Agenda item

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to antony.nash@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk  by 8.30am on 17/03/2025

When submitting your question or statement please note that:

•         You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.

•         a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.

•         It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.

•         Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.

•         when submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder)

•         Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting.

•         questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda.

•         all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

Question from Becky Brookman from Unison

As a union representing the workforce, we have several concerns regarding the "Our Future Council 2024" transformation programme outlined in the report:

1. Lack of Engagement and Communication:

The report highlights the rapid scaling of the transformation programme and the engagement of external expertise to achieve savings. However, there is no mention of meaningful engagement with the union or the workforce to gather input and address concerns. This lack of involvement isn't shown as a lesson learned from the failures of 2024.

2. Unrealistic Savings Targets:

The initial savings target of £8.6 million for 2024/25 was not met, and the new target for 2025/26 is set at £10 million. The report acknowledges the high-risk nature of these targets and the challenges faced in achieving them. The transformation programme is heavily focused on achieving financial savings, with less emphasis on the well-being and development of employees. This approach can lead to a disengaged workforce and higher turnover rates

3. Impact of Organisational Changes:

The report mentions significant organisational changes, including the change of political leadership and the introduction of a whole-council transformation programme. These changes can create uncertainty and instability within the workforce, affecting morale and productivity.  The change of Chief Executive may also impact the ability to deliver savings.

4. Resource Constraints:

The report indicates that additional capacity was required to complete the whole council discovery phase, leading to the engagement of external consultants. This raises concerns about the capacity of internal resources and the potential for over-reliance on external support, which may not be sustainable in the long term, there is potential to upskill our workforce using apprenticeships if we know what skills are needed.

Given these concerns, we urge the council to engage more effectively with the union and the workforce to ensure that the transformation objectives are met in a manner that supports both organisational goals and employee well-being.

Question: The council have been very clear in discussions with Unison that the longer OFC savings take, the more jobs that will need to be cut. How many additional jobs will be lost due to the councils’ failure to deliver any savings from OFC 2024?

Response from Aidan Dunn, Executive Director Corporate Development:

1. We consider our engagement and communication as positive with full and regular engagement continuous throughout 2024/25. This has included many meetings with unions and a multitude of engagement sessions and information sharing with colleagues throughout the organisation that are all catalogued.  

2. Turnover has not been impacted, and a People and Culture strategy has been developed alongside a refresh of our values to underpin our journey. Financial resilience is just one of the outcomes for our future council. Finance is the focus for this report in response to the key lines of enquiry. 

3. Our interim Chief Executive has shared his priorities, including providing a steady hand over our future council transformation as one of his three priorities with full cooperation of our senior leadership team who meet weekly as a programme board. While we are in a period of change, this is reflective of wider changes in the sector and the transformation programme is predicated on making us a more sustainable organisation in the future.  

4. The skills and capacity required for our future council transformation have been documented, and the associated investment was included in the business case approved by the cabinet in January 2025. The current programme has a blended approach to external and internal resources and based on business need this will continue to be developed moving forwards.  

Response to Question: 

No additional jobs will be lost as the £8.6M was funded from reserves. The planned reduction of 386 FTE will occur in 2025/26 and 2026/27, as outlined in the business case approved in January 2025. However, accepting that the transformation programme may lead to changes that may be uncomfortable, we acknowledge that delays will increase budget pressures, making it crucial to support a well-planned transformation programme moving forward.