EDGE public solutions. Review of Transport Operations. For: Vale of Glamorgan Council. Brian Cotter Stuart Cooper. April 2014

Transcription

1 Review of Transport Operations For: Vale of Glamorgan Council Brian Cotter Stuart Cooper April 2014 Page: 1 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

2 CONTENTS Section: Title: Page: 1.0 Introduction Executive Summary Scope Fleet & Fleet Services Education Transport Social Care Transport Community & Supported Bus Transport Staff Travel Financial Summary Integrated Transport Unit Change Management Regional Collaboration Summary of all recommendations in this report Detailed Savings Plan 105 Appendix 1 Interviewees 106 Appendix 2 Mainstream transport contracts 109 Appendix 3 Additional Learning Needs transport contracts 111 Appendix 4 Supported Bus Service transport contracts 113 Appendix 5 Implementation plan 114 Page: 2 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

3 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Overview In response to the financial pressures being experienced by all UK local authorities, the Vale of Glamorgan Council (VoG) has commissioned a review of its transport services, the scope of which is described fully in Section The review predates the similar action being taken at a national level via the National Assets Working Group (NAWG) and recognises the huge level of opportunity for real cash efficiencies which can be driven in this area, given the correct level of impetus and a willingness to embrace change and new ways of thinking In response to the above, have been selected via a competitive tender process to undertake the first phase of a Transport Transformation Project, with the ambitious remit to review the full breadth of VoG transport and to challenge throughout to deliver a set of customer focused recommendations for streamlining and improving the services to deliver them in a much more cost efficient manner This report summarises the findings of the review and provides a range of options and recommendations for key changes to the specification and delivery of transport services in VoG. In addition, the potential financial impact of each option is assessed, along with timelines for implementation and associated risks. 1.2 Project Description The initial review phase encompasses: Detailed review of the existing service delivery arrangements to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Consideration of internal opportunities to improve both processes and underpinning organisational structures. Robust appraisal of all change options and development of high level business cases and financial projections. Clear recommendations of the preferred operating model for the future of transport services in VoG. Preparation of a detailed project programme and evaluation of resource requirements to support implementation. Page: 3 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

4 1.3 Project Objectives The central objective of the review is to establish a new service delivery model that will: Provide significant savings from 2014/15 onwards through a transformational change in the service, targeted at a total budget reduction of 1.5m p.a. Provide VoG with a fit for purpose transport structure, which once in place is capable of maintaining optimal service costs in to the future. Deliver maximum economic, social and environmental value to the Council. Page: 4 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

5 2.0 Executive Summary 2.1 Introduction VoG have taken the opportunity to review their transport operations at a timely juncture being high on the agenda of the Welsh Local Government Association and on the heels of The Williams Commission initial findings Transport as contained in the scope of this review is a very significant spend area totaling 11.65m of Council revenue budget in 2013 / 14 and the Council has a target to save 1.5m (12.9%) in this area. As such it is crucial that the Council is assured that it is realising the best value for money in these areas and that any available efficiency opportunities are examined in full This review was conducted between February and April 2014 and we would like to take the opportunity to thank all the people involved for their cooperation throughout this period. 2.2 Overview of transport Transport in respect of this report means: Fleet and Fleet Maintenance; Education transport; Social Services transport; Public and Community bus services; Staff Travel Transport is not one organizational department in VoG, rather it is fragmented across a number of areas: Fleet and Plant Management and Maintenance is controlled in the Visible Services and Housing Directorate although some plant is managed within the individual service teams rather than the fleet service. Education home to school transport for mainstream pupils is managed in the Development Services Directorate, whilst transport for those with additional learning needs is managed within the education directorate and transport for post 16 students is managed both in the central student finance team and in Development Services. Social Services transport is managed within all the individual teams in social services. Staff travel is managed within all separate teams within the Council. Page: 5 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

6 2.2.3 The result of these organisational arrangements are that no one team or manager has an overview of transport decisions across the Council and therefore opportunities for utilising resources more effectively, for monitoring overall spend and for driving economies of scale are lost. There are a number of examples throughout this report which emphasise this point, a couple of simple examples being: A small fleet of 8 meals on wheels vans lie idle after 1.30pm every day but are not considered for any additional use when they could for example be used by the Vale Community Resource team instead of allowing staff to use their own vehicles and claim mileage. A parking fee of c. 9,000 p.a. (paid via grant monies) is paid for parking a large bus when space could be made available at The Alps or another Council facility to save this expenditure Section 10 of this report covers the recommended solution that the Council should move to creating an Integrated Transport Unit (ITU) which is charged with managing all things transport related across the Council and to recognise and realise all areas of opportunity in terms of efficiency and best practice, this is a key recommendation of this report. 2.3 Fleet management and maintenance The Council fleet size as well as the levels of vehicle hire and the overall costs of maintenance can be reduced significantly but this requires a number of supporting actions to be completed expertly, these are: Introduction of the vehicle tracking software alongside the development and more importantly the deployment of reporting and training to allow unequivocal evidence based vehicle removals performed in conjunction with user departments rather than being imposed upon them. Significant improvements in the day to day management of the vehicle maintenance operation. There are a number of opportunities to improve the use of IT, reporting, scheduling, customer service and performance management in this area both to realise efficiencies and to increase confidence in the service from its customers. The effective use of vehicle tracking technology can also be used to change working and round patterns and to reduce the number of staff required, there are in particular a number of opportunities in the area of waste collection All actions recommended in this area can eventually realise c. 977,000 in efficiency savings. Page: 6 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

7 2.4 Contracted transport Transport is contracted in a number of areas across the Council and alongside our recommendation to create an ITU we recommend that: For mainstream bus transport an electronic process of retendering and a reverse auction process is brought in in time for the 50 routes that are required to be tendered for this September. For all taxi and minibus transport a new framework of transport operators is created by vigorously marketing the opportunity to all licensed operators and companies both in the Authority and in neighbouring Authorities. The quality of this market engagement will be the key to success in compiling this framework. Once the framework is set up all existing contracts should be retendered (by exercising the contract cancellation clauses where necessary) at the earliest possible timescale Alongside this effective resetting of all contracted prices, we suggest that a process of contract rationalisation is undertaken, amalgamating routes in and across disciplines where possible If all of these actions are introduced effectively there is the potential to save circa. 419, Staff Travel VoG spends a significant amount on staff travel at circa. 1.25m at current run rate. Proposed changes being considered include the reduction in mileage rate paid to 45p from 65p and the removal of the right to take vehicles home at night will reduce costs in this area significantly in the region of 250, There are a number of additional actions the Council could take in this area: Introduction of electronic claims management software a random audit found that mileage claims were overstated by around 8.6%. If staff were required to enter postcodes electronically when claiming costs could be reduced. Introduction of a pool car scheme over time introduce pool cars at key locations across the borough alongside introducing guidelines for what type of transport should be used when. The ITU would take an overview of claims made and would require authorisation to challenge where they felt claims were individually or in aggregate still too high or where guidelines were not being followed. Page: 7 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

8 2.5.3 These further actions would realise additional savings in the region of 128,000 annually. 2.6 Community and bus services transport Community transport has grown in recent months as more traditional bus services have been removed due to budget reductions Recommendations in this area are not based around saving money since budgets have been reduced significantly already. We recommend simply that: The Council ensures that Community Transport services are placed on a sustainable budgetary footing. That real numbers of passengers and the frequency they travel is understood to ensure that there is good service provided to a broad range of people rather than an educated minority utilising the service heavily. In terms of bus services there is a requirement to understand passenger numbers and this requires that existing contract T&C s are enforced. 2.7 Overall savings potential We have detailed below the savings we believe are available through the introduction of all the recommendations in this report, this has been split between efficiency savings and policy change savings. We have also indicated the likely investment required in expert transport transformation resource to realise these savings: In Project 14/15 15/16 16/17 Total Efficiency (baseline) 700,627 1,552,105 1,626,834 3,879,566 Budget Change 700, ,478 74,729 1,626,834 Spilt by Directorate: Directorate 2014 / / / 17 Cross Council 34, , ,550 Cross Council - mainly VSH 84, , ,060 Development Services 52,500 90,000 90,000 Education 113, , ,620 Leisure & Sport 5,833 10,000 10,000 Social Care 24,500 28,000 28,000 Visible Services & Housing 385, , ,604 Total Baseline 700,627 1,552,105 1,626,834 Total Budget 700, ,478 74,729 Page: 8 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

9 2.7.2 An overall budgetary saving of 1.63m is available through the introduction of all the changes in this report. 2.8 Implementation The size and complexity of this change programme and the transformation and technical expertise required to deliver it effectively should not be underestimated, this will be a very demanding programme of changes. There are also issues of sustainability in that the proposed organisational changes will require long term assistance to ensure that new processes and culture are embedded for the long term Additionally, it should not be run as a series of projects but as a true transformation programme with one sponsor and one governance arrangement If the range of resources are not available internally there is the opportunity to introduce temporary external resource. 2.9 Conclusion VoG have the opportunity over the next 3 years to transform how it manages its transport operations and to save circa. 1.63m. However, it will require some very difficult decisions to be made and some equally difficult changes to be implemented and embedded as business as usual. Page: 9 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

10 3.0 Scope 3.1 Overview The review covers the transport operations of VoG which incorporates all the Councils fleet utilisation, provision and maintenance, education transport, social care transport, community transport, the supported bus network and staff travel with the central objectives of service redesign and identification of opportunities for service transformation and efficiencies, drawing upon practice elsewhere and making recommendations for immediate action or detailed follow up investigations. 3.2 Review Scope In order to carry out an in-depth assessment of the overall VoG transport operations, this review considers the following areas: Corporate: Strategic and service planning for transport operations in order to confirm alignment with corporate priorities. Review of the end to end Transport process for Authority, from policy setting, eligibility control, compliance, utilisation of resources, delivery management and customer experience. Identification of expenditure and controls. Current use of discretionary travel policies. Fleet: Overall size and make-up of the existing fleet. Routines for sizing the fleet and removing redundant fleet. Processes for the renewal of fleet and review of overall vehicle lifecycles. Current financing of fleet (purchase, operational lease etc.). Spot hire control. Fuel cost control. Processes for accidental damage and insurance covers. Fleet maintenance: Maintenance schedules, adherence to maintenance schedules, and fitter productivity. Costs of external works. Income realised and scope for improvement. Contracts for parts and consumables. Suitability of facilities. Page: 10 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

11 Children s Services transport (SEN, mainstream bus and other contracts): Value achieved from the re-procurement of externally provided transport. Route allocation, shared journeys, and review of out of borough routes. Resource utilisation, management, services provided and terms and conditions of escorts. Quality of provision and provider management and control. Social Services transport: Utilisation of internal transport provision and resources. Opportunities to move demand profiles to maximise utilisation and integrate service into a holistic provision. Driver and escort management, contracts, utilisation. Ad-hoc taxi transport. Eligibility and control: Eligibility policy, eligibility criteria, compliance to criteria and cost benefit opportunities of making changes. Demand forecasts for future years (in particular forecasts for adult independent travel and associated flexibility required) to feed into development of a new transport model. Staff travel and fleet (grey fleet): Review of opportunities for alternatives to mileage allowance policy (i.e. provision of pool cars). Control, compliance and management of staff policy. Ad-hoc taxi transport (where not covered above). Other: Concessionary travel schemes and actual value achieved. Subsidised travel and actual value achieved. Community Transport and value achieved, to include progress towards achieving commerciality in the face of reducing grants. 3.4 Approach, Objectives, Outputs and Key Operating Principles The approach required was: Initial development of a plan with timescales to be agreed with the Project Sponsor. To conduct interviews with a cross section of stakeholders from front-line operatives, Directors and Councillors (as appropriate). Page: 11 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

12 To collate key operational data, including full budget and actual financial positions, processes, performance data and service plans. To have regular update meetings with the programme sponsor and departmental project team members in order to provide feedback and discuss emerging themes The review objectives were defined as: To deliver value for money there was a requirement to make recommendations which would result in significant efficiency savings. Support continuous improvement The required output was a concise report comprising: The outputs of the review of existing budgets and performance, including the interviews undertaken. An operating model for the future management of transport services (appraising the potential viability of a centralised and integrated transport team) including the required organisational structure, processes, databases, software, approach, culture and interaction with customers both internally and externally. A business case to accompany the proposed model, identifying specifically how significant cost savings can be delivered and over what time frames. An implementation plan describing in detail how the council can deliver the recommendations contained in the report. The supplier will be required to report the findings of the review to the Corporate Management Team, a meeting of Cabinet and the relevant Scrutiny Committee The review was required to be undertaken in line with the following key operating principles: Ensure that all staff associated with Fleet & Transport operations have an opportunity to input into the review. Ensure comprehensive stakeholder planning so that all parties are engaged. Baseline start points are to be identified, accurate and should be identified in the review report. Page: 12 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

