The Scottish Government

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Public Information Notices Portal

The Public Information Notices (PINs) Portal, currently being developed will provide a one-stop shop for all statutory public information notices that local authorities are legally required to publish. The aim is to revolutionise local authority statutory advertising. Like any organisation seeking to communicate with the public, local authorities have to adapt. The PINs Portal is seen as an innovative, flexible and effective method to meet customer demand and provide improved accessible information to a wider audience. The concept is to create a new channel of communication to local communities via the internet. This will enable councils to provide local information regarding services - such as road closures or construction work, planning or property developments, licensing and all other types of approved and proposed projects - in a clear and easy to use format.

Work undertaken across the Scottish public sector in 2006 identified a key opportunity for efficiency gains and service improvements within public information notice (PIN) advertising. Local government have collectively identified a need to reduce advertising spend on public information notices, ensuring statutory requirements are met, and maintaining or improving the current provision of public notice information.

The concept was to create a new channel of communication to local communities via the internet, enabling councils to provide local information regarding services such as roads, planning, licensing and all other types of approved and proposed projects in a clear and easy to use format.

The key deliverables for the PIN project included:

• advertising guidelines for publication of PINs
• a shared on-line Public Notices Portal available to all 32 councils
• hosting and maintenance arrangements
• sponsorship and ongoing funding arrangements

By delivering these different elements there would be more accessible public information notices with greater interactivity with the citizens and an improved perception of local government. A reduction in local government advertising spend will also be realised, demonstrating efficiencies in the spending of public money.

This project has contended with a number of delays, which has meant it is behind the original timeline. The Improvement Service, in collaboration with COSLA has created guidelines for reducing the costs of advertising for councils. A portal solution has been built with interfaces to other sites now complete. The project has now entered into a pilot testing phase with interim hosting and maintenance arrangements. A project working group made up of Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow, Inverclyde and South Lanarkshire, who have been involved in the project at an early stage, is now actively assisting during this phase of the project. A number of other identified councils; Perth & Kinross, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee and East Renfrewshire have also, following individual awareness sessions and system demonstrations, requested involvement in the pilot testing which is being progressed. The portal is currently called 'tellme scotland' during this pilot phase. Local Government is currently undertaking work on establishing the legislative changes required in order to fulfil the potential of the portal. The changing of legislation is an important element in successfully implementing a rollout of the system to all councils. Also, the full financial benefits of the project cannot be realised until legislation is changed which is a key motivational factor for the majority of local government in adopting the system. Scottish Government has assisted in identifying the approach required for legislation to change.

Shared Workforce Planning

The Shared Workforce Planning theme is about a range of new capacities required to support councils and local government as a whole in becoming an employer of choice. The collaborative initiatives covered planning for the right workforce to meet customer needs, effective competition in the recruitment of the right people and widening the talent pool available and developing and training the workforce

Shared Workforce Planning Project

The aim of the Shared Workforce Planning project is to ensure local authorities have the right people, in the right place, at the right time and cost, to drive workforce efficiencies and raise service quality across the whole of Scotland's Local Government. Significant workforce challenges face local councils in Scotland. Attracting, retaining and developing staff is becoming more challenging due to major changes in the demographics of Scotland. These changes will fundamentally shift the demand for council services and reduce the number of potential employees available. Councils need to understand their resource capacity and demand to manage their resources strategically against these challenges or they will face increased shortages, subsequent salary inflation and negative impacts to service quality

The overall objectives are to:

• create a national and/or regional workforce management and planning capability;
• drive maximum benefits by working across as many councils as possible;
• develop shared services where there are financial and/or quality benefits, BUT keep what is done best locally local;
• support development and communication of best practices in workforce management and planning; and
• raise councils to a consistent level of workforce management and planning.

Although funded through the Efficiency and Reform Fund this project has experienced a number of delays. As a result the project is still in its infancy. The expected benefits to be gained from this project include:

• better management of labour supply and quality at national, regional and local levels to meet demand;
• reduce competition between councils for staff;
• increase collaboration to increase specific labour supply;
• promote the sharing of best practice, and development of benchmarks;
• learning, development and training spend to be more effective and sized correctly to meet the future skills needs of councils; and
• ability to plan and manage the workforce effectively will improve service quality by having the right people, in the right place, at the right time, at the right cost.

