| 30th June 2005
Andrew Hudson Chief Executive
David Park Director of Local Taxation
John Keelty Director of Finance, Technology and Strategy
Steve Hartnell Director of Human Resources
Paul Sanderson Director of Modernisation
John Wilkinson Director of District Valuer Services
Mary Morrison-Paton Head of Communications
Ann Grinstead Non Executive Director
Diane Leggo Director of Council Tax
Barbara Grose Head of HR (Business Partners & Diversity)
Clare Johnson HR Learning Manager
John Smallwood Specialist Rating Business Change Manager
Andrew Mouland Secretary
Diane Leggo provided the Management Board with an update on the Council Tax Revaluation.
Further progress had been made on the development of Project 1 – the integration of the AVM into the mainstream operational system.
There had been progress on the CTR in the network with a focus on the sales information. Issues with the management information were being addressed.
The AVM was working well.
The Management Board discussed Agency performance in Local Taxation, DVS, HR and Finance as part of their regular monthly monitoring.
There had been particular improvements in DVS performance in the first quarter of the year and John Wilkinson would continue to monitor progress closely.
The purpose of the interim report, introduced by Barbara Grose, was to provide the Management Board with details of the consultations carried out and the emerging proposals. The Management Board were asked to provide a steer for the paper to be produced when Performance Management was discussed in detail at the July MB meeting.
Comments had been received from staff and senior managers, and Barbara Grose had also compared performance management schemes in other public and private organisations.
The Management Board broadly agreed with the emerging outcomes and Barbara Grose would take any comments into account in the July MB paper.
The purpose of the paper, presented by Clare Johnson, was to set out the proposals for the VOA to sponsor existing staff through the distance learning courses available via the College of Estate Management (CEM).
Staff undertaking the various routes to qualification would develop the skills and knowledge which would lay the foundation of a career path. They would gain a breadth of knowledge and thus flexibility to meet the needs of both DVS and LT business streams and provide the Agency with the potential to achieve a workforce that was both competent and highly skilled.
The aim was not merely to meet future requirements for Band 3 staff but to improve the skills and knowledge of technical staff in Bands 4 and 5 and to enable a wide range of staff to reach their full potential.
The Board broadly supported the scheme and agreed that the Agency should invest a half-day per week in students’ study time under the scheme, in line with the IRRV scheme and MDP.
The purpose of this session, introduced by John Smallwood, was to suggest a revised CSR Statement and also a strategy to develop Corporate Responsibility within the Agency. The revised CSR statement was believed to be a more comprehensive document that built upon the SMC, and also reflected the latest thinking in the wider business community, as well as capturing the ad hoc efforts already being made by staff and groups.
The Board approved the revised CSR Statement subject to the revised drafting discussed during the meeting. The remaining recommendations set out by John Smallwood in his paper were also approved. The Board agreed that they would actively support the concept of CSR within the Agency.
The audit had been completed and signed and FT & P were waiting for agreement from PMG before issuing the Annual Report and Accounts.
The auditors had found nothing wrong and had submitted a very good report. Both Deloittes and Internal Audit were complimentary about the VOA financial management and the Management Board expressed their appreciation of the work carried out by John Keelty and his team.
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