Leaders and Co- ordinators. • Review and monitor gender and age of workforce in Waste Services and Roads - Ensure talent pipeline for aging Workforce & continue to breakdown gender stereotypical roles through Modern Apprentice (MA) and recruitment Programmes - Information session in schools are held to support the attraction of MA into roles within the service. Work will continue in this space to improve the gender balance. • Continue regular team meetings and engagement sessions with front-line employees providing a forum for feedback. Be the best held regularly with employees and completed skill profiles for all roles and developed training plans to meet the skills gap. Regular toolbox talk to update on key themes in Roads • Succession planning - considerations already in place for Team Leader level in greenspace & waste through upskilling and available resources to undertake roles on an acting up basis. Training discussed at the Be the Best Conversations to enable upskilling and succession planning when key post holders retire. Training needs identified and this has resulted in the development of training plans where employees have been trained on key priority areas where there are skills gaps to • Review Succession planning requirements with team - Corporate framework has now been rolled out to Chief Officer/Service Manager level and consideration of requirements is currently underway. Plans in place to complete this by end of April 2025.
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7 improve resilience and opportunity for growth and development. Regulatory & Regeneration Services, Alan Douglas, Chief Officer • Circulated details of Trickle encouraging colleagues to review. • Improvements in relation to engagement for morale building - Weekly catch ups in place, monthly meetings in office and team building event taken place with Regular Be the Best in procurement. Case Study: Housing & Employability – Building Services - Development of communication plan into digital channels - Information and briefings sent to all employees: A communications plan was developed which has been successfully rolled out and has been in place for a number of years. However, Building Services front line team are not on the Councils' network meaning important information and announcements both corporately (administrator massages) and locally were not being directly received by our valued team members. Key changes across the Council to address budget gaps, Housing Revenue Account budget challenges and Phase 3 of the review of Building Services structure and delivery model required to be progressed with effective communications being imperative to successfully implementing and achieving the necessary changes. A communication plan was developed for the review of Building Services Structure and delivery model and face to face consultation meetings commenced in October 2023 and these will continue until all necessary changes to the structure and delivery model of services have been successfully completed. Good progress has been made on the implementation of phase 3 and it is anticipated; all necessary changes will be completed in 2025. Whilst the communication plan included face to face meetings, monthly team briefs, workforce updates and one to ones offered to all front-line team members, we needed to ensure important and essential information was being sent and received electronically to front line team members devices. All team members were asked / helped to set up Gmail accounts on their devices and we are now able to send information direct to their devices. Line managers advise team members to review messages within their Gmail accounts to ensure team members are aware important information has been sent to their devices. In addition, we send links for Council employee surveys and bulk text messages direct to devices to allow employee feedback. The next steps are to further explore opportunities to establish if there is scope to reduce the reliance on manual processes, atomise forward transmission of notices and develop messaging services via the Aareon Mobile App.
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8 2. Recruitment & Retention Strategy Develop and implement employee life cycle plans in line with the People First Strategy to attract and retain the workforce. Service Progress Key Actions Exceptions Citizens, Culture and Facilities – Amanda Graham, Chief Officer • Steps for next phase of Facilities Management service review identified and commenced as informed by the working groups with a view to addressing recruitment and retention challenges where possible. Education Learning and Attainment – Laura Mason, Chief Officer • Continue to embed leadership pathways ensuring a robust talent pipeline for promoted Teaching posts. Improvements made in 24/25 now being embedded with further improvements to be identified and implemented in 25/26. Housing & Employability – Peter Barry, Chief Officer • Approved structure for Phase 3 and now implementing. +5% turnover with majority being internal promotions which is positive. • Review of Team Leader Housing & surrounding Recruitment & Retention Risks completed, submitted job evaluations for the roles as well as improving access to opportunities to improve skills and knowledge. • Recruitment of key roles for Building services in particular to voids and income generation- part of wider service redesign work and dependent on SRRG approval. Not replaced craft due to financial constraints and struggled with key roles such as electricians. Currently have a number of Fixed Term contracts which still require review for permanency.