Shared Recruitment Portal - myjobscotland

Attracting, retaining and developing staff is becoming more challenging for all employers, including Scottish local government. Councils face not only a reduction in the number of potential employees available, but also fundamental shifts in demands on council services that impact on workforce requirements. Local government needs to make effective use of resources in delivering improved performance and that depends on being able to compete effectively for candidates. Increasingly, this is conducted in an online environment.

The Improvement Service in collaboration with COSLA and the Society of Personnel Directors Scotland developed the myjobscotland Recruitment Portal, a shared electronic recruitment portal allowing all 32 Scottish local authorities to recruit from a wider pool of employees and support more effective recruitment practices, thereby reducing advertising expense and improving efficiency and productivity.

The model is used by global companies and therefore the concept is scalable across the wider public sector. The benefit of the myjobscotland recruitment portal is that it is a way of opening up single point of access to a great variety of jobs, for the moment in local government, but hopefully over time across the public sector.

The myjobscotland portal went live in June 2008, by the time it was officially launched on 5 November 2008 there were 38,000 applications on line.

The aim of the portal is to enhance and promote local government as an employer of choice offering excellent career opportunities and, in doing so, influence the perceptions of those people who are active in the jobs market. The employer of choice brand is designed to enable local government to compete with the private sector for quality staff particularly in sectors where there are skills shortages.

From an efficiency perspective, the full roll out and implementation of the portal is expected to reduce the recruitment costs and generate efficiency gains in staffing and non staff costs, as well as providing an opportunity to refresh HR practices within councils.

The portal will be judged as being successful in the eyes of job applicants if it is simple to use and therefore the image of local government as an employer is enhanced. Equally an improved understanding of the range of careers available and skills required by councils will attract a wider audience of job applicant. In addition to Scottish Local Authorities using the recruitment portal, its use has also been adopted by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, the second largest fire service in the UK. The portal is able to handle the massive level of applications Strathclyde Fire and Rescue receive for the position of fire fighters. This allows their Human Resource team to focus on improving candidate contact rather than simply administering bulk applications.

Case Studies - Perth & Kinross

The council comprises over 142,000 inhabitants in the very heart of Scotland and is one of the first local authorities to embrace online recruitment. The council was one of the first to sign up to myjobscotland. Since going live with myjobscotland in August 2008, Perth & Kinross Council has significantly streamlined its application process, reducing the time it takes to advertise, interview candidates and fill vacancies by a third.

In 2007 Perth & Kinross received 17,000 completed application forms - 40 per cent of which were on paper. With all correspondence previously handled through the post, acknowledging each application was highly admin intensive, meaning that the average time to hire was 78 days. Since joining myjobscotland in August, the proportion of electronic applications the authority receives has rocketed to 96 per cent, reducing the paper it handles by some 90 per cent. The process has been so streamlined that one candidate was placed just 15 days after making the initial application.

Myjobscotland has also enabled Perth & Kinross to handle the resourcing for high demand jobs such as clerical positions much more effectively. The council advertises 100 clerical jobs each year, attracting, on average, 100 applications for each position. Since online application forms can be tailored to specific roles, they can now tailor application forms to every role they advertise and automatically sift every application on receipt. Before the system was implemented, 60-70 per cent of candidates applying for clerical jobs did not have the qualifications necessary for the position. Now the council can save time by not having to process large quantities of unsuitable applications, whilst also identifying higher quality candidates faster and more cost effectively.

Colin Baird, Senior Personnel Officer and Employee Relations Team Leader, Perth and Kinross Council, comments, "Implementing myjobscotland has enabled us to process almost every application online, greatly reducing our administrative burden and the time commitment required from hiring managers. The system enables us to make fast decisions and let applicants know if they have been successful very quickly. As a result of this, in just three months since going live with myjobscotland, we've been able to cut time to hire by a third and expect these improvements to continue over the course of the next year".

Gavin Stevenson, Director of Corporate Services, said, "the portal has demonstrated we can work together to deliver improved customer service and to free up valuable resources for front line services - in our case £100,000 in 2009/10".

The North Ayrshire Experience

The council have around 7,000 employees, serving a population of 130,000 on the west coast of Scotland. North Ayrshire Council went live on the portal on day one on 16th June 2008, transferring all of their vacancies and processes to myjobscotland; this has lead to significant benefits in terms of time, advertising and stationery savings. It has also contributed to job improvement within the personnel service.

