The people dimension in local government improvement agenda

1
The people dimension in local government
improvement agenda

• Barbara Howarth, IDeA
• 8 February 2007

2
External context

• This presentation takes account of
• Rising public expectations
• Local Government White Paper
• Lyons Review
• Efficiency/Transforming services - Varney Review
• UK as a world leader in skills by 2020 Leitch
  Review
• New organisational forms/technology/globalisation
• LGAs Closer to People and Places
• Local Government Pay Workforce Strategy
• For further external drivers see
• Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) 2007
• Prime Ministers Strategy Units approach to
  public sector reform
• New Local Government National Improvement
  Strategy
• Health White Paper Our Health, Our Care, Our
  Say
• Every Child Matters
• Women and Work Commission

3
What we want to achieve

• Strong, effective leadership improving places and
  addressing current and future challenges, in
  partnership (White Paper)
• Prosperity for all in the global economy world
  class skills (Leitch/Lyons)
• Faster, fitter, more flexible, personalised local
  public services
• Strong, effective cross sectoral
  leadership/management
• Positive public sector identity (LGAs Closer to
  People and Places)
• Streamlined processes and minimum bureaucracy
  (Varney)
• New roles, structures and career pathways (LGPWS)
• Flexible terms and conditions (LGA)
• Total rewards systems that reinforce high
  performance (LGA)
• Community cohesiveness - diversity, respect,
  choice integral (White Paper)
• Communities and neighbourhoods flourish -
  politicians and staff need the knowledge,
  commitment and skills to support and lead
  devolution (White Paper, LGAs Closer to People
  and Places, Varney, Leitch)

4
White Paper Strong and prosperous Communities

• New performance framework
• Strategic leaders and place-makers
• Stronger cities, strategic regions
• Stronger political leadership
• Enhanced two-tier and Unitary status
• Frontline councillors
• Enhanced Overview and scrutiny
• Devolution
• Community cohesion
• with people management implications throughout

5
Leitch Review - Overview

• Prosperity for all in the global economy - world
  class skills
• Despite strengths, adult skills base weak
• Direct link between skills, employment and
  productivity, which we need to address
• UK needs a compelling vision for 2020
• 95 of adults to have basic literacy and numeracy
  skills
• more than 90 of adults qualified to at least
  Level 2
• shift intermediate skills from Level 2 to 3
• more than 40 of adults qualified to at least
  Level 4

6
Leitch Review Five key principles

• Shared responsibility - employers, individuals
  and Government (three parties) must increase
  action and investment
• Focus on economically valuable skills - provide
  real returns to three parties and be portable
  skills
• Demand-led skills - the skills system must meet
  the needs of individuals and employers
• The framework must adapt and respond to future
  market needs
• Build on existing structures, which need to be
  simplified and rationalised

7
Leitch Review Main recommendations

• Increase adult skills across all levels
• Route most English adult vocational skills public
  funding through Train to Gain and Learner
  Accounts by 2010
• Strengthen employer voice - new Commission for
  Employment Skills and rationalise existing
  bodies
• Reform, re-licence and empower Sector Skills
  Councils
• Voluntarily employer pledge to train all
  eligible employees up to Level 2 in the workplace
• Increase employer investment in Level 3 and 4
  workplace qualifications - extend Train to Gain
  to higher levels
• Increase aspirations and awareness of the value
  of skills
• New integrated employment and skills service

8
Leitch, HR, Learning Development

• Impact on workforce development and planning
• Impact on approaches to succession planning and
  career development
• Impact on pay and grade/job evaluation
• Impact on learning and development budgets

9
The Varney Review - overview

• Service transformation a better service for
  citizens and business, a better deal for the
  taxpayer
• Looks at how to change service delivery at a
  lower cost
• Transformation focused on citizens and businesses
• Single points of contact to meet a range of needs
• Long-term/10-year vision for service
  transformation
• Move from shared (ICT) infrastructure and data to
  radical improvement in collaborative service
  delivery

10
Varney Review Key findings

• Multiple contact points across the public sector
• Over 2,000 front offices
• Over 2,500 websites
• Over 500 contact centres
• Over 30,000 different contact numbers
• Therefore, duplication for the customer and not
  cost effective?
• Inconsistent customer experience across
• Different channels
• Different services
• Different organisations
• Therefore the customer has to join-up different
  service providers?

11
Varney Review Challenges for local government

• To manage and share data across the public sector
  to make it easier for the customer to carry out
  their transaction across multiple services (e.g.
  Bereavement process 44 contacts)
• To use technology as an effective tool to improve
  the customer experience
• To identify and drive out efficiency saving
  through business process improvement (CSR07!)
• To develop better benchmarking tools across the
  sector to help improve customer service

12
Varney, transformation and HR

• Customer centric, holistic view implications on
  culture and silo working
• Similar issues re governance and relationship
  management with partners
• Customer relationship management
• Recruitment and retention in call centres

13
Varney, transformation and HR (2)

• Redeployment
• Transition and implementation to
• Shared HR systems, shared HR data need common
  policies and definitions
• Single and multi authority HR Shared Service
  Centre access channels, org. structure, impact
  on professionalism, career paths etc