13 3.4.5 The successful completion of the review and this report have been heavily dependent on the co-operation of VoG staff and managers, all of whom have been supportive and cooperative in giving their time and relevant information to enable this review to be successful Where assumptions have been made in arriving at conclusions and / or recommendations, these are clearly identified within the report. 3.5 Links to other Projects and Initiatives There were no identified links to other Council Projects or Initiatives. 3.6 Transformation Challenges VoG has recognised in drafting the scope for this review that service transformation may be necessary in order to make significant further transport savings, whilst still providing acceptable outcomes for VoG communities and that in some instances external support may be required to implement that transformation In support of this recognition, options and initiatives requiring significant or step changes, such as fundamental changes to the way transport is provided or commissioned, will be clearly identified in the report as areas that may require wide ranging change, and may require external support during implementation. 3.7 Interviews A schedule of staff from VoG and associated organisations and contractors interviewed in the preparation of this report can be found at Appendix Baselines As indicated in Section 9 below, this report is based on VoG transport expenditure either for the last full financial year (or where accurate detail exists based upon the current expenditure run rate outturn for the current financial year) In order to reliably track and monitor the financial and service impact of new initiatives introduced in transport operations as a result of the recommendations from this report, an agreed basis from which savings can be measured will be required, along with a basis from which to calculate the financial impact of changing operational demands (such as increases in the number of children being transported to and from school). Page: 13 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

14 3.8.3 It is therefore recommended that at a suitable time close to the formal commencement of the introduction of these recommendations, a baseline document is drafted that confirms both transport expenditure and associated operational statistics. This document can be circulated to and agreed by all stakeholders and project groups and will form a central snapshot of transport operations at project commencement This document will then provide a clear base from which the success of the change project can be measured across all new initiatives and may also be extended to define savings types and the basis of calculation of savings. 3.9 Summary of Recommendations Recommendations in respect the transport review scope and baselines are summarised in the table below: Ref: SC01 Recommendation: At a suitable point prior to the commencement of a transport change program, draft and agree a formal baseline document that provides up to date financial and operational data from which the impact of the project can be measured. Page: 14 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

15 4.0 Fleet & Fleet Services 4.1 Service Overview The procurement, maintenance and management of the VOG vehicle fleet are the responsibility of the Fleet Management Team at the Alps Depot. The Depot is shared with other services including: Refuse Housing Maintenance Building Maintenance The Fleet Manager has responsibility for all the vehicles and holds the Operating License for the VoG vehicle fleet. Key fleet requirements such as M.O.T certification, Tax Disc renewals, safety checks and maintenance schedules are in place along with breakdown and recovery processes and ensuring that all vehicles employed in the delivery of Council responsibilities are appropriately maintained and insured and that the drivers are appropriately qualified and licensed The Fleet & Depot Management Team is headed up by the Fleet Manager supported by a team of 14 staff Transport operations for VoG cover the normal range of transport services that would be expected. The services provided are outlined in the table below: Service Fleet Provision Fleet Maintenance Description Key deliverables: Procurement of the vehicle fleet & plant required to deliver key VoG services such as highways and parks maintenance. Planning of the vehicle and plant procurement and replacement program. Internal Leasing of fleet vehicle and plant to operational departments. Support and challenge in determining the specification and requirement for vehicle and plant. Disposal of vehicles and plant once no longer required. Management of short / medium term hired vehicles where required. Key deliverables: Testing, servicing, maintenance and repair of fleet vehicles and plant on behalf of internal Page: 15 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

16 customers. Provision and management of fleet maintenance facilities. Provision and management of fleet maintenance staff (fitters / administration) and systems. Holding of Operators License (O-License) in respect of the fleet and fleet operations, including compliance with O-License regulations / requirements. Issue and control of Section 19 Permits. Driver Management Grey fleet Key deliverables: Management of driver licenses. Management and checking of licenses and insurances in respect of vehicles belonging to staff but used on Council business during the course of their work (the Grey Fleet ). Overview: Utilisation of vehicles owned by Council staff to provide transport in the normal course of their duties. An estimated 1.28M miles travelled per annum at a cost in the order of 750k. Although the move to HMRC rates will impact on these figures. 4.2 Workshop and Facilities The VoG fleet operation is currently based predominantly at the Alps depot with alternate fuel provision at Court Road and functions as follows: Depot Functions Comments Alps Fleet vehicle and plant maintenance workshop and stores. Defined working bays. MOT / taxi testing bay. Lifting equipment for all vehicles up to and including hydraulic ramps Vehicle wash. Depot shared with a range of other VOG departments. Fleet facilities fragmented and spread around depot. No clear (Council wide) strategy for the depot or its Page: 16 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

17 Fleet office space. Parking. Fuel storage and delivery. Technician welfare facilities. Heating facilities for the winter. Area for storing small stock items of consumables Facilities for maintaining plant and machinery Signed risk books Fire equipment Equipment for safe working at height Spills kit Safe disposal of hazardous materials layout. Generally poor housekeeping with equipment and spares on the floor and in walkways. Court Rd Fuel storage and delivery The workshop facilities at the Alps depot operate relatively well at present, despite the separate fleet and plant maintenance facilities not being located together, and currently operate under a green VOSA operator risk compliance score. There is adequate workshop space to carry out core functions and sufficient parking; there are few problems with congestion. All necessary operational requirements are catered for The Workshop is a large open facility with defined working bays incorporating an MOT testing section, lifting equipment and inspection pits. There are kitchen and mess room facilities on site Health and safety requirements appear comprehensive and well managed and include; Fire equipment. Equipment for safe working at height. Spills kits. Hazardous waste disposal The general condition of the workshop however is poor. There are tools, equipment and new and scrap parts in walkways causing obstruction and accident risk, this is a management and discipline issue which should be addressed. Page: 17 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

18 4.2.6 There is a small area for carrying stock and a small amount of high use consumables are kept as imprest stock which is managed well by an external contractor. Most parts are ordered bespoke to the job and delivered in a timely manner by suppliers. There does not appear to be much stock management in evidence with many spares lying uncontrolled either on the floor or on benches The plant workshop is also located in the Alps depot but in a separate part of the site The depot as a whole does not appear to be managed effectively with responsibility being passed through a variety of services managers who have subsequently left the organisation Observations of the depot in general are that; It does not appear well managed with vehicles and plant exposed to the elements and left abandoned across the site. The yard appears untidy with significant debris in roads and walkways. Anecdotally a high level of tyre damage is incurred. Walkways are not clearly defined. Parking appears at a premium, this may be a consequence of a high percentage of the fleet based in the depot. Driving discipline and traffic management is not promoted with speeding being observed and vehicles travelling the wrong way round the site. Ref: WS01 WS02 WS03 Recommendation: Develop a general depot management strategy to include site disciplines, cleanliness and responsibility. Workshop management controls and accountability should be implemented. Equipment kept outside should be audited and either disposed of, stored appropriately or covered. 4.3 Information Technology Current Fleet management technology available to the fleet team is good and fit for purpose, however its implementation and integration has been poor. The Tranman system has been in place for over 12 months but does not hold the relevant information to effectively support efficient operations or produce relevant management Page: 18 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

19 information to support progress and improvement. The lack of integration directly introduces inefficiencies and the lack of reporting capability undermines the ability of the team to manage the fleet proactively A variety of Fleet Management Information Technology (FMIT) systems are currently used by the fleet management team, which can be summarised as follows: Depot Functions Comments Tranman Holding base vehicle data for VoG fleet and other vehicles maintained by fleet. Scheduling and management of maintenance including maintenance records and audit trail. Parts ordering and stores management. Generating technician productivity data. Management of fuel data related to individual vehicles. Hire bookings for vehicles and plant. Generating reports and management information. Functionality not utilised with the system effectively functioning as a stock database. Very limited understanding of system by key users. Part of the problem not the solution in current format. No web access or read-only access for customer departments. MI and report generating capability is hence not utilised. Balbin (At the Alps depot) Fuel issue, control and record keeping. Allocation of fuel used to individual vehicles and / or users. Fuel ordering, delivery and stock management. Reports and management information on fuel usage. Out of date system with only basic reporting capability. Does not communicate directly with Tranman or finance systems, requiring re-keying of data. Datatrack (At the Fuel issue control and record keeping. Out of date system with only basic Page: 19 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

20 Court Road depot) Allocation of fuel used to individual vehicles and / or users. Fuel ordering, delivery and stock management. Reports and management information on fuel usage. reporting capability. Does not communicate directly with Tranman. Does not link with Alps fuel system TrackYou Vehicle tracking system being fitted to all VOG vehicles and rolling plant. Generation of reports and management information on vehicle movements and utilisation Due to be fully installed across Visible Services by mid May and rest of fleet by mid- November Effective system capable of providing useful data if implemented properly. Good reporting and analysis capability. Utilisation of data will be crucial across all user departments. Reporting should be undertaken by fleet and pushed to departments to generate efficiencies. General (Excel and similar standard systems) Heavily utilised for a variety of general tracking and management functions including scheduling and booking. Creating substantial repetitive actions with unnecessary complexity. Should migrate functionality to the core FMIT system Generally the systems used by the fleet teams are focused on fleet management and fuel. The lack of integration between systems builds inefficiencies into operating processes as, for example, maintenance scheduling data needs to be re-keyed from one system to another then printed to hard copy. This requirement also introduces the potential for human error to corrupt data and generate inaccurate Management Information The current set up of the systems to generate useful management information is limited and this both starves user departments of useful Page: 20 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

21 data and undermines the strategic capability for fleet management to take the initiative in assisting / driving its customer departments to improve and become more efficient The current system set up within the Fleet Team mean that management information generated as standard is currently minimal, if at all. There is no reporting of workforce productivity, vehicle utilisation, costs or other data that would provide a basis for performance improvement both within the fleet areas and within customer departments. Indeed it has been difficult during this review to access key data such as workforce productivity and vehicle downtime that would be expected to be generated by fleet systems as a matter of course. This is an area that will need to be addressed in the future As set out previously, the FMIT systems used by VoG are under-utilised. There is significant potential to both improve efficiency and reduce administration time with the introduction of new systems processes to provide the financial and management information upon which to base the effective management of the service Central to the success of generating effective management data is an integrated FMIT system capable of handling and managing data quickly and effectively, producing effective regular reports and analysis and integrating all the key functions required within transport operations in a single place. This will include data and analysis in respect of the following, as well as integration with other related systems such as trackers: Base vehicle and plant information. Accidents and drivers. Parts, spares and tyres. Work scheduling and productivity. Fuel issue, control and stocks. Vehicle and plant hire. Pool car booking and scheduling It is clear that the systems in their current configuration are not capable of supporting a fit for purpose fleet management operation. It will therefore be essential that a review process is undertaken to transform the capability to deliver the required functionality, and ensure the system is future proof and able to accommodate the changing operational requirements of VOG as well as advances in basic IT technology. Page: 21 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

22 4.3.9 It is also clear that the staff capability to deliver the full system functionality is questionable. Despite training there remains a lack of knowledge and understanding of technology particularly within the administration function. This is an area which will need addressing before much of the benefits can be realised Consideration should also be given during the process to extending system capabilities beyond those available at present, particularly in respect of: Workplace technology for the technician teams to upload productivity and work data direct to the FMIT system. Web based access for customers to both draw down progress reports and to access current information in respect of scheduling and progress on repairs Following the introduction of new systems processes, a regime of financial and key performance information reporting should be introduced to provide a basis for the fleet operation to manage fleet operations and for customers to remain informed. This should be based on an analysis of the real performance data required by the fleet operation and on engagement with key customers to understand their reporting requirements Further, a full data cleansing and updating exercise should be carried out to ensure that any new processes are working on current data and so are fully effective. There is little point in introducing new processes which operate on outdated information. Protocols for regular updating, control, security and management of data should be introduced at the same time to ensure that data remains up to date and systems remain effective VoG is in the process of installing the vehicle tracker system, Track You. The system is capable of producing high quality reports both on vehicle movements and on other operational performance data. It has a web portal access that allows users to access information and generates reports This represents an opportunity for the fleet management team to take the initiative and to begin to work pro-actively with customer departments to reduce vehicle usage, reduce fleet size and increase vehicle sharing and overall utilisation All IT upgrading within the transport sphere would need to be undertaken in the context of wider VoG IT program changes and would Page: 22 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

23 need to support and integrate with the wider program changes as necessary Summary recommendations Ref: IT01 IT02 IT03 IT04 IT05 IT06 IT07 IT08 Recommendation: Review the current competencies existing in the administration functions. Review all current fleet management processes to ensure alignment with technology opportunities. Redefine the requirements for the Tranman system, to include data management, reporting and interface requirements and the extension of technology capability in workplace data systems and customer web portals. During improvements in the FMIT systems, conduct a systematic and comprehensive data cleansing exercise to ensure that all data loaded onto the systems is current and relevant. Extend to introduce appropriate data management control protocols to ensure all fleet data remains up to date and secure. Implement a training programme to maximise and sustain user competency. Once systems are in place, introduce a regular reporting regime of key management data to enable both the Fleet manager and customers to manage their operations at optimum levels. Initiate a fleet management project to review the utilisation of all vehicles in the VoG fleet and to pro-actively support customer departments to address fleet utilisation and reduce the overall VoG fleet size. Review the requirements for a vehicle booking and route planning system. Page: 23 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