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9 People & Technology – Victoria Rogers, Chief Officer • Review of requirements and resources in management structure of ICT, CAS, Transactional & SHR to ensure future resilience - This continues to be achieved via workload and management structures review both via SOM and the savings exercise. • Resources are tight across all teams in P&T. Many are now delivering statutory requirements only. • March 25 - Sept 24 - Supervisor layer completed with the appointment of Application supervisor and Service Desk Team Leader. This allows section leads to priorities strategic tasks rather than day to day line management. Development of Section Leads is continuous. • Continued support and development of HR Grad role to ensure succession planning for future needs of SHR - Development of this role has proved successful in HR grad has secured a permanent HR Adviser role and continues to develop. • ICT/Comms team used social media to widen recruitment advertisements for ICT roles which saw a large increase in volume of applicants. • All milestones completed and career pathway process for ICT will be continuous year on year. • Actions delayed and will be carried forward to 20/25/26. A review of the succession planning across all teams has been undertaken to ensure resilience. • Year 2 of the recruitment work plan (onboarding) has commenced with user research for new employees and recruiting managers. • Continued development of People First with targeted attraction and recruitment - Resource has been diverted to support VS/VER and restructures. The team have started scoping this work and making contacts, but much is still to be undertaken in this area • Review role of social media in wider recruitment advertising - No resource available to progress due to other pressures in HR. Some work is going on nationally in this area and the team are contributing via this route
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10 Resources, Laurence Slavin, Chief Officer • New temporary structure is in place for succession planning within Finance. • The temporary structure change to be implemented in the Finance team and consideration of the future structure in the Internal Audit and Fraud teams will provide career development and pathway opportunities. The Automation team will continue to engage with services to identify opportunities to automate tasks which will free up resource and provide for greater job satisfaction. • Development of skills and capacity through RPA (Robotics Process Automation) Centre of Excellence - Discussion re funding for the post for 2025/26 approved however limited opportunities for widening skillsets despite options being considered via digital teams within the council and support from the Digital Office and UiPath. Roads & Neighbourhood, Gail McFarlane, Chief Officer • Review Modern Apprenticeships in Roads to ensure provide opportunity to transition into qualified roles (subject to vacancies). • Role requirements have been adjusted to take account of the HGV License with the opportunity for candidates to be able to work towards this qualification within 12 months of being in role. Enabled two apprentices to transition into the permanent Roadworker Driver roles and both are currently being supported to achieve their HGV license. • Review turnover figures for all services and analyse reasons for leaving and exit questionnaire to understand areas of improvement - Analysis has been concluded with action plan to support improvement. • Role profiles in hard to fill posts / high levels of turnover to improve attractiveness of role via job design and principles of the fair work - Role profiles are updated as roles become vacant however, further work remains in this space and will continue in 2025/26 to improve job quality.
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11 Regulatory & Regeneration Services, Alan Douglas, Chief Officer • Climate Change & Energy Co-ordinator role being filled • Work has been undertaken to understand the requirements of a graduate apprentice schemes and an alternative approach to utilise the existing Modern Apprenticeship Scheme will be considered in the future and where budgets allow. • Revision of recruitment process led to successful recruitment of external solicitor • Within Development Management and Building Standards Recruitment has been successful into some vacant posts, with others underway. Actions for each part of the service are underway, flexible graded posts to attract a wider pool of candidates has been successful and consideration of MA roles continue. Also related to ongoing work at regional and national levels. • Review hard to recruit roles within service - District Heating Lead Discussions ongoing with CO and District Heating Board re potential solution. • Whilst steps were taken to develop the apprenticeship role in legal, matters were unable to be progressed due to funding issues. Case Study: Resources– Finance Services - Succession Planning (Temporary Structure): Over the past 12 months we identified three material issues within Finance which, if planned for appropriately, provide an opportunity for succession planning to ensure we meet and enhance future Council finance support needs. 1. Multiple Finance Business Partners are approaching retirement age and likely to leave the Council within the next 18-24 months. This will result in the loss of significant experience of providing financial support across all Council services. 2. The current finance system is close to end of life and needs replaced. It is essential we progress with the design and implementation of a new system to ensure the Council has a fully supported, future proofed finance system. 3. Following issues during the 2023/24 year-end gaps were identified in the support provided to the Finance Manager in the preparation and compilation of the annual accounts including support with external audit requirements.
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12 A temporary redesign of the team structure was considered essential to provide capacity to facilitate the timely selection and implementation of a new finance system. When considering the new structure consideration was also given to how best to support the Finance Manager for year end and external audit tasks. To facilitate the finance system project there was a need to backfill 0.7FTE of a Finance Business Partner role with the remaining 0.3 FTE retained to support the current finance system while the replacement is ongoing. Succession planning identified a gap in terms of grades, skillset, and progression opportunity for accountants. To tackle this, we backfilled the 0.7 FTE Finance Business Partner post and created a second Finance Business Partner post to take on Revenue consolidation and Capital & Treasury consolidation, providing a more consolidated approach to reporting. These posts have been recruited from existing accountants. This created a gap at accountant grade which we have managed through recruiting a 2-year fixed term accountant. These new posts are providing the successful candidates with development opportunities to expand their knowledge, experience and skills and provide resilience within the finance team. The temporary restructure has also helped address gaps within the finance team including single points of failure, support for the Finance Manager during year end and with the external audit process and help enhance current service deliverables and support succession planning within the service. The temporary two-year structure will allow further consideration of the Finance team structure required in the future and inform a further phase of re-structure over the next 24 months. We will continue to monitor and evaluate our approach around succession planning and recruitment following the implementation of the new finance system and as our priorities shift. This will provide for the provision of internal opportunities and also help retain and attract finance talent to the Council. Priority 3: Roles & Structures Strategy: Implement service review process including role design, use of new technology and new ways of working to add resilience, address gaps, and establish opportunities for efficiencies. Service Progress Key Actions Exceptions Citizens, Culture and Facilities – Amanda Graham, Chief Officer • Successful engagement with Libraries teams in relation to co-location of libraries to ensure effective transition and any employee impact is managed in line with policy - Parkhall, Balloch and Dalmuir libraries have collocated with employee impact minimised by retaining level of staffing in each affected branch and working collaboratively on any
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13 issues. • Reviewed actions arising from Libraries Strategy to identify any workforce implications - Action complete and monitored as library strategy develops in 2025-26 and is implemented. • Library staff have completed Health Literacy Training, and a library Health and Wellbeing Group has been formed. A digital skills audit is currently developed for roll out in 25/26. • Health Literacy training has been identified as required and will be delivered by NHS Public Health in 2025. Digital skills also require some upskilling to widen digital access offer in all libraries. • Identified for implementation a suitable operating model for Faifley Campus in FM. Education Learning and Attainment – Laura Mason, Chief Officer • Review of staffing for Riverside completed and implementation of children's support services review to be carried forward into 25/26 due to further work carried out as part of early engagement phase. • Identify and implement required process improvements in the applications for school transport • Automation currently being scoped in terms of admin tasks alongside opportunities that Sharepoint will bring. • Implementation of Parents Portal has enabled tasks and opportunities to be digitised. Housing & Employability – Peter Barry, Chief Officer • Completion of Building Services Review & embed – delayed due to Job evaluation requirements. Progress has been made to enter Phase 3. Still require some posts from Phase 2 to be filled but significant progress made. • Resizing of frontline teams in Building Services in line with service redesign. Completed as part of Phase 3 model of • Automated Productivity reports on power BI dashboards is due to go live for craft operatives for further efficiency.
