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Serving Aberdeenshire from mountain to sea - the very best of Scotland Public Service Excellence Aberdeenshire is the best council. It is a dynamic, effective organisation aiming to provide excellent services by finding new and more efficient ways of doing things. The focus is on continuous improvement of the quality and efficiency of service provided with strong leadership and motivated employees.

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Page 1: Public Service Excellence - Aberdeenshire › media › 14266 › co4pseapr... · 2015-10-27 · Public Service Excellence Aberdeenshire is the best council. It is a dynamic, effective

Serving Aberdeenshire from mountain to sea - the very best of Scotland

Public Service

Excellence Aberdeenshire is the best council. It is a dynamic, effective organisation aiming to provide excellent services by finding new and more efficient ways of doing things. The focus is on continuous improvement of the quality and efficiency of service provided with strong leadership and motivated employees.

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Serving Aberdeenshire from mountain to sea - the very best of Scotland

Index

Performance 3

1. Effective Resource And Asset Management 4

2. Excellent Communication, Performance And Improvement 7

3. A Focus On The Customer 10

4. The Best Workforce 14

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Serving Aberdeenshire from mountain to sea - the very best of Scotland

Performance

The performance scorecard is based on an analysis of performance measures

reported regularly as part of Service Plans. A more detailed analysis of performance

is available at Appendix 1.

2013-17 Core Outcome - Public Service Excellence

1. Effective Resource & Asset Management

2. Excellent Communication, Performance & Improvement

3. A Focus on the Customer

4. The Best Workforce

Long Term Trends

Number of

indicators

1. Effective Resource & Asset Management

14 7 1

2. Excellent Communication, Performance & Improvement

5 1 0

3. A Focus on the Customer 14 4 4 4. The Best Workforce 1 3 3

Key:

At least 50% of measures in this outcome are significantly below target (red)

At least 25% of measures in this outcome are slightly below target (amber)

The majority of performance measures are on target

Key:

Performance Improving

No Change or New Measure

Performance Declining

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1. Effective Resource And Asset Management

We said:

We will effectively manage our resources and assets to ensure we are financially

robust and our buildings, technology, roads, bridges, harbours, beaches and streets

are in the condition they should be.

Key Facts

• 99.8% of the revenue budget spent

• 150,000 miles of road treated against ice and snow (Winter 14/15)

• 96.4% of Council Tax income collected

• 14,300 ICT installations (networks, servers, computers)

What Have We Done?

In February 2015, the council agreed an ambitious Capital Plan for 2015-2030. Worth

nearly £1billion the plan paves the way for major new build programmes including

schools, care homes and leisure facilities. It represents a massive programme of

investment, creating jobs, supporting businesses, delivering improved facilities and

growing ambition in the area. It sets out the council's strategic capital priorities for the

next 15 years including new community campus facilities in Ellon and Alford, a new

Garioch Academy, a new care home and new primary schools including Drumoak,

Kintore, Portlethen, Turriff, Inverurie and Kinellar are among the major construction

projects included. A new children's home, new leisure facilities at Banff & Macduff,

spending on parks and open spaces and improvements to street lighting are also

covered in the programme. Included in the Capital Plan is the £75 million capped

cost for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR). The plan builds on the

projects delivered in 2014/15 which saw over £135 million spent on General Fund

projects and a further £39 million spent on the Housing stock improvements and new

build programme. This represents the most significant level of capital expenditure in the

history of Aberdeenshire Council. Delivered projects included the Mearns Community

Campus, upgraded facilities at Kemnay Academy and Dales Park (Peterhead) multi

use games arena.

Schools and other learning establishments form a substantial proportion of the

council’s overall asset portfolio. The Learning Estates Team have developed and

implemented a consistent approach to assess the capacities of primary schools and

in doing so have realigned other services into school assets, thus reducing capacities

of schools with falling rolls. This has had a positive impact upon the number of

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01.08.15 5

schools where the roll is now 61% or above capacity. The process of school roll

forecasting is now more refined by monthly monitoring of the school rolls and

quarterly updates of build out rates ensuring that resources are based on up to date

figures. There is a clear management of schools which are reaching and are over

capacity, including changes to the reconfiguration of the building, to the use of the

capping policy for interim measures. Further work is ongoing to refine these

processes by clearly linking with corporate asset management to ensure a holistic

approach. The Learning Estates Team has also identified outcomes from the Local

Development Plan and planning applications ensuring that the educational

infrastructure matches need. This has required rezoning of a number of school

networks including Peterhead, Westhill and Banchory. This work has negated the

need for further capital spend including new builds and extensions. Partnership

planning with Moray has begun to realign regional borders. The Primary School Brief

