You’ve already heard me and other senior leaders talk about the need to significantly change our operating model as part of a long-term sustainable strategy for the future and in view of our ongoing financial pressures and increases in demand for services.
In developing this new operating model, our ambition is to work as ‘one council’. This includes sharing our resources efficiently and flexibly across departments, improving our whole council systems and reducing duplication.
Our One Council Support Functions project is focusing on the development of a new, centralised structure for all of our support services, similar to the way our HR and project management colleagues now operate. As well as providing a more flexible, specialist support service for the council as a whole, bringing colleagues in support functions together into centralised teams will provide those colleagues with enhanced career and development opportunities as well as greater recognition of their services as unified professional disciplines.
The detail of which roles will make up the centralised teams is still being finalised in partnership with senior leadership teams in each department. If you are directly affected by these changes, please be assured that we will engage with you fully before the changes are implemented, providing you with the information you need and an opportunity to ask questions.
As colleagues are moved in to centralised teams, we will keep disruption to a minimum by ensuring that their day-to-day activities and responsibilities remain the same in the first instance. Following transfer, we will engage with departments to understand what support is needed and explore opportunities to do things differently and more efficiently by redesigning services and reviewing business processes. Through these reviews we will identify how we can streamline, automate and digitise processes so we can deliver more efficiently and effectively.
Centralising support functions in this way is just one part of our approach to changing our operating model, we’re also embracing digital opportunities more widely and creating council-wide programmes of work to deliver improvement, modernisation and efficiency.
To support us in identifying where there is potential to make further changes to the way we operate and generate savings, we have secured some additional external support. This support from PwC gives us the additional capacity, and capability that we need and will increase the pace at which savings are delivered.
We will keep colleagues updated on both aspects of this work as it progresses.
Just before Christmas you may have heard the government announcement about proposals for extended devolution which includes plans to replace 2-tier local government with unitary authorities.
The English Devolution White Paper was published on 16 December and contained a wide range of proposed reforms that will have a significant impact on every council and community across the country.
While it is early days and we need to look at the government's proposals in more detail, our Council Leader, Councillor Barry Lewis has confirmed in a statement that we welcome reform of local government where it could deliver real savings, enhance local democracy, and simplify access to council services.
We are awaiting further information from government about how this reform will be progressed and in the meantime, we are engaging with district and borough councils, as well as Derby City Council, to consider how we can work together to respond to the proposed reforms for the benefit of Derbyshire and its residents.
As a county council within a Mayoral Combined County Authority, we've already successfully pursued and embraced reform and have the vision and drive to deliver meaningful change for our residents. We will keep you up to date on any further developments as we explore these proposals.