Agenda item

Cllr Ron Woodley introduced the report, providing the Board with a high level overview of the progress made against the Productivity Programme for 2018/19 for the six month period up to the end of September.

Cllr Woodley highlighted the following:

-          The Digital Housing programme is making good progress. The LGA is working with Tunbridge Wells who have led on the Digital Transformation funded programme, supporting five Kent Councils to see if the learning and assets developed can be reused by these other councils.

-          The LGA had invited the MHCLG Minister leading on digital to address the delegates in a keynote speech at the Digital Showcase conference hosted by the LGA on 22 November.

-          It was reported that Southend on Sea Borough Council had obtained £35 million of direct investment, and that every household over the next two years will have superfast broadband connectivity, which is predicted to boost town productivity by £24 million, business start-ups £15 million and increase housing by £93 million.

-          It was noted that the National Advisory Group for Local Government Procurement (NAG) had launched a new national procurement strategy at the LGA Conference. Councils are currently completing a diagnostic exercise and the results will further inform our action plan.

-          The commercial skills masterclasses to help councils become more commercial, have been well received and attended by Councillors.

Cllr Woodley introduced LGA Head of Productivity Susan Attard who highlighted the work aimed at developing a package of support for efficiency, including a self-assessment tool and a range of resources and good practice. Members were invited to contribute to the gathering of best practice and to engage with the development of the content for the self-assessment tool as it is important this is developed by councils.

In the discussion that followed, the following points were raised:

-           A question was raised whether there are sector wide statistics on how many councils can set up a direct debit to pay council tax and online payments. Members were informed that research was conducted a few years ago about transactional activities.

-          Views were expressed that Annex A’s ‘Summary of key outputs RAG rating’, needed an explanation to explain the rationale behind the chosen rating.

-          A view was expressed that the use of the word ‘digital’ in Annex A does not differentiate between different types of ‘digital’ forms. 

Decision:

-          Members noted the report.

Actions:

-          Future reports to explain the RAG rating in Annex A and provide more details to enable a better understanding of the use of the term ‘digital’.