2015

• A fixed annual price for the whole of the contract period and any extension

• A fixed price for the initial period but an inflation-linked increase for any extension

• Increases based on local government pay increases

 

They are interested in hearing from authorities as to:

• Which method(s) you use

• How/why you chose them

• Any pros/cons identified (e.g. front loading contracts or service standards dropping towards the end of the contract period)

• How the introduction of the Living Wage has impacted on these issues.

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G0256 - Pavement cafe licences - 111115

A member authority is enquiring what other authorities charge for pavement café licences (not exclusive to cafes it could be example the outside drinking/smoking area outside a bar/pub)?  The enquiring authority charges an intial £200 fee to get a licence, plus a £100 administrational fee. Thereafter, the annual fee is £200.

 
If the licence is rejected the administrational fee is non-refundable
 
They would be interested in discovering how other local authorities deal with this issue and the level of charges they make.

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A member authority is planning a review of their “One Stop Shop” Service Areas which are jointly run by a District and their County Council
The sites serve as a front face of the Council’s giving access to the public that have questions about Council Tax/Benefits, Bus Passes etc. 
 
The Council  would welcome any feedback from others who have undertaken a similar review including:

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G0254 - Travel time for mobile workers to and from work: The Working Time Directive and recent 'Tyco' case law - 051115

This authority is a Direct Labour Organisation employing trade operatives using mobile working solutions. They would like to hear how other similar organisations are responding to the recent ruling on travel time in relation to going direct from home to their first job and returning back home after their last job. (The query comes from a building maintenance service but the principle is relevant to other services). 
 
They have always given trade staff permission to take their work vehicles home and expect them to complete their daily van check before they set off each day.  They have a fixed depot and a store close by that operatives are expected to use to gather materials/fuel from, attend meetings etc. which is their base, and until very recently they would have to come in to get their jobs before going out on site.  However, in recent times, to aid flexibility they have allowed staff to go straight to their first job which has helped improved productivity and performance.  
 
On this basis, their initial view is that their home is not their normal place of work, and therefore the ruling does not apply. The ruling states that ‘for mobile workers – who have no fixed place of work – the time they spend travelling between home and their first and last place of work each day counts as "working time" under the Working Time Directive.’  
 
They are interested to hear from others regarding the following:-
•         Do you consider that your mobile workers have a fixed place of work? If so is that their home or your works depot?
•         What views do you have on the case law?
•         What changes have you made/do you intend to make?

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G0253 - Support for Events - 061115

A member authority is reviewing its support for Events within the Borough (particularly major events)
 
Do you use an Events Matrix to determine what events to support, either:

• financially or 
• because it is an economic benefit to the area

If so, please can you share a copy along with any associated weighting and how this was agreed, i.e. strategic objectives, Member approval, etc.

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G0252 - Property related Health and Safety advice - 221015

Q1: Within your organisation, who provides you with competent advice on property related health and safety management and legislation (pertaining to policy development, planning, employee engagement, performance management, monitoring, communications and training in areas such as fire, asbestos, legionella)? 
 a)    in-house Property Service / Facilities Management Team
b)    in-house Health and Safety Team
c)    External Consultant / Company
d)    A combination of the above 
 
Please provide a brief description of this service.              
 
Q2: Is the same service provided to maintained / controlled schools where budgets have been delegated? Yes / No
 
If your answer to this question is no, please identify who provides this service:
 a)    in-house Property Service / Facilities Management Team
b)    in-house Health and Safety Team
c)    External Consultant / Company – and if so how is this monitored by the authority
d)    A combination of the above 
 
Please provide a brief description of this service if you’ve answered no to this question:

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G0251 - Use of Social Media as a Community Engagement Tool - 141015

APSE Solutions is carrying out consultation work for a member authority to help review its community engagement work, and look at ways that it can do this more effectively in future.
 
The authority is particularly interested in looking at use of social media as a community engagement tool and would like to know:
•         Which forms of social media you use, e.g. twitter, Facebook, etc
•         The sorts of information you share, and with whom
•         The sorts of actions you would like people to take as a result
•         How effective you find social media for informing and engaging people
•         What policies and procedures you have in place around social media use, e.g. who can publish info, how you moderate it
•         How you evaluate your social media work
•         Whether you would be willing to take part in a telephone discussion with a view to APSE Solutions preparing a case study for inclusion in the consultation report.

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G0250 - Bereavement Services Health and Safety Handbook - 131015

A member authority is interested from hearing from any other members who have a Health and Safety Bereavement Services handbook which is issued to staff to assist them with their day to day duties.

If any local authority does have such a document would they mind sharing a copy to assist  with developing one for the enquiring authority to allow them to replace guidance cards previously used.

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G0249 - Models for delivering admin support centrally or through service specific teams

This APSE member authority is exploring options for their central administration team which is currently run as one central team and they would like to hear from other APSE members are to whether they:-

• Operate a central admin team and if this works well?
• Operate service specific admin teams ?

The admin functions that would fall under this team are tasks such as data entry, filing, post management, reception work, mail shots and minute taking.

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G0248 - Business Intelligence and Performance Management Functions

This member authority is reviewing its business intelligence and performance functions and is interested to know how other local authorities structure these functions and the mechanisms that they use to collect, disseminate and utilise business intelligence and performance.  
 
1.     How are your business intelligence and performance teams structured?  (A structure chart would be useful if available.)
2.     Does your service operate from a centralised or directorate base or do you share services with other local authorities or partners?  
3.     What functions are delivered from your team(s)?  (Job descriptions would be useful if available.) 
4.     How do you manage relationships between Business Intelligence, Performance Staff and Customers e.g. operational teams, commissioners, partnerships etc?
5.     How do your Business Intelligence and Performance Staff support organisational change?
6.     What system(s) or mechanisms do you use to collect and disseminate business intelligence and performance information ( eg APSE Performance Networks)?

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G0247 - Staff Driving Policy - 150915

This authority are developing a driving policy and would like to see examples of the policies other authorities use.  It will need to address: 
•         Managers/supervisors/driver responsibilities; Driver records; Vehicle loading; Driving hours; Accident/ incidents; Health and safety; Health surveillance; Drug and alcohol testing
 
They are also interested in whether anyone operates a points system wherein any offence whether caught by Police or other traffic authority camera or tracker is allocated points which are linked to steps within the disciplinary procedure.
 
An example of the steps might be: 3 points; Recorded on drivers record; No investigation; Extra monitoring

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G0246 - Commissioning - 250815

This APSE member authority is currently exploring options for service delivery in its Support Services as part of a commissioning review.

They would be interested to hear from other APSE member authorities on the following questions:

1. Have you recently reviewed your support services as part of a commissioning review? If so to what extent did you determine that Support Services should be procured from an external provider? What matters helped you determine which elements would be included within that - for example HR, ICT?
2. To what extent has market opportunities to generate income within support services influenced the outcome of your commissioning review?
3. Has your organisation jointly commissioned support services, for example through a shared services model? If yes, what issues did you encounter with partners as part of that joint commissioning approach?
4. Do you have any evidence of examples from the private sector about cost savings, resilience and customer experience in Support Services? Or any contrary evidence that would be helpful to our review?

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G0245 - Roadside advertising hoardings - 190815

This authority is looking into developing roadside advertising hoardings as a potential income stream, we would therefore be obliged if anyone who has any experience in this area could provide us with answers to the following: 

1.  Do you currently sell advertising space (e.g. billboards) at roadside locations?  If so how many and what types of location are these situated at (e.g. rural, urban etc)? 

2.  How much income do you generate per billboard per annum? 

3.  Do you sell this advertising space directly or via a third party?  If so can you provide us with details on how you do this? 

4.  Do you have any indicative costs of how much it cost to install this advertising space? 

5.  On average what percentage of your advertising space is sold per annum? 

6.  Who undertakes the production and placement of the advertisements and how much does this cost? 

7.  Have you had any issues with these spaces e.g. road safety, vandalism, neighbour complaints etc.? 

8.  Are there are any other issues or information that you think would be useful for our consideration of advertising hoardings?

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G0244 - Corporate support for service review and supporting continuous service improvement - 100815

This member authority is considering how to structure a corporate team, tasked with supporting service areas to review and continuously improve service delivery.
 
They would like to know how other local authorities have approached the structuring, training and resourcing of such a team. 
 
It is appreciated that  whilst almost every local authority will have this resource, the team may function under many different banners, which might include Policy and Performance, Business Development or Transformation.    
 
If you are in a position to, we would be very grateful if you could write a few sentences to tell us about how this team functions within your authority and the expressed purpose of the team. Organisational structure charts would also be helpful.

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G0243 - Dog kennels - Responsibilities for stray dogs - 040815

A member authority would be interested to know: 
•         if other councils have reviewed their responsibility for stray dogs, and
•         would like to know how other local authorities respond to the requirement to place dogs in a shelter/kennels

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G0242 - Promoting Credit Union membership - 030815

This authority is looking to increase the take up of credit union membership by residents and tenants. 
 
