Stafford Borough Council Position Statement [issuu]

Stafford Borough Council Corporate Peer Challenge Position Statement

Trentham Gardens

Contents Introduction

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1 Overview of the Borough

7

2 Understanding of the Local Place and Priority Setting

9

3 Leadership of Place

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4 Organisational Leadership and Governance

15

5 Financial Planning and Viability

18

6 Capacity to Deliver

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7 Case Studies

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30

Contacts

Contents 3

Staffordshire Place Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Introduction The time is right for us as an organisation to be undertaking a corporate peer challenge. Why? Members have agreed ambitious plans for the future in our new business plan and we want to test that we have the resources in place to deliver this.

Supported 73 individuals to remain living independently in their own home through Disabled Facilities Grant or energy efficiency measures.

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We want to improve our performance and will value the input of a critical friend and utilise this as a baseline position, from which to move forward.

Encouraging our residents to have an active and healthy lifestyle

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We provide statutory and non-statutory services to a population in excess of 131,000 people. Over the last 12 months we have delivered the following outcomes:

Growing a healthy economy Supported the creation of 190,000 ft of retail development.

Supported 1,122 people into healthy lifestyle activities through initiatives such as walking for health.

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Increased volunteering hours in health and community wellbeing activities from 1,628 to 2,195.

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Increased the number of people reporting improvements to health and wellbeing from 279 to 399.

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Being a fit for purpose organisation

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Built 1,010 new dwellings against a target of 500.

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Built 230 affordable homes against a target of 210.

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Improved our position within Staffordshire in relation to JSA Claimants from 0.50 to 0.40.

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Provided a further 1,000 car parking spaces in the town centre.

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Providing an attractive and clean borough

Generated a further 25% of additional rental income through the leasing of space to external agencies.

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Outsourced the leisure and culture function at a saving of £900k per annum to the council.

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Delivered a balanced budget over the past 12 months with a variation of 1% and have balanced the budget up until 2021.

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Improving our customer service Exceeding our targets for customer satisfaction with our contact centre (98.09%).

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Retendered the waste and recycling collection service and retained the cost.

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Secured funding for a £2.5 million restoration of the historic Victoria Park from a Heritage Lottery Fund bid, work starts in September.

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Working in partnership to reduce crime and disorder Attained Locality Deal funds of £100,000 to commission activities to support 23 individuals with substance misuse and mental health; implemented 21 sanctuaries which allowed those victims of domestic abuse to remain in their own home; ran a taxi marshal scheme and funded ‘Street Pastors’.

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Protecting vulnerable households Carried out 296 homelessness preventions

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Increased the number of self-reporting incidents via the mobile application from 1,303 to 1,806.

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We have worked hard to ensure that there is a robust medium term financial plan in place that will provide not only resilience, but sustainability for us as an organisation going forward. We will continue to capitalise on opportunities that present themselves, such as Stafford being a HS2 hub station, continuing to co-locate other agencies in the Civic Centre. We will evaluate the best model of service delivery for environmental and regulatory services.

We welcome this corporate peer challenge to help us grow, develop and mature.

Councillor Patrick Farrington, Leader of the Council Tim Clegg, Chief Executive

Introduction 5

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A local young couple who purchased a new house on St Mary's Gate.

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Overview of the Borough Stafford borough is one of eight district and borough councils that make up Staffordshire in the West Midlands. Stafford is the county town and the borough is the largest district geographically stretching across 59,187 hectares equating to approximately 230 miles.

Predominately rural, with 32% of the population living in these areas, its economic scale score of 84.71 ranks it as medium size by British standards.

Stafford borough has more than 133,000 residents.

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The population has a lower proportion of people under 64 compared to England.

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The overall population for Stafford borough is projected to increase by 4% by 2026 with significant growth in people aged 65 and over (19%) and aged 85 and over (46%). The increase of older people is faster than the national average equating to 1,700 additional residents aged 85 and over by 2026.

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The borough has two main town centres, Stafford and Stone, that act as the hubs delivering services to large rural hinterlands, and are important economic centres in their own right. Although relatively affluent, the borough does experience pockets of deprivation where there are large stocks of social housing, relatively high numbers of people who are out of work and claiming benefits. These areas within Highfields and Western Downs, Manor and Penkside, in the south of Stafford, fall within the most deprived national quintile. This accounts for around 5% (7,100 people) of the total population of the borough.

Households with children where there are no adults in employment is 2.4% which is better than the national average hildren who claim free school meals is 8.3% C which is lower than the national average The proportion of people claiming out-ofwork benefits is better than average (6.0% compared to 8.1%). he percentage of adults aged 16-64 with T NVQ level 3 or above is 63.3% which is better than the national average.

Stafford Borough

nemployment and youth unemployment U rates in Stafford borough (as at October 2017) were lower than the national average.

Overall life expectancy at birth in Stafford borough is 80 years for men and 83 years for women, higher than and similar to the national averages respectively. However both men and women who live in the most deprived areas of Stafford borough live four and six years less than those living in less deprived areas. Healthy life expectancy in Stafford borough is 66 years for men and 67 years for women, which is longer than average.

Women in Stafford borough spend more of their lives in poor health than men (17 years compared to 15).