(which sets out the standards for new build primary schools in Aberdeenshire) has

been further evaluated, challenging the space standards and the use of resources, to

better meets the needs of the community. This practice has also been adopted for

the development of a Secondary School Brief and the beginning of recalculation of

the secondary school capacities leading to improved use of resources.

Our approach to Procurement has resulted in approximately 20% of expenditure in

2014/15 being spent with local suppliers within Aberdeenshire and 40% with

suppliers in the wider region (Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray). Over 50%

of the council spend was with small/medium enterprises (SMEs), just below our

target of 55%. The council’s Commercial & Procurement Service (CPS) have also

introduced a series of initiatives under the PACE Programme to develop commercial

awareness and foster a culture of commercial excellence across the organisation.

These measures will help to ensure the Council exceeds legislative compliance and

continues to deliver Best Value for residents and communities. There is a

commitment to balancing social, economic and environmental principles in

procurement and to working with all sectors of the community in order to achieve

this. CPS have developed a model designed to promote sustainable procurement

and ensure that the social, economic and environmental aspirations of the council

can be addressed. There will be increased opportunities to reserve contracts to

qualifying supported businesses (where the business employs sufficient numbers of

people with protected characteristics such as a disability). The CPS is a shared

service with Aberdeen City Council and it is recognised that much of the spend

across both councils is with the same suppliers. CPS are now looking at ways both

councils can benefit commercially from the shared expenditure.

Each year the council must prepare and publish a Statement of Accounts in

accordance with the Code of Practice for Local Authority Accounting in the UK based

on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The Statement of Accounts is

independently audited by Auditors appointed by Audit Scotland. Once again the

council’s audit certificate is unmodified which provides assurance that “the financial

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statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of Aberdeenshire

Council”.

What Are We Doing Differently?

As part of a council programme to create a reduced number of improved offices for council employees and service users, new council headquarters in the centre of Peterhead have been built. Buchan House on St Peter Street now houses council services which formerly occupied a range of premises throughout the town. Through investment of £5million, the new offices have transformed a derelict and brownfield site at St Peter Street, contributing to ongoing regeneration efforts in the town. Buchan House is a hub for both employees and residents. For customers, a Service Point will operate at the new facility providing a one-stop-shop with multi-skilled Advisors dealing with a variety of customer queries including payments for council services, questions around waste or recycling, reporting faults and applying for National Entitlement Cards or Blue Badges. Customers can also make appointments to see a registrar via the Service Point. Over 16 services spanning Communities, Education and Children’s Services, Infrastructure Services and Business Services will be located within the new office. There are a range of multi-purpose spaces which will be useful for the full range of service personnel sharing the building which also includes staff from NHS Grampian and Police Scotland. The establishment of a single corporate office within Peterhead has enabled the release of 12 offices (both owned and leased) with a combined running cost of over £365,500. A number of the owned facilities are currently being marketed.

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2. Excellent Communication, Performance And Improvement

We said:

With a commitment to excellent communication, performance and improvement, our

approach to business is being transformed.

Key Facts

• 16k Twitter followers (47% increase since 2013/14)

• 4,600 Facebook ‘likes’

• 126 Instagram ‘followers’

• 8 statutory performance indicators in the top 8 councils in Scotland

What Have We Done?

During 2014/15 the council focused on the continued delivery of the Communications

Strategy launched in 2013. The way that residents, service users and communities

want to communicate with the council continued to shift during the period and, in line

with predictions, there was growth in social media followings and interaction using

these channels. Social media provides a platform for engagement with the council

and there has been an increase in the number of questions, comments and the

sharing of information using these methods. In addition, the council has embraced

other new ways of communicating messages, ensuring these are easy to understand

and clear, using visual and video tools. This included live broadcasts using

Periscope from the General Election count and the creation of an Instagram account

which allows the council to share images and short updates.

