2019

G0415 - Digital reporting – 210819

This local authority’s Performance Management Teams are currently working with various operational services including Waste, Roads, Building and Facilities services, to examine the pilot use of digital and interactive reporting of performance to both Committee and into the public domain. They would be grateful for any information on the following:-

1. Have you looked at or are you actively using, digital reporting for operational services such as those outlined above as a supplement to and/or replacement for the publication of standing report documents? If you answered yes to above,
2. What response has this prompted from Elected Members (and the public)?
3. What mitigations have had to be put in place to ensure that archival public performance reporting requirements are met?
4. What type of software have you used?

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G0414 - Employee Surveillance Policies - 090819

Following publication of the TUC Report in August 2018 ‘I'll be watching you’ on workplace monitoring this APSE member has initiated discussions between the employer and trade unions on addressing the issues of workplace monitoring / surveillance of staff (via CCTV, looking at use of emails and website visits, listening in on phone calls etc.) with a view to developing a collaborative HR policy to cover the use of surveillance and surveillance technologies.

They would be interested in how such policies have been developed in other local councils (and indeed in other public services such as the NHS). They would therefore be pleased to receive details of such policies including copies of any current protocols or HR procedures and policies in place to inform discussions.

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G0413 - Council e-newsletter subscription rates - 090819

A member authority has recently launched a Council e-newsletter for people living and working in the borough. The monthly publication is free of charge to anyone who wishes to subscribe. They are keen to determine what sort of subscription rates others have experienced at this stage:

• Does your authority produce an e-newsletter?
• How long has your e-publications been running?
• How many people have subscribed?
• What is the population in your local authority area?

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G0412 - Organising Personal Development Plans (PDPs) with Operational Staff - 290719

An APSE member council’s Continuous Improvement team are currently developing a revised process for staff personal development plans (PDPs). However, through staff engagement sessions they have realised that managers in departments responsible for operational / frontline services are finding it very difficult to find adequate time to plan for these annual meetings (and 6 monthly review meetings). Due to the current operational demands placed on these services, managers are struggling - both in terms of preparing for the meeting and scheduling time for their staff to attend. This council would therefore like ask:

1. How does your council approach PDPs with operational staff?
2. Have you encountered similar problems?
3. How have you overcome these issues?

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G0411 - Legal support services and staff retention around child protection cases - 290719

A member authority is experiencing issues around increasing numbers of child protection cases and reduced ability to retain staff due to competition for higher salaries and opportunities elsewhere.

• They would like to know if other authorities having with increasing caseloads, especially in child protection cases?
• What caseload levels are you experiencing per caseload lawyer or senior lawyer?
• How have you tackled caseload sizes, while avoiding external agency support costs?
• How have you tackled retention of Legal staff?

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G0410 - Charging policy for use of council land - 190719

A member authority would like to find out how much other authorities charge, and how they manage the following:

Bootcamps/Exercise Classes on Council land
• Do people charge a fix fee?
• Is it based upon the number of clients?
• How do they charge?

Filming on Council land
• Price per day
• Price per hour
• Does the number of crew change the price?
• Who is exempt (communities, charities, students etc.).
• Are communities, charities students etc .charged any fee?

Events on Council land
• Who is exempt (communities, charities, students etc.)
• Price per day
• Price per hour
• Are communities, charities students etc. charged any fee?

 

G0409 - Integrating Enforcement Resources - 190719

A member authority is currently considering how it can be more effective in its enforcement strategy.

They are thinking about pulling together all of their internal enforcement resources to create a more robust and effective team. However they would appreciate any views/advice/opinions from other Authorities who may have already done this.

• How did they go about it?
• Which services were involved?
• How did they do it?
• Did they consider any alternative delivery methods i.e. 3rd party to deliver in part/full?
• Any lessons learnt?

The authority would appreciate it If anyone is willing to share their strategy/model or discuss their approach to success/failure.

 

G0408 - Review of procurement processes, contract management / commissioning and the use of frameworks - 080719

A member authority is about to undertake a review of procurement processes, contract management/commissioning and the use of frameworks throughout the authority.

They would therefore be keen to learn more from any partner authorities that have undertaken and have experience of similar reviews and who have reorganised service delivery as a consequence.

