Agendas, reports and minutes

Minutes of Meeting of the Redesign Board of the Highland Council held in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Tuesday 23 April 2019 at 11.00am.

Present:
Mr B Lobban (Chair), Mrs M Davidson, Mr A MacKinnon, Mr L Fraser, Mrs H Carmichael, Ms M Smith, Mr J Gibson, UNISON, Mr G MacKenzie, Mr G Adam, Mrs C Caddick, Mr C Smith, Mr P MacPherson, GMB

Also Present:
Mr D Louden                               

Officials in attendance:
Mr M MacLeod, Head of Planning and Environment/Council Redesign Lead 
Mrs C McDiarmid, Head of Policy and Reform
Mr G Butler, Principal Contracts Officer
Mrs L Dunn, Principal Administrator

Business

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr R Bremner, Mr A Christie, Dr I Cockburn, Mr A Jarvie, Mr A Sinclair and Mrs C Wilson.

2. Declarations of Interest

Item 5 - Mr L Fraser, financial interest 

3. Redesign and Change Update          

The Head of Planning and Environment/Council Redesign Lead gave a verbal update at the meeting on the Change Programme during which he advised that a Programme Manager had been appointed and that overall good progress was being made with projects.  The Head of Planning and Environment/Council Redesign Lead then proceeded to give a progress update on each of the individual Programme projects and issues were raised as follows:-

1.  Trade Services – NOTED that this would be discussed in detail at Item 5 of the agenda.
2.  Grey Fleet – NOTED the terms of the update and AGREED that the mileage reduction data would be circulated to the Board.
3.  Transport – NOTED the terms of the update.
4.  Waste Management – NOTED the terms of the update.
5.  Education Transformation – NOTED the terms of the update.
6.  Early Learning and Childcare – NOTED the terms of the update.
7.  Placements Services – NOTED the terms of the update.
8.  Additional Support Needs – NOTED the terms of the update and that the Transition Plan would be circulated once finalised and that the schools data was currently being compiled and this information would be circulated in early May 2019.
9.  Service Income – NOTED the terms of the update.
10.  Transient Visitor Levy/Tourism Developments – NOTED the terms of the update.
11.  Energy and Renewables – NOTED the terms of the update and AGREED that a cost analysis be undertaken to determine the most efficient method of consideration for implementation of the LED lighting replacements, i.e. in-house staff on a temporary project basis vs sub-contracting. 
12.  Asset Management, Property Rationalisation and Investment – NOTED the terms of the update.
13.  ICT Development/Digital – NOTED the terms of the update.
14.  Workforce Planning – NOTED the terms of the update.
15.  Redesign – NOTED the terms of the update.

4. Exclusion of the Public

The Board RESOLVED that, under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 6, 8 & 9 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act.  

5. Implementing the Redesign Review into Trades Services          

Declaration of Interest: Mr L Fraser declared a non-financial interest in this item as a Sub-Contractor for the Housing Service but, having applied the test outlined in Paragraphs 5.2 and 5.3 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, concluded that his interest did not preclude his involvement in the discussion.

The Head of Policy and Reform (Project Sponsor) gave a verbal update on implementation of the Redesign Review into Trades Services and in particular in regard to the delivery of three key priorities namely a Lean review into housing and property repairs processes; the development of a trial to pilot more effective joint working between Community Services and Development & Infrastructure; and the procurement of a new framework for trade services and also sought feedback on target setting.

Following discussion, the Board NOTED the update and AGREED that a further meeting be scheduled to which a detailed report would be submitted for consideration.

The meeting ended at 11.55am.