All managers have a responsibility for ensuring the continuous improvement of service delivery. In 2014/15, over 50 managers took part in range of training to help them develop their skills in this area. Training included a benchmarking course that allowed managers to understand the council’s benchmarking framework and develop a benchmarking project within their area of responsibility that allowed them to learn from other organisations and incorporate appropriate best practice into processes and procedures. The Performance & Improvement Team also delivered an event that supported managers improve their self-assessment and evaluation processes, use performance information more effectively identifying poor performance and scope areas of improvement as well as encouraging their teams to play an active role in improving performance.

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As a result of Continuous Improvement Week held in March 2015, a range of ‘How

To’ guides were developed to support all employees undertake simple improvement

to resolve problems and find solutions to improve customer service. The guides

covered areas such as identifying the cause of problems and identifying possible

solutions. Staff were also encouraged to identify an area they could improve within

their daily work and take action on it. Example of pledges included “everyone attends

a meeting (or court hearing) by Lync or Video Conference at least once a month

rather than travel unnecessarily” (Advice & Representation legal teams) and “we will

reduce the volume of waste paper going to recycling bins” (SEA, Information and

Research Team).

The council’s corporate performance management system Covalent is available to all

teams, managers and elected members to support performance monitoring. A new

version of the system was launched in 2014 which is simpler to use and makes

tracking performance even easier through the use of tailored portals that draw a

range of data into one place and give an ‘at a glance’ view of where targets are being

met or performance is below expectations. The new version of Covalent also

supports the publication of key performance indicators directly to the council’s

website enabling residents to monitor delivery of the Council Plan 2013-2017

(www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/performance ).

Improvement officers support the council ‘do things differently’ to ensure Best Vale and improved customer service. In 2014, the team worked with Finance staff in order to assess feasibility of creating a single Financial Assistance Section for carrying out all means tested assessments in respect of charges levied by the Council (e.g. Council Tax), administering financial support schemes and the provision of welfare benefit, money and debt advice. This will deliver improved levels of service to customers by having a single Financial Assistance Section and common process, provide a ‘one stop shop’ approach for customers for the delivery of services that require benefits assessment including the provision of money and debt advice and support improvement initiatives that would reduce future processing costs and potential for fraudulent claims.

All Scottish councils participate in the Local Government benchmarking framework

which consists of 55 indicators, covering approximately 60% of local government

spend, the LGBF has primarily been designed to help councils deliver improved local

services within communities. It encourages dialogue between councils and helps

better understand the factors that each council can control and influence in order to

reduce costs and improve outcomes. It also allows residents to see how their council

is performing in comparison to other councils (http://scotland.mylocalcouncil.info/ ).

In the most recent dataset (2013/14) local performance has improved significantly on

last year however, when comparing Aberdeenshire nationally the picture is less

positive. The council is one of the highest performing council in 8 indicators (including

employee attendance, street cleansing costs and roads maintenance) but is within

the lowest performing councils for 16 indicators (including people aged 65 or older

with intensive care needs receiving care at home and invoices paid within 30 days).

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The council performs better than the national average for 25 indicators. Services

have identified actions to improve performance in relation to the key areas measured

by the LGBF dataset. For example in relation to the indicator ‘Self-directed support

spend for people aged over 18 as a % of total social work spend on adults’ (ranked

15 in Scotland), from April 2015, a resource allocation system will be implemented to

enable the accurate calculation of individual budgets to reflect how individuals will be

supported to meet their outcomes. The council is also participating in family groups –

learning sessions with other councils that are similar geographically, socio-

economically or by demography – in order to share and benefit from best practice.

Recent family groups have focused on roads maintenance, positive destinations for

looked after children and museums.

What Are We Doing Differently?

Every month the council ask 150 residents how satisfied they are with key service

delivery areas. For most of these areas, residents express high levels of satisfaction

however there is a much lower level of satisfaction with roads. This is despite the

council’s road condition being assessed as amongst the best in the country with less

than 30% of the carriageway network requiring maintenance. The council maintains

3,371 miles of roads, 1, 411 bridges, 934 miles of footpaths, 113 car parks, 39,922

streetlights and 7 harbours. In 2014/15, the Communications Team worked

alongside road colleagues and focused on roads and infrastructure related

communications. A campaign has been developed by the team, using a range of

communication channels to highlight key messages and interesting information using

social media, local and regional media, the website, and YouTube. The work

undertaken to-date has been positively received by the public and helped to increase

awareness in relation to the maintenance of roads, the history behind harbours and

showcase the beauty of bridges in the area.

