2020

G0459 – Drone Policies – 221120

A member authority is keen to see any drone policies any other local authority have developed together with any feedback as to how well they are working.

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G0458 - Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015

This local authority is interested to know how many requests other member authorities have received to re-use information for a purpose other than that for which it was originally produced? In addition, how many times have conditions on such re-use been imposed through an appropriate licence? And what marginal costs together with a reasonable return have been charged?

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G0457 - Freedom of Information

This local authority would like to know if any member authority quantifies and reports the total cost of responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, individually, annual total or some other frequency? If so:-

1. How are requests that require multiple-service responses coordinated and collated?
2. Is a combined consideration made to resource/cost impact of multiple-service responses and the submitting party advised of breach/cost?
3. How many responses have resulted in charging and what has been the total charged in the financial year 2019/2020?

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G0455 - Public Space protection orders linked to the consumption of alcohol as part of public events - 121020

A member council is looking at introducing public space protection orders for part of its public realm.

In looking at the above there is potentially a complicated factor in that they are looking to exclude the consumption of alcohol from areas of the public realm, however, these are areas that they also use routinely for events,  whereby alcohol can be consumed as part of that event.

In view of the above, they would like to hear from other local authorities who have or are introducing PSPO’s in order to prevent the consumption of alcohol but allow its use for events.

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G0454 - Construction Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS) Scheme – 180920

A member authority is interested to learn if other local authorities are planning to register for the Construction and Community Safety (CLOCS) scheme, in particular, if there are any barriers they foresee both in terms of their own direct operations / fleet and that of their regional supply chain?

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G0453- Paying employees expenses for working from Home

A Member Authority is seeking information regarding paying employees expenses for working from home. The Member Authority would like to know the following:-

1. Does your council pay any expenses for working at home?
2. How much do you pay?
3. On what basis is the payment made?

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G0451 - Staff Rewards for Key Workers - 200720

This APSE member council is keen to reward Key workers who have worked through the Covid19 crisis. They would be interested to hear what other Councils have done in relation to this, specifically;

• How staff are selected to receive an award and
• How are they rewarded.

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G0450 - Naming review of public assets due to legacies of British African Slave-ownership - 130720

A member authority is reviewing the naming of its buildings, assets and street names in relation to any which may have legacies of British African Slave-ownership as a result of the world wide "Black Lives Matters" protest, the incident in Bristol and the removal of the statue of Edward Colston.

Are there any local authorities who are carrying out any reviews in light of this?

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G0447 - Continued investment in parking infrastructure - 200520

This local authority are currently compiling measured and case based evidence to support continued investment in parking infrastructure. They would be keen to hear from other authorities who have:

1. Established an economic case for ongoing investment in parking supply
2. Positive case based examples of investment in parking supporting pedestrian and cycle access improvements in local centres
3. Examples of edge of centre transport hubs or interchanges (excluding park and ride) supporting active and sustainable travel choices

 

G0446 - Improving biodiversity through the planning process - 230320

A Scottish member authority in response to the Highland Council’s declaration of a climate and ecological emergency, are considering how best to improve biodiversity outcomes through the planning process. One of the ideas they are currently considering is to seek a monetary contribution from developers (e.g. £2,500 per hectare), regardless of the quality of habitat being lost to development.

The monies arising would then be held by the Council’s environment team – organisations seeking to create and/or restore habitats and projects could then bid into the fund, with potential to realise match funding from elsewhere too.

They are interested to discover whether any other local authorities have already taken this approach, or are any considering something similar?

 

G0445 - HR workforce reports – 060320

A member authority is producing a quarterly HR workforce reports for the following service areas: Highway Operations and Maintenance, Asset Renewals, Network Management, Parking, Asset Data & Systems, Supported Transport.

They would like to hear from any other local authorities who are happy to share below statistics relating to these service areas below, so they can see how they compare against other authorities.

