2011

Survey/questionnaire for user departments on Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) – TVM0095/151211
This authority are currently looking at setting up SLA's for their customers that use their vehicle hire and maintenance services, and wanted to set up a survey/questionnaire that consults with the user departments on what the SLA's should contain. Ideally 12-15 questions in length, the survey should address a range of issues surrounding vehicle maintenance and fleet management. They would like to know if any of your members have carried out a similar exercise and would be willing to share any surveys that they have come up with.

Setting up an MOT Test facility –TVM0094/071211
This authority are currently looking at setting up an MOT Test facility for the testing of class 4,5,7 and possibly goods vehicles. They would appreciate feedback from members on the following questions:

• How long does it take to set the facility up (given this authority have the premises)?
• What were the initial capital set up costs and over what period were these recovered?
• Do you MOT test all your own vehicle that fall within the classes stated and if not what were the reasons?
• Do you MOT test licence trade vehicles and is this additional to the licence requirement and at what frequency?
• Do you test council employee vehicles?
• Do you test the general public’s vehicles?
• What were the trend patterns of uptake and use of the facility by licence trade members, the councils own staff and the general public and at what point does this become static?
• What market research did you do to arrive at the test rates and how did you advertise the new facility?
• Are there any recommendations, lessons learned or advice you could offer regarding this project?

Co-location of vehicle maintenance –TVM0092/281111
This authority would like to find out if other authorities have a shared vehicle maintenance facility (workshop) for other organisation including the council; for example, fire services, police, etc.

Fleet strategy documents –TVM0090/211111
This council would like to know if any authorities have any formally adopted Fleet Strategy documents, and whether they willing to share their examples (draft or final).

Charging and trading and localised bus routes/TVM0089/181011
This member authority is considering insourcing some local additional bus routes and providing the service directly using excess capacity within its fleet and transport unit. The routes are currently operated by a range of private operators and are designed to meet needs in local services that would otherwise not be met by existing bus routes. They would like to know:

• If your service already provides some additional routes – such as to rural communities or vulnerable residents?
• Have you encountered any specific legal barriers to running such routes or objections from private operators?
• Did you liaise or seek assurances from your local passenger transport authority that you were not
• running in contravention of any Transport / Bus regulations?
• Did you exercise your charging powers to assist with the cost of the service – eg charging the bus passengers for use.

PPE garments provided to vehicle mechanics –TVM0088/190711
This council has an issue regarding the type and style of PPE garments provided to vehicle mechanics.  

They currently provide and launder 5 pairs cotton or polycotton coverall/overalls for each member of staff.

With the recent increased temperature, staff are complaining that these are inappropriate PPE due to the weather condition and would prefer to wear trousers and jackets or trousers and polo shirts. Could other authorities please advise what PPE clothing they use and whether Health and Safety Risk Assessments led to the type of garment provided and worn.

Workforce pay scales and structures RHO151/ 280611
This authority is rationalising the workforce grades and pay across the StreetCare function which includes up to 250 grounds, cleansing and highways staff. They are looking at a proposal for 4 to 6 job descriptions or role profiles to span from charge hand to a basic operative. Each will have a defined set of competencies and responsibilities.

As part of this process they would like to gather some benchmarking information and any examples of similar exercises carried out in other authorities, specifically information on:

Grades and associated pay scale information for

• charge hands,
• skilled workforce (such as street lighting electricians, brick layers etc)
• semi skilled workforce (such as gully teams, paver operators etc),
• operatives

Examples of structure charts for the operational workforce.

Salary / pay ranges for the operational workforce.

Fleet management and maintenance TVM0087/050711
This local authority is currently reviewing its arrangements for fleet management and maintenance and would like to hear from other councils about the different delivery methods for their fleet procurement, supply and maintenance service together with an opportunity to discuss your experiences further.

Apprentice pay rates for craft mechanics –TVM0085/230511
This local authority would like to find out from other councils what their apprentice pay rates are for craft mechanics and any allowances they get i.e. tool allowance:

• 1st year
• 2nd year
• 3rd year
• 4th year

They would also like to know if they are being paid by either Green Book , Red Book or any other conditions.