PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR LEISURE, LIBRARIES AND CULTURE

Collective Cabinet Accountabilities

Cabinet members are collectively accountable for leadership that results in the Council commissioning outcomes through ip&e or through other means based on working better, cheaper, faster and together with communities and partners in pursuit of:

• Keeping children safe
• Looking after vulnerable people
• Ensuring high quality education
• Creating economic growth

This will involve Cabinet Members working collectively and with the Director Team to:

• Lead system-wide reviews leading to a complete redesign of what we do, commissioning outcomes based on need whilst reducing and wherever possible, eliminating future costs.
• Eradicate all avoidable costs associated with customer contact.  Where contact remains necessary, drive out costs by enabling customers to get what they need quickly, simply and cheaply on-line.
• Encourage conversations with and listen to customers to help us radically redesign what we do to maximise its efficiency.
• Give customers as much information about what we do as possible to help them make informed decisions.
• Equip staff with the right kit, backed up with the right systems – letting them work face-to-face and on the move with our customers – giving great customer service, eliminating time-wasting process and costly premises.
• Rationalise and continuously review our property so that it is always at the absolute minimum level required to meet the Council’s needs at that time.  Where property is needed it should offer modern, flexible, networked customer drop-in space and resources to support staff who will mostly now work flexibly, from our hubs, home and on the move.
• Maximise the flexibility of our staff to anticipate and respond to current and future organisational needs equipping them with the best chance to contribute to a healthy Shropshire economy.
• Ensure almost all roles are filled from the talent we already have, helping talented individuals to continue to grow within the Council, ensuring our workforce adapts in size to meet the funding challenge, with the skills we need for the future.
• Challenge everything we do so that resources are solely devoted to achieving our priority outcomes.  Where discretionary activity is found that has weak links to these we will consider options for redesign, transfer or stopping.
• Respond when faced with difficult financial dilemmas about discretionary services so that we consider how important they are to our county as a whole, and explore options of how their outcomes and be delivered, but in a different way.

This will need to be achieved through the following scheme of delegation ensuring that each Portfolio Holder undertakes their responsibilities taking advice from the relevant Chief Officer in order:

1.    To work in accordance with the Council Plan, the values and ethical standards of the Council, the agreed Business Investment Plan for each outcome area for which they are accountable and the Council’s Financial and Contract Procedure Rules.

2.    Through co-operation with Scrutiny Committees as they relate to matters dealt with by Cabinet.

3.    To incur expenditure or make decisions in connection with achievement of outcomes for which they are accountable, within the budget and policy framework approved by Council subject to a limit of the major contract threshold per project.

4.    To approve the appointment of consultants and monitor their work subject to a limit of £250,000.

5.    To approve the award and monitor the delivery of all contracts exceeding the major contract threshold.

6.    To approve and monitor all capital expenditure up to a limit of £250,000.

Specific portfolio purpose

To work with the portfolio holders with Area Commissioning responsibility to radically redesign:

·         the Council’s commissioning of leisure outcomes to maximise healthy living opportunities, reducing costly dependency on health-care in later life as much as possible.

·         the way we enable communities to access books and other learning materials, primarily focusing on investment that supports the links between early reading and life-long skills, employability and well-being.

·         the Council’s commissioning of cultural activity and management of assets only where this can demonstrate a sufficient multiplier effect on benefiting the economy of Shropshire.

To ensure that the council’s commissioning decisions complement rather than duplicate or inadvertently compete with the capacity of the open-market to provide them – for example in sport and leisure.

To lead on the Council’s relationship with the voluntary and community sector through the Shropshire VCS Assembly working with the other portfolio holders with commissioning responsibilities, both area and thematic, to identif opportunities the sector can play in effective commissioning.

Specific portfolio accountabilities

To give political leadership to the Council’s Management Team in respect of the following key challenges:

·         Leisure and Sportactivities – work with Energize, the County Sport Partnership and other commissioners and providers of physical activity to focus the council’s commissioning interventions in ways that increase opportunities for those in greatest need/vulnerability and with least ability to pay.

·         Cultural offer – review and fundamentally redesign the commissioning of Shropshire’s cultural offer to concentrate and re-direct future investment on those interventions with most potential to lever inward investment and maximise spend in Shropshire’s economy.

·         Libraries – re-evaluate the core purpose and outcomes to be achieved in respect of discharging our statutory duties in this area. Understand and explore new and cheaper ways of meeting customer demand, re-focusing investment on achieving priority outcomes – such as giving every child the best start in life.