Local Government

Local Government and Partners: Change is a Constant Factor for Local Authorities. How Touchstone Renard Can Help With Your Agenda

At Touchstone Renard, we recognise that local government members and employees are passionate about the services that their authority delivers to the public and we, in turn, are passionate about supporting them in their drive for success.

Touchstone Renard has been working with local authorities and their partner organisations for many years as they aim ever higher, proving themselves equal to the constant challenge of change and the desire for improvement, while at the same time tackling the need to reduce costs and optimise scarce resources.

For some time, local government has been expected to take a more commercial approach — this is not particularly new. As time passes, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to carry on providing more for less and identifying greater efficiencies without impacting on quality. All local authorities are aware that simply making cuts in expenditure is not enough. It is a matter of seeking greater flexibility, exploring new ideas and embracing new service delivery methods in partnership with others.

The approach that local authorities have to take gives rise to the familiar need for strategic reviews and hard decision making processes, followed by a flow of change management from leadership level to the point of delivery. Never has it been more important for local government managers to focus unflinchingly on the targets set while remaining committed to ensuring that service delivery staff are inspired, supported, sustained and motivated to satisfy increasing customer demands, and the requirements of legislation.

Touchstone Renard’s Local Government Team

At Touchstone Renard, we can provide support to local authorities with a wide range of services. Our friendly — but experienced — consultants are able and delighted to work with staff at all levels in a variety of different ways.

Our Local Government Team is headed by Richard Wood, our HR and Business Services Director. Before joining Touchstone Renard, Richard worked in local government for over thirty years and has extensive experience of working with members, top management teams, partner organisations and staff at all levels. Richard understands how local government works and has direct experience of the challenges faced. He has developed strategies, policies and procedures and has been involved in bringing about major changes and reorganisations. His skills also include training, mentoring and facilitating.

Our team can tailor its support to suit your needs. We do not merely work in an advisory, arm’s length capacity. If you wish, our consultants can work side by side with local authority mangers or other staff to bring about or support an initiative.

Touchstone Renard’s Experience With Local Authorities

Some of the ways in which we have helped local authorities and their partners and some of the past assignments we have undertaken are as follows:

A Home Counties Borough Council

We have been assisting this authority with Equality and Diversity issues, supporting its achievement of targets with regard to the Government’s Equality Standard and in its compliance with statutory duties to deliver race, disability and gender equality. In addition we have been providing a wide range of HR management support.

A Home Counties Borough Council

In common with other public bodies, this local authority became subject to statutory duties to promote race, disability and gender equality and was at Level 1 of the Equality Standard for Local Government, with the objective of reaching Level 3.

We reviewed the authority’s existing action plans and identified gaps before planning and implementing a consultation process with the community. We introduced a process for conducting Equality Impact assessments and supported the first round of impact assessments which were carried out on Service Plans.
As part of the assignment, we carried out training of all the authority’s members and senior officers in gender, race and disability duties.

A Home Counties District Council

We supported various initiatives with this Council, including the achievement of ISO 9000 quality systems and Lexcel; the development of a Stakeholder Management implementation system (including the development of tools to help with the identification of stakeholders and their involvement with the authority); and we carried out Project Programme Diagnosis with Project Management training.

A Northern Borough Council

We worked with officers to design a Quality and Risk Management System for the whole Council which was effectively a ‘blueprint’ for running the Council and delivering its services more effectively and at least risk.

A Home Counties County Council

We supported the achievement of Investors in People by this authority and worked with its top Management Team to facilitate team building.

A London Authority

We carried out a global benchmarking exercise on behalf of this Authority with an emphasis on employer / staff relations.

Another Home Counties District Council

We carried out a Project Programme Diagnosis and Project Management training.

An Outer Metropolitan Borough Council

We undertook a gap study to determine how existing procedures differed from desired procedures with regard to certain housing maintenance responsibilities, made recommendations and supported the Authority in the implementation of the new procedures, providing hands-on management support on site through one of our team of consultants.

A Home Counties Non-Departmental Adult Learning Organisation

We carried out a Learner Needs analysis, involving a review of the different types of learning needs of people of varying ages in the county and also devised Community Learning Plans for several areas of the county.

