The Scottish Government

Project Name: SHARED WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING

Current Stage

SRO: Joe Di Paulo

Vision

PM: TBC

Project Commissioning

Project Initiation

Implement

SE lead officer

Estimated Project Cost : £200000

Operate

Estimated Start / End July 2007 - November 2008

What is the background to the project and the context in which it was established, what were the issues/drivers/opportunities which led to its inception- why?Background and context:

• COSLA Leaders agreed that there should be a national workforce management and planning capacity for local government in February 2007, they requested more detailed consultation with councils regarding scope, size and costs of any proposed unit set within COSLA as well as councils input to service delivery. Funding was obtained from Scottish Government to take this forward.

•COSLA accordingly commissioned a Consultant who has held discussions with representatives of the HR and OD functions of most councils together with the Heads of Personnel Forum, the Society of Personnel Directors Scotland (SPDS) and SOLACE.

•The Consultant has effectively engaged the principal stakeholders and ensured that a comprehensive understanding of the potential benefits of a national capacity have been achieved. The Consultant's report has set out 'milestones' for a new unit and proposed a staff complement of four staff and a director post as well as governance arrangements for the project. The approach should be built on the principles set out in the original business case:-

-What is best done locally, should be done locally;

-Regional or national services can only be developed if there are clear gains from collaboration at these levels; and

-Governance and management arrangements should be minimal.

-Be pragmatic in approach, therefore it should start out small

-Should initially be for a fixed period so that it can prove its worth

-Be strategic and commissioning, therefore it should have clear areas of responsibility; and

-Have a well defined business plan and clear key deliverables

•SOLACE and COSLA Leaders agreed on the 25th January that they would proceed to appoint an individual to lead on working with stakeholders and councils to establish practical examples of the specific areas of activity that a national capacity would be engaged in. The aim is to generate the underpinning management information data and processes that will support effective action planning and provide a basis for engaging skills councils etc.

Objectives & Benefits -What are the aims/objectives/benefits & deliverables that the project is seeking to achieve, what improvements will there be as a result of this project - what?

•The overall objectives are to 1) Create a national and/or regional workforce management and planning capability; 2) Drive maximum benefits by working across as many councils as possible; 3) Develop shared services where there are financial and/or quality benefits, BUT keep what is done best locally, local; 4) Support development and communication of best practices in workforce management and planning; 5) Raise councils to a consistent level of workforce management and planning.

•This phase of work will:

-Marshal existing labour market analysis and workforce planning data and approaches

-Work with councils to create national demographic data templates to gather consistent and relevant data

-Support councils in collecting information, using information and developing local workforce planning.

-Analyse data to identify resourcing and skills trends and issues to improve councils' capability to interpret and apply data in their own workforce planning activity.

-work with COSLA and stakeholders to promote local government requirements with universities, colleges, skills councils, etc.

The project is seeking to achieve the following savings

The benefits will come from well designed workforce strategies, succession planning, talent management, workforce-wide capacity planning, supporting the development of an improvement culture, better brand position of local councils as an employer of choice, etc. To put the size of the potential opportunity into perspective, it is not inconceivable that these capabilities can increase the productivity of councils by 1% which is worth £60m a year or £600m over ten years [1]

[ 1] Scottish Executive: Council staff costs 2004/5 = £6bn * 1% = £60m per year

Improvements / Benefits as a result of this project will be:

•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 more effective and sized correctly to meet the future skills needs of councils.

•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.

Stakeholders and governance-Which organisations are involved in delivering the project, what are their roles and responsibilities, who is accountable? Who are the key stakeholders to whom the project is relevant?- who?

The grant is held by the Improvement Service and this work is being commissioned through COSLA.

A senior project manager will be appointed to manage this phase on a day to day basis. A steering group will be established to guide the work of the project and will include representatives from:

•COSLA Employers Organisation

•SOLACE

•Society of Personnel Director of Scotland

•Improvement Service

The steering group will ultimately be accountable to COSLA, and progress on expenditure will be reported through the Improvement Service to the Scottish Government. The Steering group will also support COSLA in the oversight of the ongoing support and development of the Recruitment Portal and the Clyde Valley Learning and Development initiatives.

Progress and Issues-What specific progress has been achieved to date ? -Milestones met/achievements?

Have any issues arisen causing delays in the work plan? Is project delivery still on schedule?

This high level implementation plan is based on the design phase of the project starting on 2ndMay 2007.

Key deliverables and milestones are:

May 2007: COSLA Leaders and NSSB agreement to proceed to detailed design and funding in place COMPLETE

May 2007: Steering Group established, project team in place and PID agreed COMPLETE

July 2007: Detailed design complete

July 2007: Draft updated business case and implementation plan available

Aug 2007: Individual sign off by each local authority

Aug 2007: Funding agreed and memoranda of understanding signed

Nov 2007:Detailed discussions held with all councils, report published which builds on existing business case. More detailed work needed to confirm priorities, scope and resourcing levels.

January 2007: COSLA Leaders and NSSB agreement to proceed to next stage of development COMPLETE

March 2008 Next Phase Steering Group/Reference Group established (include links with Rec Portal and Clyde Valley)

Brief for Phase agreed by Steering Group and Senior Project lead profile

Opportunities for using existing data/analysis reviewed and agreed.

April 2008: Senior Project manager appointed

May/June 2008: Existing data, Leading practice, templates etc gathered.

'Known' hotspots/priorities gathered from councils

Templates developed and agreed with councils

Development Support put in place (2-4 individuals to work with groups of councils)

July-September: Work with councils to collect data

May-November: Promotion of Local Government interests with key stakeholders

October: Collation and Analysis.

November: Report to COSLA leaders and Draft Business Plan

March 2009: National capacity

Budget-What is the overall budget for the project and how is this to be released? What is the spend to date, is this as forecast?- how much?

This next stage of work will demonstrate what is needed in practice and will practically engage all stakeholders with what the local and national needs are. This will build experience and capacity, making progress towards allowing COSLA and individual councils - good enough to allow councils to sign up to the necessary funding and governance arrangements for a permanent capacity.

The case has been made for the principle and the range of services. The funds made available have been used to affirm this and engage stakeholders with a practical way ahead in a difficult area. This data gathering phase will cement the case for the right action.

Risks-What are the main risks in terms of project management, stakeholder engagement and communications, delivery approach and benefits realisation? What can be done to mitigate against these risks?- what if?

Risks

Impact/Probability

Actions

Resourcing-lack of appropriate lead person prevents project from proceeding.

High/Low

Resourcing-use multiple sourcing routes

Resourcing-Insufficient council resource available to support the development of the project which may mean it veers off course.

High/High

Resourcing-Support for councils is built into the revised project.

Stakeholders-There is limited political or managerial buy-in from Scottish local authorities to a shared service which may result in a lack of a viable business case.

High/Medium

Stakeholders-Leaders and SOLACE committed to the shape of this phase, Consultative inclusive approach to be adopted, Steering group/Reference Group to be developed as part of the project to ensure buy in and commitment and formal review of project viability undertaken over the life of this phase.