They are interested to know how others have approached increasing such membership, what they have done to raise the issue of credit unions and specifically how they have marketed individual unions.
 
Examples of marketing strategies, publicity materials as well as any other advice would be very welcome.

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G0241 - Plant/Machinery costs - 270715

A member is making enquiries in relation to  how other member authorities maintain their plant machinery, and have the following questions:
 

• Is the service in house or external?
• How and what are you charged? (If cost could be broken down by equipment type it would be most useful)
• Number and type of plant maintained and how often?

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G0240 - Bonfires - 240715

Annually  a member authority hold a communal bonfire, with the safety, construction, clear-up & grounds reinstatement etc, normally handled by the Street Scene Third-Party Contractors; who this year are informing us that they are unable to assist in the building of the bonfire due to health & safety rules (have cited working at height restrictions). They have stated that the bonfire cannot be built any higher than can be safely reached from ground level (around four feet high) yet could build a lower/larger circumference one. The initial contract specification required an 'inverted cone of 7 - 8 metres in diameter at the base and at least 9 metres in height'
 
Can any other members please advise if/how they have successfully approached this issue of not being able to build bonfires due to this reason?

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G0239 - Sickness Levels - 200715

A member is interested in receiving information regarding sickness statistics, trends and averages for waste and recycling, street cleaning and grounds maintenance duties. Over the last few months the member has experienced an increase in sickness levels and we were just wondering is this happening elsewhere.

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G0238 - Recruitment of Emissions Accountant - 170715

This local authority is in the process of drafting a business case to seek approval for recruiting an Emissions Accountant.  This authority acknowledges they have limited capacity in this area aside from basic reporting for their Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), Carbon Management Plan (CMP) and Scotland’s Climate Change Declaration (SCCD).  They are looking to build capacity by having in house skills and competencies in this area which go beyond these reporting programmes.
 
To assist in this process, this local authority is keen to hear from other member authorities who have any information that would be of use.  Specifically:-
 
•         Do you have any job profiles/ descriptions which you would be willing to share?
•         Information on whom and where such a role sits within your organisation?
•         Have you developed these skills on top of existing day jobs?  If so do you see such knowledge as being sufficient to ensure compliance with baseline inventories and scenario modelling?

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G0237 - Affordable Warmth / Fuel Poverty schemes - 170715

A member authority is evaluating one of its affordable warmth / fuel poverty programmes aimed at tackling cold homes and the associated health issues
It delivers a range of measures with partners including heating repairs, advice on fuel switching, emergency heating provision, fuel debt advice, slips /trips and falls assessments
 
They are keen to hear from authorities who are delivering similar schemes specifically around eligibility and evidencing need.
 
How does your authority target their affordable resources to address those most in need? 
 
1.       What kind of eligibility criteria do authorities use?
•         Customer’s Age (75+) ?
•         Priority LSOA’s related to DECC estimates of Fuel Poverty?
•         The customer being in receipt of qualifying benefits?
•         The customer’s diagnosis with a specific health condition that is exacerbated by the cold?
•         The customer having a child under 5 in the home with a specific health condition that is exacerbated by the cold?
•         Other criteria?
 
2.       How do you evidence that a client is meeting the eligibility criteria? 
(e.g.) how is evidence such as benefits, disability etc acquired? What evidence has to be provided to confirm a diagnosis? Do you apply a light touch to a less costly intervention?

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G0236 - Community cohesion - gypsies and travellers - 130715

This authority is currently reviewing their approach to improving community cohesion with gypsy and traveller communities, including the approach to the range of enforcement options. The council wants to work with both the settled and gypsy and traveller community to manage expectations and improve relations, covering areas such as planning, community safety, road safety etc.. They are keen to hear from other councils that have undertaken similar work with their local communities to learn what works and is most effective.

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G0235 - Library service review - 130715

This APSE member authority is reviewing its’ Library services and they would welcome details to assist in their review and in particular details as follows:- 
1.    Population -  please supply details of your population size
2.    Please supply details of the numbers of libraries that you provide
3.    Please supply the figure for your overall Libraries budget 
4.    Please supply details of any deprivation considerations / indicators that you use to  assess Library needs within your local area. 
5.    Delivery models - they would like to know if you have adopted any alternative delivery models such as coops, mutuals, social enterprises or reducing opening hours, or providing other services from library sites such as benefits advice, payment services.

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G0234 - Parking on council land, verges, pavements - 100715

This authority is having problems with vehicles parked and left for periods of time on council grassed land, highway verges, pavements, etc.  