1 | Overview of the Borough

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Proposed new housing development at Stafford Station Gateway.

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Understanding of the Local Place and Priority Setting The new Corporate Business Plan sets out the council’s vision and objectives for the next three years and details a shared vision for economic growth, community wellbeing and financial sustainability.

and strategic assessments.

The need for the organisation to work in a more joined up way across all service areas in order to deliver the plans for the growth of our borough and the wellbeing and safety of our residents.

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Our Vision for the next three years is

‘A prosperous and attractive borough with strong communities’.

Corporate business objectives, are:

1. To deliver sustainable economic and housing growth to provide income and jobs.

2. To improve the quality of life of local people by providing a safe, clean, attractive place to live and work and encouraging people to be engaged in developing strong communities that promote health and wellbeing.

3. To be a well-run, financially sustainable and ambitious organisation, responsive to the needs of our customers and communities and focussed on delivering our objectives.

Delivery plans are aligned with each of the business objectives and detail how the council will achieve outcomes against each objective. Performance against each of the delivery plans will be monitored by the respective scrutiny committees. Our Cabinet is ultimately responsible for setting the strategic direction of the council. The current business objectives were formulated after considering the following:

A public consultation exercise was conducted once the objectives had been formulated to ask residents, elected members, partners and staff whether they agreed with the areas of focus and feedback from this was fed into the plan. This was approved by cabinet and then council.

The business objectives were communicated via a series of staff briefings and one to ones; team briefings and corporate forum sessions. All elected members, staff and partner agencies received individual copies of the plan accompanied with a personalised letter from the Chief Executive that spoke about their individual role in delivering the business objectives. The plan was then published on our website.

Key changes: The council has recently undergone an organisational restructure and a culture change towards more flexible and modern ways of working.

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One Public Estate: We are working with a number of partners to facilitate the Eastgate development in the town centre. This will enable a number of agencies to move into the Civic Centre which will release surplus public sector land to offer a new town centre mixed use development opportunity.

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Stafford borough being the sub-regional centre for local services and HS2 station; the housing and employment provision and infrastructure required to support this.

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The council’s responsibilities in respect of contract management, shared services and commissioned services.

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Recommendations contained in borough profiles

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Community litter pick at Littleworth. Over 30 people turned out, and nearly 80 bags of litter were collected.

2 | Understanding of the Local Place and Priority Setting

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Greengate Street, Stafford Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Leadership of Place The borough has strong partnerships in regeneration, community safety and health and wellbeing.

The borough has been very fortunate to have had strong partnership links for a number of years and the partnership structure has evolved over the years. The council has been consulting with partners on a refresh of the partnership to ensure that it continues to deliver outcomes, over and above what we are doing in our day to day business. All partners are in support of a new approach and a meeting of the new partnership is being scheduled for September 2018.

The priorities of the community safety partnership and health and wellbeing board have become interlinked and cross cutting and need a holistic, multi-agency response from partners. We will be implementing a Community Wellbeing Partnership that will focus on the issues that affect communities in terms of health, wellbeing and community safety. This partnership will report into the strategic partnership and will meet for the first time in September.

The council contributes to a number of local partnerships and regional structures whereby our Chief Executive, Leader and members of our cabinet represent the council on a number of different partnerships. We are members of the Local Government Association, West Midlands Authorities and Regional Employers Organisation for Local Government in the West Midlands. Locally the council is actively involved in a range of different partnerships at a senior officer and cabinet level that contribute to both county and borough priorities such as the Staffordshire Health and Wellbeing Board; Staffordshire Safer and Stronger Partnership; Staffordshire Domestic Abuse Commissioning Board.

There are a number of well-established partnerships in place that support the delivery of economic growth and secure investments for the borough. The Constellation Partnership which is a ground breaking partnership consisting of two LEPs and seven local authorities working in a unified way to create a single economic footprint creating a coherent investment market boosted by High Speed 2. Both the Leader and the Chief Executive are involved in this partnership which has set its sights high to deliver 100,000 new homes and 120,000 new jobs across Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Cheshire East and Cheshire West by 2040.

3 | Leadership of Place

Our Leader represents the districts of the north of Staffordshire at the Stoke and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership. This partnership consists of all nine Staffordshire authorities, Staffordshire and Keel Universities, Association of Staffordshire Colleges, Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and FSB. These partners are working together to create 50,000 jobs and increase the size of the economy by 50% across the LEP boundary by 2021. The LEP and the council has made an investment to create the Stafford Western Access Route which will facilitate growth in the town centre and deliver up to 2,350 houses and 100 jobs.

Stafford Town Centre Partnership is made up of 100 plus local businesses, Staffordshire County Council, Stafford Borough Council, Staffordshire Police. Their vision is to make Stafford Town Centre a place where people want to visit, shop, live, work and enjoy by working together for the benefit of the town centre.

The partnership has recently appointed a new chair and is reassessing its strategy. Over recent months it has supported a number of local events such as Ironman whereby footfall was seen to double in the town centre.

Nearly 20,000 people were recorded in the town centre on Sunday 10 June for the culmination of Staffordshire Ironman - more than double an average Sunday footfall.