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14 improvement and moving to implementation. • Building services reviewed for SOM compliance at SRRG in January 2025 under Phase 3. • Implemented additional controls and approval processes to ensure only necessary works and projects completed around HRA account. Reduce work to workforce and turnover. Completed necessary controls for 24/25 reducing costs, work to contractors and overtime. Will continue into 2025/26 • Further review required of structure due to consultancy team coming into this area of the service during 2024/25 around HRA account. • Consultancy Services have embedded in team and a capital saving has been made. • Considered Housing Development Structure and Strategic Operating Model compliance within identified risks around delivery of housing investment and service priorities. New service structure provides revenue savings. • Reviewed CCTV roles and structure. • Facilitate team development discussions in Working 4U in line with statutory and funders external strategic plans to identify current and future service needs and implement through BTB conversations and developed CPD plans - Regular 1-1 support and supervision meetings with individuals and their line managers, team meetings as well as management meetings enables discussions about service delivery with a focus on current and future service needs in line with external and internal funding requirements. • Consideration of preparation for condensed hours in Building services - still remains at preparation stage due to resource restrictions and delay of service re-design. Preparation work has been completed. Consultation would be the next steps
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15 People & Technology – Victoria Rogers, Chief Officer • P&T Teams are SOM compliant with review of roles following budget savings and leavers to ensure spread of tasks and automation where possible. • Two new ICT management roles complied with SOM and budget requirements. • Review of current ICT structure, teams and roles and responsibilities to meet needs of Microsoft 365 rollout - March 25 completed and will continue during 25/26 project rollout. • Recruitment of fixed term resources to ensure ICT projects such as remote access and Windows 11 upgrades could continue. • Infrastructure Modern Apprentice is in place learning server, network and cyber areas. • ICT teams are developing data skills and roles during Sharepoint implementation. • Review of Data Management provision and re-prioritisation of needs around function. Considering how to develop skills or share resources - Work on this area has commenced. A capital bid is being considered for investment in this area Resources, Laurence Slavin, Chief Officer • Review of all roles across Business Support to ensure they are fit for purpose and in line with current practices. • Due to lead authority model discussions not progressing the Audit & Fraud review has been delayed Roads & Neighbourhood, Gail McFarlane, Chief Officer • Analysis of overtime and use of casual workers has been concluded. There is limited use of casual workers across the service. Overtime remains an area of consideration in line with the service needs. Further work continues to understand if re-modelling the workforce can be achieved and this will be done in 2025/26. • Completion of Roads Service Review to deliver a compliant service - Analysis has been undertaken and consideration of statutory requirements is complete. A review of the critical roles to ensure resilience is now complete. A
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16 proposal is under development and planned to progress in 2025/26. Regulatory & Regeneration Services, Alan Douglas, Chief Officer • Recruited new members to the core election team to cover for members who will shortly leave Council employment. • Key staff have been identified and trained during two by- elections and the UK General Election held in 2024. • Hard to Recruit District Heating Lead role - discussions underway with CO and District Heating Board. • Licensing assistants taking on new role and also work continuing to shadow senior officer. Licensing Standards officers have supported Trading Standards Officers in Trading Standards operations. • Consideration of MA roles within Development Management and Building Standards is underway and is also related to ongoing work at regional and national levels. Internal recruitment and upskilling existing staff and supporting professional competence accreditations (e.g. RICS or RTPI) to be embedded into BTB conversations and training and development plans. Ongoing support for officers to take up CPD opportunities. • The service has been successful in securing a funded place on the University of West of Scotland Planning degree course for a Support Officer within the Technical Support Team. • Building Standards - process review and business case for new Electronic Document Management System to replace current failing system opportunities for more automated/efficient workflow is being explored. • Internal recruitment to the Lead Building Standards Surveyor post has been successful. Recruitment is underway to fill 3 vacant posts but as that represents 60% • SOM Compliance - Ongoing discussions to identify issues. • Procurement - looked to improve internal team development through CPD and involvement in more complex tasks. Cannot fully complete as the single point of failure identified. Currently looking at alternative ways of securing additional resource.