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3. A Focus On The Customer

We said:

Focusing on the customer, putting our residents and communities at the heart of

everything we do, we will provide services that are inclusive, empowering and make

a difference.

Key Facts

• 85% of calls to the council’s Contact Centre resolved at first point of contact

• 92% of residents satisfied with the quality of customer services throughout council

• 98% of residents believe the council takes account of their views

• 8 complaints per 1,000 residents

• £312,000 awarded to local community initiatives through Area Committees

What Have We Done?

We are continuing to focus on the creation of Service Points in major towns to

provide communities with access to a range of services, support and advice in one

handy location to access a number of council services, with the help of a friendly

knowledgeable adviser. There are Service Points now available in Ellon, Huntly,

Turriff, Peterhead and Banff. Last year just over 43,000 people used the Service

Points with the top three reasons for visits relating to payments, housing and

benefits.

Almost a quarter of a million calls are made to the council’s Customer Contact

Centre. Almost 12,000 texts and internet enquiries are also dealt with through the

centre. The contact centre works closely with the Customer Service Development

Team to streamline processes to ensure that they are as short as possible to allow

the Advisors to deal with customers in the most time efficient way, without

compromising on information required. As a result, in 2014/15, 75% of the calls were

answered within 20 seconds and 85% of these calls were resolved at first point of

contact, which is better than the national standard of 75%. The top three reasons for

contacting the council through the centre are to report a housing repair, make council

tax payments and report a missed waste collection.

The council’s website is the primary source of information and interaction for many

residents and it is important that it is easy to use and meets expectations. Each year

our website is independently assessed by SoCITM and we benchmark our results

against other public sector organisations to learn from those that are ‘best in class’.

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In November 2014 our website was rated as 1 star which was below expectations.

The council’s website has not been redesigned since 2009 and a project is now well

underway to deliver a modern fit-for-purpose design. The new design will fully

support use from smartphones, tablets and other touchscreen devices which now

make up around 50% of visits to the site. The new site is due to go live in September

2015. Improving the Customer Experience (iCE) is a significant project for the council that has been focusing on common interactions between the council and our customers and residents. The project is designed to make it easier for our customers to access council services primarily through online self-service, with ongoing support available through our customer contact centre or at service points. Progress is summarised below.

Completed:

Project Update

Online Benefits

Since May 2013, a housing and council tax benefit online form and eligibility calculator has been available, increasing capacity within the Benefits Team, improving the quality and consistency of benefits applications and attracting better customer service ratings. (Further improvements in relation to reporting changes of circumstances are planned over the coming months).

Council Tax change of circumstances

Four Council Tax online self-service forms are currently available on the council website with support where required through the Contact Centre and Service Points since June 2014.

Roads Fault Reporting

Improved online fault reporting form launched in April 2014 increasing customer satisfaction as a result. (Further improvement in relation to ease of use, reliability and capture of increased levels of detail are planned over the coming months).

Blue Badges The blue badge application form has been available online self service to customers and with support through the Contact Centre since April 2014.

Customer contact / compliments & complaints

Online form for “Have Your Say” made available on website and has been promoted through a marketing campaign distributing feedback cards, posters and the use of QR codes in 90 locations across Aberdeenshire.

Business Rates change of circumstances

Online forms available from June 2014. Federation of Small Businesses have contributed to website content refresh.

Car Parks Signage and QR codes linked to online fault reporting form implemented. – Phase two is looking to implement “cashless parking”, (via smartphone / online payments).

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Waste Collection & Recycling

An online Trade Waste form is available on the council website and has received positive customer feedback. Further improvements are planned including “report it” online type functionality re missed bins and other waste related services.

In Progress:

Project Update

Council house applications & enquiries

An online housing needs assessment application form has been developed which is linked to the Apply4Homes partnership site.

Income collection

Proposals have been developed to introduce improved online payments functionality, (where applicable linked to online bookings facilities) to allow customers self-serve access to services direct from the website.

Licensing The website content and associated online document has been streamlined enabling customers to more easily access the services and information that they require online. Next steps are to work with the national licensing initiative with a view to introducing a fully online self-serve licensing solution for customers.