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Dog fouling in villages such as Gnosall and Weston has reduced significantly following campaigns working with the borough council as part of a long running zero-tolerance campaign against people not cleaning up after their pets.

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Stafford and Rural Homes (SARH) is the largest registered social landlord in the borough with a housing stock in excess of 5,000. As a member of the strategic partnership they work with the council to prioritise regeneration schemes and redevelopment to tackle poor housing conditions enhance neighbourhoods and improve health and wellbeing.

An example of this is Hesketh Road in the south of the borough where a £7.3 million investment was made by SARH, the Council and Homes England. Fifty-four dilapidated flats within five unattractive storey blocks became 63 apartments for rent in five, three storey buildings with attractive features that take inspiration from the local area. The community were heavily involved in the redevelopment, in particular the neighbouring school.

The council works with a number of local community and voluntary sector groups to improve community wellbeing in the borough. Recently we have worked with the voluntary sector and parish councils to: Target dog fouling hot spots. Residents and Parish Councillors volunteer to put up signs, distribute flyers and carry out a count on the number of dog fouling incidents each month. They distribute free dog poo bags from outlets and encourage fellow residents and neighbours to reduce the amount of dog fouling in their area. A success rate of at least 83% reduction in dog faeces has occurred in all areas and there have been at least 29 regular volunteers covering 5,500 households.

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Litter pick as part of our litter campaign. There are 5 community groups who have a total of 149 volunteers and 8 schools that are involved in this work. This is complimented by enforcement action which has seen more than 150 fixed penalty notices issued in the last 12 months.

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We work with a number of ‘friends of’ groups that support us in maintaining our local nature reserves, parks and open spaces. Our partnership with schools is strong as we have a shared focus on keeping our children safe through our Supporting Schools Programme.

Hesketh Road - before

Hesketh Road - after 3 | Leadership of Place

Around 40 businesses and organisations signed up to pledge their support to rid the area of litter.

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Pete Burns of Streetscene Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Organisational Leadership and Governance The council comprises of 40 elected members from 23 wards across the borough. The council’s governance arrangements are based on a cabinet and leader model, with the Leader elected for a four year period.

There are six members of the cabinet with five portfolios - Communities, Environment and Health, Leisure,

Economic Development and Planning and Resources.

Key decisions are taken by the cabinet and/or full council. Although individual cabinet members propose decisions from their respective portfolios, effectively, all decisions are made collectively by the cabinet.

Council structure

Full Council 40 Members

Cabinet (Executive) Leader and 5 Cabinet Members

Community Leadership / Representation Partnerships

Regulatory Committees eg Planning, Licensing

Scrutiny Committees 10 Members on each Resources, Economic Development & Planning, Community Wellbeing There is a strong relationship between the council’s Elected Members and its officers. The Leadership Team work with the Cabinet to deliver the administration’s programme of work and individual Portfolio Holders and their respective Heads of Service

liaise frequently. The council’s Group Leaders and Scrutiny Chairs meet regularly with the Chief Executive and council officers are always available to support any Member who requires assistance.

Decision making structure Leadership Team

Briefing of Cabinet Members

Cabinet

Digest

Call-in

Decisions Implemented

Scrutiny

4 | Organisational Leadership and Governance

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The Cabinet meets on a monthly basis and following each meeting publishes their decisions in a Members Digest that is circulated to all Members of the Council.

Members can “Call-in” a decision for further scrutiny from the Digest, although a number of decisions

are directly referred to either a Scrutiny Committee for pre-decision scrutiny and/or Full Council. A live Forward Plan is also published and maintained which gives advanced notification of forthcoming Cabinet (Executive) Decisions.

Executive decision process Cabinet (Executive) Makes Decision

Called in

Scrutiny Committee Considers

Not called in

Referred up

Council Considers

Referred to Cabinet (Executive) Reconsiders

Implement

There are three Overview and Scrutiny Committees that are aligned to the council’s corporate business objectives: Resources, Economic Development and Planning and Community Wellbeing. Their principle function is to review and scrutinise decisions, policy and performance of the council. They also carry out functions that include helping to develop the council’s policy and conduct research. The annual work programmes for each Scrutiny Committee are Member-Led and are submitted to each scheduled meeting for review. Each Scrutiny Committee may establish a Task and Finish Review Working Group which has proved a successful mechanism for Members to propose recommendations on council policy. A number of Cabinet decisions are “Called-in” each year for further scrutiny ensuring that they are held to account.

There are also a number of regulatory and other committees including Planning, Licensing, Audit and Accounts and Public Appeals that are independent of the Cabinet (Executive) and can make decisions. All of the seats on the council’s committees and scrutiny chairs are apportioned according to the political balance of the authority and are sufficient enough for each Member to sit on at least one of them.

The council also appoints Members to a number of outside bodies and organisations as part of their Community Leadership and Partnership role.

The council’s constitution is annually reviewed by a Working Group of Members that reports to the Resources Scrutiny Committee and then to Full Council. The Constitution includes a Scheme of Delegation, Financial and Contract Procedure Rules and Member/Officer Relations Code and the annual review process ensures that the decision making process is right and that there is no Member/Officer duplication of effort.