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17 of the team, agency support requires to be continued which will be stepped down as posts are filled to establishment levels. Case Study: Roads & Neighbourhood – Waste Services - Analysis of Overtime: The Service has undertaken a Fit for Future service review and an element of this was reviewing overtime payments with a view to reducing. This identified a reliance on drivers from out with the Waste service area to cover where shortages were occurring at an additional cost. This was due to not having adequate drivers with the required skills within waste service and evidenced a reliance on drivers from out with the service to deliver an essential service. A skills gap analysis was therefore undertaken to identify operatives that could be upskilled to provide the required resilience and a training programme implemented. In addition, the introduction and use of the missed bin bot has provided information to support the service to programme service activities more effectively and to reduce the services reliance on overtime to ensure bin uplifts are completed. The outcome is that the level of overtime incurred has reduced and the resilience of the wider service has increased. The next steps will be to analyse and identify if there is a future phase of implementation that provides increased resilience across the service. As the service continues to explore opportunities across the wider Roads and Neighbourhood Service we would anticipate that this will support workforce planning and retention, skills shortage and mitigate the impacts of a workforce where a number of individuals are approaching retirement age in the near future. 4. Skills & Capabilities Strategy Develop and implement training plans and development opportunities to improve capabilities and resilience within the workforce. Service Progress Key Actions Exceptions Citizens, Culture and Facilities – Amanda Graham, Chief Officer • Upskilling for web team to be implemented to support replacement of Caboodle system - The site is live and been used. The site was reviewed where Contact Centre raised a few issues and able to resolves these and so far, is a success. • Contact Centre team to be upskilled in relation to changes in complaints procedure - all staff were reminded/updated on the complaints process.
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18 • Upskilling in relation to service design to take place in Facilities Management and knowledge of HR practices to be embedded across team for Team Leaders. • New practices in place from audit actions in FM. Training session at welcome back meetings on new processes Stock training. Education Learning and Attainment – Laura Mason, Chief Officer • Session on workforce console delivered to Head Teachers, flexible working briefing developed for Head Teachers (delivery scheduled for early 25/26. • Work is ongoing with the development of the staffing model being undertaken and consideration being given as to how the new space can be most effectively used. Due for completion in 25/26 once new space is operational at Faifley Campus • Identified leadership structure required for Faifley campus and implement as far as possible in time for opening - Consultation commenced and scheduled to be completed in time for opening. • Participate as required and identify actions from national project to assess skills required by Teachers in the classroom and leadership capabilities - Achieved for this year; work with West Partnership on self-evaluation moving into next year. Learning from care inspections now identified and to be taken forward in 25/26. Housing & Employability – Peter Barry, Chief Officer • All front-line managers completing ilearn course and new manager induction. Work is still on-going around this and for refresher training and will continue into 25/26 in Building Services. • Review of Skills gaps for New Technology, net zero & legislation continuing • Review of training needs for Housing in line with Succession • Build on Housing Academy – Progress limited due to resourcing pressures in Housing and
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19 planning outcomes • Upskilling of Senior Caretaker roles for 1st line Management capabilities • 3-year Continuous Development Plan to scope and identify additional skill requirements for W4U - Staff have participated in training from HSCP partners on trauma informed practice and using online resources to support mental wellbeing for service users. • Staff, volunteers and partners are supported to deliver high quality Community Learning opportunities through Education Scotland delivering sessions to stakeholders and the Regional Learning festival offering a range of CPD learning both online and in-person. Staff development is a main theme within the 3 Year CLD Plan for West Dunbartonshire 24-27. • Relevant staff are encouraged to attend national networks – SLAED, CLDMS to ensure their knowledge on national developments remains up to date. • A training needs analysis with Welfare Rights and Macmillan Money staff has identified those who require Appeals training which is a priority for 25/26. W4U, to be carried over in 2025/26 • Development of Assistant Housing Officer skills and development matrix People & Technology – Victoria Rogers, Chief Officer • Self learning and development is identified, encouraged and supported. • Ensure learning and development within HR Adviser roles following known turnover of employees - ongoing with a particular look at digital. • All teams have attended available training, take advantage of CPD opportunities and look for networking and development opportunities both internal and externally • ICT team development continues with training and skills focus on recent new technologies such as M365 and • Digital skills training has been provided but take up has been limited. This has also been seen with automation, further investment and