24 4.4 Fleet Administration The administration element of the Fleet Team undertake a wide range of tasks in support of fleet operations ranging from service bookings through normal financial management and invoice checking / processing, booking of transport to driver checks and driver training. op There are an appropriate number of administration staff however they are not directly managed by the fleet team but from a central pool function. This is quite an unusual arrangement in a specialist transport context and leads to a number of operational challenges; There can be quite a high turnover of staff leading to training and fleet experience difficulties; Basic technical knowledge is lacking therefore leading to inefficiencies and error; Basic communication is lacking with administration staff leaving for other duties without adequate cover being provided It should also be recognised that the local management of the administration is limited and poor practice could be being taught from an early stage Many of the recommendations in other sections of this report will directly affect the transport administration team, in particular those sections that deal with FMIT systems. These initiatives will impact on the structure of the administration team and the way it operates, but are adequately covered in the respective recommendations and are therefore not addressed below It is clear that the Administration team is finding it very difficult to manage their workload in its current format, although there does not appear to be much inclination to positively address the challenges and much of the problem is of their own making. This is leading to an ever increasing pressure on the team and manifesting itself in errors, inefficiency and poor customer service An exercise was conducted with key users to understand their perception of the service and the results supported our observations: Page: 24 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

25 Customer perception of service: Problem with recurring faults not right first time. Poor planning might get called in for service then back next week for MOT. Can be called in at short notice next day. Good interaction on procurement. Issues with vehicle turnaround time. No involvement in accident meetings. No formal performance meetings. Repeated minor defects. In too long for MOTs. Lack of strategic planning. When vehicles called in for service, all appear to be required at the same time then kept all week. Causes necessity to spot hire. No feedback and poor customer service. Poor communication. Not seen as a support service. Small plant support appears over run. Good service (priority) for winter maintenance. Long turnaround time 2 week example. Could be better organised. Unnecessary recalls, happens regularly. Generally good quality. Lack of flexibility. Thinks he is low on the list of priorities. Examples of garage chasing for a service when vehicle already in for MOT. Sometimes abrupt. Told if he doesn t come to collect vehicle now then he can t have it. Not seen as a service provider. Gareth helpful to deal with. Minimal feedback from garage management, usually comes from inexperienced admin staff. Service requests often faulty, issues with excel Summary recommendations for Fleet Administration: Ref: FA01 Recommendation: Review the current operation and functionality in conjunction with the FMIT opportunity. Page: 25 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

26 FA02 Review the competencies of current staff. FA03 Develop specific technical administration posts. FA04 Develop personal development programmes to include technical competency and customer awareness. 4.5 Fleet Operations Fleet operations is a wide ranging area covering vehicle maintenance, parts and spares procurement, MOT / taxi testing, vehicle hire and fuel purchase / distribution. Benchmarking indicates that the overall size of the technician team is very slightly high at present It is concerning that current workforce productivity data is not available, it is essential that the service should understand this area if maintenance costs are to be controlled, managed and reduced Overtime appears to be seasonal and not overly excessive; however agency costs and overtime appear high at 55k. There also appears to be potential to consolidate parts suppliers. Gross Pay 270,876 LGS Employers Contributions 74,671 NI Employers Contributions 21,100 Agency 47,478 Overtime 8,366 Training 15,378 Productivity Pay 21,040 Total 458, With reducing fleet size and improved productivity management provided by better IT systems, it is predicted that Agency and overtime costs can be reduced over the project timeframe. 4.6 Vehicle Maintenance The service provided by the workshop in respect of the Council s vehicle fleet is quite comprehensive, including the following key services: Page: 26 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

27 Periodic safety checks as required by legislation and good practice on passenger carrying vehicles, commercial vehicles, plant and off road vehicles. Planned maintenance and regular servicing. M.O.T testing, including testing of taxis and minibuses. Driver training, assessments and testing. Maintenance record keeping for all the Council s vehicles. Minor accident and avoidable damage repairs. Warranty work to newer vehicles During 2013/14 the total costs of the fleet maintenance undertaken by VoG was 1,195,139, with 669,547 on scheduled maintenance and 525,592 on non-scheduled work A comparison with other Local Authorities taken from the APSE performance benchmarking can be demonstrated in the table below; Annual maintenance cost APSE top VoG Difference per vehicle quartile Car & car derived vans Vans up to 3.5t 804 1, Trucks & tippers up to 3.5t 984 1, Vans & trucks 3.5t to 7.5t 2,786 5,605 2,819 Vans & trucks 7.5t to 18t 3,504 4,641 1,137 Minibuses up to 17 seats 841 1, x2 RCV's 5,028 8,429 3,401 APSE comparisons Given that the administration, technology and managerial recommendations are adopted, it would be reasonable (and conservative) to expect at least a 10% reduction in vehicle maintenance costs which can be passed on to the service users A rolling program of testing and servicing is managed by VoG via their Tranman (FMIT) system The above services are predominantly carried out in house with only small elements such as specialist bodywork repairs sublet Maintenance quality levels are seen as high and the working relationships between services and the workshop appear reasonable. The notable exception to the above is regarding vehicle downtime, which can be excessive if the maintenance depot is busy. A general lack of communication regarding downtimes is apparent and can lead to the Page: 27 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

28 spot hire of vehicles to ensure essential services can continue to be provided There is minimal pro-active engagement with the more obvious local partners at present The staff involved in management and delivery of transport across the Council is summarised in the table below, along with core duties. Depot Functions Comments Fleet Maintenance Fleet Manager (1 FTE) Workshop Coordinator (1 FTE) Chargehand (2 FTE) Fitters (8 FTE) Admin Support (2 FTE) Modern apprentice (1 FTE) Fleet procurement O license compliance Scheduling and management of vehicle testing and maintenance. Execution of vehicle testing and maintenance. Execution of general repairs and bodywork repairs. Management & procurement of stores and spare parts / tyres. Management & productivity of technician team. General administration, system update and charging. Regular testing of taxi s and provision of an MOT testing service for the internal fleet and the general public It should be noted that only core functions are detailed above and that a variety of other minor administration tasks are also undertaken by the teams identified A significant amount of experience exists within the transport teams that benefits VoG, in the underlying knowledge of operational requirements. The teams also demonstrate commitment to delivering a good service and a desire and willingness to improve. Page: 28 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

29 Edge benchmarking as part of this review suggests that the technician and support teams in the fleet maintenance operation are slightly larger than is strictly required for a fleet of this size, although appropriate for the current shift arrangements. This broadly concurs with the conclusions of the APSE benchmarking. In addition, the fleet is expected to reduce in size over coming years as the fleet reduction initiatives are pursued. Without altering the workshop shift patterns, and therefore the strategic service delivery, it would be difficult to reduce the headcount. However agency and overtime costs could certainly be reduced substantially and performance and downtime substantially improved The reduction in agency and overtime will be further supported by the introduction of workplace technology as described previously. This has the potential to eliminate much of the paperwork carried out by the administrative teams at present, streamline productivity and parts / stock data capture and give customers visibility of progress The introduction of improved technology will also provide the platform for improvements to the current appointments scheduling system, where customer departments are required to make arrangements to bring vehicles in for work to be done. The current system relies heavily on customer initiative, which can be patchy, and hence generates significant workload in chasing and follow up. New systems processes will aid in scheduling specific appointment times and automated communication, but this will still need to be combined with both out of hours servicing and some form of sanction (potentially financial) for non-compliance High level review of parts suppliers and a re-tender exercise should be undertaken to consolidate spares supply Sickness and attrition levels do not appear to be a major problem within transport operations at present. Most staff members are longserving and no major problems or disruption has been experienced or identified as a result of staff turnover Summary recommendations for Fleet operations & vehicle maintenance are: Ref: FO01 Recommendation: Plan the gradual reduction in technical headcount based on the gradually reducing fleet size and introduction of fleet Page: 29 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

30 management technology / systems. FO02 Introduce workforce productivity measures. FO03 Move towards a specific time scheduling system for vehicle maintenance, allied to suitable financial sanction for noncompliance. Communicate as required to customer departments. 4.7 Fleet Size and Procurement Benchmarking indicates there is the potential to reduce the overall size of the vehicle fleet. The key recommendations focus on a swift, proactive and robust use of tracker data by the fleet management team to challenge user departments in respect of under-utilised vehicles and remove them from the fleet or re-allocate them. In conjunction with the vehicle replacement plan designed to both smooth the number and value of replacement vehicles required. This will minimise the financial impact of the replacement program The introduction of such a vehicle utilisation regime where departments are assisted and challenged to evaluate their fleet requirement provides impressive results. In three councils which had the fleet tracking technology but did not use or manage fleet utilisation centrally EDGE were able to deliver the results demonstrated in the table below; Council Fleet size Reduction % A B C Based on the above premise, there are some key departments / internal fleet customers within the Council where the first efforts should be directed in order to make the quickest and most effective impact, as Page: 30 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

31 illustrated in the table below showing vehicle allocation across VOG operations: Department / function Vehicles % Buildings % Cleansing % Highways % Parks % Social Services % Workshop recoverable % Environment 4 1.2% Garage 3 0.9% Community Transport 3 0.9% Education 3 0.9% Planning 1 0.3% Total % Distribution of Vehicles (including large plant) across VOG Operating Teams As illustrated above, some 82% of VoG vehicles are used by only 4 key core users, with Buildings being by far the largest single user with some 29% of the fleet. It is with these core customers that a program of fleet reduction must focus in the short term, led and coordinated by the Transport team Following the implementation of Tracker technology, a robust analysis and challenge process should be undertaken to establish the true utilisation of the fleet. It would be reasonable to assume a reduction in fleet numbers in the region of at least 25 vehicles realising a saving in the region of 170k per annum in replacement and maintenance costs Currently vehicles are procured for VoG via a purchase and lease back system, with batches of vehicles initially procured normally via the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation or by locally sourced suppliers where better value can be evidenced, and then sold on to a vehicle finance house and leased back to the Council for an initial (suggested guideline) period of 5 years with the option to extend for a further 2 years Whilst the age profile has some peaks and troughs, the general trend is towards an ageing fleet when compared against APSE benchmarks. If this trend is allowed to continue it has the potential to create a number of problems: Page: 31 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

32 The cost of fleet maintenance will rise over time as an unmanaged age profile gradually increases. Significant peaks and troughs will be experienced in the need for capital for vehicle purchases, with a particular short term peak caused by making up ground lost over the last two years Whilst there is a fleet replacement programme in place this should be further analysed with a view to; Smoothing expenditure requirements on fleet purchases, both in terms of vehicle numbers and total expenditure (balancing low and high cost replacements in any given year). Establishing a clear strategy in respect of projected vehicle age that is both operationally appropriate and realistic, allows for future planning and takes full financial advantage of extending vehicle life spans where appropriate. Keeps long term maintenance costs at an appropriate level. Supports effective financial planning (revenue and capital) for the Fleet Team and for Finance and customer departments. Provides a basis for future adjustment and re-planning of replacement programs in response to changing requirements To mitigate the financial impact of the replacement program, the above approach should be combined with an aggressive re-evaluation of fleet size and requirements, initiated and promoted by the Fleet Team, utilising data available from tracking systems, with the aims of: Compelling operational departments to reduce fleet size. Re-allocating of surplus vehicles identified instead of replacing with new. Reviewing vehicle types that currently appear disproportionate (such as 4x4 s and large vans) In order to be successful, this initiative will need to be coordinated centrally by the Fleet Team and will need clear and unequivocal support from senior managers to ensure full cross council co-operation and the avoidance of double counting of vehicle reductions in multiple change programs Summary recommendations in respect of vehicle procurement are: Ref: Recommendation: Page: 32 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

33 VP01 VP02 VP03 Immediately commence a centrally co-ordinated fleet reduction initiative based on utilisation data, with targets for overall fleet reduction and re-allocation of surplus vehicles wherever possible. Initially target major fleet customers in relation to fleet reduction program. Develop a robust vehicle replacement program that smooths peaks in vehicle numbers and expenditure, identifies correct vehicle age limits for planning and enables effective financial planning of vehicle expenditure. 4.8 Vehicle Disposal At the end of their scheduled life, owned vehicles are disposed of at auction with the proceeds going into the replacement fund Two auction houses are currently used for disposal, drawn from the All Wales Framework. These are Merthyr Motor Auctions and Newport Auction, no fee difference is noted. A review of the All Wales Framework is proposed but it is considered that current fees and prices are unlikely to be bettered locally A more structured monitoring of auction house costs and performance should be undertaken in order to establish best value for the Council Summary recommendations in respect of vehicle disposals are: Ref: VD01 Recommendation: Introduce performance-monitoring regime for the auction houses used in vehicle disposal. Review fee levels and auction performance and direct sales to the most cost effective option. 4.9 Tyres VoG have a tyre replacement contract with a local supplier, Mobile Tyre Services (MTS) which was procured originally in 1999 via the Value Wales Framework and who has retained the contract thereafter. Overall costs for replacement tyres in 2013/14 costs were between 95k and 100k. No one person within the Council appears to be in overall control of the contract however and there appears to be limited monitoring of spend against the contract. Page: 33 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