The council has formalised the process in relation to the identification of strategic risks for the authority which is owned by Cabinet and Leadership Team.

Strategic risks are reviewed annually by Leadership Team and a new strategic risk register approved by Cabinet and reported to Audit & Accounts Committee.

Action plans are pulled together with target timescales and responsible officers. This is completed as at 1st April on an annual basis and is submitted to Cabinet and Audit Committee in June. A lighter touch update/ refresh and progress report is carried out in October to demonstrate the half-year position.

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

The council has seven risks on the current risk register covering the main areas of the corporate plan, two of the risks link to the economic prosperity of the area relating to town centre development and economic advantage from HS2 and also any environmental risks associated with it.

The delivery of the Stone Leisure strategy is also a key corporate objective and the risks of it falling behind schedule or going over budget are considered a strategic risk relating to the health and wellbeing of the residents. The impact of changes in Universal Credits is unknown at present and something that is being monitored quite closely. The remaining risks relate to the uncertainty over the future of local government finance and its impact on council budgets, and threat from cyber-attacks.

The current risk management strategy does not mandate or provide central support for operational risk management although an agreed operational risk template has been produced with three exceptions operational risk registers are required to be held by Service Managers for changes in service provision, projects and significant procurement exercises.

In terms of opportunities although the funding to local authorities through the Revenue Support Grant has been substantially reduced and will be completely phased out in 2019/20, the council will have the autonomy to raise money from council tax, its share of business rates and income generated from a limited number of services. The council will work to protect front-line services by reducing the cost of the services provided by reducing waste and looking for different ways to provide them.

meetings, inductions. But we have improved our engagement at all levels driven by a cross-services Internal Communication Group. Their ideas have been supported by Leadership Team and senior councillors.

A bottom up approach to internal comms.

We have introduced new initiatives including:

Welcome day

It is not an induction. It is informal. New starters meet with the Chief Executive, as well as the Leader or Deputy Leader, with tea and the briefest of presentation. They chat about their background, what their role is, and their ambitions in an informal atmosphere.

The forum

A monthly meeting of senior staff where colleagues give presentations or run workshops about major policy changes, new legislation or significant issues.

But a new ‘My Job’ section was introduced providing the chance for staff in junior and frontline positions to talk about their role within the authority and how they contribute to the new business plan.

Chief Executive floor-walk

Chief Executive Floor-walk: Since taking up his post the Chief Executive has held a number of staff briefings. These were initially implemented to enable him to meet all staff working in the authority and following very positive feedback these are now planned sessions whereby he provides an update on the business plan, news, performance and answers any staff questions.

Examples include the provision of Leisure and Culture Services in partnership with a not for profit trust, re tendering the refuse collection service and sharing services with other authorities. We also share the Civic Centre with other organisations to reduce our costs, improve partnership working and make access to services easier for local people.

We will continue to explore other avenues for income generation such as commercial opportunities and maximising our assets including the Civic Centre, in order to reduce the dependency on New Homes Bonus in particular. In addition, we need to be as efficient and effective as possible and this will mean that as an authority we will need to look at our own ways of working.

We utilise a number of mechanisms to engage with staff. The intranet, all staff emails, notice boards, team 4 | Organisational Leadership and Governance

Organisations including the police, probation service, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Eagle House and Staffordshire Women’s Aid attended a recent housing seminar.

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The current financial health of the council is good and becoming a self-sustaining, financially viable organisation is one of our main business objectives.

Providing a sustainable budget enables the council to provide the services and facilities to the public that are responsive to the needs of our customers and communities and reflect the vision and objectives of the council.

Current position Outturn 17/18: Anticipated net expenditure is £11.166 million, which will principally be funded from council taxpayers (£6.836 million) and from business rates / central government funding (£5.006 million) - this is £10,000 less than budgeted.

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Net expenditure on technical items, include revenue contributions to capital outlay and the council’s statutory annual provision from revenue to contribute towards the reduction in its overall borrowing requirement, combined with use of government grant and investment income was £0.048 million less than anticipated.

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The council received £5.348 million in the fifth year of operation of the business rates retention scheme which is £0.255 million more than was anticipated when the revised budget was set in February 2018.

The variance relates to less mandatory reliefs than anticipated.

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The overall position resulted in the transfer of £1.054 million to the general fund working balance, an increase of £0.313 million as compared to the approved Medium Term Financial Plan.

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Revenue Support Grant 5.1%

Stone Farmer's Market

Business Rates Retention 38%

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Council Tax 56.9%

Financial Planning and Viability We have consistently set a robust medium term financial plan and implemented the majority of initiatives contained in our efficiency statement which will deliver a balanced budget up to 2020 - 2021. The overall resources of the council has diminished over recent years and it is essential that all of the council’s resources are effectively applied in pursuit of our business objectives. Therefore the allocation of revenue or capital funding is driven by the council’s Corporate Business Plan, via supporting strategies and plans such as the Waste Strategy and Asset Management Plan.

In terms of efficiency savings, we have: Awarded the concessions contract for the management and delivery of leisure and cultural services to Freedom Leisure.

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Awarded the waste and recycling collection service to Veolia ES (UK) Ltd.

