Report Appendix 1 - Stage 1 Service Specific Recommendations
Argyll and Bute Council · 20 June 2024
Back to Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee — 20 June 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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RIS Service Review Stage 1 Recommendations Relatively easy to deliver with limited resource input Complete Complete Deliverable with medium resource input Short Delivery anticipated 6 - 9 months Deliverable but more complex with higher resource input Medium Delivery anticipated 12 - 24 months Considered undeliverable Long Delivery anticipated to be greater than 24 months Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 1.1 Bereavement Services The priority for the marketing of the crematorium to funeral directors should be to those in West Dumbartonshire that are not currently using the crematorium. Med 1.2 Bereavement Services Currently the crematorium is not offering the lunchtime service slot (12.15 to 13.15) because of staff shortages, and it is recommended that the service promptly reintroduce the slot as planned. Complete 1.3 Bereavement Services Following the re-introduction of the lunchtime slot the service should explore the demand with funeral directors for an eight daily slot for direct cremations. Complete 1.4 Bereavement Services The service needs to research the other income streams being operated by its’ competitor crematoria to extend the offer at the Cardross Crematorium to move towards increased income from these secondary income streams. Med 1.5 Bereavement Services It is recommended that all funeral directors should be required to pay in advance by credit card for all cremations. Short 1.6 Bereavement Services The managers of the service need to continue to press for the investment to deliver all 5 prioritised investment schemes for additional cemeteries capacity. Long 1.7 Bereavement Services Further investigation should be done of alternative internment options, e.g., exploring further woodland burials with the Park Authority. Med 1.8 Bereavement Services (Environmental Warden Service) Priorities for the service need to be re-set based on actual service requests received to reflect the reduce resources. This should be in conjunction with the development of a new policy for the investigation and prosecution of fly tipping. Med 1.9 Bereavement Services (Environmental Warden Service) When the opportunity arises through a vacancy a warden post should be created to specifically serve MAKI. Complete The current RAG rating and timescales are the current best assessment. These may be adjusted as further due diligence is progressed and worked through To manage and maintain Argyll and Bute’s roads, bridges and marine infrastructure to enable the safe and convenient movement of people and goods across a geographically diverse area. This is delivered by the efficient use of vehicles and plant equipment. The Service has responsibility for managing open spaces, cemeteries, street cleaning, flood prevention, refuse collection and waste management in line with a changing landscape of legislation and local authority requirements. The Service provides home-to-school transport, supports a number of public transport routes and ferry services. The principal purpose of the Service is: Key Timescale
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 2.1 Environmental Warden Service A report being taken to the four Area Committees to outline the current capacity of the team of Environmental Wardens in terms of the number and profile of service requests received for the service and the resources available to respond to these service request, with the consequent limited capacity for new work priorities. Med 2.2 Environmental Warden Service This should also include a commitment to create a warden post to specifically serve MAKI when a vacancy arises, and clear confirmation of the interim arrangements until the permanent solution. Complete 2.3 Environmental Warden Service The management of the service believe there is an untapped demand for pest control service to both residents and commercial businesses because of the limited competition in Argyll and Bute. However, responding to this commercial opportunity should be done through a business plan developed on a commercial basis. Med 2.4 Environmental Warden Service To reflect the resources now available in the warden service it is recommended that the Council should develop a new policy for the investigation and prosecution of fly tipping. Med 2.5 Environmental Warden Service The Council should define service response times for all core warden activities. Long 2.6 Environmental Warden Service A template for minimum evidence requirements must be agreed between the Warden Service and Legal Services. If the evidence requirements have been met the principle should be that a prosecution will progress. Med 3.1 Marine Operations Developing a lobbying plan with the Scottish Government to ensure the continuation of the supplementary grant that supports the ferry services. Complete 3.2 Marine Operations Development of the ferry service, vessel capacity and timetable based on the economic development plans for the islands. Med 3.3 Marine Operations Develop new operating model for the operation of piers and harbours to reflect the formal agreement with CalMac. Short 3.4 Marine Operations ABC to build or source new tied accommodation to house marine staff where needed to help with the recruitment and retention of staff. Long 3.5 Marine Operations Continue harmonisation of staff terms and conditions through negotiation so that overtime payments are managed, and attractiveness of salary packages can be enhanced. Long 3.6 Marine Operations 2 tier pricing has been explored in the past for residents and visitors, but this should be revisited so that income can be increased. Med 3.7 Marine Operations Increase tariffs for commercial vehicles recognising that the capacity of current vessels prohibits carrying non-commercial capacity. Complete 3.8 Marine Operations Insource current concessionary arrangements for pontoon management to optimise the commercial opportunities for the Council. Long 3.9 Marine Operations Carry out an assessment of each harbour asset to evaluate potential for development of land and buildings to either produce capital receipts or to generate new income. Long 4.1 Parking Services ABC designate the primary use of the off-street car parks and re-set tariffs accordingly. Med