A Registered Social Landlord

We supported this RSL in its achievement of an ISO 9001 quality management system and with the ongoing maintenance and training to ensure the system develops to meet changing needs.

Five Police Forces

We carried out a review of a Police Force’s entire human resources activity and recommended improvements and changes.

We worked with the senior managers of a department of another Police Force to carry out a review with the aim of bringing about change and later supported the implementation processes.

We completed an independent review of three police force maintenance facilities, identifying opportunities to improve productivity and reduce costs, so as to achieve greater efficiencies in a climate of cost pressure and maintenance workshop rationalisation.

How Touchstone Renard Can Support Local Authorities and Their Partners

The assignments mentioned provide a flavour of the services that Touchstone Renard’s Local Authority Team can provide. Please contact us if you would like to discuss support in any of those or the following areas:

Investigations for Local Authority Monitoring Officers into Complaints and Allegations referred by their Standards Committees at Very Reasonable Rates

In many cases it is not appropriate for Monitoring Officers or their colleagues to investigate complaints and allegations against their own authority’s councillors or they do not have the available in-house resources.

Touchstone Renard’s Local Government Investigator, Trevor Smith, can provide help and support on a flexible or ad hoc basis to meet the requirements of Monitoring Officers. In particular, he can assist with:

• Determining the scope of an investigation.
• Planning the investigation.
• Compiling the documentary evidence.
• Conducting interviews.
• Preparing reports.
• Assembling evidence.
• Attending hearings and other meetings.
• Other relevant actions.

Having previously served as Head of Legal Services for sixteen years and as Monitoring Officer for over six years for a Surrey district council, Trevor has had over thirty five years’ experience of working for a range of local authorities as an officer and a consultant / investigator.

Trevor has carried out numerous independent investigations and is fully familiar with the Code of Practice and the guidance issued by the Standards Board. He therefore understands all the implications and personally ensures that investigations are carried out professionally and tactfully, with objectivity and minimum fuss.

For more complex cases, we can provide additional support to ensure that work is completed to tight deadlines and at short notice.

Examples of Previous Cases Handled by Trevor Smith

• Access examples of previous cases handled by Trevor on behalf of Monitoring Officers.

Please contact Trevor Smith or Richard Wood on the numbers or e-mail addresses shown below to discuss any help or support that you might need.

Equality and Diversity

We can provide a range of services in particular to help authorities comply with their statutory duties and to help them advance through the Equality Framework for Local Government (formerly the Equality Standard for Local Government). Based on our track record of delivering the equality and diversity needs of local authorities and the public sector generally, we can support you in:

• Interpreting equality legislation, including the Equality Bill 2009.
• Carrying out an equality and diversity gap analysis.
• Reviewing your employment and service delivery policies and procedures to ensure that they are equality compliant.
• Delivering your equality schemes.
• Adopting a Single Equality Scheme (SES) – we have developed a model SES that embraces all of the current and anticipated statutory duties and includes a model action plan.
• The conduct of equality impact assessments.
• Developing and implementing equality monitoring arrangements.
• Establishing consultation arrangements with protected groups.

Equality and Diversity Case Study

• Access a case study on a recent Equality & Diversity assignment.

Please contact Richard Wood on the numbers or e-mail below for discussion, help and support, without obligation.

Quality Management System (QMS)

We can help local authorities, their individual departments or service areas achieve or maintain the quality management standard ISO 9001:2008 certification or its equivalent (ISO 9001:2000 was updated in November 2008 as is now known as ISO 9001:2008).

We can help you with some or all of the work required to suit your needs and budget. We have recently been delighted to assist a London Borough Council with their ISO 9001:2008 proposals and tailored our services to their requirements.

An increasing number of local authorities are selecting this standard in preference to other, sector specific standards. Please click on the following links if you would like support or advice with regard to ISO 9001:2008 or your QMS:

• If you have already achieved ISO 9001 or a QMS.
• If you have not yet achieved ISO 9001 or a QMS.
• If you would like to read about the 2008 updates to ISO 9001.
• If you would like to read our article about the relevance of ISO 9001:2008.

Please contact Phil Austin on the numbers or e-mail below to discuss how we can help.

Environmental Management System (EMS)

We can help local authorities, their individual departments or services achieve or maintain the environmental management standard ISO 14001:2004.