Music Tuition

Improvements to the online reporting on children’s progress have been introduced. Improvements to the current online payments system will follow.

School Meals, Trips & Activities Payments

A new online system has been introduced in August 2015 which is being piloted at Academies before further rolling it out across all primary schools which will enable parents to top up their children’s school meals accounts online and providing online balance enquiries and transaction histories. In phase 2 the payments functionality will extend to accepting online payments for other schools items including trips and activities.

As part of the programme, a Customer Experience Panel has been established which enables residents to get involved in helping to shape future service delivery by:

• Participating in online surveys - recently these have included online school payments, school absence reporting, Licensing and the “Have Your Say” (comments, compliments and complaints processes); or

• Testing new online service delivery approaches– this has included online council tax forms and car parks fault reporting. The Panel’s input will also be sought over the coming weeks to establish their views on the newly redesigned website.

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What Are We Doing Differently?

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 brought about major changes to the benefits system.

Recognising the negative impacts the reforms could have, the Scottish Government

launched the Welfare Reform Resilience Fund in 2014. Aberdeenshire Council bid for

funding in partnership with Grampian Housing’s SMART Money Advice Project to set

up a holistic housing and money advice service for new social sector tenants. This

project, initially undertaken in the Buchan area, would offer advice and assistance to

vulnerable housing applicants who had been made an offer of permanent housing

with a view to identifying how this type of preventative support could help tenancy

sustainment. There can be anything from 2 weeks to 2-3 months from the time in

which an offer of housing is made to an applicant, to when the keys become

available for the property. This period can be used productively to provide advice and

assistance to applicants. It also bridged the gap in the transition from applicant to

tenant. No changes were made to the existing sign-up appointment, instead a pre-

tenancy appointment was introduced. This appointment provided practical advice and

information which was aiming to prepare applicants for the reality of having a tenancy

and what they needed to consider prior to moving in.

Findings from the trial showed:

• Feedback from new tenant surveys showed a positive difference between those who were supported by the pre-tenancy service and those who were not.

• Rent account balances were monitored throughout the project although at the outset arrears levels were higher in Buchan than elsewhere, as the project progressed arrears levels in other areas rose faster than those in Buchan.

• Money advice involves income maximisation, budgeting advice and debt advice. AS a result of the support offered, there was a financial gain of £24,494.72 for tenants.

• A number of tenants reported heating issues, particularly relating to the cost. Heating issues were addressed during the pre-tenancy appointment and money advice was offered to any tenant who reported struggling with the cost.

As a result of the project, consideration is now being given to rolling out pre-tenancy appointments to all tenants across Aberdeenshire, not just those who are assessed as vulnerable, introducing the information pack,including details of who the tenant’s housing officers are and other useful contacts in the area, more widely and promoting services such as SCARF and money advice more locally to help people to get the best suppliers and reduce their fuel costs.

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4. The Best Workforce

We said:

Having the right people, with the right skills, results in the best workforce.

Key Facts

• 62% staff in the highest paid 5% employees are female

• 8.9 sickness days (average) per employee

• 9% staff turnover - leaving the council or moving to a different job within the

council

• 78% of employees have been with the council at least two years

What Have We Done?

The council is the biggest employer in Aberdeenshire with 14,834 staff. We have one

of the lowest sickness rate of all Scottish councils however improving attendance and

supporting the health and wellbeing of employees continues to be a priority. A

revised approach to attendance management has been introduced with closer

monitoring and earlier intervention by managers to provide support to enable staff to

return to work as soon as possible.

A range of training and development is available to staff to support them in their

roles. The council’s eLearning tool now enables staff across the council to access

essential training, at times that suit them and the nature of the role they undertake,

reducing travel time and ensuring mandatory training can be monitored. There are

over 220 courses available through the tool ranging from health and safety courses,

understanding financial regulations, undertaking key service delivery areas such as

burials, using core business systems and communication with children and young

people using symbolism. Staff have enrolled in over 35,000 courses and the top

three courses are Data Protection, Respecting Diversity and Equalities.

Over 600 staff achieved SQA qualifications whilst undertaking their job in 2014/15.

Qualifications ranged from SCQF level 4 through to SVQ4 in areas such as

horticulture, highways maintenance, road building, social services, health & social

care and first aid at work.