They have also been asked to look at commercial opportunities and the procurement of grant funded projects as part of this process.

 

G0407 - Absence Figures - 280619

An APSE member authority has asked if any UK councils would be able to share some additional information/data on their absence figures for 2018-19?

 

G0406 - Graduate and Apprentice Schemes - 280619

An APSE member authority is looking to start both Graduate and Apprentice Schemes. They would welcome feedback from any UK councils that run either of these schemes and if possible the opportunity to discuss their experiences.

 

G0405 - Experiences of awards in relation to work on personnel and development issues - 280619

This APSE member authority is considering applying for a number of awards in relation to work on personnel and development issues. They would appreciate hearing of the experiences of any councils that have been shortlisted/won an award in these areas including, for example, the Charted Institute of Personnel and Development Awards

 

G0404 - Charges for film companies filming in the area - 270619

This local authority would like to hear from any member authority which has set a charge / charges for film companies to film in their respective areas.

If yes, could you please provide the charge applied for this.

 

G0403 - Community Hubs - 190619

Following in the footsteps of many councils already, a member authority is currently looking to set up community hubs, with the aim of transforming services, encouraging citizens to do more in their communities, increasing digital transactions and reducing assets.

They would like to know:

1. What were the key drivers to move to a hub model?
2. What services have been incorporated into the hubs?
3. What HR challenges have you faced?
4. What have been the barriers to and challenges of delivering this type of model?
5. What savings have been realised?

 

G0402 - Achieving ISO45001 - 190619

A member authority would like to know if any other Authorities have applied for, or achieved ISO 45001 or previously achieved ISO 18001, and could offer any advice regards achieving the award.
 

G0401 - Lone Working Arrangements - 070619 

This authority wishes to understand how others support employees who undertake lone working:

1. Do you risk assess lone working? If yes, briefly explain who undertakes the assessment, and how?

2. Can you provide a brief list of job types/role that undertake lone working (a top 3 is fine).

3. Do your lone workers receive specific and documented training/guidance around lone working? If yes, briefly explain.

4. Are lone workers provided with some form of ‘alarm’? If yes, briefly explain the type of system (for example is it a pendant, or triggered by a mobile phone etc.?) and does it have GPS?

5. Is it a corporate system, or do individual services/teams procure their own thing?

6. Is it mandatory if they meet the definition of a lone worker?

7. If the alarm is triggered, who is notified (for example does it go to a manager, a 24/7 response centre etc.)?

 

G0400 - P60 Provision for Adult social, child care services and schools employees/070619

A local authority is looking at the timescales for issuing a P60’s this year.

Are there any local authorities who deal with Adult social, child care services and schools who have issued their P60s to employees by the end of April 2019?

 

G0398 - Use of ANPR on Car Parks - 210519

A member authority is assessing the use of an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system for automatic charging in a busy Car Park due to recent antisocial behavior and cruising

Have you installed ANPR systems in a Car Park
• Has the automatic charging system deterred/improved similar anti-social behaviour?
• Any instances of vandalism (Nature/repair costs)?
• Unintended negative impacts on wider operations?
• Reliability of the system and SLA?
• Cost and manufacturer?
• Impact on revenue achieved through the car park and the management of it?

If you have considered ANPR and ruled it out:
• Why was ANPR ruled out?
• What other solutions have been adopted?

 

G0397 - Transfer of Environment Agency Assets - 170519

A member authority has been approach by the Environment Agency to take on the ownership and management of a number of safety measures previously owned/ managed by the Environment Agency (including sluices, weirs and booms across the front of these structures on the main River Ouse) within the borough.

We would like to know whether any other authorities have been approached or taken on ownership and management of a number of structures from the Environment Agency, we’d be interested to hear:-

·  how the transfer worked;
• what legislation was used in the transfer;
• any legal problems/solutions encountered during the transfer;
·  how was the transfer managed;
·  the financial costs associated with taking on these structures and was any funding provided by the Environment Agency for future repairs, replacement;
·  the advantages and disadvantages of the transfer.

 

G0396 - Public toilet provision - 290419

This authority is about to start a review of its public toilet provision. It is intended that this may result in closure of some toilets, transfer of some to community ownership and possibly the formation of a “comfort scheme” with local businesses to let the public use their facilities. They would like to know from others:

1. Does your local authority still operate public toilets? If so, how many?
2. Have you closed any public toilets in the last couple of years?
3. Have you transferred any public toilets to community ownership/management?
4. If you have – has this been successful?
5. Do you operate a comfort scheme whereby you have arranged for the public to use private facilities in local businesses?
6. If so – how did you create this scheme?
7. Have you made payments to the local businesses?
8. How have the public reacted to any changes you have made?

 

G0395 - Body Armour - 290419

Do you provide Body Armour for any members of staff?

• What is the service area?
• What protection is provided?
• Are officers required to wear it or by choice?

 

G0394 - Administrative support embracing technology to reduce demand - 040419

An APSE member authority is looking to understand what other local authorities are potentially doing differently in the future with their business support/administration activity. They are exploring alternative delivery options/opportunities via technology to fundamentally change how they work and reduce need/demand for services in the future. They currently have a centralised model through a number of hubs with a limited number of specialist teams.

• By business support / administration they do not mean the specialisms like HR, IT, finance. The admin functions are tasks such as data entry, filing, reception work, mail shots, mail box management, dealing with paper based processes and minute taking.
• By alternative delivery options they are keen to explore other authorities that have insourced, contracted certain functions, developed shared service functions or set up a wholly owned Trading Company.

They would like to hear from other APSE members who have changed their business support/administration functions in recent years (2016 onwards) to better understand:

1. What model do you use?

2. What is your experience of implementing your chosen model?

3. What benefits have you achieved through your chosen model?

4. How have you used technology and automation to significantly reduce and/or remove administrative activity?

5. Have you decentralised your administrative functions from a previously centralised model?

 

G0393 - Inspection procedure for inspecting public realm assets - 290319

A member authority is seeking information on how other local authorities inspect a wide range of assets falling under one section of the local authority, these assets include:

• Parks and greenspaces infrastructure ( pathways , walls, signage etc. )
• Canals and water ways
• General public realm infrastructure ( pathways , walls, signage etc. )

They are looking at how best to optimise officer time in carrying out inspections as different assets have different frequencies of inspections.

They would like to hear about how routes have been established e.g. based on frequencies for inspections or asset type or other considerations.

They would also be interested to hear on the type of software being used to carry out inspections and whether one system can be refined to meet all inspection types as they currently use a mixture of ARC GIS and Confirm.

Could respondents please state whether they would be willing to speak to the enquiring authority if requested.

 

G0392 - Internal Communication Channels - 290319

An APSE member authority is currently reviewing their internal communications with a view to improving the information and number of channels that they have available to communicate with their staff.

They are interested in how others manage this and what experience they have with any resources and tools they have used.

1. What internal communications methods do you use?
a. Emails, newsletters, Intranet, Noticeboards, meetings, social networks or any others
2. Which of these do you use most frequently?
3. Which is the most effective and how do you measure this?
4. Who is responsible for managing the communication methods?
5. How much or what resources do you use for this?
a. Staff, software, budget or cost
6. What do you communicate?
7. Who provides the content?
8. Is it coordinated in some way?

 

G0391 - Collection of Business Rates - 080319

A member is exploring the introduction of new approaches to the collection of business rates.

The member is keen to learn from any members who have experience of:

1. Implementing new approaches to facilitate fast track registration of businesses for business rates.

2. Implementing new approaches with regards to compliance checking applications for business rate relief (SBRR etc).

3. Implementing new approaches with regards to the investigation and recovery of business rate debt, including closer partnership working with internal departments such as Regulatory Services and external agencies.

 

G0390 - Customer Relations Management - 080319

A member authority would like to ask other member authorities about their approach to customer relations

1. How are your local authority’s customer relations teams case managing their workloads of freedom of information requests?

2. How are your local authority’s customer relations teams case managing subject access requests?

3. How are your local authority’s customer relations teams dealing with complaints and compliments?

4. Is this done via an internal case management system or purchased software?

5. Can you supply details about the system they are using?

 

G0389 - Review of Events Administration Process - 210219

A member authority is currently undertaking a review of their Events Administration process and are interested to know if any Councils:

• Impose an “administration” fee/charge or similar for the processing of the application form
• Impose a charge/fee for the permission or use of the Council land to the organiser to hold their event
• If a charging structure is in place, would members be willing to share this charging structure and do they offer a discounted rate for community and charity groups

Also in respect of sending event applications to the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) for consideration

• do any Councils adopt any document repository or sharing software for this part of the process or do they circulate via email?