34 4.9.2 Investigations suggest that management of tyres is mixed at present, with some departments employing reasonably robust procedures for tyre replacement and others exercising little or no control There are a number of issues with the management of tyre costs comprising: Replacement tyres are identified within a price band, however no formal checking regime is in place to ensure the correct band of tyre is fitted. There is a formal policy in place for the regular checking of tyres by drivers to identify damage and ensure safety but we did not observe this happening, nor is there regular checking by supervisors to monitor avoidable damage. There is little management control or influence over the standard and specification of tyre or the need for tyre replacement, raising the prospect of abuse by the tyre contractor via the unnecessary replacement of tyres (although no evidence of this was found in the available data) The potential for savings exists in the specification of tyres, specifically using remoulds or economy tyres where usage allows and only fitting premium quality tyres where really necessary. In this context it must be acknowledged that the VoG vehicle fleet undertakes mainly low mileage and low speed operations. Further, management must ensure that tyres are repaired rather than replaced wherever possible Thus there is a clear need for a review and updating of policy on tyre replacement and specification, taking account of the option to undertake repairs and utilise economy and remould tyres where possible. Further economies could be achieved with tighter contract management procedures and central control of expenditure We should exhibit caution in valuing the saving opportunity in the provision of tyres due to the volatile nature of the market, however there is certainly opportunity to better manage and control costs Summary recommendations in respect of tyres are: Ref: TY01 TY02 Recommendation: Review tyre supply and tyre specifications used across the fleet and introduce new policy for tyre specification. Improve the management control of the standard and specification of tyre or the need for tyre replacement Plant Page: 34 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

35 A wide range of plant items are operated by VoG ranging from ride on mowers to small items of hand held tools. The majority of these are rolling plant such as mowers etc. and are concentrated within the Parks teams Plant is generally owned by VoG, with specific items hired in to meet exceptional demand or specific need. Most plant is maintained by the fleet fitters at the Alps depot, with schedules determined on Tranman Heavy plant is procured by the Fleet Team however operational departments appear to be purchasing smaller items of plant and carrying out basic maintenance themselves, as it is felt that this generates cost savings for them over and above hiring internally from the transport team. Whilst there is sound overall logic in carrying out basic maintenance locally (given the right training) this approach carries a number of risks for VoG overall: Loss of an effective overview of all plant owned and used by the Council. Impaired ability to minimise plant owned / used and to share between areas. Fragmented overview of plant costs. Loss of control of elements of plant maintenance and safety testing (electrical, HAV, noise etc.). Insurance implications insurers may not pay out for third party accidents or other claims if the item of plant is not officially registered with VoG, properly tested and uniquely identified on Tranman. Loss of the fleet team s ability to highlight savings opportunities or spend anomalies Consideration should be given to the cessation of local plant purchases and the introduction of a policy that all plant should be sourced and managed via the fleet team Anecdotally, there appears to be a high level of accident/abuse damage emanating particularly from agency staff who have minimal incentive to maintain equipment in the long term Further action however can be considered in respect of plant provision based on: Page: 35 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

36 An initial audit of all VoG plant, with departments required to provide submissions of plant they are using that is not supplied by the fleet team. Options appraisal targeting reduced overall costs of plant supply, to address all potential approaches including expansion of the centralised internal service (with changed charging approach), innovative elements such as automated tool vaults and an external supplier(s) of all plant to the Council Summary recommendations in respect of plant are: Ref: PT01 PT02 PT03 PT04 Recommendation: Introduction of policy in respect of plant purchase and maintenance; that it should all be undertaken and managed centrally by the fleet team. Undertake appropriate management action where necessary to enforce compliance. Undertake an options appraisal to identify the most appropriate plant provision mechanism for the Council, including a plant audit and the creation of a business case and implementation plan for the recommended solution. An initial audit of all VoG plant, with departments required to provide submissions of plant they are using that is not supplied by the fleet team. Charging via Tranman based on day-hire rates to encourage departments to return plant not being used MOT Testing VoG currently operate 1 bay for MOT and taxi testing, utilising 4 trained VOSA approved MOT fitters on a rota basis. The facilities are used to test the bulk of the VoG fleet, but some 88% of current customers are external For the period April 2013-March 2014 the workshop conducted 522 taxi tests and 121 retests, 277 Public MOT tests and 112 in house tests. Charges are per class IV test and for Class V & VII with one free retest is charged for a Taxi inspection. This should generate an external gross income in the order of 35k per annum The Taxi tests are currently charged internally to licensing at a rate of approximately 45, slightly lower than in other surrounding areas. Dialogue should be opened with the Licensing team to ensure that when Page: 36 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

37 future increases are introduced there is also the opportunity to adjust charges from the fleet team for provision of the service The service could also be more proactively marketed to both staff and the general public as a further opportunity to increase revenue Bookings are generally made from the Civic Centre and not coordinated well by the current administration set up; there is often confusion about bookings and frustration felt by testers in the lack of clear running orders. The web based booking module in Tranman should be utilised to address this area Since the running costs of the MOT operation (resource and maintenance / depreciation of equipment, rental of space at market rate etc.) should remain less than the income generated, there is no reason not to continue to provide the service, indeed, it is important for VoG to be in control of the safety of its licensed taxi operators given the number of vulnerable citizens that are transported daily. Therefore retaining an MOT & taxi testing function is strategically important Summary recommendations on respect of MOT testing are: Ref: MT01 MT02 Recommendation: Increase charging rates for MOT tests and to generate additional revenue. Agree future taxi charging increase amount and timing with the Licensing team. The web based booking module in Tranman should be utilised. MT03 Actively market the MOT testing service to both staff and the general public Fuel VoG spends in the region of 900k per annum on fuel through its provision at the Alps depot and at Court Road. The volumes held and the bunkerage is shown in the table below; Depot Diesel Gas oil Adblue Alps ltr underground ltr underground 2500 ltr double skin surface tank Page: 37 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

38 Court Road ltr surface tank 5000 ltr surface tank No provision Fuel at the Alps depot is managed by the Balbin fuel management system with keys issued and allocated to the vehicle only, individual user keys are deemed too expensive. This practice exposes VOG to potential abuse by staff. At Court Road the Datatrack fuel management system is used and keys are issued to both vehicle and driver Neither applications link directly with the Tranman FMIT and usage does not appear to be effectively controlled or reported upon Petrol and alternative emergency fuel arrangements are supplied locally by PW Millar garage at full forecourt prices Given the considerable outlay in fuel annually the control and management of provision is poor. There are a number of differing systems in place which are not controlled centrally and there is no clear visibility or reporting available. Historic monitoring practices were described but not utilised for over 2 years The introduction of improved controls, reporting and the overall reduction in fleet size should realise savings in this area and should be addressed in the baseline document, however we should be cautious in quantifying values due to the volatile nature of the market Summary recommendations in respect of fuel are: Ref: FL01 FL02 FL03 Recommendation: Market test bulk fuel prices available with alternative purchasing organisations and bulk suppliers. Review the potential to consolidate fuel management systems and integrate with the FMIT technology Introduce fuel keys for all users reconciled to each vehicle FL04 Introduce management reporting to individual levels 4.13 Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) Page: 38 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

39 The Bus Service Operators Grant is a scheme that refunds some of the Fuel Duty incurred by operators of registered local bus services in the United Kingdom. The grant is available for operators of local bus services available for use by the general public which operated on public roads The grant is also available to operators of vehicles with Small Bus Permits (Section 19) when providing services for some groups of passengers; People aged 60 or over. Persons of all ages, who are physically or mentally impaired and persons assisting them. People on income support. People on job seekers allowance. People of all ages, suffering a degree of social exclusion by virtue of unemployment, poverty or other economic factors, homelessness, geographical remoteness, ill health, or religious or cultural reasons. People of all ages, who believe that it would be unsafe for them to use any public passenger transport services. Carers or children under 16 years of age accompanying any of the above The BSOG has not been historically claimed by VoG, despite being eligible, with the consequential loss to the authority of possibly 10k annually from the 13 permitted vehicles From April 2013 the responsibility for the administration of the grant was transferred to Sewta and renamed the Regional Transport Support Grant (RTSG) and from April 2014 will change to the Bus Service support Grant (BSSG). The grant is paid on a per km basis rather than the per litre basis as previously paid by the DfT and is potentially more beneficial. The payment rate is set monthly by Sewta and has been ranging between 11 and 13 pence per km and dead mileage is not deducted from the calculation. The BSSG should be claimed quarterly and VOG have the opportunity to backdate for the financial year 2013/14 if prompt action is taken To take advantage of this year s claim prompt action needs to be taken, it will not be possible to backdate claims should the deadline be missed. To be accepted on to the scheme the following actions need to be addressed; An application needs to be made for acceptance onto the scheme. Data should be collected from the various management systems. Interpretation into an appropriate claims format. Page: 39 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

40 Claims will need to be validated by internal audit. Returned to Sewta in a timely manner Summary recommendations in respect of BSSG are: Ref: BS01 Recommendation: Application needs to be made for the 2013/14 claim BS02 Process and responsibility should be agreed for future claims 4.14 Short Term Vehicle Hire Approximately 376K per annum is spent on short term vehicle hire across VoG. A control system is in place that requires sign-off for vehicle hire and the majority of hire is organised via the Fleet team, hence the expenditure is largely well controlled and managed There is however 45k of this cost which is procured directly by the user departments and therefore costs are not controlled as well as they could be, thus they may not be taking advantage of the tendered rates, driving costs upwards, and appropriate license checks may not be carried out, generating risks in respect of the hired vehicles use. Senior management communication is therefore required to reinforce the need to hire via the Fleet Team, along with cross checking of expenditure on vehicle hire to identify those parts of the Council that do not follow due procedure Hire rates were re-tendered in 2013 and rates appear competitive. It is therefore considered that there is little to be gained from an immediate re-tender exercise. Hire is re-charged to the user department The Fleet Team carry out pre-hire checks of licenses prior to arranging vehicle hires, which effectively protects the Council by ensuring that proposed drivers are qualified to drive the vehicle being hired Financial improvements in this area are likely to flow from utilisation of existing in-house vehicles and a pool car scheme as a first option and extending this potential via analysis of typical hire patterns and vehicle types to establish if there is a business case to hold a small number of key vehicle types as an specialist hire pool to be used prior to passing expenditure outside the Council. Page: 40 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

41 Summary recommendations in respect of short term hire are: Ref: VH01 VH02 VH03 Recommendation: Issue clear senior management communications to the effect that all vehicle hire should be directed via the Fleet Team in order to ensure appropriate license checks are carried out and that the lowest prices are accessed. Empower the Fleet Team to direct users to a Pool car scheme (see also later section). Establish if a business case exists to hold a small number of key vehicles in an internal hire pool as an alternative to external hire Vehicle Insurance VoG insure the vehicle fleet for third party liability and accident damage over 2,500 with AIG Insurance at a premium cost in the order of 275K per annum. In effect this makes the Council self-insuring in respect of damage to its own equipment up to a limit of 2.5K An internal insurance system is also in place paid for via the accident damage charge that pays out for the repair of accidental damage over 250 per incident Accident reports are logged and reviewed by the Fleet manager and Risk & Insurance officer on an ad-hoc basis and service managers informed. Little follow up is carried out beyond this and it is not known what action, if any, is undertaken other than logging incidents for accident data There are a number of problems with the system of recording and administrating accident data: Departments are slow to report accidents and slow to complete accident forms. In some cases drivers need assistance to complete the forms effectively. Time is wasted in chasing accident information and therefore information can be lost or forgotten. There is no comprehensive tracking back of incidents to the responsible driver and some incident forms are never completed. Page: 41 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

42 There is no driver competency policy in place, nor any individual accountable for the enforcement of driver behaviours. It is up to the service area to manage. Costs are not routinely recorded and reported. Accident costs paid for out of the Accident fund; o All services pay into fund on a cost per head basis, irrespective of vehicle usage. o There appears not to be any incentive for depts. to manage behaviours effectively There are a number of initiatives that can be introduced to address the above, some based on technology and others on policy and practice, as follows: Increase the repair limit (to 500 for example) and / or operate it like a true excess where the first 500 of the cost of each repair is paid for by the department, irrespective of the total repair cost. Introduce technology that will allow remote completion of accident forms and reinforce policy that local managers are responsible for completion of forms by their teams. This will need to be coupled to robust management and relevant sanctions for non-compliance. Follow up with drivers rigorously and produce regular updates and management information on regular offenders. Will need to be coupled again with strong management and potentially additional training. Introduce regular reporting of accidental damage costs and accident statistics to senior managers by department, to highlight those not managing the area effectively Benefits of managing safety and reducing crashes include: fewer days lost due to injury. reduced risk of work-related ill health. reduced stress and improved morale. less need for investigation and paperwork. less lost time due to work rescheduling. fewer vehicles off the road for repair. reduced running costs through better driving standards. less chance of key employees being banned from driving, e.g. as a result of points on their licences Summary recommendations in respect of vehicle insurance are: Ref: Recommendation: Page: 42 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

