Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Management Board Meeting

27th May 2004

ATTENDEES

Council Tax Project Update

The purpose of this paper was to set the scene for the presentation advising the Management Board on the progress and current status of the Council Tax Revaluation 2007 programme.

The CTR 2007 Programme was working on several levels: strategic, tactical and functional. It was aiming to deliver change into the organisation as well as deliver the largest mass appraisal in the world.

Reports from the VOA were channelled through the IR Centre of Excellence. The CoE was comprised of project management experts ensuring best practice was applied. They send monthly reports to the Minister and quarterly reports to OGC.
The message from ODPM was to keep pushing ahead and not to let the Balance of Funding Review divert progress from the current preparatory tasks.

Corporate Communications had developed an outline communications programme, which had been passed to ODPM to reflect in a comprehensive overall communication strategy.

‘GO’ magazine had been a major success. It had become the third most popular part of the intranet on only its third day.

The Newcastle pilot on the use of questionnaires to collect information had achieved a 50-60% response rate and as a result of this success an approach was being made to the Minister to extend their use across the network.

The AVM would provide five comparables that could be presented to taxpayers along with the notification of banding. It was imperative that the information shows how we got to the adjusted sale price.

The Programme Board would be considering the evidence available to make a firm recommendation on the adoption of the AVM on 22 June 2004 based on the four criteria of timetable, taxpayer creditability, costs and benefits and future service needs. The Management Board would then be asked to this on 23 June before it was put to Ministers.

HR Review

The purpose of the paper was to provide the Management Board with the results of the review into the organisation and overall structure of the HR Directorate and to recommend options for improvement.

Some changes had been made but problems were still being experienced. The challenge was to improve the structure using the fixed resources available.

Some of the recommendations could be taken forward without requiring the approval of the Management Board but advice was required where boundaries between divisions were crossed. All the changes recommended could be met within the current budget.

More work was required with Groups and Units to enhance their capabilities to enable them to be used as an additional resource. E-HR would enable diverse strands of HR to be brought together.

The split of policy and operations within CEO HR was not helpful in terms of providing clear lines of responsibility or end to end process delivery. HR will restructure under the 2 Unit Heads who would lead 7 teams focussed on combined policy and operations subject areas.

More work on the detail of the restructuring would be carried out and staff would be fully advised of the proposals before recommendations were implemented.

Workforce Planning Update

The purpose of this paper, which was for information only, was to provide the Management Board with an update of the projected staffing need requirements for the period 2004-2010 and to examine how the Agency’s operational needs impact on HR responsibilities for recruitment, advancements, training and accommodation.

The paper updated the position reported to the Management Board in March.

There were still some peaks and troughs particularly in Band 3 need but it was anticipated that further work in progress would help mitigate these.

More thought needed be given to succession planning particularly in the higher pay bands.

Assessment and Development Centres

The purpose of this paper was to report to the Management Board on the results of the Assessment and Development Centres.

The new process had proved to be successful in selecting g new Band 1 and Band 2 individuals. It was recommended that the centres as devised and facilitated by HR, and DBM Samuell, the outside consultants, should continue to be used to select staff for all non-specialist roles in Bands 1 and 2.

There were some concerns over the correlation between the sift results and candidates subsequent performance at the assessment and development centres. The consultants were looking at devising an improved sifting process.

There were still some vacancies at Band 2 level and there was now a very small reserve list. Some vacancies would need to be filled through expressions of interest. It was therefore recommended that further Assessment and Development centres should be held in late 2004 or early 2005.

Management Development

The existing Management Development Programmes were picking up new Band 1 and Band 2 staff but failed to meet the needs of Band 3 staff and graduates who had potential for management positions. The management board decided that this issue should be covered by the work of the newly established Management Development project and would want to consider it further at a later meeting.

Voice Services in the VOA

The purpose of this paper was to consider whether it was the right time to review our requirements. CGEY would take over the existing contract from the 1 July 2004. The VOA had to ensure that it had the voice services required to meet the needs of the different business streams over the next five to ten years.

It was important to identify the key issues such as Council Tax and mobile workers and to ensure that we had the infrastructure to deal with these.

The management board decided that there should be a comprehensive review to identify the available options. The consultancy costs would be met out of the HR budget.