• Staff Headcount
• Staff FTE
• Age bandings
• Ethnicity make up, e.g. white, BAME
• Gender split
• % of staff working part time
• Turnover rate
• Average years of service
• Average number of days sickness absence per FTE
• % of temporary staff
• % of staff on temporary contracts
• Spend on agency staff
• Spend on honorariums
• Spend on overtime

 

G0443 - Provision of Advisory Services to the Public - 210220

This APSE member council is exploring the provision of advisory services and they would like to know:-

1. Does your authority provide or host advice services for the general public both statutory and non-statutory?
2. If so, what does the service or services cover; what is the scope of the service(s).
3. How does the service operate - please describe the model providing detail of budget, staff resources & involvement of other agencies/ partners?
4. What features of this model would you consider are delivering well, e.g. in terms of efficiency, innovation, effectiveness etc.?
5. What have been or are the challenges to sustaining the service, and what steps have you employed to tackle these challenges?
6. Would you be willing to be contacted to discuss your service in more detail? Please confirm when replaying to this email.

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G0442 - Collecting customer satisfaction feedback - 170220

An APSE member authority would appreciate your input regarding the following questions:

- What methods do others use to collect customer satisfaction feedback about services i.e. via post, text, phone, online?

- What questions do they ask their customers?

- What level of return rate do they achieve?

- Do they take an approach of satisfied unless told otherwise?

 

G0444 - Coronavirus – measures within schools and workplaces – 030320

This APSE member authority would like to know:

1. Are you introducing any additional measures as a precaution for coronavirus? (E.g. day to day hand washing)

2. Have you introduced hand sanitising gel or are you planning to introduce it across different workplaces, including within schools?

3. Do you have a policy on paying staff required to self-isolate as opposed to staff who are showing symptoms of the virus? Does this include home-working policies where this can be achieved?

4. Have you introduce any further measures or policies that others may wish to consider – such as contingency planning for staff shortages in areas like social care or schools based staff?

 

G0441 - Booking system for school lets - 040220

A local authority currently use the SEEMIS School Lets Module for booking/hiring out our school facilities – to internal and external users. This module is due to be switched off in July 2020 and we are looking to source another system.

1. What booking system do you currently use to book your school lets?
2. Does your current school lets booking system electronically link to your Council’s invoicing system to negate manual generation of invoices?
3. Are you planning to update your booking system in the very near future and if so, what system(s) are your considering?
4. Do you have any other information that might help us when considering future systems?

 

G0440 - Review of Events - 110220

A Member Authority are currently undertaking a review of events. The Member Authority is seeking the following information:-

1. Do you run events at the Council, if so to what scale - how many events, approximately how many visitors, and what resources do you have available for this?

2. What are your main aims in running events?

3. Do you have a specific allocated space to run your events that is specifically set up for events?

4. Do you have sponsorship for your events that support the running of the events? If so on what scale is this sponsorship?

5. Do you receive other external funding for your events e.g. grant funding?

6. Do you staff events with staff members from across the organisation and/or do you have an events team?

7. Do you engage volunteers to help run events, if so how many and what sort of recompense do you provide for their involvement?

8. Do you use any external event management companies to help run your events? If so do you have any recommendations?

9. What support, if any, is given to external partner events?

10. What measures do you use to measure the success of an event?

11. Do you assess the environmental consequences of running events? For example do you have a policy on noise/provide recycling /provision of water to refill bottles/ promotion of reducing your carbon footprint (e.g.- active travel to events, alternative transport methods) as part of your event?

12. Have you conducted an events review and would you be prepared to share it?

 

G0439 - Recruitment & Redeployment Policies - 060220

A member authority is reviewing their employment policies and procedures

If you have the following, please can you share the related documents?

1) Balanced/representative panels as part of the recruitment process
2) Redeployment of employees protocol
3) CV & behavioural recruitment/interviewing

 

G0438 - Building cost information on newly constructed leisure centres, museums and crematoria - 290120

A member authority is currently updating their cost data base and would welcome building cost information on recently constructed leisure centres, museums and crematoriums.

It is appreciated this information may be confidential therefore if you would find it difficult to provide written information but would be willing to speak to the enquiring authority on a 121 basis, could you please state this in your response.

 

G0437 - “Good Ideas” / Staff Suggestion Schemes - 100120

This authority would like to know:

1. Does your authority operate a “Good Ideas Scheme” whereby staff can submit ideas to be considered for implementation?
2. If so, how does the scheme operate?
3. How are ideas evaluated?...... and how often?
4. Is there a funding pot available to support ideas which may require initial funding?
5. Is there a requirement for ideas to be self funding?
6. Is there a “reward” for successful ideas?
7. Would you be willing to share your scheme outline/guidance?