43 IN01 IN02 IN03 IN04 Ensure that any new FMIT system has the appropriate capability to allow remote completion of accident forms and to produce relevant accident data by driver and department to support reporting and robust management. Introduce regular reporting and challenge of accident statistics and cost data to senior management to highlight those drivers and departments with high costs / poor management of accident related issues. Couple with robust management and sanctions as appropriate. Increase the repair limit (to 500 for example) and / or operate like a true excess where the first 500 of the cost of each repair is paid for by the department, irrespective of the total repair cost. Review and re-issue the Fleet Handbook and incorporate all basic checking and other requirement of drivers and setting policy and procedures for the use and management of fleet vehicles Legislative Compliance As discussed above, local management compliance with Council policy in respect of driving license and insurance checks for staff using their own vehicles on Council business (the grey fleet ) is thought to be patchy and leaves the Council at risk. In response, a more robust system of checking and audit should be introduced to ensure compliance and to provide the opportunity to rectify any gaps in compliance Given the potentially onerous administration burden of checking all records via a central control point (logically based within the transport management structure) the checking process should be introduced in two stages: Short term introduction of a system of random spot checks to both gauge the real level of compliance with policy and to promote the importance of undertaking the checks on a regular basis. This approach would need to be fully supported by senior managers within the council and by clear communication of requirements from senior management level. A period of grace should be allowed for after initial communications to allow mangers to address any shortcomings prior to the initiation of random checks. Evaluate the capability of new systems to allow central storage of license and insurance data via the Tranman system. This should Page: 43 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

44 allow audit and random checking to be carried out electronically, so minimising the administrative burden. Development of the above checking and management capability aligns well with the need for a more strategic and leading role from transport management Summary recommendations in respect of legislative compliance are: Ref: LG01 LG02 Recommendation: Introduce a system of auditing local management driver license and insurance checks across VoG following appropriate senior management communication. Include the ability to manage driver license and insurance checks in respect of the grey fleet in the requirements in the FMIT system Driver Management The fleet administration team undertake all the usual driver checks and management, and keep appropriate records, in respect of all the staff employed as drivers across the Council, irrespective of the department in which they are employed (including license checks, driver training, post long-term sickness checks etc.). These records are held on Tranman The process for managing the staff use of their own vehicles (Grey Fleet) is managed at each individual s annual personal development review where they are requested to produce their driving licenses and copies of insurance with business use classification. The line manager should then complete a form with this detail and forward to the fleet manager. At this time there is no reconciliation between the paper forms and the staff mileage claims process nor does there appear to be any guidance for managers in what categories should be checked and the appropriate insurance wording. This lack of management control and rigorous checking represents a significant risk for the Council and exposes its officers to corporate liability in the event of an accident or incident This should be addressed urgently via a policy review and the introduction and monitoring of appropriate technical and management procedures. Page: 44 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

45 The Fleet Team also send out defect sheets to be filled in as part of the daily vehicle check that is the responsibility of individual drivers; checks are required to be carried out at the start of each day prior to the driver taking their vehicle on the road. Defect check sheets are meant to be completed and sent back to the transport team on a regular basis for filing and as an audit trail in support of the VoG O-License compliance Persistent problems are experienced with the slow return of completed sheets and the non-return of approximately 10% of all sheets, despite chasing. Local managers are responsible for ensuring that sheets are returned, but it is not seen as a priority and the risk and potential consequences for the Council (impact on O-License, risk in the event of an accident etc.) are not appreciated The situation needs to be addressed as follows: Clear communication from department heads / director level which makes clear the Council policy that local managers are responsible for return of defect sheets and will be held accountable if sheets are not returned. Standard monthly reports issued by the fleet team to senior managers detailing the areas and individual managers that are not complying with policy. Follow up from senior managers in line with normal management protocols that address and failures / breach of policy It should be noted that support will be required consistently from senior managers over time; with no follow up or consequences of noncompliance, it is unlikely that the policy can be adequately enforced in the long-term Whilst there appears to be guidance provided in conjunction with the Staff Travel Policy for line managers in respect of the checks they are required to make or regarding what to look for in terms of license categories, appropriate business insurance and the like, managers do not have the technical knowledge to understand the appropriate categories and insurance requirements. There is potential exposure at senior manager level in respect of corporate liability if a serious incident were to occur The main area of weakness in respect of legislative compliance would appear to be that of the grey fleet, where Council staff use their own vehicle on Council business. There are central records kept by the transport management teams in respect of this but these are not reconciled to the claims made. And the responsibility for checking Page: 45 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

46 licenses (including endorsements / driving bans etc.) and insurances falls to local management. Whilst no detailed checks have been carried out in the preparation of this report, anecdotal evidence from interview suggests that local management compliance with Council policy may be patchy and this is an area that may need to be strengthened Summary recommendations in respect of driver management are: Ref: DM01 DM02 Recommendation: Issue clear senior management communications to the effect that all vehicle check sheets are required to be completed and returned to the fleet administration team in line with Council policy. Follow up with robust management sanctions for noncompliance. Introduce a simple reporting system within the fleet administration team to highlight non-compliance by department and manager at senior management level, probably incorporated within a wider MI pack in the longer term Alternative delivery options Given that there is an established need for VoG to access varying forms of fleet management, a range of strategic delivery options exist as outlined in the table below: Option: Benefits: Risks: In-house Provision Contract out Core Elements Continuity of current provision and operations. Retains direct control of services, guaranteeing statutory obligations are met. Retains direct relationships with key customers. Retains in-house skill base, knowledge and relationships. Not politically sensitive or controversial with public or trade unions. Guaranteed price for services reduces the risk to budget. Releases the council from the Current inefficiencies / weak practices / poor value for money may be perpetuated. Skills and capacity to transform likely to be unavailable unless brought in (the cost of which would need to be offset against savings). Loss of detailed control and contact with key customers. All potential efficiency benefits Page: 46 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

47 burden of detailed administration and day-to-day running the services. Brings knowledge and expertise of specialist suppliers to bear in driving efficiency and improvement. will (at best) be shared with contractors. Potential TUPE & pension issues. Potential trade union and / or political challenges. Loss of skills and knowledge (even if TUPE applies). Lack of co-ordination and conflict between core operational elements and main contractors interests. Lengthy and expensive procurement process and substantial set up costs As outlined in the previous sections, the opportunity exists to generate efficiencies, remove duplication and create a more effective in-house fleet management provision within VoG by building on the skills and knowledge the Council already has. Whilst such a transformation would be challenging from a capacity and capability perspective, appropriate solutions are available to address peak workloads. This approach also has the advantage of being the least controversial option, both politically and from a staff perspective Generally a problem outsourced will cost the outsourcer, as the successful commercial bidder seeks to drive costs down to widen its own profit margins. Only a portion of any anticipated efficiency benefits are likely to filter through to the client organisation via the procurement process (which is normally complex, requires significant management input and has cost implications) and initially, these are likely to be substantially less than could be achieved by a focused program of internal change The obvious conclusion is therefore that if services are outsourced or moved to a joint venture whilst containing inherent inefficiencies, then it is unlikely that good value will be achieved The choice for VOG is therefore not simply one of which option to pursue (such as stay with an in-house service or move to an alternative method of delivery) but it also one of timing and co-ordination. There is little point in introducing changes now that need to be significantly amended or changed again in one or two years time. Thus a robust medium term plan must be developed that will move VoG to a position Page: 47 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

48 where its garage services are provided in an effective and sustainable way and can be demonstrated to provide good value A move to any of the alternative delivery models will only be successful in the long-term if the underlying operation can be made efficient and effective prior to any assessment process or decision on an alternative delivery option There are numerous examples where a hasty shift to an alternative model has resulted in the prime contractor taking advantage of the bulk of efficiency gains where councils outsource an operation that is relatively inefficient From a strategic perspective therefore, the approach to delivering best value fleet operations for VOG in the long-term should be undertaken in two phases: Phase I: Optimise the effectiveness of the in-house service via an internal change program, implementing an improvement program designed to increase efficiency and eradicate duplication and exploit opportunities for co-operation. Phase II: Market Test to demonstrate best value. Once the operation is effective and offering excellent value to the council, it is appropriate to conduct a full options appraisal and market test against both an outsourced or stand-alone commercial alternative. The outcome of this appraisal will determine the most appropriate future strategy and the timeline for implementing it This approach is illustrated in the diagram below: Stage 1 Stage 2 BASELINE Understand demand Understand costs and income Set cost base and staff requirements TRANSFORM Efficiency initiatives Performance improvement Management structures OPTIMISE Increase external income Exploit external partnerships Measurement and feedback TEST VALUE Soft market testing Options appraisal Development Strategy 2 / 3 Years 1 Year Typical Service Transformation Process Typical timescales for a change and market test program such as the one described above is in the order of two to three years. Whilst transformation of this type cannot be precisely defined and detailed as Page: 48 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

49 there is inevitably some element of reactive and opportunistic action, this is the normal timeframe required to allow new processes, procedures and operating methodologies to become embedded and viewed as business as usual Where major change programs are not fully completed and the changes implemented are not given time to fully bed in, it is not unusual for the people affected by the change to drift back towards the way things were done prior to the change. In effect they move back into their comfort zone of familiarity, leading to the fundamental benefits of the change program being undermined or in some cases eroded completely Only once the change program is complete and new ways of working are fully implemented with no option available to regress does it make sense to commence market testing and the evaluation of the next phase of development for the service Summary recommendations in respect of alternative delivery options are: Ref: AD01 AD02 Recommendation: Ensure that all available efficiencies are realised as a first phase of transformation At an appropriate time in the future decide upon the requirement to market test Page: 49 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

50 5.0 Education Transport 5.1 Introduction Education transport is concerned with the transportation of eligible students to school or College Education transport policy is contained within two documents: Policy for the provision of home to school transport (revised February 2010). Transport policy statement for Learners aged (2012 / 13) Education transport is managed in three separate team areas: Mainstream Home to School. Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Home to School. Home to College Mainstream Home to School (H2S) transport is managed in the Planning & Transportation Directorate, ALN transport is managed in the Education Directorate and College transport is managed by the student finance team Total annualised budgets are estimated follows: Area 2013 / 14 Revised Budget Estimated Staff Costs Total Mainstream 2,125,968 ALN 1,056,417 College 181,174 60,000 (1.8FTE plus management support) 60,000 (2FTE plus management support) 20,000 (2FTE in function only part of job) 2,185,968 1,116, ,174 Total 3,363, ,000 3,503,559 Page: 50 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

51 5.2 Education transport policy Overview VoG mainstream transport policy is covered by the document Policy for the provision of home to school transport (revised February 2010) In most respects the policy sticks to the Learner Travel Wales Measure 2008 (LTWM) guidance and in many ways is more stringent than other Authorities in the Sewta region: Transport is provided only to statutory travel distances of 2 miles for primary pupils and three miles for secondary pupils. Transport is provided only to the nearest available school i.e. if parental choice is exercised to go to a school that is not the nearest available then free transport will not be provided. Children who move house within the borough will generally not be entitled to free transport to their original school if there is an available closer school unless they are in the final two years and only then on a case by case basis Other neighbouring and regional authorities provide additional discretionary services over and above this e.g. Caerphilly County Borough Council (and several others) provide free transport on a distance criteria of 1.5 miles for primary and 2.0 miles for secondary schools The VoG home to school transport policy is therefore relatively tight in regional and indeed national comparison The policy does provide significant transport which can be classed as discretionary (over and above the current requirements of the LTWM), the three main areas being: Transport to denominational schools where parental choice is exercised and a denominational school is chosen (Church in Wales or Catholic) and where a nearer school is available transport is still provided based upon the normal distance criteria. Post 16 school & college whether this is provided via the mainstream home to school transport team or through the student support team it is provided free of charge. Welsh Medium school where parental choice is exercised and a Welsh medium school is chosen and where a nearer school is available transport is still provided based upon the normal distance criteria. Page: 51 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

52 All of these three areas as far as the provision of free transport is concerned are currently deemed as discretionary, changes to education transport policy are outside the scope of this review. 5.3 Mainstream School transport Mainstream school transport is managed by a small team of two people (1.8FTE), one of whom is currently seconded from Cardiff City Council with the remit of running the team but also looking at the following: Joint contract monitoring. Joint Transport Policy. Potential for cross boundary Disclosure and barring service checking. Potential for route amalgamation. General service improvement The join up with Cardiff via this secondment would seem sensible in terms of sharing best practice across the region It is early on in the development of this secondment brief and efforts have been concentrated on more basic requirements such as the introduction of on the ground contract monitoring and various administration aspects but the joint working remit should continue to be pursued. There has also been progress in terms of introduction of basic IT systems so that the team now have access to the education IT system and access to basic mapping software and it is recommended that progress in this area is maintained. There are a number of holistic systems that can be utilised and are used in neighbouring authorities such as Shaunsoft in Newport and Monmouth and a CAPITA EMS add-on system, either of these systems would help to improve the service at relatively small cost The team are responsible for all aspects of mainstream H2S transport including: Contract monitoring. Safeguarding checks. Routing logistics. Post 16 transport to schools (not Colleges). Customer service. Procurement. Day to day management The team currently administers a portfolio of more than 100 transport contracts ranging from taxis to large buses at an overall cost of c. 11,300 per school day or c. 2,125,000 p.a. Page: 52 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