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Implemented an organisational restructure.

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Let accommodation space in the Civic Centre.

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2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

£m

£m

£m

Waste Management Contract

478

439

400

Senior Management Restructure

146

143

146

Accommodation Lettings

196

196

196

Leisure Services Contract

724

911

1,012

Efficiencies Achieved

1,544

1,689

1,754

Efficiency Plan

1,182

1,411

1,439

and known commitments, support the budget in the future and, in some cases, to spread expenditure over a number of years. At 1 April 2017, earmarked reserves stood at £7.951 million and increased to £13.587 million at 31 March 2018 primarily reflecting the planned transfer from working balances.

Our general fund balance at 1 April 2017 was £3.031 million, a planned transfer to a capital earmarked reserve of £2.773 million was undertaken during the year. Therefore after this transfer and the transfer to working balances as a result of the outturn for 2017/18 this now stands at £1.313 million at 31 March 2018.

The council's policy is to retain a minimum general fund balance of £1 million to cover contingencies and emergencies.

The council has at the present date effectively no uncommitted capital resources and is currently financing its programme by prudential borrowing. The refreshed financial plan identifies the potential for a revenue contributions to capital outlay whereas the surplus on working balances is also available to provide additional resources to offset the need for borrowing to support the capital programme.

The capital programme of £2.660 million was financed in the following way: £’000

A great deal of uncertainty still exists in relation to the future funding of Local Government but we feel that we have put sufficient plans in place to be able to respond to those challenges.

Our levels of reserves are quite strong and are held for specific purposes. They are provided to meet future

5 | Financial Planning and Viability

Capital receipts

945

Capital grants and contributions

820

Direct revenue contributions

895

Total 2,660

Financial planning and decision making process The council has an overarching Budget Strategy that considers capital and revenue as one. The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) attempts to identify resource requirements over a five year period although detailed budgets and a capital programme is actually based upon a three year rolling programme. To this end Revenue and Capital requirements over this three year period are assessed against each other and

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evaluated against the Corporate Plan and Objectives.

Only in exceptional circumstances are new initiatives considered in year with the MTFS effectively incorporating the “new “year of a three year rolling programme. In relation to individual capital schemes they are not only required to fit with corporate priorities, they should also ‘make a difference’ i.e. a significant return on investment - in terms of outcomes - must be achieved.

The council’s current budget strategy is focused on the maintenance of current service provision as a minimum. In addition the 2017/18 Budget saw council tax increase for the first time in seven years to provide capital resources to invest in services. The council continues to monitor budgets on a monthly basis and submits regular reports to Scrutiny as part of its Corporate Monitoring.

Budget and policy decision process

Executive issues draft

Scrutiny considers draft and responds to Executive

Executive considers responses.

Proposes final draft to Council

Council considers final draft Agrees

Amends or substitutes

Council re considers final draft.

Agrees, amends or substitutes

Approved

Over the next 12 months, the council is focusing on further developing its “Income Generation” and “Lean Thinking and Transformation” themes and Efficiency / Invest to Save initiatives will be considered as part of the 2018/19 budget process.

Financially sustainable The council approved its three year budget to 2020/21 in February 2018. A balanced budget exists for the period 2018/19 to 2020/21 based on the current funding regimes known to date. However the Business Rates Scheme, in particular carries the greatest uncertainty with a 75% Retention Scheme to be designed, Fair Funding taken into account and a reset of baselines all due. In light of the uncertainty it is difficult to identify the true overall position post 2019/20.

As part of its financial planning, the council, identifies

Executive reconsiders

its key financial risks to ensure they are taken into account when considering the budget. Some of the key issues facing the council in the future are: entral government funding - The government has C made considerable cuts in public spending. Austerity measures will inevitably lead to the council being under continuing pressure to deliver significant budget savings going forward. Although the council have accepted a four year settlement with the Government, this does not include the New Homes Bonus scheme.

The number of new properties being built in the borough continues to increase and despite the period of grant being reduced from six to four years and a deadweight - an allowance before grant is paid - it is forecast to, at worst, stay at its existing level. However, in light of the uncertainty related to this funding stream and to promote sustainability, the Medium Term Plan sees a reduction in dependency on this grant by 10% per annum with effect from the 2018/19 financial year.

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

usiness Rates Retention Scheme - 2017/18 was B the fifth year of the new regime for collecting National Non Domestic Rates (NNDR). Income is now shared between central government, the council, Staffordshire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire Authority, Staffordshire Police and the Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire Business Rates Pool. This change carries the following financial risks for the council: Failure to collect business rates income in accordance with the “Start-Up” funding assessment;

result of careful planning and success in implementing a number of efficiencies, amongst other incentives, the council are able to set a balanced budget to 2020-21 and increase the level of working balances by £1.3m when compared with the previously approved financial plan from February 2017”.

Future outlook and issues facing the council

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Failure to collect business rates billed;

Future investments

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Reduced business rates collectable as a result of appeals.