The Equality Act 2010 introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty that means, as a public body, the council must have due regard or consciously consider the need to:

1. Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

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2. Advance equality of opportunity between those who have protected characteristics and those who don't.

3. Foster good relations between those who have protected characteristics and those who don't.

As a result we are building an equalities perspective into every part of our work to

ensure it becomes part of the structures, behaviours and culture of our employees.

All staff are required to undertake training to understand their responsibilities. By

March 2015, approximate 12% of the workforce had undertaken the training. In order

to increase the take up of training and make it easier for non-office based staff to

take part, the training courses will be made available via DVDs and YouTube as well

as on the council’s e Learning tool. There are sixty equality champions throughout

the council who assist staff undertake equality impact assessments and respond to

general queries about our equalities duty. Last year the champions identified five key

points they felt every employee needed to know about the equalities and these were

distributed to all staff through monthly pay slips.

A core set of values was introduced for all employees working within adult Social

Care to ensure that people who are assisted by the service, regardless of their level

of need, can expect, and receive consistently high quality care from every member of

staff. Staff in different roles will have different knowledge and skills but will share the

same values. The core values are introduced to new staff as part of the induction

process and existing staff received a booklet summarizing the values as well as

information at team meetings. The values are:

• Caring and compassionate – Treating people with kindness, consideration

and empathy.

• Respectful – Upholding people’s dignity at all times and respect their choices

• Accountable – Taking responsibility for our words and actions

• Trustworthy – Maintain confidentiality and protect personal information with

which we are entrusted.

• Supportive – Having the courage to speak up when things don’t seem right

either in your service or for someone receiving care and support

• Encouraging – Focus on enablement, thinking about what a person can do

rather than what they can’t do.

• Striving to be the best – Use best practice and listen and respond when

someone tells us what is important to them.

A significant proportion of the council’s workforce is in the higher age range with just

15% under the age of 30. The introduction of modern apprentices in 2013 both

supports the council recruitment in areas traditionally more difficult for the council to

recruit to and encourages younger people into the council. There are now 43 modern

apprentices in the council covering key roles such as Administration, ICT, Care

Assistant, Homecare, Landscape, Trades: Mason, Electrician, Painter, Joiner,

Mechanic, Plasterer and Plumber. The council’s Homecare service initially took on

five Modern Apprentices in 2013 who have all now completed the qualification and

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three have remained employed by the council. One of them won Aberdeenshire

Council’s Apprentice of the Year Award. He was nominated by several managers

within home care for the dedication he demonstrated throughout his training, finishing

his qualification ahead of time and making suggestions for future apprenticeship

programmes.

As confirmed by the council’s most recent shared risk assessment undertaken by

local external scrutiny bodies, the council is experiencing significant challenges

recruiting teachers within the area. Recognising this, the council has developed a

number of initiatives to support the training, recruitment and retention of teaching

staff. For example a partnership between Aberdeenshire Council and the University

of Aberdeen was initiated to support current Aberdeenshire employees with the

necessary qualifications to train to become teachers. From 1st January 2014, 20

Aberdeenshire employees embarked on the new Distance Learning Initial Teacher

Education (DLITE) programme which should see them graduate as qualified

probationer teachers in June 2015. The programme allows participants to continue in

their current role within the Council whilst being released to participate in 18 weeks of

school experience allied with part-time study. Other activity includes targeted

advertising of posts, links to recruitment specialists and providing advice on housing.

What Are We Doing Differently?

Aberdeenshire Council covers the fourth largest geographic area in Scotland.

Employees are based throughout the area and most teams will be spread across

several locations. This can make meetings, collaborative working and keeping in

touch very challenging. In 2014, the council introduced Microsoft Lync. This is a tool

that allows employees to connect to each other as well as with people outwith the

organisation such as our Community Planning partners, other councils and suppliers.

It combines free / busy calendar information, location and contact details, instant

messaging, voice and video as well as collaboration services like screen sharing and

presentation modes into one easy-to-use tool, for one-to-one or multi-person

conversations. It is particularly useful during adverse weather conditions allowing

employees to work flexibly from locations closer to home. There are now over 4,500

employees signing in every week, sending thousands of instant messages, sharing

documents and joining audio and video meetings.

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