1. Harrow Council Transformation Programme
October 2010
Tom Whiting, Assistant Chief Executive

2. Agenda
Harrow Context & Turn Around
Better Deal for Residents Programme
Cultural Challenges

3. Performance Context: Difficult Times 2006-08
CPA 2 star Council from 2003 onwards
Adults ‘1 Star Uncertain Prospects’ 7 years until 2009
Difficult Corporate Assessment 2007 score of 2 with a 1 out of 4 for Capacity
Residents satisfaction levels fell to lowest in London 2006
Dissatisfaction among staff and high levels of sickness
Following overspends, reserves fell to £1.3m in 2007
New Chief Executive appointed April 2007

4. Performance Context: Turnaround 2008-2010
Turnaround started to show 2008
CPA improved (but still 2 star) March 2009
2nd most improved Council in London 2008 PWC benchmarking
£45m savings delivered 2006/07 to 2009/10
Significant improvement during 2009
Improved to 3 Star in first round of CAA with a 3 out of 4 Adults
Runner up MJ Best Achieving Council 2009
Shortlisted for LGC Most Improved Council 2010
Net levels of Residents Satisfaction doubled
Sickness fallen by 20%
Staff survey: 84% questions improved since 2008
Reserves increased to £7m

5. Achieving Turnaround: Specifics
1. Vision & Priorities: 3 simple corporate priorities that drive investment
2. Organisational Structures: 15 to 9 chief officer posts, 20% reduction manager posts, voluntary severance
9. First Impressions: Main reception, internet, intranet, customer standards, MOSAIC
3. Finances: 5 years of savings worth £50m, salami slicing, tight monthly forecasting
8. Communications: Strong media team, branding, residents magazine, internal magazines, forums
4. Performance Management: 90% appraisals annually, improvement boards, CSB performance mornings, balanced & integrated reporting
7. Work Life Balance: Staff benefits brochure eg childcare, health fairs, training
5. Culture: CREATE values, CREATE awards, CREATE appraisal framework
6. Investment in People: Management Development Programme for 220, 500 NVQs, 360 leadership development, Local Govt leadership Centre

6. Agenda
Harrow Context & Turn Around
Better Deal for Residents Programme
Cultural Challenges

7. Four Programme Objectives
Deliver the Harrow Strategic Partnership vision for Harrow as set out in the Community Plan
Manage the increasing expectations of residents
Deliver a balanced budget in the medium term and make a significant contribution to the 2010/11 budget
Maintain the current rate of performance improvement
Cost Reduction + +
Customer Focused
Better Services
… and we have to put an end to salami slicing…

8. Five Workstreams Future Operating Model
Should the Council continue to run 700+ services or is someone else (private sector, another Council, a social enterprise) better positioned ?
Can local public service spend be better joined up if we coordinate spend with local partners ?
Cross Council Efficiency Review
Are there areas of common process and activity across our service Directorates that would be more efficiently organised if they were simplified, standardised and shared across the Council ?
Place Shaping & Property
Can we consolidate the number of sites that the Council and its partners operate from ?
What is the opportunity arising from changes in Health and Policing ?
Better Together
Is there a way that we can get residents to behave differently in such a way that helps us to deliver improved outcomes and reduced costs ?
Service Efficiency Programme
How do we balance the budget for 2010/11 and 2011/12 ?
How do we build our future services around Lean principles of process effectiveness ?

9. Six Principles
Partnership focused and not just looking at opportunities within the Council
Outwardly focused on improving services for Residents
The scale of ambition will be challenging
The rate of performance improvement should be sustained
External consultants will be commissioned where they clearly bring additional capacity and add value
Staff will be central to the programme and will lead the innovation and development of ideas for improvement

10. Results: What’s underway ?
CSB and Cabinet decision making given the imperative to get under way early in 2010/11
July Cabinet 2010 re-launched programme following change of Administration with 40 savings areas under a three part strategy
Projects sponsored and led across all of Corporate Leadership Group
Being a more efficient and effective organisation that can live within its means
Enabling staff to work more effectively and productively
Reducing levels of administration and overheads
Services realigned to live within our means
Joining up and personalising customer service for our residents
Improved customer service and providing more joined up services when residents contact the Council
More services provided in collaboration with local partners
Personalise services and promote independence giving power to residents to decide what services meet their needs
Online citizen accounts tailored for individuals
Building on the community spirit of residents to be more involved in the future of their Borough
Lowest cost channels used to transact with the Council cutting the cost of paper trails
Looking after and taking care of the environment
Supporting neighbours, families and friends with needs

11. Cross Council Efficiency Review: Findings
Insert summary numbers from data gathering

12. Cross Council Efficiency Review: Business Cases
Customer Contact Assess & Decide
Going ahead saving 29 FTEs with migration of all contact except Childrens Front Desk, budgets have been reduced by £890k per annum (gross).
Controversial migration of Adults initial contact and screening but worked through with Hillingdon
Part of an overall approach with golden numbers, channel migration, citizen accounts, single CRM
Mobile & Flexible and General Administration
Negotiating outsource of IT and significant upgrade to deliver remote working capability
Going ahead saving 46 FTEs with implementation of a general filing module for General Admin, budgets have been reduced by £132k (gross) per annum.
Review of Council office space and hot desking opportunities for Mobile & Flexible
Spans of Control
New protocols launched for spans of control and tiers of management which will be implemented through each business case, as well as an identification of high value opportunities
The ‘appeal of the process’ is also what makes it hard to deliver
Due diligence on numbers and solution has been critical

13. Future Operating Model: Business Cases
Libraries RFID
Implementation of self serve across all Libraries targeting savings of approx 43 FTEs with budgets being reduced by £1,112k (gross) over 10 years
Streets
Implementation of remote scheduling capability with real time links to call centre with manager and staff savings of approx 34 FTEs with budgets being reduced by circa £1,060k (gross) per annum
Special Needs Transport II
Development of an Adults entitlement policy and provision of more independent travel training to save £880k (gross) per annum (previous projects delivered £1,450k ((gross)) per annum)
Corporate Services
Further benefits from SAP implementation to deliver savings of £630k (gross) per annum
Re-ablement
New model for intensively supporting older people discharged from hospital or seeking social care packages to save £2m per annum
Targeted Integrated Childrens Services
A re-design of the pathways through childrens social care and of the front desk, savings under development

14. Place, Property and Service Efficiency: Business Cases
A new 4 year property disposals programme worth £60m
A long term ambition to move to a smaller town centre based civic centre
Review of catering arrangements for meals on wheels to find circa £300k + per annum
Renegotiation of major contracts and improved category management targeted with £2m per annum
Major Lean review of Housing Repairs, Leaseholder Services, Leaving Care and Children with Disabilities (leaseholders already delivered £400k of in year benefit)

15. Better Deal for Residents: Programme Management
CSB meets as a Programme Board on a monthly basis – project status, benefits, communications, risks and issues, HR / industrial relations
Programme Tracker established – projects, deadlines, status, benefits, confidence level, Council wide cash flow / financial profile
Central programme office supporting across workstreams
Workstreams and business cases led by Directors and Managers across all services

16. Capita Relationship Business Transformation Partnership signed 2005
Initial focus on SAP HR, Finance, CRM + Procurement
Later projects have included EDRMS and Waste GPS
Established processes in place and a Council which is becoming ‘used to the process’ and a partner which is ‘used to Harrow’
Benefits cards
Business cases (and risk sharing)
Implementation in budgets
A capacity for Harrow to speed up implementation and reduce risks in delivery as business cases are developed
Critical alignment of Capita relationship to Council’s Transformation agenda – Transformation partner that is at the heart of the Programme

17. Harrow Business Case Process
Strategic Business Case
Outline Business Case
Full Business Case
Implementation
Low fees approx £20k
Risk transfer
High fees approx £ k
Harrow commercial position protected

18. Agenda
Harrow Context & Turn Around
Better Deal for Residents Programme
Cultural Challenges

19. Question 1
Who was the most popular speaker in the last 12 months at a conference of our top 250 managers ?
The Director of Environment dressed in a large cardboard box
One of our Call Centre staff explaining Lean and her role in turning around our Housing Repairs Service
One of our Call Centre staff explaining Lean and her role in turning around our Housing Repairs Service !

20. Question 2
Which workstream has been embraced most enthusiastically by our managers ?
The PWC Cross Council Efficiency Review
Better Together
Better Together !

21. The Use of External Consultants !
Question 3
At an away day with our majority political group was their main concern about business transformation
How to close a 30% funding gap over the next 3-4 years
The use of external consultants
The Use of External Consultants !

22. Question 4
In a recent staff survey, what % staff said they felt able to say what they thought without fear of negative consequences
42%
68%
42% !

23. Question 5
When our largest Residents Association organised a concert for 300 people to raise money to refurbish one of our heritage properties in one of our parks, what did we do ?
Meet them to help them navigate the licensing they would require and offer them further support
Write to them the night before the concert and threaten to prosecute the volunteers who were organising it
Write to them the night before the concert and threaten to prosecute the volunteers who were organising it

24. No idea, the Finance Director sorted it out !
Question 6
At a meeting with the Director of Transformation at another London Borough in December, how did they say they had closed previous funding gaps ?
A mixture of procurement and shared services
No idea, the Finance Director sorted it out
No idea, the Finance Director sorted it out !

25. Invest in cross partner business transformation projects !
Question 7
What is the Harrow Chief Executives group planning to do with its LAA reward money ?
Invest in cross partner business transformation projects
Put the money behind the LAA priorities
Invest in cross partner business transformation projects !

26. Question 8
At an early meeting of CSB as a Programme Board what did one of our Corporate Directors ask ?
Why is the Director of Business Transformation amassing all this PMO resource ?
How will we manage the join up between the plans for a new Civic Centre and our IT strategy for remote working ?
Why is the Director of Business Transformation amassing all of this PMO resource !

27. Better Deal for Residents: 8 Cultural Challenges ?
Staff are the key source of innovation and improvement
Keep the organisation externally focused and don’t let it become inward looking
Partnership focused rather than the Council alone
Use Consultants where they clearly add value and bring capacity
Willing to be speculative and take risks
Move from ‘state knows best’ to more citizen focused
Everyone has to own the problem and have an appreciation of the numbers
Has to be managed and treated as a programme
Adopted Principles at Harrow & Values Public Sector Worker

28. Better Deal for Residents: Change Management
Leadership Model when you don’t know the answer (and that’s OK)
Leadership Model when you do know the answer (and that’s OK as well)

29. Better Deal for Residents: Making it Real (1)
Staff are the key source of innovation and improvement
Lean: Staff development opportunity, visits & experiences
Management Development Programme: Finding your personal niche, survive & thrive
Communication: Managers conferences, staff forums, newsletters, staff workshops
Innov8: Ongoing staff suggestion scheme, aligned to CREAE awards
Keep the organisation externally focused and don’t let it become inward looking
Total Place & Better Together: Everyones excited & most interesting
London Scene: Hearing from someone else
Personalisation: Making the transformation agenda real
Use Consultants where they clearly add value and bring capacity
Use of Consultants: Two framework agreements PWC & Capita
Sponsorship: Workstreams and projects with clear Council sponsors
Willing to be speculative and take risks
Language: Important to say it
Programme Management: Try some ideas, don’t strangle them

30. Better Deal for Residents: Making it Real (2)
Move from ‘state knows best’ to ‘citizen centric’
Personalisation: Showcase the work and the reaction of service users
Walk the Route: Go and experience the pathways that service users take
Everyone has to own the problem and have an appreciation of the numbers
Wider Participation: Workstream sponsorship, 40 business case leads + teams
Communications: Take the time to explain the numbers
Partnership focused rather than the Council alone
Harrow Chief Executives, Crisis & Leadership: Meets every 6 weeks, joining up functions, re-ablement, health economics
LAA money
Navigating Health: Property, commissioning
Has to be managed and treated as a programme
Programme Board: CSB every month
Benefits Portfolio Tracking: CSB every month, short and long term