Meeting –
27th November 2003
ATTENDEES
M A Johns - Chief Executive
D Park - Deputy Chief Executive, Director Local Taxation
J H Keelty - Director of Finance, Technology and Strategy
S Hartnell - Director of Human Resources
J M Wilkinson - Director of District Valuer Services
P Sanderson - Director of Modernisation
A Grinstead - Non Executive Director
D Stathers - Non Executive Director
M Morrison-Paton - Head of Communications
B Grose
A Mouland - Secretary
Spending Review 2004.
John Keelty updated the Board on the financial position
for 2004/05. He explained that initial expenditure bids
exceeded anticipated income, but that detailed talks are
continuing with budget holders and that he was optimistic
that this funding gap could be closed.
The effects on the VOA of the Gershon Review, which is
tasked with finding efficiencies in the public sector, were
unclear as yet. The most significant development may be
with regard to adopting common approaches to back office
functions such as finance, personnel, accommodation and
IT across the public sector. How this pressure would manifest
itself was unclear, as the Agency’s negotiations on
resource were through ODPM.
Approval of Additional Spending 2003/04
John Keelty introduced his paper, the purpose of which
was to highlight the potential under spend in the current
financial year and to seek agreement on spending options
to avoid this.
The additional spending would be allocated partly to the
replacement of IT hardware, which would also help to reduce
maintenance costs for the next financial year. There would
also be further additional expenditure allocated to a further
early retirement scheme, details of which would be issued
on the 28th November 2003.
The Board agreed that additional spending should be authorised
and that other options should continue to be presented for
consideration in case there were any further changes in
the underlying financial estimates.
Proposals for New Assessment Centres
Steve Hartnell introduced the paper by stressing that although
the assessment centres, which had been running for 3 years,
had been very successful and the system had proved itself,
there was still potential for improvement. The proposal
for the future is that most Band 1 and Band 2 posts would
be filled from Assessment and Development centres.
It was agreed that in future Assessment and Development
centres should be used to fill all but the most specialised
posts at Band 1 and Band 2. This would make it easier to
achieve rotation between managerial and other posts. To
achieve this, the range of competencies tested would need
to be widened.
A firm of consultants had been appointed to assist in the
design and running of the new Assessment and Development
centres. The consultants were currently carrying out the
groundwork to enable them to design the tests for the new
range of competencies to be used for selection purposes.
Dates had already been provisionally arranged for the training
of assessors.
The sift process would be simplified and each candidate
would now be scored on managerial and technical competencies.
Every candidate, pass or fail would be provided with detailed
feedback and encouraged to create a development programme,
based on their results, in conjunction with their line manager.
Candidates would be assessed on Building Relationships,
Communication, Problem Solving & Decision Making, Leadership,
Improving Business & Customer Results and Analysis Skills.
When the consultants had designed the exercises for the
Assessment Centres, HR would review them to ensure that
they provided an equal opportunity for all candidates whatever
their background within the VOA.
A more detailed announcement regarding the format of the
new Assessment and Development Centres has been issued on
the VOA intranet.
Customer Service Survey Results 2002/03
Pat Duckworth reported to the Management Board on the results
from the Council Tax and Rating Customer Surveys for 2002/03
and the emerging results from the surveys for 2003/4.
Although the results were generally good, the Agency had
missed its key target in this area last year and the half
year results for 2003/04 showed further deterioration. In
particular, timeliness was still a key problem in all areas
and the Board decided to give further thought as to how
this could be improved. Further thought would also need
to be given over the next year to whether there was a better
target for customer service.
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