In the first fortnightly advertising cycle in June 2008, 60 % of vacancies were on-line, and the north-Ayrshire micro-site received in excess of 200,000 hits. Within 3 months the number of vacancies had increased to over 90%, with many posts, including lower graded jobs, receiving only on-line applications.

The introduction of myjobscotland has also dramatically improved the clerical assistant role within the central resourcing team. As very little time is now spent on basic transaction work such as photocopying application forms and posting information to potential candidates. This has allowed the team to take on a wider and more interesting remit.

Use of the reporting function in the portal has also allowed personnel to give very specific advice on recruitment advertising and therefore target spend more effectively, as it is now simple and clear to see the source of all candidates and those who are appointed to positions. It is expected recruitment advertising spend will be reduced by £180,000 in the first complete year of using myjobscotland. This saving will be achieved by the use of composite signpost adverts, directing candidates to myjobscotland and the use of more appropriate press advertising, tailored by use of statistical information from the portal.

"The portal will be able to give us considerable savings both in time and money!" Miriam Oliphant, North Ayrshire Council

Murray Macfarlane - Assistant Chief Executive North Ayrshire Council and President of the Society of Scottish Personnel Directors Scotland, said, "The idea for a recruitment portal was developed within the Society of Personnel Directors. By working together across Scottish local government and in partnership with COSLA and the Improvement Service, we have been able to put in place a world class e-recruitment solution for local government. This has helped with standardising processes and application forms - key to improving the experience of job applicants. The recruitment portal will also help us to collaborate in the future on campaigns for the recruitment and retention of key skills as well as supporting our work on developing workforce planning across local government".

Strathclyde Fire and Rescue

Serving a population of about 2.3 million people across a 14,000 square kilometre area that ranges from rural and island communities to Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue is the second largest fire service in the UK and Europe. It employs over 3,500 full time, part time and voluntary staff across the entire Strathclyde region, ranging from the role of Fire-fighter to all support and operational personnel. Its adoption of myjobscotland ( www.myjobscotland.gov.uk), will not only support its drive to attract employees in remote rural and island communities, but also handle the massive level of applications it receives for Fire-fighter positions throughout the year, enabling the human resources team to focus on improving candidate contact rather than simply administering bulk application forms.

With the annual recruitment push to fill 350 Fire-fighter positions resulting in over 8,000 applications, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue can now reduce the vast amount of time its HR staff spend dealing with paper-based administration, by completely removing paper from the process. It will now be able to focus on securing top quality candidates. The myjobscotland portal also adds a much needed consistency to the recruitment process, enabling the service to deal with a steady flow of 20 CVs per week, as opposed to the massive influx of documents received after standalone recruitment campaigns.

Graham Haugh, HR Director at Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, comments, "Strathclyde Fire and Rescue is delighted to be part of myjobscotland. The role of Fire-fighter is a very popular vacancy and our recent advertisement generated 8,000 initial applications. Handling that level of interest within a manual recruitment process is very challenging but our process has been streamlined and has enabled us to have a greater focus on the management of candidates. The recruitment team is now more engaged in improving processes and candidate contact rather than simply administering bulk application forms. The Portal will also ease our communication with Strathclyde's most remote communities and we are confident this will greatly assist with vacancy management in those areas".

Clyde Valley Learning and Development

The Clyde Valley Learning and Development Project's main objective was to establish a shared approach to training, learning and development between the Clyde Valley Councils (South Lanarkshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, Glasgow City Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Renfrewshire Council, East Dunbartonshire Council, Inverclyde Council and West Dunbartonshire Council). The benefits from such a project ranged from overall efficiencies in cashable and non-cashable savings, development and application of improved standards, a consistent approach to training, learning and development, reducing and ultimately eliminating duplication of effort and ensuring equality of opportunity for all Clyde Valley employees in accessing appropriate learning and development.

Partnerships

From the outset of the project it has been evident that the formation of a robust partnership between member councils is the key to successfully identifying opportunities and implementing solutions. This partnership approach has developed a sense of ownership of the Clyde Valley's work plan which means that member councils now think in terms of a Clyde Valley solution when addressing learning and development issues within each council.