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Delays in new developments

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Changes arising from 75% business rates planned for 2020/21

In terms of future investments the level of growth is set to continue with work already underway for: Council

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I ncome levels - a number of main income streams are subject to demand, in particular parking, bereavement services and planning. The council has limited means to address issues of demand however income is an area that receives particular budget monitoring attention with other forms of income being explored Interest rates - the on-going period of low interest rates has impacted on investment returns. Any overall decrease in rates will reduce income. An increase or decrease in interest rates of 0.25% changes investment income by about £91,000.

Inflationary pressures - price inflation remained at 2.3% in March and is anticipated to remain above the Bank of England’s 2% target for this year. ension’s costs - although the council’s share of the P liabilities in the pension fund showed an improvement in 2017/18, the council continues to face the pressure of the rising costs of pension’s provision.

External audit - value for money and going concern External Audit are currently undertaking a review of the 2017/18 accounts and in particular a Value for Money assessment. However the External Audit Plan assessment states “We have not identified any significant risks from our initial risk assessment. As part of this, we have considered in particular the financial sustainability of the council and delivery of future savings requirements. As a

5 | Financial Planning and Viability

£10 million - Leisure scheme for Stone.

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£2.5 million - Heritage Lottery Funded project for the restoration of Stafford’s Victoria Park.

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Private sector £83 million - Business park is underway at Meaford.

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£500 million - Masterplan for the station gateway for new homes, businesses and leisure.

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HS2 The proposal for HS2 trains stopping at Stafford station will mean that the town is only 50 minutes from London, 20 minutes from Birmingham and 30 minutes from Manchester. Local people will be able to live and work in Stafford and do business in our capital city and enjoy a great quality of life. We have undertaken master-planning to show how the land adjacent to Stafford station could be developed to provide 28 hectares in a prime location to develop a new hotel, an office quarter, urban style live/work housing and high quality public spaces for people to meet and enjoy. Stafford Station Gateway is within easy walking distance of Victoria Park and the town centre and its development would not only boost town centre businesses but will promote healthier lifestyles as people will live within a ten minute walk of the town and the new SDL at Burleyfields. We will continue to identify and develop new opportunities to maximise the benefits of HS2 for the borough.

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Streetscene working in Victoria Park Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Capacity to Deliver The council’s Corporate Business Plan sets out clearly our ambition and commitment to delivering a high quality service to our residents and our employees are recognised as being critical to its delivery.

We are now ‘doing things differently’ through enhanced employee engagement. We have recently undertaken an Employee Survey with a near 66% return. We are in the process of considering the results and will be sharing a summary of themed areas and specific responses and responding to the issues raised - early headline figures reveal that nearly 90% said they ‘care about doing a good job’ and more than 75% are ‘motivated by their job’.

We aim to recruit, develop, and retain employees to deliver services to the borough. The council has invested in an electronic recruitment portal which enables HR and recruiting managers to interact with prospective employees creating a positive relationship from the outset. The council is recognised as a Mindful Employer (support in relation to mental health) and as a Disability Confident Employer - previously known as ‘Two Ticks’.

Organisational Development processes are clearly linked to organisational change. Where there have been voluntary losses and retirements we have taken the opportunity to consider if structure and delivery can be changed and improved. These considerations have applied across the whole authority, including leadership level. Learning and Development needs are considered as part of organisational restructure both on a team and individual level. The benefit of this is that we are able to develop bespoke team development activities, including attendance on corporate courses and individual requirements such as coaching support.

A new Employee Review takes a holistic approach to the review process which includes reference to business objectives, health and wellbeing and aspirations which will form part of a Workforce Development Plan, scheduled for the autumn. This will link with a new Health and Wellbeing Strategy being developed and will support our approach to Health in all Policies.

We have upskilled our manual workforce so that more than 70% of those working in our street cleansing, parks and open spaces have a minimum level 2 6 | Capacity to Deliver

qualification and/or a professional driving qualification.

We have accessed government funding for NVQ’s/ Apprenticeships in Customer Service, Business Administration, Business Administration with IT and Supervisory and Team Leading qualifications and Management.

We have strong and healthy relationships with the school, colleges and universities in the borough and have a history of providing ‘real’ work experiences which has been recognised publicly by other authorities. Where opportunities arise we have utilised these experiences as a means of offering and providing casual work opportunities, which have often led to more permanent arrangements.

We have and are committed to reviewing management capability on an ongoing basis and historically development has included Optimising Team Performance; Leading in a Winning Culture and Coaching Skills.

Having outsourced Leisure Services in December 2017 we have taken the opportunity to review our learning and development needs and invested in upskilling managers to include bespoke project management skills, resilience and management capability. We are developing a new suite of courses for managers entitled ‘Communication is the key to Success’, which includes Managing with Effective & Confidence; Resilience, Change and Confidence; and Coaching with Confidence which will be delivered later in year.

Financial pressures placed upon local government have impacted on staff and we responded to this by providing Personal Resilience Training which not only assists them in the workplace, but also in the home environment. We believe that this has assisted in maintaining a low sickness absence rate. The absence rate was 6.67 FTE days for 2017/18 against a corporate target of 7 FTE days and the average 8.5 days for the public sector and 6.4 days across all sectors (CIPD 2016).

We have a stable workforce with average turnover between 11-14.30% over the period 2013/2017 - the majority of movement is linked to leisure services and we anticipate this will be lower moving forward.