53 5.3.6 Contracts are generally given for a period of 3+2 years i.e. an initial period of 3 years and option to extend up to 2 further years Taxis and taxi drivers must be licensed although this license can be obtained from another borough i.e. they do not have to be licensed by VoG. This can cause some issues as the licensing rules differ between VoG and Cardiff from where much of the available cross border supply would emanate, VoG requires taxis to be no more than 5 years old whereas Cardiff allows taxis to be up to 10 years old Vehicles under the auspices of VOSA (over 8 seats) do not have any age limit, they simply have to comply with VOSA regulations. As the first vehicle inspections have started to take place under the new monitoring regime, vehicle condition has not proven to be an issue and therefore it is not recommended that the Council revisit vehicle age allowances, a change in which would in any case cause an increase in cost All mainstream contracts are listed at Appendix 2. From this list we can see that there are 49 contracts that have already been extended as far as is possible and must be tendered in time for September 2014, current annualised costs for these contracts are circa. 800,000 p.a Benchmarking work carried out across the Sewta region in 2012 by EDGE showed that for mainstream transport, the average cost per head for VoG was 611 which was above the average of 588 and significantly above the best performance of 505. Whilst benchmarking must always be understood in the context of the respective geographies, populations, rurality and contracts terms and conditions of each borough, these figures would suggest that there is room for improvement in overall costs The mainstream transport team is small and therefore the day job is very demanding and takes up most of their time, large scale tender routines cause a spike in workload to which they cannot allocate as much time as they would like to, seen as a process that must be got through whilst keeping the day job running at the same time. This is particularly the case in VoG where there is no central procurement team to rely upon for support In our experience of managing large scale tender exercises the best results are achieved when the following things are in place: The opportunity is marketed widely existing suppliers must be made to feel that they are under a competitive threat, potential new suppliers must believe that there is an opportunity for them to win business and that it isn t just a market for the chosen few existing Page: 53 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

54 operators. This will only happen by engaging widely with the market and this must involve letters, repeated phone calls, s and face to face meetings. Support is put in place many operators (in particular small operators) find the whole process of tendering difficult and offputting. The perception (if not the reality) is that the process involves difficult paperwork which is time consuming and in any case you won t get through or win any contracts. New suppliers must be helped through the process, given training and where necessary one to one support. An auction process is introduced once initial bids have been received there is a further competitive process whereby bidders have the opportunity to reduce their bid prices in open live competition. We generally see that this process delivers c.10% additional savings over and above a tender process It is recommended that a process such as this is followed for all contracts currently in existence, ideally when contracts are due for renewal but if necessary by utilising the contract break clause and serving notice on current contracts There are some very competitive existing prices in the portfolio of contracts and therefore we have taken a conservative view of efficiencies available in this particular are, we suggest that 10% savings are possible which would give an overall saving of 212, Additional Learning Needs Transport Additional Learning Needs (ALN) transport is managed within the education department and has a current staffing level of 2 FTE (1 full time and 2 on job share) plus management support, staffing costs are c. 60,000 p.a. The Council also directly employ 2 drivers and 3 escorts within the ALN Transport Team Department to drive and escort pupils on vehicles owned by the three special schools. Contracted hours vary between 2-4 hours per day The current contracted spend in this area is just over 1m p.a. and is made up of: Spend on taxis. Spend on minibuses. Parental contracts There are just under 300 children currently receiving transport through this team and transport is organised through 79 separate contracts (see Appendix 2 for detail), we have detailed below the numbers of children travelling by route: Page: 54 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

55 Passengers Number of routes % % % % % % % % % % % % % % Count of routes by passengers carried The contract with 31 children attached to it is a blanket supply contract with one supplier on different days of the week to one destination Those routes where there is only one passenger travelling are by definition the most costly routes to provide per child. There are many reasons why a child would not be able to share with any other child e.g. behavioural or medical issues, geography, school attended etc. but we would generally expect to see a benchmark of circa 20% which is exactly what is being achieved and suggests good management of contracts There are three main destinations for children with ALN making up 50% of all passengers, these are Ashgrove (21%), Ysgol Maes y Dyfan (23%) and Ysgol Erw r Delyn (6%), these are the three main special schools in the County. These three schools will be amalgamated on to one site in November 2014 called Ysgol y Deri, there will also be a comprehensive school on this site to replace St Cyres school with the intention of promoting better ALN and mainstream integration The new headteacher has requested that as far as possible transport routes remain unchanged until September 2015, this request will need to be considered in the light of the potential for savings and the timescales required to achieve those savings Eligibility for transport is decided by the Access & Inclusion (A&I) team and distance criteria are considered (2 miles / 3 miles) where this is appropriate. Once the A&I team have determined that transport is appropriate a pro-forma of details is passed to the ALN team for them to decide upon the most appropriate and cost effective method of transport, this process is reasonable and what would be expected The ALN team attempt to accommodate all new passengers on to an existing contract within allowable time limits and geography. Where this Page: 55 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

56 is possible a new price will be negotiated with the existing supplier, where this is not possible the team will attempt to obtain 3 quotes and award to the lowest bidder Safeguarding checks (Disclosure and barring service) on drivers are managed via the Licensing team and the Licensing Manager confirmed an excellent relationship existed between the teams. For ALN escorts the ALN team keeps a database of when checks are due and ensure that these are followed through on a timely basis as required. This is an adequate routine to ensure safeguarding issues are kept up to date, a gap in the process could be in managing checks for drivers that are licensed outside the borough and it is recommended that the same effective routines in place with VoG licensing are replicated with neighbouring licensing teams if these are not already in place The team runs an annual training event for both drivers and escorts at the start of each academic year where attendance is mandatory, 2 days for new attendees and 1 day for refresher attendees, covering items such as: General ALN awareness. Epilepsy. Autism. First Aid. Safeguarding. Data Protection etc The team were receiving demonstrations of the CAPITA EMS transport system at the time of this review, it is recommended that an appropriate IT system is purchased although it would be wise that the ALN and mainstream teams coordinate in this respect Contracted routes are tendered en masse every 3 years, the last time this was carried out was September 2013 and therefore is due to be done again for September 2016, a standard 30 day cancellation notice is in place on all contracts Routes are tendered in paper format (i.e. not electronically) and contracts are awarded based on a cost and quality matrix i.e. the lowest priced bidder does not always get awarded the route During the 2013 tender process 30 information packs were issued and 12 suppliers were eventually selected, currently only 8 of those suppliers are being utilised to fulfill contracts. There was no specific targeting or active marketing to all suppliers in the Borough and surrounding Boroughs and there were a number of suppliers who, in the opinion of the team, could supply excellent service but did not bid in Page: 56 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

57 their own right. We spoke with a number of suppliers during this review and it is clear that routes are being won by the bigger companies who are more capable of working through the tender paperwork and then being subcontracted to those that aren t capable at a lesser rate, clearly it would be more cost advantageous to contract directly with the subcontractee The cost per child is currently 3,568 (based on 296 children and 1,056,000 spend). If we look at the Sewta benchmark information from 2012 the costs that were submitted amounted to a cost of 2,852 per head, this was either under reported at the time or has increased since. 3,568 puts VoG at around average for the region which suggests that there is good room for improvement We discussed in section 5.3 that there was a need to actively engage the marketplace to ensure the best procurement result, the same messages apply here and in particular in respect of small companies, we would further recommend: That an electronic framework of suppliers is set up this would be a list of taxi / minibus suppliers to be used by the whole Council not just in education. There is strong reason behind this, the main ones being: o To encourage active competition it is too easy to only choose and allocate work to the bigger companies, a framework is needed that gives all suppliers the opportunity to bid on everything and setting this up as an electronic framework with ed specification documents can allow this. o To only go through the process once many suppliers do not like the process of filling in tender paperwork, a framework allows them to do it only once. o To ensure compliance on allocation of contracts and on aggregated spend once a framework is in place the Council can spend above the OJEU threshold with that supplier as long as their prices are competitive. That tenders via the framework are based on price only the quality and price mechanism is removed. Suppliers are evaluated against all the standard minimum criteria that the ALN team need and once they have proved compliance and are on the framework, competition should be based upon price only, the lowest bidder being awarded the work. That reverse auctions are put in place as per the recommendation for mainstream, this will allow the Council to achieve the best possible prices. Page: 57 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

58 We recommend that a framework is set up and that all ALN contracts are cancelled and retendered through this system, done correctly and with adequate marketing and support we conservatively estimate that savings will be in the region of 15% or 158, Whilst it is understandable that the headteacher of the new amalgamated school may not wish to alter transport arrangements at the same time as opening the new school, two things cannot be ignored in terms of the efficiency opportunities: There will be an ability to rationalise and reduce the number of routes and therefore overall cost of the transport this will be over and above the savings estimated above. 50% of the pupils transported will attend this school and therefore this represents a large part of the savings opportunity. Therefore it would seem reasonable to work to accommodate the wishes of the headteacher in the short term to facilitate the smooth transition of three schools on to one site but to work on rationalisation activity both before and after the go live date and to cancel and retender all the routes for the next obvious school holiday period which would most likely be February half term Another important area where improvements may be possible is the area of travel training for independence, this is a programme whereby children who have the correct levels of ability are offered support and assistance to travel to school independently. Neighbouring authority Cardiff have a good process available that VoG could tap in to in order to increase the levels of travel training given. The outcomes for the students immediately and in the longer term are excellent and it is recommended that where possible further measures are taken to increase independence travel training. 5.5 Post 16 transport Students in this category attend either a Sixth form attached to a school or a College. Where they attend a Sixth form attached to a school the transport is managed in the mainstream team and observations have been made in section 5.3 (this includes St Davids College in Cardiff). Where they attend any other College transport is administered in the Student Support Team (SST). Rules for eligibility for free transport are: Between 16 and 19 on the 31/8 in the year when you are studying. >3 miles travel distance. Live within VoG. Page: 58 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

59 5.5.2 The SST administers all College transport and at the time of the review also administers Higher Education finance although this aspect of their work is transferring to a centralised national student loan organisation in the New Year. Discussions are ongoing regarding how the College administration role of this team is managed in the future, this report will make recommendations in this respect in Section 10 of this report There are two main College sites: Cardiff and Vale College (CAVC) which has 6 campuses. Bridgend College (BC) which has 2 campuses. Processes in terms of managing transport differ slightly across both campuses, these are described below Cardiff and Vale College Students resident in The Vale can attend any of the CAVC campuses dependent upon which course that they are studying, the process of applying for transport is the same regardless of the site attended Students generally will enrol in August. They will then deal with the Colleges travel desk who will check their enrolment status, age and distance that they need to travel, where the distance is above the 3 mile threshold they will qualify for free transport. At this point they will need to pay a 20 administration fee to CAVC and discuss the best way for them to get to College There are a number of options for students either to travel by rail or by service bus and CAVC have negotiated rates for passes with all forms of transport: Cardiff Bus an annual 340 pass payable in three termly instalments 95 students travelling. New Adventure Travel a charge of 2 per day invoiced termly 75 students travelling. Arriva Trains Wales 55% discount on ticket price 67 students travelling All bills are paid by CAVC and VoG will reimburse only if the appropriate pink form has been completed at enrolment and has been lodged with the SST Processes in this area look sound and it is clear that CAVC are attempting to keep costs down through negotiation with operators Estimated annual costs for CAVC are: Page: 59 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

60 Cardiff Bus 95 students x 340 p.a. 32,300 New Adventure Travel Arriva Trains Wales 75 students x 2 per day x 170 days 67 students x 300 p.a. (est.) 25,500 20,100 Total 237 students 77, Bridgend College Processes for BC are similar to CAVC. Students must apply for transport annually and if requesting transport must complete The Vale Form, these are checked by the Supervisor in BC and authorised for free transport if the student meets the age and distance (>3 miles) criteria. The administration fee payable is higher in BC at 50 p.a Transport is organised by BC and is either by bus or by train. BC contracts two buses, one from Barry to Pen-Coed and one from Llantwit to Bridgend and Pen-Coed, 32 students travel by bus and the College charges VoG 3.12 per day for each student, the College makes a loss on these services and there is a risk that they may seek to increase this daily rate (which has been static for some considerable time). Approximately 75 students travel by train and can claim up to a maximum of 590 p.a. each on a weekly pay and reimburse basis. VoG reimburses BC on an annual basis for train expenses Estimated annual costs for CAVC are: Bus travel 90 students x 3.12 per day x 170 days 47,736 Arriva Trains Wales 85 students x 590 p.a. 50,150 Total 107 students 97, Processes in this area look sound, however, there is an opportunity here to negotiate with Arriva Trains Wales to reduce the cost of weekly tickets and there is precedent in the CAVC have negotiated a 55% discount and Bridgend Council have negotiated a rate of circa. 300 Page: 60 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