14
Issues for Local government

• Pay pressures, including rising pay bill and
  costs of implementing equal pay
• Old fashioned rewards structures, including
  limited recognition of performance and reliance
  on premium payments for non-contracted hours
• Workforce issues in structural changes (e.g.
  shared services, outsourcing, partnership
  working)
• Address direct link between skills, employment
  and productivity (Leitch)
• Rigid professional practices
• Occupational skill shortages (particularly in
  social work/care, planning, environmental health,
  educational psychologists, occupational
  therapists)
• Oldest workforce in UK, over 31 reaching
  retirement in next decade (an opportunity as well
  as a problem)
• Over reliance on agency staff

15
Issues for HR supporting strategic objectives

• Advising on HR implications inherent in moving to
  different partnerships or new unitary/enhanced
  two tier
• Change management associated with re-organisation
  and partnership working including
  cross-organisational working, job design, job
  evaluation, recognition and reward/succession
  planning
• Improving skills in key areas
• Harmonisation of HR policies, terms and
  conditions, pay and grade
• Restructuring of HR functions

16
Building on Achievements

• Since Local Government Pay and Workforce
  Strategy launched in 2003
• 82 of authorities have workforce strategies
• 84 of the workforce covered by Investors in
  People standard
• Huge emphasis/action on leadership development
• Regional Improvement Partnerships and Regional
  Centres of Excellence in every regionlots of
  regional support and activity
• Chief Executives engaged via Regional Improvement
  Partnerships
• CPA highlighting people management issues

17
Leading Chief Executives views

• Big issues
• Staff flexibility
• Customer facing skills
• Partnership skills
• Re-organising work practices
• Developing future leaders/managers
• Finding, retaining and motivating staff
• Profile of local government in the labour market
• The link to the local state and the local economy
  

18
Chief Executives priorities

• To achieve better front line services that
  meet rising customer expectations need 2nd 3rd
  tier managers with new skills, particularly in
• Relationship management and emotional
  intelligence
• Sophisticated project management
• Innovation and change management
• Strategic management
• Management of service reorganisations
• Must become an employer of preference
• Matching the appeal of competing jobs and careers
  in an increasingly tight labour market

19
What could go wrong?

• Fragmented organisations and services, mess and
  confusion
• Partners work and think in different ways,
  different priorities
• LAAs and LSPs bureaucracies with few outcomes
• Dont attract, develop, retain, support enough
• - Increase action and investment in skills
  at all levels
• Strong effective leaders and managers
• Front line councillors with the skills,
  commitment and time to be community and
  neighbourhood leaders
• Huge management and staff resistance to change,
  disruption, sabotage, strikes
• Professional resistance
• New jobs dont match existing staff capabilities
  and aspirations
• Best staff leave because too much change and
  confusion
• Customer service gets worse, citizens
  dissatisfied, pay and costs rise!

20
Key challenges

• Leading and managing places and communities in
  all their diversity (White Paper)
• Providing integrated, efficient and effective,
  personalised local public services built around
  citizens needs (Varney)
• Increasing skills attainments at all levels by
  2020 (Leitch)
• - 95 of working age adults have basic skills
  in literacy and numeracy (85 and 79
  respectively in 2005)
• - More than 90 adults skilled to GCSE level or
  vocational equivalents (69 in 2005)
• - The number of Apprentices in UK boosted to
  500,000 per year, with improved quantity,
  quality and esteem for intermediate skills
• - More than 40 of adults skilled to graduate
  level and above (29 in 2005)

21
A framework for addressing the challenges?

• Building capacity in three areas
• Organisational new cross public sector
  organisational structures, focused on citizens
  needs and place shaping
• Leadership and management with a greater
  emphasis on leading and shaping places and
  managing in new ways across local public services
• Workforce attracting, developing, rewarding and
  motivating a high performance workforce with new
  skills, a new identity, new mind sets and new
  ways of working in an increasingly tight labour
  market

22
Key workforce challenges for authorities

• With their partners, attract, develop,
  retain and motivate a high performance workforce
  in an increasingly tight labour market including
• Promote positive image of local public services
  jobs and careers
• Increase productivity and improve customer
  experience - develop the key skills that local
  public sector partners will need customer care
  community engagement and co-production ways of
  reducing climate change encouraging healthy
  lifestyles achieving better community cohesion
• Develop appropriate, fair, relevant and effective
  pay and total rewards systems that keep the pay
  bill down while motivating high performance staff

23
Key Workforce challenges for authorities (2)

• Manage, motivate and retain talented staff,
  including undertaking succession planning and
  developing potential future leaders
• Encourage employees to develop skills for life,
  provide other development opportunities for front
  line staff
• Address current and future occupational skill
  shortages, by redesigning jobs and skills mixes
  creating skills pathways organising trainee
  schemes
• Involve staff in helping to design and deliver
  organisational change
• Set up effective two way communication systems to
  keep staff informed and to find out about and
  benefit from their views, ideas and comments

24
Consulting local government main events

• Pay and Workforce Strategy Steering Group 22nd
  Jan
• LGA HR Panel 26th Jan
• Discussion document circulated to authorities and
  Local Strategic Partnerships mid Feb
• Regional events to discuss issues and what
  national actions should be a priority mid-Feb to
  end March
• Responses from authorities and LSPs by end of
  March
• Pay and Workforce Strategy Steering Group 16th
  April
• Issue updated agenda setting document May/July
  (LGA conference?) link to the National
  Improvement Strategy launch