35% of our workforce has been employed by the authority for more than 15 years with a further 21% having been employed for between 10-14 years.

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We believe that this demonstrates a commitment on behalf of individuals but also the organisation in terms of ensuring that individuals have the skills to deliver services to the residents of the borough.

We do not have a gender pay issue as reported on 31 March 2017 but recognise that with the loss of leisure services this may change and recognise our responsibilities in managing this. Ultimately we want to recruit the right people, with the right skills to undertake a specific role. We want our workforce to be representative of the community.

Member Development is essential, whether it is a corporate decision or member led. We provide a range of internal courses on key issues as well as the opportunity to attend courses led by the individual and group leaders. We are enhancing this further by creating a new working group with cross party political representation to consider how best to move forward in terms of member development.

We are aware of the age profile in some service areas, alongside the knowledge and experience which these individuals hold, and recognise the need to consider the future. We have a history of creating apprenticeships in horticulture and business administration but recognise the need to extend this to other areas as vacancies occur.

We are now a relatively small authority, but are still committed to delivering high quality services and need to ensure that we have a workforce that is fit to meet this need.

Leveraging external capacity Some of the major transformation changes that the organisation has implemented over the past few years are related to shared services. We were one of the first councils in the West Midlands to actively consider and engage in shared services. This did initially create concern, but seven years on we are leaner, more efficient and have ultimately gained the benefit of sharing resources in order to enhance and deliver services to our residents. We currently share the following services with Cannock Chase District Council: Technology Services, Building Control, Human Resources, Finance, including Revenues & Benefits, Legal Services and Audit & Risk.

In adopting this approach both councils have gained the benefit of reviewing resources, including systems and have restructured (including some voluntary retirements and redundancies) and created structures which have enabled them to deliver services more efficiently and effectively.

Volunteers from the ‘Friends of Stafford Cemeteries’ and the local ‘Child of Mine’ charity planted 5,000 snowdrops in the Rainbow Garden - a section set aside to remember the deaths of babies - at the town’s Tixall Road Site.

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

In addition the council has a shared service with Lichfield District Council for the delivery of health and safety and has delivered a payroll and HR system delivery service to Lichfield since 2009. Our Environmental Health Team also provides support for the flare system for Newcastle Borough Council.

Given the budgeted financial savings of £653,000 per annum from shared services, both councils have agreed to consider where appropriate other potential service sharing options. We see this peer challenge as an opportunity to challenge us on our level of ambition and capacity to deliver that we have outlined in our plan. This peer challenge coincides with the council undertaking a joint review with Cannock Chase District Council into the best model/s for delivering environmental services in both districts which will provide an excellent opportunity for us to attain some constructive feedback on our approach.

We work well with voluntary sector organisations and have jointly developed: A community matron scheme which is an initiative funded from a £200k government pot to reduce homelessness, working directly with rough sleepers.

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Housing First which is a project which has housed a number of people in conjunction with partners Midland Heart who run supported accommodation in Stafford.

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6 | Capacity to Deliver

A Food Bank Scheme, signposting customers to a network of food banks across Stafford and Stone

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A learning organisation We like to think of ourselves as a learning organisation and one that uses external challenge to improve and innovate.

We are compliant with ISO9001 and are very proud to hold Customer Services Excellence for our operations service. Two of our parks and the crematorium now have Green Flag status and our bereavement services attained a Gold Award issued by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management.

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As part of our statutory safeguarding duties we regularly complete a section 11 audit and participate in peer reviews with other district and borough councils

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Food safety reviews are carried out by interauthority auditing organised by the Staffordshire and Shropshire Chief Environmental Health Officers Group.

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We have recently rolled out project management training to our senior managers who will be involved in planning major projects for the authority.

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Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Sharing Successful Practice Case study one: Growth

through eating venue in the pipeline.

At the height of the economic downturn the borough council were putting the finishing touches to a new £15 million Stafford leisure centre.

The council continues to invest and is currently building a new leisure centre at Westbridge Park in Stone - the second largest community in the borough.

The development includes a new swimming pool. This is a key addition to our corporate objective of health and wellbeing - and rare to find a council funding this type of project when many local authorities have shut their facilities to help balance the books.

But no money was spent from the tax payers’ purse to provide it. The centre was part of a land swap agreement with a developer who wanted to put a new shopping centre where the outdated, underused, former sports centre stood near to the authority’s Riverside HQ. That former centre was transformed in 2015 and is now home to a £100m development that has prompted regeneration in a key area of the town. Part of that project included a new 1000 space multi storey car park. The previous multi storey car park had been shut for several years having been condemned over safety concerns. Now that complex has restaurants overlooking the river and the expectation of more eateries soon to come on board.

The scheme is complemented by a brand new six screen cinema equipped with integrated café which is earmarked to open in the autumn.

But the project was not confined to just one section of the town. An older council car park at the other end of town was part of the overall retail deal with the developer - and now boasts new outlets with a drive

7 | Case Studies

Selling a small part of land on the park, for a soon to be opened M&S food store, helped finance the leisure scheme - as well as providing a boost to the retail offer for the town.