They would also be interested to hear how any other Councils have made use of workflow software (i.e. Firmstep or equivalent) to help automate their events bookings process.

 

G0388 - Social Care Insourcing (Adult domiciliary/personal care services) - 140219

This APSE member authority is currently reviewing all options for Social Care and whilst they have sufficient detail on a number of delivery models they are keen to explore the successes or challenges of any councils that have recently ended private contractors and returned the service to an in-house team ( insourcing ) specifically in the area of adult domiciliary / personal care services. They would like to know:-

• The numbers of contracts / care hours that reverted to in-house provision
• If TUPE applied to those contracts / care hours worked
• The challenges presented
• Opportunities / benefits / successful outcomes

 

G0387 - Service Level Agreements - 140219

This APSE member council is considering a review of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) as means of improving its services to schools and other public sector clients.

They would be interested to see copies of current SLAs in use in other councils.

 

G0386 - Dealing with tented encampments - 110219

A member Local Authority is experiencing issues with tented encampments on its streets, in particular City Centre areas and is currently working with stakeholders, including the Police, Health Service, business environment and homeless charities to identify solutions.

The Local Authority would like to understand how others have and are dealing with this problem through legislative, operational and social means.

 

G0385 - Drug and alcohol testing - 110219

This authority are looking for information from councils who operate drug and alcohol testing. Any assistance anyone can give with the following would be helpful:

1. Do you have a policy on it? Would you be willing to share it?

2. Do you operate, or have considered implementing, random checks as opposed to checks based purely on ‘suspicion’?

3. What does your test involve (e.g. equipment / location etc.)?

4. Do you have any success stories / issues you could share?

 

G0384 - Gender Salary split - 070219

A member authority is keen to compare their proportion of female to male officers paid above £30, 576 per annum. e.g. 10 male to 3 female officers would be 10:3.

Please can you provide the numbers of male/female managers for your service area:
• Fleet Services – Operational workshop management, compliance, etc.
• Highway repairs (operational)
• Area Care inc’ Parks, grounds maintenance, street cleansing,
• Property Services – Building repairs/maintenance (electrical, gas, plumbing)
• Bereavement Services
• Building Cleaning

 

G0383 - Market stall fees - 170119

A member authority is looking to compare market stall fees in relation to their outdoor markets.

They are therefore requesting if other APSE member authorities would provide them with details of their stall fees.

Within the charges, could you please include the size of your stalls/pitch, whether or not this is for a pre-erected stall or trader's own stall.

They would also like to know if the fee includes electricity and finally does the fee include waste collection e.g. litter picking throughout the day and refuse collection at the end of the day.

 

G0382 - Out of hours Council services - Homelessness, Streetcare and Environmental Health – 090119

A city authority is seeking to understand what services are offered out of normal working hours in the following services areas: Environmental Health (especially in relation to Noise Nuisance), Streetcare and Homeslessness.

If you are able to comment in relation to at least one of these service areas, they would be very grateful for your response to the following questions:

1) Do you offer any services out of hours in Environmental Health, Streetcare or Homelessness?
2) If yes, what services are offered?
3) Are these services offered by
a) individual teams?
b) a coordinated nighttime team working across several council services?
3) If b), please share a brief overview of how this cross-council working is coordinated. In particular, is there a single telephone number for all out of hours services, how are the issues triaged between team members?

 

G0381 - Mobile working - 030119

A member authority is currently looking at introducing mobile working, they would like information on the following:

1) Which authorities consider themselves to have adopted “Mobile Working” either across their authority (services) or in parts of it?

2) Which services / teams have you mobilised?

3) Could you provide an email address for a named contact who I could ask further questions of?

 

G0380 - Telephone standby for emergencies/ winter maintenance - 030119

This local authority would like to know if your authority pay staff to be on telephone standby to respond to emergencies/undertake winter maintenance tasks? If so:-

1. What is this rate?
2. Does the rate follow any nationally agreed terms?
3. Do you enhance this rate and if so, how did you arrive at the enhanced rate?