Smartest Council focuses on customer
The Council has long track record of delivering excellent services. Earlier this year the Audit Commission gave it a four star rating for the seventh year in a row, something only three councils have achieved. It has now set itself the target of becoming the country’s ‘Smartest Council’.
Kensington and Chelsea Council will achieve the aim of being the country's 'Smartest Council' by implementing a series of ambitious programmes, including:
- overhauling office accommodation at Kensington Town Hall and freeing up valuable real estate in outlying offices for sale or for leasing commercially, saving £2.5m each year in running costs
- reducing management costs by 15 per cent by 2010/11, saving £3m per year
- working differently and using IT systems intelligently in order to deliver more responsive customer services
- reducing the Council’s carbon footprint and becoming more responsive stewards of the planet.
Major savings
The Council has identified that major savings can made by overhauling the infrastructure of Kensington Town Hall. Through careful financial management it has set aside £16.2m to replace inefficient mechanical and electrical systems. When complete, the works will save over £2.5m a year and deliver a 25 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions. These savings mean the project will pay for itself entirely in just six-and-a-half years.
This project, called the Space Programme, will also provide an opportunity to review office accommodation and the way people work. At present there is spare office capacity in the Town Hall. As part of the Space Programme staff will move from area offices into that space, while others will work from home. By the end of the programme the number of staff at Kensington Town Hall will have increased by 50 per cent and four buildings currently being used by the Council will either be sold or commercially leased.
Savings will also be sought from staffing budgets. The Council is committed to reducing management costs by 15 per cent by 2011/12. This year it will save £84,000 by sharing a senior solicitor with neighbouring Hammersmith & Fulham Council. It already shares a director for highways, transport, traffic and parking services with Hammersmith & Fulham.The programme will save more than £3m of taxpayers’ money each year
Intelligent use of technology
In order to deliver better customer services in the twenty-first century, the Council is undertaking a major programme of work called Here to Help. This involves reviewing departments’ business processes in order to make more services available online, such as allowing residents to renew their parking permits over the web.
The Council will use technology to improve its understanding of its customers’ requirements so that it can tailor services to customers’ needs and build on the improvements that have already taken place, such as the launch last October of a new customer service centre at Kensington Town Hall.
A programme called Realising Potential will help families and young people by giving them more choice over the type of services they use and the way in which they access them. It will reduce duplication and improve user experience by intergrating the work of the different organisations in the borough that provide services to children and young people to work together.
The economic downturn means that many in the Royal Borough are facing tougher times. The Council has carefully managed its finances efficiently over the years. By initiating a Smartest Council programme the Council is seeking to deliver even greater efficiencies and improve the services it delivers to residents.
What do you think?
Do you think the Smartest Council programme will deliver greater efficiencies? Are there other initiatives we should be looking at to reduce our carbon footprint? Is the senior management reduction target of 15 per cent enough? Would you want to conduct all your business with the council online?
Email your comments on this story to rbkcdirect@rbkc.gov.uk
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