Other funding has come from Section 106 money. The council’s vision in our adopted Local Plan is to deliver significant new growth - while providing for health and well-being for our local communities to 2031.

We are seeing the results on strategic development locations at Stafford and Stone with new open space, sport and recreational facilities master planned as well as delivery of project mitigation on the Cannock Chase AONB. We have exceeded our delivery of new build homes across the borough and need to identify fresh sites for our increased employment land commitments at Stafford and Stone which is why we are progressing on our new Local Plan 2020-2040.

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Case study two: Homelessness In 2016 the number of people sleeping rough in Stafford had significantly increased. This issue detracted from the positive redevelopment work taking place in the borough - and extensively in the town centre. Rough sleeping was directly linked to an increase in anti-social behaviour - and indirectly blamed for lack of town centre footfall and trading difficulties for local businesses.

The borough council carried out a review of all rough sleepers to identify who each of them were, pulling together information on every individual in partnership with other key agencies. It was obvious that the issue of rough sleeping in Stafford was not because of a shortage of housing - but of people with multiple care needs being unable to sustain accommodation.

Following a successful bid from a government fund aimed at tackling homeless through new initiatives, the council introduced two schemes - a Community Matron and a ‘Housing First’ project.

The Community Matron works with rough sleepers on the ground. Gaining a trust that would not be afforded to the council or other public sector agencies. In this way she is able to signpost the individual to the appropriate help - for example addiction or mental health issues - which are often the barriers to holding down a tenancy.

The Matron - a qualified nurse - has also helped

prevent visits to the hospital accident and emergency department and doctors’ surgeries. She ensures appointments for support and counselling are not missed by the homeless person and works closely with our housing team so that tenancies are sustained.

We are currently working to quantify the savings this role has made to our health and care services.

The Housing First project in conjunction with Midland Heart - who run supported accommodation in Stafford - provides people with a roof over their head first and then works with the wrap around care that is required to support them in their home.

These initiatives are run by a housing team who became the first in the region to be awarded the Government’s Gold Standard for their work.

What is the result? Government figures released in 2018 revealed the number of rough sleepers had more than halved in 12 months. Our work on homelessness has been acknowledged nationally. This included mention of Stafford in the House of Lords as an example of introducing successful initiatives which had bucked the UK trend of an increase in rough sleeping.

It prompted a visit from the Speaker of the House, the Rt Hon John Bercow, who visited Midland Heart house in Stafford to hear more about the ‘Housing First’ Project, and an invite on for our Cabinet member to discuss the problems of homelessness on national television.

Rt Hon John Berbcowe talking to Suzanne Rigby, Community Matron at a recent visit to Midland Heart, Stafford.

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Case study three: Financial sustainability The former government watchdog, the Audit Commission, described it as a “notable achievement” that despite saving hundreds of thousands of pounds, Stafford Borough Council had improved the performance in some of its services.

The Commission was referring to the decision by Stafford to share some of its functions with Cannock Chase District Council - with the requirement that, not only were savings made, the service had to either be maintained or improved.

At the time it was also noted that the borough council and its Cannock neighbours were ahead of the game in delivering savings from shared services with other local authorities playing catch up.

The Audit Commission said the council had: a clear leadership structure, delivered the planned savings, and singled out the Revenues and Benefits function which “demonstrated a marked improvement in performance for the user.”

A review into the Environmental Services of the two authorities is underway looking at a range of potential money saving options - including sharing. The sharing portfolio currently includes Technology, Legal, Human Resources and Finance services.

7 | Case Studies

More recently two major outsourcing contracts were procured in high profile front line services which have realised huge savings for the council without the public receiving any reduction in quality.

At the end of 2017, the council transferred its leisure and culture portfolio in to a charitable trust. It safeguarded some important sporting and cultural activities and venues. The Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford Leisure Centre, The Half Marathon and the open air Shakespeare Festival at Stafford Castle were all part of an outsourcing contract with Freedom Leisure.

The move will save the council around £900k a year for the life of the contract. Concerns that a new provider would ‘cherry pick’ the headline profitmaking parts of the leisure and cultural services were dispelled and Freedom has pledged a £6 million pound investment programme as part of the contract.

And earlier this year we appointed a new Waste and Recycling Collection contractor. A 10 year £35 million contract - the biggest awarded by the borough council. The procurement exercise managed to retain the cost and the new provider, Veolia, rolled out their service to 58,000 households in a seamless transition.

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Contacts Patrick Farrington Leader of the Council pfarrington@btconnect.com | 01785 211 411 Tim Clegg Chief Executive tclegg@staffordbc.gov.uk | 01785 619 200 Tracy Redpath Corporate Business and Partnerships Manager tredpath@staffordbc.gov.uk | 01785 619 195 Will Conaghan Press and Communications Manager wjconaghan@staffordbc.gov.uk | 01785 619 230

Stafford Borough Council | Corporate Peer Challenge | Position Statement

Stafford Borough Council Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford, ST16 3AQ 01785 619 000 info@staffordbc.gov.uk @staffordbc www.staffordbc.gov.uk

If you need this information in large print, Braille, other language or in audio format please contact info@staffordbc.gov.uk 01785 619 000