Valuation Office Agency  (VOA) Management Board Meeting

31 January 2008

ATTENDEES

Retirement Age 

The retirement age for the Agency had now been considered and Steve Hartnell informed the meeting that it had been decided to remove the set age limit.

Domestic Records Investigation  

Tim Bradford presented a paper that provided a brief overview of the recent investigation and the emerging findings.

Proposal for Scanned Hardcopy Records  

Paul Sanderson provided an update on the progress of the hardcopy records project since the last discussion at the December meeting, where the Board agreed that work should continue on exploring the possibility of an Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRM) system for the Agency. The Board recommended that this should now be considered alongside other projects linked to the Future Operating Model. The Board also agreed the creation of an “Information Manager” role from 1 April 2008.

Head of Profession 

David Tretton gave an update on achievements in the professional arena and his work with the associated professional bodies since the last Board meeting he attended in October 2007. David also detailed the excellent results for the 23 staff that recently completed the College of Estate Management Diploma in Surveying.

People Committee Report 

Andrew Hudson provided a report of the People Committee meeting held on 11 January 2008. The Management Board noted the report and had no further comments.

 

Agency Performance

This item was a discussion on performance and in particular the key performance indicators where the outlook was not at green.

David Park told the meeting that the results from the customer satisfaction surveys were pleasing. While it appeared the target for elapsed time on council tax reports (England) could be met, this remained slightly uncertain.

Steve Prendergast advised the meeting that DVS results against the current target of 8 days for IHT initial appraisal cases continued to improve. The elapsed time targets had slipped slightly in the last month, but were still green and amber/green status. LS income was better than expected for this point in the year and cost-effectiveness on tax yield had already exceeded the 2010 World Class target.

Sue Townsend provided an overview of the financial position for the Agency.

Steve Hartnell advised that 38 staff were at risk of not having the core skills and competencies within 6 months, out of 292 who had changed roles in the last 6 months. This KPI would need to be closely monitored as DVS staff changed roles. Short-term sick leave had increased slightly during December, while the long-term indicator continued to show a downward trend.

Paul Sanderson updated the meeting on the programme to transfer the functions of The Rent Service (TRS) to the VOA. VOA colleagues would be attending at a VOA/TRS Organisational Design Event in Manchester on 7 February 2008.

Data Security 

David Hughes gave an update on data security issues affecting the Agency.