Agenda item

The Democracy Service Manager and Electoral Services Manager gave a presentation on each section of the 2007/08 Democracy service plan.

Section 1 – Setting the scene: the context and drivers of the service were outlined together with a current staff structure chart. The key issues facing the service were the district and parish elections in May 2007, significant change brought about by the Electoral Administration Act 2006 and the local government white paper. Preparation for the election would start in January 2007 and would be undertaken by the whole team alongside regular committee support work. The Electoral Administration Act had required significantly more work to ensure a higher response rate, personal identifiers for postal voters and enhanced duties on the electoral registration officer during the register canvass. Voters could now register up to eleven days before an election, thereby increasing pressures on election staff to keep candidates up to date. A “golden threads” diagram showed how the service supported the vision and priorities of the council. A completed balanced scorecard was circulated at the meeting.

Section 2 – Where are we now?: key achievements for the service were identified in the plan and the officer outlined a benchmarking exercise, which had revealed that the service operated with less than average staff but serviced a high number of meetings.

Section 3 – Where do we need to be?: the completed SWOT and PESTLE analyses were included in the plan.

Section 4 – How do we get there?: an action plan with several objectives were included.

Section 5 – Gershon & Efficiency: savings were identified.

Section 6 – Financial Summary: the financial summary was included together with business cases for deviations.

Section 7 – Risk: risks were identified in the plan, mainly associated with reduced staff resources.

Conclusions:

Having reviewed the 2007/08 service plan for Customer Services against the Gateway Review 2 checklist (plus an additional question: where can savings be made?), the Engagement DSP found that:

1.      All budget figures for the current year and future years had been identified in the service plan.

2.      All staffing resources had been identified and costed in the service plan.

3.      All other relevant costs had been identified and included in the service plan.

4.      There was clear quantification of how the service contributed towards the council priorities.

5.      Inflationary increases, other than increased staffing costs, had been absorbed. 

6.      The balanced score card was complete and evidenced.

7.      There were currently no income streams to identify. 

8.      Gershon efficiency savings had been identified and evidenced.

9.      Risks had been identified and actions for mitigation applied.

10.Major deviations to the current budget had been identified.

11.Equality costs had been identified in relation to elections and were incorporated into the existing service.

12.Section 4 of the service plan had been adequately completed and resources costs identified.

13.The SWOT analysis had been completed.

14.The PESTLE analysis had been completed.

15.The financial summary had been completed.

16.Major procurement proposals for the next three years had been identified.

17.Service staff had been consulted on compilation of the service plan during team meetings and preparation stages. 

18.There were currently no capital projects identified for the next 3-5 years.

19.The only opportunity for savings would be to reduce support to non-essential meetings such as working groups.