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20 Remote Access deployment. • All cyber analysts have attended industry standard training to improve skillset and knowledge. The team are also cross skilling where possible. The council has received additional Cyber training budget, and this will be used wider across the ICT team improve Cyber skills. • Investment in leadership development will continue each year. Section Leads are attending SOCITIM and GCU courses to improve skills. New line managers are attending Council leadership development courses. a mindset shift required in this area to ensure WDC does not fall behind especially given the volume of work nationally Resources, Laurence Slavin, Chief Officer • Asset management and Business Support will continue to work with ICT and Digital teams to explore opportunities and ways to deploy the same • For O365 that has been implemented, Finance have had appropriate training. • Structure in place for Finance team for shadowing allowing for learning and development across the team as people take on new roles and responsibilities. • Further work required in Audit & Fraud team to Ensure development of digital skills in line with roll out of new technologies (O365) and new ways of working for automation of processes Roads & Neighbourhood, Gail McFarlane, Chief Officer • Opportunities are being identified and explored with Glasgow City Council under the Net Zero Collaboration Agreement. This allows the service to be upskilled through shared learning and to provide upskilling opportunities to our partner. • Targeted training has been delivered in Roads, Greenspace & Waste and competence in this area is being monitored. All new line managers attend the New Managers Induction
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21 programme. • Upskilling of HGV Drivers to be able to meet winter gritting demands Regulatory & Regeneration Services, Alan Douglas, Chief Officer • CPD options have been challenging as they have predominantly been limited to no cost solutions. Team meetings are focused on providing learning via Procurement Manager, team bringing lessons learned, guest speakers both internal and external. • Work has been undertaken to ensure team members are aware of the benefits of CPD to support succession planning and career development. Regular Be the Best conversations support these discussions throughout the team. Plans are in place to support further development throughout 2025/26. • Details circulated of relevant CPD opportunities on a regular basis and encouragement given to attend CPD. Funds made available to allow solicitors to attend the SOLAR Spring conference. Also, CPD facilitated for Trading Standards in relation to area identified as development need. • Solicitors attending committee meetings. Solicitors in the Litigation section shadowing colleagues dealing with other types of work. Solicitor in Contracts & Property Section has shadowed Litigation Solicitor dealing with a Child Protection Order. • Building Services have been successful in securing a funded place on the University of West of Scotland Planning Degree course for a Support Officer within the Technical Support Team. The officer is being supported as a trainee planner, whilst carrying out the support officer function, aiding future resilience to support the continued development of the planning profession to address a nationwide shortage
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22 of planners. • Consideration of MA roles within Development Management and Building Standards is underway and is also related to ongoing work at regional and national levels. Internal recruitment and upskilling existing staff and supporting professional competence accreditations. Case Study: Regulatory & Regeneration Services – Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health – Development Management and Building Standards Skills and Resources: All parts of the service have had difficulty recruiting due to several factors, but a significant one being the nationwide shortage of qualified officers entering the system to replace natural loss (for example due to retirement or move to other parts of the profession, i.e. the private sector). Within Planning, this has been recognised nationally by the Scottish Government and by the professional body that represents planners, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), and a number of workstreams are underway at a national level to address this, including supporting courses and providing bursaries to encourage intake into the system. Building Standards have similar issues, although not to the same extent as planning at a national level, and the Scottish Building Standards Hub and Building Standards Division (Scottish Government) continue to support a variety of options to increase the intake of qualified surveyors into the system, including Modern Apprenticeships and day release courses to HNC/HND level. The Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health Service has a strong commitment to supporting the growth and development of individuals to support career aspirations and resilience within the team, and supporting our respective professions. Several colleagues within the service have expressed interest in developing their own skills and gaining qualifications to allow them to move into either planning officer or building standards surveyor roles and we have supported them to do so. In December 2024 we were successful in gaining a fully funded place on a new 18-month planning course at the University of West of Scotland, which was initially taken up by a Support Officer within the Technical Support Team. Similarly, the service is currently working towards supporting another officer to attend a fully funded 2-year day release HNC course in Architectural Technology as part of a pathway to a career in Building Standards. Gaining a qualification whilst working in the service is a route we will continue to explore as part of a future workforce planning exercise, expected within the next 12 months. In the short term, the service is working towards establishing a formal role, within existing structures, to support the HNC course and resilience within Building Standards. In addition to these workstreams, to support individuals and service resilience, existing officers are encouraged to undertake actions to support their continued professional development and where applicable, encouraged to gain professional accreditation by their professional body.