The groundwork involved in establishing a sense of mutual trust and confidence made initial progress slower than might have been anticipated before implementing change. This together with the realisation that not all the member councils were at the same stage of development dictated a pragmatic approach which recognised that for most situations one size did not fit all. The result has been a series of emerging ideas for both development and implementation, with the groundwork in building the partnership offering genuine encouragement that the shared approach will continue across the Clyde Valley beyond 2009.

Technology

It was anticipated that the extended use of technology in the field of learning and development would be a central aspect of the Clyde Valley's work. Two distinct approached have been identified as a means to harness technology to meet the groups needs. Firstly online portfolio software for use by candidates undertaking vocational qualifications. Secondly the development of a common learning management system to allow hosting, tracking and reporting of the use of e-learning content by the Clyde Valley councils.

Through the Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ) sub group, the Clyde Valley group has successfully implemented the use of online portfolios using a product named Learning Assistant. Five of the partner councils have now taken up the use of this product to facilitate the delivery of SVQs within their respective councils. Through the Clyde Valley partnership approach, evidence suggests that each council has saved around 33% of assessor time by using online portfolios. In addition, at the point of purchase, each council has saved £2,500 for the installation of the system with a further saving of £10,708 being realised through achieving a preferential rate for user licences purchased centrally by the Clyde Valley rather than by purchasing on a council by council basis.

The Clyde Valley Group has now issued a tender for the supply of a common learning management system and associated e-learning modules. The completed tendering process is on target to be awarded by 1st August 2009. Although this is a work in progress, the business case for change estimates that savings of around 30% may be achieved in purchasing alone, through the Clyde Valley approach. The increased availability of e-learning content which this system supports will also generate significant savings for each council as a blended approach reduces the need for employees to attend traditional training events as frequently, while still delivering essential training and learning requirements.

Outcomes from the Clyde Valley Work streams

The Clyde Valley Councils are undertaking eight work streams in order to deliver the above benefits with further subject areas emerging throughout the lifespan of the project.

First Aid training - Glasgow City Council Direct and Care Services (DACS) deliver this training on behalf of the Clyde Valley Group. Over 1,500 employees from East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire Councils have participated in this training since its inception. Training is delivered in "hubs" throughout the Clyde Valley with mixed groups of employees from Clyde Valley councils attending, thereby reducing travel time.

Delivering First Aid training through this delivery model has yielded on average savings of some 8% across the Clyde Valley or in cash terms some £6,600 to date.

This shared approach to purchasing and commissioning common training for more than one council has proven to be a successful model that can be replicated elsewhere. Since establishing this way of working the model has been replicated by three other Scottish Councils (North, East and South Ayrshire).

Diversity - A training package has now been developed and customised to reflect individual councils' requirements. The e-learning package is now available in versions for front line staff and for managers. The economies of scale derived from shared development and procurement amount to a saving of some 60% when compared with prices quoted for single council purchase.

Delivery of Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) - During the initial period of the SVQ project (up to June 2008), the quantified saving achieved across the Clyde Valley councils was some £45,197. This in part was due to a change in the nature and structure of the SVQ in Administration, however, these savings were also attributed to the reduction in assessor time required due to the use of online portfolios. This use has now been increased from three councils to five with the potential for further expansion in the future.

The shared approach has also yielded a further partnership between North and South Lanarkshire Councils whereby two tranches of 16 candidates from North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) have had the SVQ delivered by South Lanarkshire Council (SLC). The income of some £18,000 has thus been retained within the Clyde Valley with no additional resources required to deliver the programmes. This has been accommodated from savings in time achieved through the online portfolio approach.

The group continues to investigate further opportunities for savings and sharing good practice, such as reviewing the number of accredited VQ centres throughout the Clyde Valley. An evaluation of these and other opportunities is planned for phase two of the project.

Accredited Management Training - Two distinct projects developed by this sub-group have yielded significant successes to demonstrate the merits of a shared approach to delivery of accredited management training. The first of these involved the delivery of training by the Clyde Valley partners on behalf of Glasgow City Council. Clyde Valley training staff are now involved in supporting Glasgow City Council to deliver Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) award level programmes for an initial tranche of 500 first line managers.

A schedule of eight award programmes was delivered in Glasgow City Council between November 2008 and April 2009. These eight programmes are being delivered by trainers from all four of the accredited ILM providing councils (Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire Councils). Training staff are effectively seconded to the Clyde Valley Project for the duration of each training programme, thereby maximising the overall capacity of the Clyde Valley to deliver this training programme within the required timescale. Progress with this model is evaluated at the end of each course and at the end of the eight scheduled programmes.

