Agenda item

To consider the attached report on the accommodation update for the council offices.

The Service Director for Service, Delivery and Performance, L Wade, introduced the report on the update for the accommodation project. The Select Committee noted that construction works, fixtures and fittings continued to be on time, orders had now been placed with the first delivery taking place in January.  Minor amendments had been made to the ground floor space to enable a large PACE room to be available impacting the consultation space.

Requirements for the desk and car park system were now complete and configuration of the IT system that would manage this had now commenced.

One of the “Travel to the Civic” options for employees and residents was the DRT.  This was launched in January and there had already been a positive take up for the service with residents which we hoped to extend to employee usage. 

Individual sessions had been taking place with teams and there had been a big focus on decluttering.  With a “Scan it, Scrap it, Store it, Stop it” campaign, we had been keen to ensure that we only retained what was necessary and recognised that files could be retained in digital form.

Commercialisation of the 2nd floor was now live.  Officers would be looking to review the interest and opportunities for this space at the end of January.  Talks continued with partners in terms of how they would use the Civic and this also extended to other partners that would be using touchdown space in the community hub.

Due to the current lockdown, we would be closely reviewing the plan and understanding any impact this may have on the fit out of the building and the co-ordination of both external and internal resources that will need to install equipment.

The refurbishment continued to be within the agreed budget and was forecasting a positive variance of £106,066.

Councillor Bassett asked about moving of offices and the removal of papers from officers. He noted that there was a legal requirement to keep some of these papers in hard copies, who would supervise this? He was told that this would be done in conjunction with each Service Director and the appropriate managers.

Councillor Brookes, noting that it would be a phased re-introduction to the offices, asked how many staff, given the restrictions, were working in the Civic Offices at present. She was told that there was restricted space in the Conder building at present, with only about 18 persons a day going in. This was also due to Health and Safety restrictions.

Councillor Neville asked how many council staff have been using the demand responsive transport. Also was it right that you had to book it three days in advance. L Wade said that she did not know the exact number but understood that it was mainly used by hospital staff not council staff. Councillor Bassett added that you did not have to book it three days in advance, as long as they had some advanced warning. Councillor Jon Whitehouse pointed out that the website said that it had to be three days in advance. Councillor Bassett replied that they would like three days’ notice, but it was not necessary. Councillor Whitehouse said that this needed to be made frictionless for public use as it was a new initiative. Councillor Bassett said that he would investigate it but noted that it had been launched just as we were going into lockdown which did not help.

Councillor Whitehouse then went on to ask about the phrase ‘concluding discussions’. Did this mean taking things to the stage of signing leases or getting agreement in principle. What would you consider this to mean? And did this include discussions with the County Council about the library. He was told that it varied according the partner being spoken to. As for the Library, the County Council still had various processes to go through before that was concluded.

Councillor Brookes asked about the People’s Strategy and the support for staff, were staff still accessing support and was it still easy and anonymous? She was told that it was all still available and over the winter months they had added more resources, such as drop in sessions and Mental Health First Aiders and resources. Councillor Brookes added that in her opinion it was still difficult for some people to work from home and 18 spaces was not a lot. She was told that additional desks had also been made available at other sites for officers.

Councillor Murray asked about the summary which said that a PACE room was being made available. Was this the same as the Police interviews carried out under PACE guidance? He was told that some service areas had to conduct interviews under formal PACE conditions. Councillor Murray then asked if this would impact on consultation space and other spaces. He was told that they had increased the size of space in the rooms to accommodate witnesses. This was more of a reconfiguration of the space available.

Resolved:

That the Committee noted the summary of progress on the Accommodation Programme.