Agenda item

There was one urgent item:

Members asked officers to draft a new forward plan for the Sub-Committee for 2020/21.

Particular areas of focus would include the following:

• How E&P could dovetail with the Digital Services Sub-Committee to examine the

practical ways the Corporation can harness digital technology (notably in data

collection and analysis) to improve efficiencies across different departments.

Discussion will include an update on investment in AI.

More widely, Members were keen to understand how, as an organisation, we can continue to drive smarter working. Covid has reframed this area, so two separate papers would focus on a) the practical steps we have taken and will take in the coming weeks/months with the return to the office, and, b) what lessons/gains can be built upon post-covid so as to “bank” efficiencies and drive performance.

• Departmental deep dives – how departments are approaching and improving their “performance culture”. This would include areas such as:

Ø  how depts are measuring performance, and how this can be shown to be driving improvement

Ø  how they are inculcating good practice and capturing the lessons learnt when performance has been sub-optimal

Ø  how they use other Member or officer forums (such as Category Board) to challenge assumptions or contract values

Ø  whether performance targets are a) being met and b) robust enough 

Along these lines, the Department for Community and Children’s Services would be submitting a paper in September.

• An update on the Guildhall Masterplan after the impact of Covid and the resulting

focus on flexible working.