DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO.

1686

SUBJECT: Minor temporary changes to the Libraries Management structure Control sheet All of the following actions MUST be completed at each stage of the process and the signed and dated report MUST be passed to Governance Service for publishing
All reports 1. Governance Service receive draft report Name of GO Date 2. Governance Service cleared draft report as being constitutionally appropriate 3. Finance clearance obtained (report author to complete) 4. Staff and other resources issues clearance obtained (report author to complete) Name of GO Date Name of Fin. officer Date Name of Res. officer Date Name of Strategic Procurement officer Date Name of Legal officer Date Name of P&P officer Date Name of officer Date Name Date Name of GO Date Name of GO Date Name of GO Date Paul Frost 29/5/2012 Paul Frost 29/5/2012 Debbie Edwards 01/05/2012 Veronica McCarroll 12/04/2012 Lesley Meeks 30/03/2012 Philippa Larbi 08/05/2012 Andrew Nathan 30/03/2012 Julie Pal/Andrew Nathan 30/03/2012 Bill Murphy 29/03/2012 Paul Frost 30/5/12 Paul Frost 30/5/12 Paul Frost 30/5/12

5. Strategic Procurement clearance (report author to complete) 6.

obtained

Legal clearance obtained from (report author to complete) Policy & Partnerships clearance obtained (report author to complete) Equalities & Diversity clearance obtained (report author to complete) The above process has been checked and verified by Director, Head of Service or Deputy (report author to complete)

7.

8.

9.

10. Signed & dated report, scanned or hard copy received by Governance Service for publishing 11. Report published by Governance Service to website Officer reports: 12. Head of Service informed report is published and can be implemented. Cabinet Member reports: 13. Expiry of call-in period 14. Report circulated for call-in purposes to Business Management Overview &Scrutiny Committee members & copied to Cabinet & Head of Service

Date Name of GO Date

N/A N/A

ACTION TAKEN UNDER DELEGATED POWERS BY OFFICER (COUNCIL FUNCTION)

Subject Officer taking decision

Minor temporary changes to the Libraries Management structure Assistant Director of Customer Services and Libraries

Date of decision
Summary

29 March 2012
This document proposes minor, short-term adjustments to the libraries management team to create management capacity necessary for the effective execution of the Library Strategy project streams.

Officer Contributors Status (public or exempt) Wards affected Enclosures Power being exercised Public All None Staffing Matters delegated to Chief Officers

Serial No. 1686

1. 1.1 1.2

RELEVANT PREVIOUS DECISIONS 26 July 2011 - Cabinet Report Strategic Library Review DPR 1487 Creation of a temporary post combining the heads of service posts for libraries and customer services. CORPORATE PRIORITIES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS The adjustments proposed are essential for the effective implementation of the library strategy, which supports the corporate priority to provide better services with less money. The strategy sets out the future direction of the service, refocusing provision to achieve a 1.4 million saving over 3 years. RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES Failure to address constraints within the current management arrangements will place both the day to day management of the library service and the effective implementation of the strategy projects at risk. It is estimated that strategy specific duties will occupy an average of 40% of the current management capacity per week for the duration of the strategy. In addition, daily management responsibilities for the three senior management posts have risen following the assimilation of the temporary Head of Customer Services and Head of Libraries positions in November 2011. Some minor adjustments will be required throughout the service to back-fill positions vacated through the proposed management re-organisation. These are outlined in section 5. Low level risk exists where these posts cannot be filled. EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY ISSUES

2. 2.1

3. 3.1

3.2

4.

4.1

There are no specific adverse equalities and diversity issues directly generated by these proposals. USE OF RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS (Finance, Procurement, Performance & Value for Money, Staffing, IT, Property, Sustainability) The proposed changes to the libraries management team are to be financed from savings generated by holding the Head of Customer Services and Head of Libraries posts temporarily vacant while a joint Head of Customer Services and Libraries post is in place. There are sufficient funds to contain these additional costs. The proposed arrangements would be offered on a temporary basis until December 2012 when the full-time Head of Service post is to be reinstated. Total costs attributable to the proposed changes are evaluated at 33,312.75 for the period April December 2012.

5.

5.1

5.4 6. 6.1

There are no IT or property considerations attached to these proposals. LEGAL ISSUES Any recruitment undertaken in response to the changes must be conducted in accordance with the Councils internal policies and procedures, the statutory Acas Codes of Practice and in a manner which is fair, objective and devoid of prohibited discrimination. It is vital that there is compliance also to the terms of the Employment Rights Act 1996 in relation to the provision of specified terms and conditions of employment.

7. 7.1

CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS Council Constitution, Part 3, Responsibility for Functions, paragraph 6.1 enables Chief Officers to take decisions without consultation with the Cabinet Member concerned where it is in respect of operational matters within the Chief Officers sphere of managerial or professional responsibility and is not significant in terms of budget. Council Constitution, Part 3, Responsibility for Functions, paragraph 6.2 provides that Chief Officers may use whatever means they consider appropriate to discharge the functions allocated to them including engaging and deploying staff.

7.2

8. 8.1

BACKGROUND INFORMATION The library service comprises around 100 FTE staff organised into three divisions: Operations, Childrens and Adult Services. Each division is headed by a divisional manager reporting into the Head of Service. This structure took effect following a comprehensive reorganisation process in 2008/9. In November 2011 the Head of Customer Services was temporarily merged with the Head of Libraries to create a single Head of Customer Services and Libraries. In July 2011 Cabinet approved the Library Strategy setting an ambitious development programme for the service for the forthcoming three years. The strategy comprises a number of high-profile project streams including the consolidation of Friern and North Finchley libraries into a new landmark library in North Finchley; the extension of RFID self-service, the creation of two link libraries and the development of two community led facilities. Re-aligning management responsibilities as detailed in section 5.2 will create 2 days additional management capacity per Divisional Manager per week to support, manage and lead the individual projects within the Library Strategy.

9. 9.1

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS None