Agenda item

The attached organisational chart summarises some interim structure changes that have recently been implemented. These have happened at this time so the Council can work together more effectively in the face of the current challenges.  This will enable us to turn these challenges into opportunities, not only for the public we serve but also our own workforce.

It’s important to say that the structure isn’t fixed, as we’ll need to adapt to further events as they occur, but I thought you would like to be made aware of these recent changes.

Senior Leadership Team Changes

Sacha Jevans has been seconded long-term to the post of Managing Director of the Qualis Group of Companies. This is to give it much needed leadership during its formative stage and because it is embarking on major developments worth £85m, is running a property portfolio of at least £30m and is providing services with an annual turnover of £6m. Qualis is already providing the District with additional income and will provide significant worth to the District in the future as well as being a developer with strong sustainable growth credentials and a service provider that is modern, effective and efficient.

Nick Dawe, is the Chief Operations Officer and, as a result of the above change, takes over responsibility previously held by Sacha for Housing and Community and Well Being Services as well as leading on economic, well-being and general service improvement projects.

Andrew Small, who recently joined us, is a Strategic Director and takes over Customer Services from Nick as part of rebalancing the portfolio of work but also allowing a further improvement of the performance, project management, communication and other corporate services. Andrew also leads on a broad range of service improvement projects.

Director Changes and Associated Service and Management Team Moves

To reflect the organisational changes mentioned above and the requirement to concentrate on the exemplary and early delivery of key projects, all directors will in practice be both Service Directors and Project Directors.  Their flexibility in accommodating the changes should be noted

Julie Chandler, because of her experience and wide local knowledge, will lead on economic projects including the development of all our major towns and creating an “enterprise zone” approach at North Weald Airfield.  Julie retains responsibility for Community Safety and Resilience and the Hub project at Waltham Abbey. She will also provide valuable input into other projects and services.

Kim Durrani, will retain his current portfolio including oversight of the former Commercial and Regulatory Directorate. Kim will specifically lead on the waste, (which has sustainability and affordability issues) and leisure projects, (which has economic and well-being aspects) as well as the sustainable travel initiative which needs both practical short-term objectives and longer-term goals. Responsibility for regulatory services including building control will transfer to Nigel Richardson on the 1^st April 2021.

Nigel Richardson, will reincorporate strategic planning in the Directorate in preparation for the delivery of the Local Plan and will take on responsibility for Regulatory Services from the 1^st April 2021. This is key, both in terms of regulating and supporting sustainable growth but also in providing an exemplary and responsive service.

Alison Blom Cooper, who has focused on delivering the Local Plan as well as playing a useful role in terms of strategic developments, will concentrate on the remaining local plan issues as Strategic Planning is reincorporated back under Nigel’s leadership in preparation for the agreement of the Local Plan. We are at a critical point with the final acceptance and approval of our Local Plan.

Deborah Fenton, will become a Director and Project Director in her own right during this interim period, concentrating on the major challenges to social housing, the need to review the provision of such houses, the construction of new stock and making sure our existing stock is energy and environmentally friendly. She is also responsible for the District’s Facility Management Team which needs to focus on providing shared and flexible and efficient facilities for the future.

Jennifer Gould, will also become a Director and Project Director in her own right during this interim period and will lead on combining all our well-being and wellness services and projects as well as keeping her current remit. She will as a result take responsibility from Julie of the Community and Wellbeing and Museum and Heritage Teams. A key objective is not only to address the social, health, skill and employment variations but also to ensure all communities are cohesive and wherever possible, self-supporting.

Rob Pavey and his teams will move across to the Corporate Services functional group from 1^st October.  Rob will continue to lead on Customer Services with a particular focus on customer data and insight.  This will enable EFDC to further shape its Place portfolio and target resources across all our projects to get maximum impact for our customers.  To enable Rob to focus on these areas, Democratic and Electoral Services will move to Lou Wade and Corporate Communications will also be realigned over the next two months.

Louise Wade will lead on the Corporate Plan Framework and which will deliver our Corporate Strategy and Polices, and to ensure the council and service leads are meeting their agreed objectives, this will be monitored on a monthly and quarterly basis through the Performance and Reporting function.  This service will provide clarity on our key targets and priority projects and programmes of work. Louise will also take on our Democratic and Electoral Services with the addition of our Accommodation Programme. Similarly to Jennifer Gould and Deborah Fenton, she will act as a Director during this interim period. 

Paula Maginnis will continue to lead our Business Services areas.  Paula is also leading a key project on developing future job opportunities, apprenticeships, skills and training for young unemployed people across the district, including the Kick start programme. This work is closely aligned to our social and economic projects.

Chris Hartgrove is our Deputy S151 (Finance Officer).  Chris is supporting Andrew in how we manage our budgets and financial pressures over the coming months and years.  With this mind it would seem prudent to bring some of our financial areas closer together, so we will be reviewing a number of service areas over the coming weeks.

Jo Budden leads our People, Culture and Employee Wellbeing services. Jo will continue to lead on enabling the organisation to implement our updated new ways of working, ‘Effective Flexibility’ and also support employees through the implementation of the initiatives in our People Strategy.   Jo’s service area will in future also include internal communications, which sits well with the people and wellbeing function.  The date for movement of this service area will be confirmed over the coming weeks.

Service and Management Team Moves

The moves which are to help consolidate our service and project response have been detailed above. To repeat, services will stay as they are with the following exceptions:

·         Community and Well Being Service to Jennifer Gould.

·         Museum and Heritage Service to Jenifer Gould.

·         Regulatory Services to Nigel Richardson (but not until 1^st April 2021).

·         Strategic Planning remain in Planning Directorate and leadership returns to Nigel Richardson

·         Rob Pavey and his Teams move to Andrew Small

·         Democratic and Electoral Services to Lou Wade

Timescale

The timescale for these changes is as follows:

·         All changes happened on the 1^st October, unless otherwise indicated.

·         All changes will be reviewed periodically, the first overall review will be for 31^st March 2021.

·         The changes will last no longer than the 31^st March 2022.

Summary

I am sure from the above you can see how we are stronger together in delivering projects and overlapping our economic and social projects with modern District services and the entrepreneurial and resource support of an effective Qualis Group of Companies.

I would like to thank colleagues for the flexibility they have shown in accommodating these changes. This means we can work together and turn the current challenges to the District and to ourselves and our families, into opportunities

Georgina

Chief Executive Officer

Other Useful Detail

·         Organisation Chart – hyperlink

·         Project List - hyperlink