As part of the ongoing objective to achieve Best Value for the Clyde Valley Councils, a second project emerged in parallel with this work. The sub group has been involved in evaluating the opportunities provided by another organisation which also accredits first line management and leadership training. This strand of work has already yielded cash savings of over £4,000.00 to the Clyde valley Councils. The ongoing savings are represented in time savings through accredited assignments being externally marked. The pilot programme is currently being evaluated to quantify these savings.

Management Development - North and South Lanarkshire Councils are now delivering the newly accredited management development programme in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). As a new programme the process of development, accreditation and validation was commended by the academic board of the university for both its innovation and the high level of partnership and collaborative working between the three parties. In addition, the negotiated rate for delivery reflects the level of investment in time contributed by both councils.

The programme has been the subject of significant interest from across the Clyde Valley councils and discussions and evaluations are now underway about options for the future delivery of the programme.

The first tranche of 25 students has recently graduated from the post-graduate certificate programme, with tranches two and three also now underway. The first post-graduate diploma programme is scheduled to begin in autumn 2009.

Social Care - Representatives from all eight of the Clyde Valley Councils have reviewed the provisions for training in social care. Other parties with an interest are also represented on the group. These include Scottish Social Services Learning Network (West) and the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS).

The group focus is on sharing training content between authorities, developing materials and identifying opportunities where a joint approach will yield benefits, either in cost or time or in raising the quality and standard of outcomes for participants.

Phase one of the group's work has identified four key subject areas for development through a shared approach. These are moving and handling, food hygiene (REHIS), generic child protection and anti-racist training.

The group members have gathered data in two of the key subject areas, specifically moving and handling training and food hygiene training, and have analysed current costs and quality of the training provision. This work has identified a disparity in the costs of delivery and in the type and frequency of training. As a result, a tender for the provision of these services has been produced, and is anticipated to be awarded in September 2009.

Further subject areas have been identified in phase two, including Social Work managers' induction, adult and child protection, challenging behaviour management and personal safety.

Equality Training -The Equality Training sub group has identified a number of areas of common concern. These include training for Equality Impact Assessment, provision of translation and interpreting services and developing consistent standards for equality training.

In terms of priority, establishing a consistent standard for equality training in councils is felt to be critical. The group is currently identifying an appropriate person to undertake the task of drawing up such standards. In addition, the on-line impact assessment used by South Lanarkshire Council is being made available to all partners in the Clyde Valley and customised where appropriate. An audit of provision of equality training currently being provided for managers and supervisors has been completed and will be used to target common development needs.

Elected member training - the officers' sub group has now been established and has been exploring opportunities for joint training provision. An initial audit of planned training and possible development opportunities has suggested there may be scope for the shared provision in the subjects of planning regulations, scrutiny and code of conduct, finance, personal safety, media training / presentations and public speaking.

Members of the group have now begun to circulate information between councils where shared events can be held. In the first instance Glasgow City Council ran a course entitled 'Introduction to Local Government Finance' for elected members. The course, delivered by CIPFA, was hosted by Glasgow City Council and was attended by elected members from all seven of the other Clyde Valley Councils free of charge. Subsequent invitations have also been circulated covering Planning Responsibilities and Effective Chairing of Meetings.

Future Activities

The project implementation steering group has delivered the first of a series of development days to review progress to date, identify further subject areas for phase three of the project and evaluate the existing delivery outcomes in more detail.

Specific interest in the work of the project has expanded the project's membership through the admission of Associate Members. To date North and South Ayrshire Councils have formally joined and discussions are under way with East Ayrshire Council on a similar basis.

Many of the barriers to establishing the project have now been overcome, and both the project's Joint Committee and the member councils remain as committed as ever to achieving the objectives and realising the potential of the project.

As a workforce development project, the primary activities address the learning and development needs of all the employees of the Clyde Valley councils. However, in attempting to demonstrate best value in the delivery of appropriate and targeted learning and development, the outcomes delivered remain focused on each council delivering excellence in all service areas to the general public across the Clyde Valley.

The continued monitoring of outcomes achieved, standards delivered, feedback from service users, staff, managers and elected members will continue to play a central role in measuring the project's ongoing achievements and ensuring that service standards of delivery remain the ultimate measure of success.

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