61 annually, taking a 20% contingency reduction, there is therefore a saving opportunity in the region of 19,720 p.a Whilst circa 95% of post 16 students travel to either BC or CAVC there are increasing numbers travelling further afield in order to meet study the course of their choice which is not available elsewhere e.g. Neath Port Talbot College, Stroud Dance College, Newport Football Academy. The VoG policy on post 16 transport currently entitles students to free transport to any institution provided the equivalent course is not available at a nearer destination, the Council may want to reconsider this element of policy and limit the travel distance allowable This 5% of travel is managed directly by the SST through a mixture of taxis and train fares, the manager estimated costs in this area to be c. 30,000 p.a. and increasing each year. 5.6 Catering Services The school catering service runs 2 vehicles every school day of the year delivering. These vehicles have some special criterion such as anti-slip matting and side opening doors. The vehicle requirements of this service should be assessed as part of the plan to challenge all vehicle requirements and in this respect this service is no different than all other services, it gets a specific mention because there is a second catering service in Adults for meals on wheels which also runs a fleet of vehicles. Potential synergies between the two services should be explored. 5.7 Youth & Community Learning Services This service covers a number of areas across adults and children s services: Youth Services. Library Services. Adult Learning Services Youth Services run a number of vehicles: The VPOD a bus designed to deliver mobile youth services which is used across the borough at schools, events, areas of deprivation and anti-social behaviour. This bus is parked in Barry at a cost of c. 9,000 p.a., attempts should be made to accommodate parking at a Council owned site to save this annual outlay. Transit van The Roller Bus a van that moves a mobile skate park around the borough and assists in movement of D of E equipment when needed. Page: 61 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

62 3 x Minibuses 2 are used to transport children every day in term time to project activities in and out of borough, the third is used in other areas including D of E activities. All vehicles are maintained and fuelled at The Alps depot Library Services run one vehicle which is used to transport books to and from the housebound and between libraries, this vehicle is maintained and fuelled at The Alps Adult Learning in the Community service does not have any vehicles but staff do use own vehicles on occasion. 5.8 Summary recommendations Recommendations in respect of education transport are summarised in the table below: Ref: MS01 MS02 MS03 MS04 Recommendation: Develop success criteria for Cardiff secondee such that a work programme is agreed and success can be demonstrated at the end of the secondment. Consider the implementation of a holistic transport IT system in conjunction with ALN and post 16 colleagues such that the system works for all parties. Ensure that future tenders for mainstream transport: Are run electronically. Include reverse auction facility. Are actively and widely marketed through the region. Develop a strategic plan to utilise the contract break clauses to allow retendering of all other existing contracts not currently due for retender in a reasonable time frame (suggested next 12 months). ALN01 Make decision regarding viability of not retendering contracts at new special school until September ALN02 With immediate effect start a programme of rationalisation of routes especially those at the three special schools. ALN03 Create a framework of suppliers to be used across all Council departments and to replace all existing lists and processes, Page: 62 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

63 ensure that all suppliers in VoG and the surrounding areas are encouraged and supported to get on the list. Framework to be electronic and include the use of reverse auctioning. ALN04 ALN05 Remove price and quality mechanism for contract award, ensure all requirements are detailed in the terms and conditions and specification documents and thereafter promote competition on price only. Develop a programme to retender all existing contracts (utilising the contract break clause where necessary) within the next 12 months. ALN06 Enhance levels of Independence Training offering it to those children it would benefit, consider use of the Cardiff model. PS01 PS02 PS03 CT01 YC01 Negotiate weekly pass rate with Arriva trains Wales for those students travelling to Bridgend College. Utilise the new framework to procure taxi contracts once this is set up. Make decision on the future structural line management for post 16 transport services. Assess the synergies between the schools catering service and the meals on wheels service. Investigate the ability to park the VPOD bus at The Alps or other Council site. Page: 63 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

64 6.0 Social Care Transport 6.1 Overview There are two distinct areas in social care transport: Children s Services transport elements include: o Transport for children looked after by the Council (LAC). o Transport for contact visits to allow parents and children in the care of the council to meet. o Allowable travel expenses for foster carers. o Journeys undertaken by staff in their own vehicles carrying out duties in this area. Adults Services transport elements include: o Transport in Council owned vehicles to and from day centres and other activities. o Transport in contracted vehicles to and from day centres and other activities. o Journeys undertaken by staff in their own vehicles carrying out duties in this area The following sections will describe in full the relevant areas in Adults and Children s transport, however, the overriding and themes which will be discussed are: Staff travel and the availability of alternatives to using officers own cars. Transport management both of internal vehicles and contracted external vehicles in terms of procurement, value for money and best processes. Best future management of transport and transport processes. Proactive role in ensuring that all checks have taken place Social services as a whole make use of an Approved Provider List (APL) of taxi / minibus suppliers. The APL is administered by the Contracts & Finance team, the list has been in existence since 2003, taxi companies must go through an evaluation process before they can get on the list. The following taxi companies are on the list: A2B Taxis. Allways contract cars. Area Cars. Civic Taxis (A Ramsey). CJ Contract Travel Services. Cowbridge & Vale Cars (Mr Lewis). Diane s Taxis(Mr K Elliot). Heritage Tours (Wales). Page: 64 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

65 Janet Hill Cars. JD Private Hire. Llantwit Cars. Nicholas Mais. Ms Melanie French T/A Mel s private hire. Merrick (Kirk Merrick). Rhoose Cars (Wendy Bennett). Safe Cars (Joanna Mounter). Wallys Wheels (Wally Standen). Windsor Cars (Rhys Morgan) There is an annual audit process which for those involved with children includes asking for confirmation that DBS safeguarding checks are in place (although these are not actually seen) A number of questions arise from the use of an APL which have been / are also alluded to elsewhere in this report: How competitive is the process for awarding work? From discussions across the Social Services directorate it is evident that in most cases there is no competition for work, effectively social workers will speak with the most receptive suppliers i.e. those that answer the phone and that they know will give a reliable service. Are APL s an acceptable procurement route? The list has been open and added to over the last 12 years, in other Authorities EDGE has worked with e.g. Neath Port Talbot CBC there has been instruction that APL s are not a valid route for procuring transport services. How can the Council rely on the safeguarding information? Contrasting this approach with that of the ALN team in respect of managing the safeguarding risks associated there is a huge difference: o ALN are actively connected to VOG taxi licensing, the licensing manager suggest that social services are not and flagged this as a specific risk she required us to draw attention to in this report. o DBS checks may well be getting done and suppliers may well be compliant but the Council ought to take a much more proactive role in ensuring that they are For all the above reasons we strongly recommend that an alternative is put in place, we suggest that this is a Council wide framework set up renewed every 4 years with active competition at its heart but also able to deliver the type of service that all departments need, immediate, short term, ad-hoc and long term transport. Equally, as covered in section 10 we suggest that all transport booking and the control of the Page: 65 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

66 framework is brought together under the control of an Integrated Transport Unit. 6.2 Children s Services Transport was discussed with three operational managers covering the following areas: Safeguarding and Performance. Fostering / Adoption / Preventative Services / 15+. Intake / Family support / Child Health & Disability / Care Management (Long Term) The vast majority of the work in these areas is not transport specific, transport is merely a supporting function of getting the job done effectively, moreover many of the issues are similar across all the areas, these have been summarised below: Area Staff Travel Foster Carers Use of taxis Commentary Many of the workers under these OM s and especially the social workers undertake a significant level of staff travel either in their own cars, in hired cars or on public transport. There is considerable expense involved in total, with over 500,000 miles claimed across the whole of social services in the recent 12 month period (a portion of this in Children s Services). There are 200 children on the at risk register and visiting can be required very regularly especially if the case is new. This is an area where improvements and efficiency savings can be made, this is described in much more detail in Section 8.0. Routine mileage in getting children to school is covered in the foster carers allowance up to 12 miles each school day, over and above this mileage allowance is paid at 45pence per mile. Over and above this mileage payments are also made for attendance at contact visits at 45ppm. These allowances deal with most instances of foster care transport and appear sensible. There are many cases where taxis are required, the process is to book from the approved list, although anecdotally, this generally means calling one of three companies, CJ s, Merricks or Wallys taxis. Page: 66 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

67 Children with disabilities Attendance at Court Children with disabilities requiring transport to school will be looked after by the ALN team within education services, however, where respite care is granted e.g. from leaving school on Friday evening to returning back to school on Monday morning, this will be charged back the Children s Services as additional cost. There is a frequent requirement to attend court hearings in Cardiff and a number of areas (legal team included) have suggested that there should be a more cost effective way of doing this as parking charges are prohibitive but the confidential (and sometimes bulky) nature of the court papers means that transport other than by car is difficult. There is no obvious solution for this problem There are a number of key themes here which are common across this report: The need for staff travel to be managed more effectively and for pool vehicles to be made available to ensure that where possible more expensive staff mileage is avoided (this is dealt with in section 8.0). The need to regularise and control the use of contracted transport more effectively. The list of three taxi firms which are used by Children s services are in effect also used by Adults services and raise significant questions around value for money and adherence to procurement legislation in terms of aggregated spend across the whole of the Council. A framework of suppliers should be set up with processes and terms and conditions such that it is available for and meets the needs of all services across the Council i.e. immediate, ad-hoc, short term and long term requirements. The need to bring transport management together, in both Adults and Children s areas, transport is simply a small part of the support social workers need to put in place. It would make sense to have transport managed in just one area that can be easily accessed by social workers and that guarantees to fulfill transport requests quickly and at the best cost, this is discussed further in section Adults Services Vale Community Resource Service The Vale Community Resource Service (HCS) delivers care in the home across the Borough. Page: 67 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

68 HCS has 43 staff who undertake daily visits to Adults in their homes. Most of these 43 staff use their own vehicles to get around their schedule of daily visits and some staff can cover up to 100 miles in a day, clearly this service is a key contributor to the number of business miles claimed in social services A number of areas for improvement were discussed with the manager. There is a clear need (and desire) for the introduction of pool cars so that staff do not need to use their own vehicles. Whilst this could be controversial in some cases since staff will lose what they have come to rely upon as additional income (the highest users are claiming in the region of 10,000 miles p.a. which in 2013 / 14 equated to an income in the region of 6,500) it is the right thing to do in order to safeguard the efficiency of the service. Pool cars and staff travel are dealt with in more detail in section Meals on Wheels service Adult Social Services run a 7 day a week service to deliver meals to adults who are registered and authorised to receive the service The service delivers on average 125 meals per weekday to 80 private addresses and 8 other destinations across the Borough and utilises 8 vehicles to do so, these being 8 Vauxhall Corsa vans and 1 Fiat Doblo van. The service has 1 WRVS driver volunteer, 5 paid drivers and 2 kitchen staff drivers The vehicles are maintained at The Alps, 5 of them fuel up at The Alps, the other three that travel in the opposite direction have fuel cards The vehicles are generally in use from 10.45am to 1.30 pm each day and when not in use are parked at Rondell House. It is interesting to note at this point that these vehicles could be used more intensively for example as pool cars after 1.30pm but the silo d nature of transport in VoG currently means that they are not used. This being exactly the sort of area where a properly functioning ITU would look to increase the use of these assets Community Support The Community Support (CS) team are a multi-disciplinary team closely aligned to the ABMU supporting clients (and their carers) with learning difficulties from 18 years old with some transition help from years old. Page: 68 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

69 Clients are assessed under the unified assessment process and if there is a need to travel to the placement decided a further process is considered: Can the client travel independently or be helped to travel independently? Can the client use public transport? If the answer to these questions is no then the client is given transport in a taxi, taxis are booked using the APL. There are a large number of on-going contracts in this area and they are managed by one of the staff in this team who endeavours to amalgamate taxi routes where possible and was able to demonstrate active management of this part of the service, if the transport is to cost more than 400 per week this must be agreed by the placing social worker with the Head of Service. A full list of routes was requested to be included in this report but had not been received at the time of writing. There are many locations for which taxis could be required: Scope day services (although minimal, most on scope minibuses). Amelia Farm Trust. Vale plus. Vision 21. Innovative Trust Where placement is to a Council run day centre transport is provided and managed by that day centre, this is covered in the section below Council Day Centres The older peoples day care service is run from Rondel House, the physical disability service is run from Hen Goleg and the learning disability service is run from several sites within Barry and Penath including Hen Goleg All three services manage their own transport, transport arrangements have been described in the table below: Area Commentary Older People Service 2 x wheelchair accessible minibuses owned Drivers work in the day centres during the day One driver sick for last 14 months and so one bus not in use 2 buses obtained through CJ Travel at c. 40,000 p.a. Page: 69 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