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 4.2 Parking Services Re-setting the purpose of TRO’s with Members and the Community Councils and then revisits the locations that would benefit from revised or new TRO’s, e.g., Helensburgh, Inverary, Campbeltown, etc. Med 4.3 Parking Services ABC to reconsider the governance arrangements for agreeing new TRO’s to have consistency across Argyll & Bute. Med 4.4 Parking Services Refocusing Amenity Wardens’ duties primarily on parking enforcement to extend activities to Campbeltown, Luss, Arrochar, etc. Med 4.5 Parking Services The 15-minute tariff should not be retained for all ABC car parks at the next review of car park fees and should reflect industry best practice of a minimum parking duration of 30 minutes to 1 hour. Med 4.6 Parking Services The deployment of the Parking Wardens should be more closely targeted to the streets that evidence the highest levels of non-compliance with TRO’s. Complete 4.7 Parking Services ABC should annually benchmark both public and private sector EV charger tariffs to ensure fees and charges are set in the market context. Complete 4.8 Parking Services The current proposal to merge Amenity Wardens and Environmental Wardens is not supported. n/a 5.1 Passenger Transport Services Develop an SLA which outlines the roles and responsibilities of Education and Passenger Transport. Med 5.2 Passenger Transport Services Develop a new role for training and compliance to enhance current training against national standards. Med 5.3 Passenger Transport Services Review and revise the policy against which HTST is provided, to include determining the future policy criteria for qualifying for HTST. Med 5.4 Passenger Transport Services Further development of the ITT offer for ASN pupils in conjunction with the Education Service. Med 5.5 Passenger Transport Services Address the inconsistencies in inspection of safe walking routes by N&S. Short 5.6 Passenger Transport Services Revisit the current mileage for parents providing HTST to £0.65 per mile to target an increase of parents providing transport. Med 5.7 Passenger Transport Services Develop a business case for the procurement of a transport management system the means to resolve the current data security risks that the service has holding date on a MS Access database. Short 5.8 Passenger Transport Services Route mapping should be more frequently reviewed by introducing an annual review programme. Long 5.9 Passenger Transport Services Undertake more market engagement to confirm the preferred basis for local companies to tender for work. Med 5.10 Passenger Transport Services Sufficient budget should be provided to fully find ASN transport with this having no additional cost impact but would more accurately reflect the true costs of providing the service. Long 5.11 Passenger Transport Services A costing exercise should be done in the context of the local market for the spot hire of HTST vehicles by schools. This should then be used to re-set charges. Long 5.12 Passenger Transport Services Undertaking a joint review with the Education Service of the options for the future ASN pupil offer. Med 5.13 Passenger Transport Services Explore if there is any potential for partnership working with community transport providers and the local health board to explore opportunities to provide non- emergency passenger transport. Med
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 6.1 Fleet Services Amend the frequencies of vehicle inspections and servicing to increase the spare mechanic capacity in the workshops, to be used for external trading. Based on industry standard frequencies and times for inspections and servicing the Council could reduce recharges to services by circa £400k, achieved by reducing the workforce for vehicle maintenance or selling the spare capacity to external parties. Short 6.2 Fleet Services The management of FS should be required to produce a three-year business plan to set out fully costed proposals for the development of external business utilising the identified spare capacity. Med 6.3 Fleet Services Increasing productivity of the mechanics to bring inspection and servicing times in line with good industry practice. Med 6.4 Fleet Services The recruitment process to replace the Performance Fleet Manager and Procurement Technical Offer needs to planned to ensure their replacements are in place and the O’Licence has been transferred before their retirement on 29/002024. Short 6.5 Fleet Services A sliding matrix for determining annual maintenance charges needs to be developed and introduced. Med 6.6 Fleet Services The roles and responsibilities between Council services and Fleet for transport need to be fundamentally re-set; and then consolidated in a new SLA. Med 6.7 Fleet Services Develop a new performance framework for the service to evidence performance and VFM; and then reconfigure the Tranman system to produce the required performance reports. Long 6.8 Fleet Services Confirming that decisions on spot hires are made by services and costs charged to their budgets. Short 6.9 Fleet Services Develop a new protocol for management of tyres by services and produce a monthly report to confirm compliance. Med 6.10 Fleet Services Work with finance to smooth the interface between Tranman and creditor system, this should also involve review the structure of codes used for external trading. Long 6.11 Fleet Services Drivers of Council vehicles and their supervisors need retraining in vehicle checks and then services held accountable for vehicle checks. Short 6.12 Fleet Services Negligence and abuse costs are over £200k per annum and should be reduced through re-training drivers and then active management of incidents by service managers. Med 7.1 Waste Collections and Environmental Services Develop a robust asset management data base for the grounds maintenance activities, street cleansing activities and for the cleansing of public conveniences, to ensure the work requirements can be accurately measured, operational resources can be designed, and a clear budget envelope agreed. Long 7.2 Waste Collections and Environmental Services The management and supervision staffing structure should be restructured in line with the proposed organisation re-design to support the transformation of the services and then to improve reporting lines, provide ownership and responsibility for all aspects of service delivery and budgets including staffing, plant and vehicles. Long
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 7.3 Waste Collections and Environmental Services Develop a new services specification for each service based on clear outputs for RIS to deliver (including for decarbonisation) within a budget envelope sustainable within the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). Long 7.4 Waste Collections and Environmental Services For waste collections fundamentally review current policy and operational requirements against current performance and the resource base confirmed in the Council’s MTFS. Med 7.5 Waste Collections and Environmental Services Develop a new performance framework for environmental services that includes service responses times, rectification times, stretch targets and formalised reporting arrangements. Med 7.6 Waste Collections and Environmental Services Develop a new target operating model with appropriate technical and commercial support to progress the service change along stages 2 to 4 of the recommended service transformation process to deliver the new service specifications and performance framework requirements. Long 7.7 Waste Collections and Environmental Services Develop a five-year business plan for environmental services that includes proposals for the re-investment of savings from a new TOM against the Council’s strategic priorities. Long 7.8 Waste Collections and Environmental Services Develop all the workflows between RIS and Customer Services to optimise the workflows from the customers perspective in line with the data hub and hot house proposals. Med 8.1 Waste Disposal The Council should review best practice for data gathering for waste disposal to ensure the future robustness of date reported as part of its’ statutory requirements and to meet the future performance management arrangements for waste disposal. Short 8.2 Waste Disposal The waste team need to be resourced to develop a programme of selective surveying of participation in recycling services and off the materials being presented for collection, based on the rounds delivering the lowest tonnage. Resources then need to identified to deliver the survey programme. This survey results being critical to the future design of waste collection services and waste disposal arrangements. Med 8.3 Waste Disposal With an annual spend of over £11m on waste disposal the Council should fund the staffing required to properly reconcile waste and recyclates collected on rounds, tipped off at waste transfer stations against the tonnage of waste reported as processed by contractors. This being essential for full financial control of expenditure. Med 8.4 Waste Disposal A performance framework for waste disposal based on best industry practice needs to be developed and implemented, to report against agreed stretch targets monthly and quarterly, to better evidence performance and VFM. Long 8.5 Waste Disposal Future data gathering arrangements need to be determined and then implemented once the new performance framework has been designed. The resources for future data gathering will need to be resourced. Long 8.6 Waste Disposal With Finance monthly budgetary monitoring and reporting arrangements should be redesigned to more accurately report actual spend on waste disposal against net budgeted spend, including actively tracking of income being generated by the sale of recyclates. Long
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 8.7 Waste Disposal With the support of the external advisors the Council should undertake an options appraisal for insourcing the waste disposal activities delivered through the PPP contract, either to be directly managed by RIS or by a LATCo, to confirm the preferred option. Med 8.8 Waste Disposal A review of the waste service to confirm the appropriate operating model that drives behavioural change and delivers improved VFM is required to ensure that the current resources are correctly aligned. Med 8.9 Waste Disposal Development of a detailed project plan for the Helensburgh transfer station project to cover all phases of the project: Complete 8.9.1 Waste Disposal Development of an options appraisal to confirm the preferred site to include consultation with the Council’s Planning Service. Short 8.9.2 Waste Disposal Provisional design work for the facility on the preferred site to include agreeing the design specification, conducting of all necessary site investigations, provisional consultation with statutory consultees, and a level of design work to allow the robust costing of the project. Short 8.9.3 Waste Disposal Development of an outline business case (OBC) for the project to include the proposed design for the facility and operational arrangements to allow for the detailing of capital requirements (including design and project management fees) for the project and a five-year projection of revenue costs taking account of any reconfiguration of waste services. The OBC should be subject to senior management and Member approval to secure agreement to the next phase of the project. Med 8.9.4 Waste Disposal Development of a planning application in line with the OBC. Short 8.9.5 Waste Disposal On securing planning approval development of the final business case (FBC) for the project based on the planning approval to include a full refresh of capital and revenue costs and due diligence of the proposed operating arrangements. Med 8.9.6 Waste Disposal Tendering of the construction works, evaluation of tenders and award of contract. Med 8.9.7 Waste Disposal Management of the construction phase works the agreed construction timeline and budget. Med 8.9.8 Waste Disposal Planning for the operation of the facility including the development of all the health and safety and operational policies and procedures, securing any necessary licences and permits, recruiting the required staff, etc. Long 9.1 Customer Relations and Business Support A fundamental review needs to be carried out of all processes relating to services requests, complaints, and FOI’s following the establishment of services response times for all service activities. The purpose being to minimise the number of staff involve to resolve the customer contact. Med 9.2 Customer Relations and Business Support The process for managing service requests then needs fundamental review with direct responsibility for reviewing in-boxes passing to Team Leaders, Assistant Team Leaders and Supervisors. Closing of service requests against set service response times and communications with customer must be with Team Leaders, Assistant Team Leaders and Supervisors. Med 9.3 Customer Relations and Business Support The issue with Council services giving their prompt approval to events needs to be resolved. Short
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 9.4 Customer Relations and Business Support Training to be carried out to enable all Supervisors in the collation of timesheet data so that Admin Offices are only then entering data. Complete 9.5 Customer Relations and Business Support Access rights to enter information on the Council website regarding service disruptions, nominated staff for the Area Offices should receive training in writing and posting website information to then have access rights reinstated. Short 9.6 Customer Relations and Business Support The Council should put in place a cash collection and banking contract for income from parking, toilets and other marine operations. Short 9.7 Customer Relations and Business Support All service-related phone calls, specifically service requests must go through Customer Services to ensure they are recorded on Oracle and then managed against set service response times. Complete 9.8 Customer Relations and Business Support It is recommended that the person carrying out a depot inspection should enter the detail/output of the inspections into the required system. Short 9.9 Customer Relations and Business Support Team Leader, Assistant Team Leaders and Supervisors to undertake further training in the use of core Council systems to reduce the requirement for assistance from administration staff. Competence in the use of core Council systems must be a fundamental competency for management and supervisor roles in RIS. Med 9.10 Customer Relations and Business Support The on-line application form for permits needs to be reviewed in respect to the information required to negate the need for local contractors to visit Admin Team offices to provide the detail required. Med 9.11 Customer Relations and Business Support Following the reconfiguration of the WDM and ELM systems to be able to produce service output reports against set service response times and set work programmes the current process for dealing with service request should be revised with Supervisors being required to proactively update customers by email on works running beyond set response times or work completion dates and to close service request. This will also require the integration of ELM with Oracle. Long 9.12 Customer Relations and Business Support The remaining obstacles to enable all staff to be on My View (to enter their own expense claims) need to be resolved to negate this admin requirement. Short 10.1 Infrastructure Design Recommendation DI1: It is recommended that the following practice should be adopted for setting fees for the Design Infrastructure Team: 10.1.1 Infrastructure Design a) The hourly rates for Infrastructure Design should be set after benchmarking of market rates to evidence VFM and should include management and overhead costs. The annual benchmarking of hourly rates is recommended so that the service is brought fully in line with best practice because it evidences VFM. Short 10.1.2 Infrastructure Design b) For external clients 17% should also be included for profit. Short 10.1.3 Infrastructure Design c) There should be a single hourly rate for all ABC work. Short
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 10.2 Infrastructure Design Recommendation DI2: The Council should consider ceasing the practice of setting the Infrastructure savings to be delivered through the increase of hourly fee rates because this simply increases the costs of delivering schemes and inspection works. Short 10.3 Infrastructure Design Recommendation DI3: It is recommended that the part time Administrative Assistant post should be formally transferred to the Design Infrastructure Service and then the costs of the post should be recovered as a percentage of the fees charged by the service. This being in line with standard commercial practice and reflects the full costs of providing the service. Complete 10.4 Infrastructure Design Recommendation DI4: A project plan should be developed and agreed by the Head of Service and Executive Director for the following: 10.4.1 Infrastructure Design a) The development of a programme for the required drainage inspections (if this does not already exist). n/a 10.4.2 Infrastructure Design b) Completion of the required drainage inspections against the adopted work programme. n/a 10.4.3 Infrastructure Design c) Updating of the Flood Plan against an agreed deadline. Long 10.5 Infrastructure Design Recommendation DI5: The service should develop a simple monthly performance report that confirms the number of bridge and drainage inspections completed against the programmed number of inspections. The report should also included any mitigation action to be taken to complete missed inspections. Complete 11.1 Roads Recommendation RS1: To drive the transformation of road services it is recommend that all road activities should be transferred into an integrated roads service and management and supervision aligned with the organisational design proposed for RIS, Contained in Appendix 1. Long
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 11.2 Roads Recommendation RS2: The Council should undertake a policy and strategy re-set for road services to assist more precisely set the direction for the services, the setting of investment priorities and the suite of KPI’s to evidence following benchmarking of VFM. This should include the policies and strategies detailed below: Med 11.3 Roads Recommendation RS3: A fundamental review should be undertaken of the asset data base for Roads to identify the gaps in data and then the development of a work programme to capture the missing data so that the service going forward is managed against a robust asset data base. This includes the asset register for gulleys that needs to brought up to date to properly inform the development of the annual plan for gulley cleansing. Med 11.4 Roads Recommendation RS4: Once the asset register for gulleys has been updated a new target operating model for gulley cleansing needs to be developed and implemented. After implementation the target operating model must be sustained and diluted backfilling other services. Med 11.5 Roads Recommendation RS5: That a comprehension performance framework for Road services be developed in conjunction with the fundamental review of the asset data base for Roads that includes service response times, a suite of KPI’s overing all Road services, and annual stretch targets to drive continuous improvement and to evidence VFM. Long 11.6 Roads Recommendation RS6: If the ‘find and fix’ approach for reactive maintenance is to be rolled out further it must be on the basis that Road Operatives have the specialist knowledge and the right material or equipment for a particular repair. The approach should only be adopted where the defects on a network are of a consistent nature and standard processes and materials can be adopted. Med 11.7 Roads Recommendation RS7: The previous project for Inspectors to have handheld devices for entering inspection outputs on site that then automatically downloads the inspection results and work instructions into WDM needs to reinitiated and delivered in line with best practice. Complete 11.8 Roads Recommendation RS8: In preparation for introducing a digital system the current inspection routes are not based on a robust data set, with duplications in the data and roads included that are not adopted, this needs to resolved by developing a robust data set for inspections. Med 11.9 Roads Recommendation RS9: The current practice of Inspectors extending the response times for reactive maintenance repairs should cease and if the category of repair is deemed wrong on inspection the service request should be re-categorised based on the judgement of the Inspector. Short 11.10 Roads Recommendation RS10: Going forward Inspector performance should be measured and managed on inspections completed and reporting should be on a road by road basis (or sections) rather that routes to make it easier to re-schedule non-completed inspections and to investigate insurance claims. Short
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Ref Service Area Recommendation RAG status 11.11 Roads Recommendation RS11: The Council could consider not requiring resident to categorise reactive maintenance requests when they make a service request because this encourage residents to judge all service requests as Category 1 reactive maintenance requests. However, as a minimum the current business rules for reporting reactive maintenance service requests should be jointly reviewed and revised by Customer Services and RIS management. Short 11.12 Roads Recommendation RS12: It is recommend that the Council confirms a post in N&S with the principal responsibility for the WDM system with the appropriate knowledge and skill set to first deliver a systems improvement programme to reconfigure WDM, and then to manage the system. If the system cannot be reconfigured as required then at the end of the current licence agreement then the Council should retender its’ systems requirements with a focus on quality rather that price being driven by a Scotland wide contract. n/a 11.13 Roads Recommendation RS13: The Flood Plan needs to be brought up to date based on the watercourse inspections now being undertaken. Med 11.14 Roads Recommendation RS14: The Council should consider an alternative model for costing and budgeting for maintenance and capital improvement works, such as detailed overleaf: Med