The 2008 amendments to ISO 9001 have also helped to align the two standards to make it more straightforward to run the two systems together to avoid as much duplication as possible.

Please choose any of the following links if you would like support and advice with regard to ISO 14001:2004 or your EMS, sustainability, Energy Management or Going Carbon Neutral:

• ISO 14001:2004.
• Energy Management.
• Going Carbon Neutral.

Please contact Phil Austin for more information.

Business Continuity

Advice and support for you, your partners or suppliers, including support with gap analysis, preparation of policies, implementation, exercises and training. In some cases, we may be able to provide training as reduced or no cost to the authority. Please contact us to discuss your requirements by contacting Richard Wood or Phil Austin on the numbers or e-mail below.

Information Management

All local authorities are aware of their statutory duties with regard to the maintenance and provision of information. Some authorities may be considering the achievement of ISO 27001 or may wish to establish an equivalent information management system. Touchstone Renard can advise on this and lead authorities through the process up to implementation and beyond, so please contact Phil Austin on the numbers or e-mail below.

Options Analysis, Including the Use of Lean / Six Sigma

We have extensive experience in helping organisations determine the best way forward to meet the demands of service delivery while maintaining quality and optimising the use of resources. For local authorities, this can include various joint working models or the provision of shared services with other authorities or partner organisations.

Many authorities are considering whether to make increased use of their powers of charging or trading, with the possibility of setting up their own subsidiary companies to manage the delivery of certain services. Please contact Richard Wood or Phil Austin on the numbers or e-mail below for further discussion on how we can help.

Project Management and Project Assurance

Touchstone Renard has vast experience in advising on and training in Project Management and Assurance. Whatever your project management needs might be, we can tailor our services to suit you. Please contact Phil Austin on the numbers or e-mail below.

Human Resources

We have the experience to support local authorities on a flexible basis with any HR requirement. This might include working with a top team; working with staff at any other level; mentoring; facilitating; carrying out investigations; helping with strategies, policies and protocols; supporting change; providing hands-on help with job evaluations and job descriptions. Please contact Richard Wood on the numbers or e-mail below.

Health and Safety

We can advise and support with regard to the health and safety issues facing local authorities, including risk assessments and risk management. This is a particular area of concern to all major organisations, particularly following the legislation relating to Corporate Manslaughter, introduced in 2008. Please contact Richard Wood or Phil Austin on the numbers or e-mails below.

Investors in People

Touchstone Renard has a long track record of helping organisations in the public and private sectors to achieve and maintain Investors in People and Richard Wood has very recent local authority experience. Please contact Richard Wood or Phil Austin on the numbers or e-mails below.

Training

We can provide training to members, senior managers, staff at all levels, suppliers and partner organisations on a wide range of topics, including:

• Equality and Diversity.
• Business Continuity.
• Project management.
• Health and Safety issues.
• Fire Safety.
• Customer Care.
• Aggression at Work.
• Appraisals.
• Absence Management.
• Stress Management.
• Commercial Awareness.

Please contact Richard Wood for more information.

Touchstone Renard’s Terms of Business

We understand how important it is to our local government to clients to make the best use of resources. Therefore, we aim to quote a fixed or capped fee wherever possible and to provide you with value for money. Wherever possible, we aim to help authorities make savings as a result of the services that we have provided.

In some cases, for example, training, we may be able to identify ways in which we can deliver the service at greatly reduced or no cost to the authority. Of course, this does not mean that we ever compromise on quality.

Please Contact Us

Local Authority Support - Richard Wood

If you would like to have a friendly discussion about how we might be able to provide support to your authority, please contact Richard Wood without any obligation on your part on:

• T: +44 (0)20 7866 8123 or
• M: 07713 621 005.
• Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Investigations - Trevor Smith

If you would like to discuss how we can help you with investigations, please contact Trevor Smith, in complete confidence, without any obligation on your part on:

• T: +44 (0)20 7866 8123.
• E mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Management Standards and Project Management - Phil Austin

If you would like to discuss management standards or project management in particular, please contact Phil Austin, without obligation on your part on:

• T: +44 (0)20 7866 8123.
• M: 07768 366 744.
• Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .