(1)

that the process used to recruit and appoint members of the Transformation team members was appropriate. 

(2)

that the Council does not have a suitable Pay Policy for remuneration of interims and noted that a revised Pay policy would be considered by Council on 31 March 2014.

(3)

that the posts of Head of Portfolio Office and Head of Business and Technology Architecture should be evaluated and graded in line with Plymouth City Council’s process and their appointment should be undertaken by the Appointments Panel.

(4)

that the controls put in place for managing the resources for the council’s transformation programme are robust and represent value for money; and to endorse those controls.

These controls are:

Transformation Costs and Benefits

(a)

Provide regular updates on variations against the three year transformation budget as detailed in the Cabinet budget papers issued on 11 December 2013. Cabinet to approve any major changes to the three year balanced budget;

(b)

Published monitoring throughout 2014/15 against the stated £5.3m costs and £6.5m revenue benefits as detailed in the budget papers approved by Full Council on 24 February 2014;

(c)

Transformation Outline Business Cases have been published that detail resource requirements and estimated benefits. Monthly profiling of anticipated costs and benefits for all individual programmes to be reported to the Members Transformation Board, Transformation Portfolio Board and individual Programme Boards; 

(d)

A “live” risk register is in place that supports the Council’s three year budget which will mitigate spend commitments on transformation in the event of estimated benefits not being realised;

Engagement of Interim Support

(e)

When interims are required for a role, the costs of these are subject to competitive marketplace processes.  HR and Procurement staff will be fully involved in, and made aware of, all interim appointments to ensure compliance with relevant legislation and council policies; 

(f)

Interims have been commissioned with notice periods ranging between two weeks and one calendar month.  The Member Transformation Board will regularly review the target end dates for the use of interim support and take corrective action where relevant.  Where practical, we will seek to backfill interims with fixed term contract appointments in order to reduce costs where possible;

(g)

Amended Pay Policy Statement presented to Full Council on 31 March 2014 that sets out a policy for payments to interims and regular reporting arrangements for spend.

Independent Assurance

(h)

Co-ordination of all spend and forecast information on transformation will be through an independent Portfolio Accountant who reports directly to the Council’s Section 151 Officer;

(i)

As detailed in the Transformation report approved by Cabinet on 25 March 2014, an independent quality assurance review will be commissioned in April 2014 to validate, and advise on, the overall structure, (with associated costs), that the Council has adopted for its transformation programme;

(j)

Dedicated time has been set within the internal audit work programme to support transformation and there is an open invite for audit to attend all Board meetings and access information as required.