They are keen to hear about the methods used by others to counteract this issue and of any policies they have in place.  This might include educational campaigns or enforcement.

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G0233 - Reverting back to individual services from Integrated Street Scene Model - 010715

One of our members is enquiring as to whether any local authority has reverted back, or is considering reverting back from an integrated street scene approach to once again providing services as separate service functions e.g. street cleansing, refuse collection, grounds maintenance, as in the past.
 
They would be particularly interested in discovering whether this change was based on financial, operational or any other reason.

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G0232 - Insourcing transport as part of building maintenance - 190615

This authority is considering insourcing their housing and maintenance service.
 
They would be grateful to hear from others who have been through a similar process with reference to their transport infrastructure. In their case, an estimated 350 vehicles will be procured along with plant and small tools.
 
Information and experience in similar exercises would be very helpful.

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G0231 - Advertising on council buildings, car parks and land

This authority would like to hear from others who have used their buildings and land (strategic external locations under council control) to sell advertising space.
 
They would like to know how it was arranged, whether they facilitated it themselves or via an advertising agency. 
 
Example locations might include multi-storey car parks, open car parks, public buildings and land adjacent to busy thoroughfares (traffic and footfall) and some internal locations such as leisure centres.
 
They would be interested to learn from the experience of others and in particular about balancing potential income generation from advertising against corporate priorities e.g. taking adverts from fast food providers whilst having a corporate priority around public health.

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G0230 - Secondments and TUPE - 040615

This APSE member is exploring the use of secondments as opposed to TUPE in service redesign situations such as shared services, trading companies and in traditional outsourcing or joint ventures.
 
If you have any experiences of using secondments in these type of situations please provide details
 
In particular they would be interested to see any sample memorandum of understanding or 'letters of comfort' issued to staff or agreed with the trade unions.

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G0229 - S106 contributions and the planning process - 040615

This APSE member authority is looking at their planning processes in relation to S.106 matters. They would be interested to learn about the following two matters. 
 
1.    What mechanisms does your Local Authority have in place for dealing with Section 106 contributions, in respect of planning applications under consideration
 
2.    Do you have supplementary planning guidance with set formulas?

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G0228 - Vehicle Checks on LGV's - 010615

A member authority would like to know from other members whether:
 
1.       LGV drivers do their own vehicle preparation (pre-start checks).  How long is allocated and is this part of normal hours e.g. 37 hour week or paid as contractual overtime?
2.       LGV drivers do end of day maintenance checks and defect reporting.  How long is allocated and is this part of normal hours e.g. 37 hour week or paid as contractual overtime?
3.       Does any authority appoint specific staff / posts to undertake vehicle checks as opposed to drivers?  If so, how is this managed and co-ordinated?  (job descriptions for this role would prove useful)

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G0227 - Centralised procurement arrangements - 290515

This authority is interested in hearing from others who have altered their procurement arrangements recently especially if they have been centralised. 
 
They are keen to hear about the approach taken, actual changes made, benefits including financial savings as well as problems encountered and how they were overcome.  
 
Any information on this topic would be gratefully received.

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G0226 - Income generation from advertising and sponsorship on roundabouts and public realm - 280515

This APSE member authority is considering attracting advertising and sponsorship on areas such as roundabouts and public realm to help generate income. They would be interested to learn from other members who have adopted a similar approach: 

• How much income were you able to achieve?
• Did the income from the advertising or sponsorship arrangements generate a surplus to make the exercise worthwhile?
• How did you market the opportunity to potential advertisers?
• Did you find any negative impact ( such as business rates applying to sites)

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G0225 - Agile Working Systems - 280515

This APSE member authority is considering moving to an agile working system based on a 5:10 ratio (5 desks per 10 employees)
 
They would welcome information from other  public sector organisations and APSE member authorities that have successfully implemented agile working including their experiences on 
•         The timescales needed to implement the changes
•         Impact upon the organisation ( positives and negatives and any lessons learned
•         Policies such as HR and Occupational Health - how were the changes managed and 
•         Is the home working element of your scheme compulsory and how this is achieved
•         What forms of agile working have been considered (e.g. working from home, flexible and mobile working, shift work, extended hours etc).

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G0224 - Reviewing local authority partnerships and forums - 260515

This APSE member authority is currently reviewing its partnerships. 
 
This is with a view to rationalising the number of partnerships and information exchange forums in their  borough and bringing together the members of such groups to debate this and come up with a model moving forward. 
 
They feel this process would benefit from input from another authority who have truly embraced a digital agenda and carry out similar functions through webinars, e-forums, etc.  
 
If you have carried out a similar review successfully we would welcome details. In addition if there any north west authorities who would be willing to share their experiences at a forthcoming event with this member authority please provide your details.

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G0223 - First Aider Ratios - 220515

A member authority is enquiring as to the ratio of first aiders to staff who work outdoors, in particular trained first aiders in street scene i.e. grounds maintenance, street cleansing and refuse  collection services . A specific question is, what is the ratio of trained first aiders are when working in  gangs , i.e. if two operatives are out on site is one a trained first aider.

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G0222 - Misuse of social media / cyber bullying on council staff and elected members - 200515

This APSE member authority would be interested to learn about any incidents that have led to the abuse or bullying of council staff or elected members on social media platforms by either service users / residents or others. They  would be interested to learn how these incidents were dealt and any measures taken to remedy the situation.

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G0221 - Call-off skip contracts - 240315

A member authority is seeking help in obtaining a good example of a specification for a skips service contract. The authority is looking to tender their skips service through a ‘call off’ framework contract of local skip hire companies and  requires a good specification for this type of service and arrangement.

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G0220 - Overtime and Additional Payments Review - 210415

 This  APSE member authority is currently undertaking a review of overtime and additional payments across all services. 
 
They would welcome details from other APSE member authorities that have undertaken a similar review and would appreciate details of any outcomes of that review or copies of any new agreements or arrangements reached.

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G0219 - Policy, procedure and process - Volunteering - 100415

This member authority is seeking to work towards the Investors in Volunteers accreditation and would be interested to speak with other authorities who have either undergone this accreditation process or who are intending to. 
 
They would also like to read about any well-established Local Authority policies and procedures for working effectively with volunteers.
 
I would be very grateful if you could assist with this query - please send all responses along with any relevant documentation/web links.

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G0218 - E-billing for annual council tax bills - 090415

A member authority would like to hear from any authority who has moved to E-Billing for annual council tax bills.  
 
If, within your authority, you have moved to e-billing for council tax bills,  please could you send the contact details of the best person to speak to and any information you can readily include about the change.

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G0217 - Ballistic trousers - 070415

A member authority is looking for information as to whether other local authorities:
 
1.       Are using Ballistic trousers in both refuse collection (collecting wheeled bins and or bags) and street cleansing or on any one single service.
2.       Are they worn all year round regardless of weather conditions. 
3.       Do they have any policy by which a designated member of the team might wear them whilst others do not.
4.       What policies and practices are in place to cover hot weather conditions.

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G0216 - Vehicle reversing procedures - 070415

A member authority would like to know what other local authorities guide lines are for reversing refuse collection vehicles , such as:
 
•         Do all authorities use a banks man on every reversing procedure ,
•         has any authority set up specialist reverse training course in house, 
•         how many authorities have had serious reversing incidents and what action was taken to avoid them

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G0215 - Workshop Machine Management Software - 310315

A member authority would like to raise a query regarding Workshop Machine Management Software.  Their current requirements are a system which can provide the following primary features
 
•         Deal with multiple machine and machine parts records (10000+)
•         Contain a comprehensive database of assets for machine and parts (i.e. price, supplier, age etc.)
•         Able to provide detailed records for each machine
•         Able to produce individual worksheets and job cards for multiple tasks
•         Contain management report, letters and query templates
•         Contain details for machine inspections, works and an archive of all previous works.
 
They would be interested to know what systems are currently in use by other local authorities and how closely they can meet these requirements.

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G0214 - Depot rationalisation - 310315

A member authority is  shortly to reconfigure their depot space for street-related services and would like to speak to APSE member authorities who have undertaken a similar exercise.   
 
If you have  recent experience of a depot rationalisation, please indicate briefly what steps were undertaken and supply the contact details of the best person to speak to regarding the exercise.

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G0212 - Volunteering in Sport, Leisure, Cultural Services and Parks - 230315

We are trying to build up a National picture of the state of Volunteering
Please can you provide information on the following:
 
•        Do you currently use volunteers to assist you in the delivery of your services?
•        Which services do you work with volunteers to deliver? 
•        What roles do volunteers currently undertake?
•        Does your organisation have a volunteer policy?
•        Do you currently undertake volunteer training?

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G0211 - Enforcement Action on bins left out - 180315

A member authority interested to know if anyone takes enforcement action for residents leaving their bins on street after collection day and if so, would they be willing to share their legal process?

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G0210 - Energy Performance Cerficiates - 170315

This authority is in the middle of finalising their Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) data. They are interested in how others generate SAP ratings for the forthcoming EESSH where properties do not have an EPC.

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