70 Physical Disability Learning Disability Parking is described as problematic at the site especially since the meals on wheels vans take up most of the available space most of the time 25 clients per day 2 x 16 seater wheelchair adapted buses at 12 years old and 8 years old. They are in daily use Monday to Friday and are driven / escorted by staff employed by the service. When buses are off the road or are required at The Alps for maintenance replacement buses are sourced from CJ Travel, this is kept to a minimum 70 clients in total, most 5 days per week Several services are in operation: o 2 at Hen Goleg Woodlands & Sorted o 1 at YMCA The Hub o 1 at Castle Anne St Track 2000 o 1 at Castle Ave for challenging behavior At Sorted there are 2 vehicles for CJ Travel costing c. 75,000 p.a. The service also runs 3 of it s own vehicles 1 x small hiace transporter and 2 x Volkswagen 16 seater buses Clearly transporting clients to day centre activities will be an on-going requirement, there are, however, a number of observations that can be made about these day services: In common with other areas there is substantial use of CJ Travel services at > 100,000 p.a. and there is potential to reduce these overall costs through the introduction of further direct competition. Managing transport and transport logistics is not the core business of these services. The services are in general managing transport in a silo d manner. When told that a vehicle was currently not is use at Rondell House, the LD Manager could immediately see an opportunity to re-use that vehicle. Again, this lends weight to the argument of having an Integrated Transport Unit. Parking is described as a real issue at Rondell House, however, there is currently a parking contract in place for Rondell House and the Ty Jenner site at The Jenner Park Stadium which is currently costing 300 per month, if this is not suitable then it should be discontinued, if it is then it should be used. Page: 70 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

71 All the managers expressed concern regarding their ability to attract staff and volunteers who had the D1 endorsement on their license to allow them to drive minibuses. 6.4 Summary recommendations in respect of Social Services are: Ref: SS01 SS02 SS03 CS01 HC01 DC01 Recommendation: Take steps to set up a Council wide framework of taxi and minibus suppliers to be used by all departments once in place and retender all existing contracts across the service. Consider transferring all transport management and logistics to an Integrated Transport Unit. Participate in the setting up of new staff travel arrangements introducing pool cars around the borough. Consider the options for reducing the costs of attending court sessions in Cardiff. Assess the ability to use the meals on wheels vans and / or other available vehicles as pool vehicles for use by the Vale Community Resource service. Review parking arrangements in place for Ty Jenner and Rondell House at The Jenner Park Stadium, enforce or discontinue. Page: 71 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

72 7.0 Community and Supported Bus Transport 7.1 Community Transport The Council currently operates a Community Transport scheme called Greenlinks Community Transport (GCT) GCT currently uses the following vehicles: 1 x 14 seat Volkswagen Crafter with a ramp which is owned. 1 x 7 seat Volkswagen Sharan MPV donated by NPOWER in x 10 seat Mercedes Sprinter MWB with wheelchair lift GCT is in the process of making the following vehicle changes: Additional 1 x 13 seat Mercedes Sprinter LWB match funded by Sewta. Replacement 1 x Volkswagen Caddy MPV for the Sharan Staffing levels for the service are: 1FTE x CT Coordinator. 1FTE x Administration and scheduling officer. 1 x driver (salaried). 13 / 14 volunteer drivers The service has been built up over the last 4 years as a result of Regional Development Plan funding, this funding will no longer be available after March 2015, thereafter the service will be funded from Section 106 monies Two types of service are offered, services under section 19 where travellers must be a member of the scheme and services under section 22 which are routes registered with the Traffic Commissioner and which must maintain a given timetable A section 22 service has been implemented directly as a part replacement for the Village Bus Network (Routes V1,V2, V5, V6) which was supported previously by the Council at 150,000 p.a. until the Operator withdrew its service in July The G1 service started operating on 20 th January 2014 and runs between Llantwit Major Cowbridge Bridgend Monday to Friday The G4 service covers the rural Vale and is less timetabled than the G1 but has target times to get to key destinations, it runs on Thursdays only. Page: 72 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

73 Both services must be booked in advance by 12pm on the preceding day and both operate a fare structure of between 2 and 5 whilst also accepting concessionaires free of charge Routes operated under section 19 are demand responsive routes, all requests for transport are taken on a best endeavours basis and are based upon the best that the coordinators and schedulers can manage with the available capacity on the day, this is the reason driving the 12pm preceding day cut off rule GCT vehicles are covering around 30,000 miles p.a. and would benefit from being part of a wider pool of vehicles whereby mileages across the fleet could be managed more consistently Available data for passenger numbers, costs and income are as follows: Month Passengers Costs Income Net Cost Apr ,950 1,381 2,569 May ,736 1,515 4,220 Jun , ,836 Jul ,282 1,434 3,848 Aug ,620 1,201 2,419 Sep ,602 1,542 11,060 Oct ,665 1,774 3,891 Nov ,323 1,327 5,997 Dec ,071 1,281 6,790 Jan N/A N/A N/A Feb est. N/A N/A N/A It is clear that passenger numbers are growing and that GCT is providing a service which is used by its members. There is a list of around 1,000 names on the membership list, however, it was conceded that the list had not been cleansed for some time and the active members was much smaller than this. GCT type services are likely to increase in the future as a direct result of the pressures on the subsidy budget, it is recommended that the list is cleansed and that booking records are reviewed to understand the real level of active users such that the Council is in a position to make better informed decisions on future service development, the overriding logic being that if community transport services are genuinely serving a wide cross section of members (as opposed to an educated minority using the services very frequently) then this is a very good mechanism for providing low cost public and assisted transport services to VoG citizens Net costs are running at about 5,500 average per month which would need a net annual budget of 66,000, however, it should be noted that these costs do not include the additional costs for the additional Page: 73 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

74 vehicles, nor do they include a notional cost for vehicle finance which ought to be factored in if GCT is to be a long term service offering for VoG Under the Regional Transport Services Grant (Community Transport Kilometre Support) rules currently in operation VoG has had confirmation that support is not available based upon section 2.3 of the terms and conditions. 7.2 Supported Bus Transport The Council operates a number service bus contracts under its remit to provide socially necessary bus service where the market does not or will not provide it The budgets involved are obtained directly from Welsh Government or by utilising the Councils own budget, the list of routes is detailed in Appendix In recent years along with all other Welsh Authorities, these budgets have been reduced drastically, the entire Village Bus Network (VBN) was removed in 2013 and the Community Transport Greenlinks service has to the best of its ability stepped in to provide a reduced service (this is described below) It is difficult to comment upon value for money these services provide because no passenger data was readily available despite this being a requirement of contract, section 16 of the standard terms and conditions is reproduced below. It is recommended that this clause is enforced in future in order to aid funding decisions. Daily patronage figures per service must be recorded and the information delivered to the Council attached to the relevant invoices. There is also a requirement to submit, with each invoice, an operational failure return The Council does not have a survey team available to collate passenger data, indeed in 2013 in order to ascertain the usage of the VBN network, VoG employed the Cardiff Council survey team to do this for them What is clear is that considerable thought has gone in to the retention of the services that are still provided, nevertheless, it would be advantageous to know the numbers of passengers travelling, this should be pursued. Page: 74 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

75 7.2.8 Bus stop infrastructure There are three categories of bus stop: Standard Detail Gold Supplied, maintained and managed by Clear Channel Uk at no cost to the Council Clear Channel type/supplied shelter (4 sided accessible to wheelchairs) with: (a) integral timetable case, (b) perch seating (c) lighting (d) electric supply/ducting for future RTI display (e) Bus stop flag and its attachment pole/bracket; Hard standing area with raised Kerb platform with transition kerbs both sides and any other normally required pavement edges (average suitable sizes ; please advise); Drop Kerb access on both sides of road; Bus stop protective road markings (inc. legal costs); Refuse Bin Silver Bus Shelters Wales Transit type/supplied shelter (4 sided accessible to wheelchairs) with: (a) integral timetable case, (b) perch seating (c) lighting (d) electric supply/ducting for future RTI display (e) Bus stop flag and its attachment pole/bracket; Hard standing area with raised Kerb platform with transition kerbs both sides and any other normally required pavement edges (average suitable sizes ; please advise); Drop Kerb access on both sides of road; Bus stop protective road markings (inc. legal costs); Refuse Bin Bronze Bus stop flag pole; Bissell style timetable case; Bus stop flag; Hard standing area with raised Kerb platform with transition kerbs both sides and any other normally required pavement edges (average suitable sizes ; please advise); Page: 75 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

76 Drop Kerb access on both sides of road; Bus stop protective road markings (inc. legal costs); Refuse Bin Gold standard sites are managed by Clear Channel UK but there is no specific contract in place Silver and Bronze sites are managed directly in the development services department, shelters are sourced from Bus Shelters (Wales) Ltd It is understood that the cleaning budget for bus stops is circa 12,000 p.a., touring around the borough it is clear that some stops do not receive regular cleaning. It is not clear whether this lack of regular cleaning is because of lack of budget or poor planning, however, this should be addressed as a matter of urgency. 7.3 Concessionary scheme and concessionary passes The concessionary scheme in VoG runs on the statutory remit, that is citizens are eligible to a free pass who are or have: Aged 60 years or over. Blind or partially sighted. Profoundly or severely deaf. Without speech. A disability with a long term adverse effect on their ability to walk. Have no arms or have long term loss of use of both arms. Have a learning disability. Been refused a driving license under qualifying conditions The pass entitles the user to free travel at any time. Smartcard passes are administered by the OneVale contact centre team Review of the concessionary scheme has been very limited in this review because it is subject to statutory rules, is administered regionally and there is no obvious area where efficiencies could be made. 7.4 Summary recommendations Summary recommendations in respect of Community Transport and supported bus services are: Page: 76 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

77 Ref: CT01 CT02 CT03 SB01 BS01 Recommendation: Arrange to cleanse the membership list in order to get an accurate view of total membership numbers Ascertain the correct level of active membership by tallying the journeys travelled against members names Ensure that Community Transport Services are placed on a sustainable financial footing which should include factoring in vehicle replacement cost to the annual revenue budget Enforce the supply of passenger journey data as per the terms and conditions of contract Ensure that the bus stop cleaning routines are reviewed and an adequate budget is put in place Page: 77 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

78 8.0 Staff Travel, Grey Fleet & Pool cars 8.1 A quote for the Office of Government Commerce (OGC): Grey fleet travel refers to mileage in employee-owned vehicles - a grey area, where millions of hidden miles are travelled each year and often overlooked by employers and employees alike. This means that if you are a public sector organisation looking to make cost savings, reduce environmental impact, or better manage the risks related to driving for work, grey fleet is an important place to focus your attention. Office of Government Commerce 8.2 The above quote from the OGC highlights a key area of transport that is often forgotten that of the grey fleet comprised either of the private cars of Council employees that undertake travel on behalf of the Council, normally funded either via expenses claims or by car allowances, or leased cars provided by the Council for employees. 8.3 Mileage undertaken by the grey fleet can be significant and is normally not managed or recorded accurately, being simply something that happens in the background, to the extent that many public sector organisations have been surprised to uncover the levels of mileage covered in grey fleet vehicles and the associated costs. 8.3 In VoG, however, the records are readily available. Mileage covered by the grey fleet appears substantial, with over 1.25 million miles of travel claimed for each year and costs in the region of 750,000. This is clearly a significant spend area and there is merit in considering alternative approaches such as the use of pool cars or car hire arrangements, particularly for long journeys. A full review should be undertaken to analyse and understand the expenditure related to the grey fleet and to evaluate the opportunities for cost reductions via alternative provision. 8.4 In generic terms, the more effective management of the grey fleet can generate benefits in the following key areas, and the review should focus on delivering improvements across them all: Financial efficiency - direct cost savings driven by reducing the number of journeys made / miles travelled and by promoting the use of the most cost effective method of transport in each case. Health and Safety - ensuring fulfillment of duty of care for employees driving in the course of their work and avoiding financial and reputational damage linked to road-related accidents and injuries. It is noted that services such as Highways are using their own vehicles without reflective and visible safety markings. Page: 78 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

79 Environmental sustainability - reducing carbon emissions by removing unnecessary road mileage and transferring travel to public transport and pool and hire cars with lower emissions. 8.5 For the period April 2012 to March 2013, staff mileage claims in respect of the VOG Grey Fleet amounted to some 1.28M miles along with a cost of 761K at current claim levels, as illustrated in the table below. There are approximately 630 claims per month that are paid along with salaries. No of I Expense Claims Staff Travel Costs Value of I Expenses Claims Mileage Type No of Paper Claims Value of Paper Claims Total Claims Value of Claims Mileage Casual , , , Mileage Essential , , Mileage Non Tax , , , Totals , , , Distance Operations Area: Claimed (M): Corporate & Customer Services Development Services Resources Visible Services & Housing Economic Regeneration Learning & Development Schools Learning & Skills Social Services Grand Total: Staff Travel Distances There are changes to staff travel policy currently under consultation to remove essential and casual user car allowances and to reduce the mileage rate to standard HMRC levels ( 0.45 per mile). All these initiatives will have a positive impact on annual expenditure. On a simple calculation basis, replacing the current 65 pence per mile with 45 pence per mile could expect a reduction in expenditure in the region of 235,000, however the savings should be treated with some caution as it is our experience that actual miles claimed will increase as employees seek to redress the perceived loss of monthly income. We can see in the table below that VoG is currently offering a generous allowance when compared with all other Welsh Authorities (table based upon information available in March 2013 Page: 79 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

80 However, it has come to our attention that many Authorities have since revisited their policies and reduced them since this comparison was done: Authority Mileage Rate Paid Authority Mileage Rate Paid Blaenau Gwent NJC Rate (Essential User) Merthyr Tydfil 45p Bridgend 58.5p Monmouthshire 45p Caerphilly 55p Neath Port Talbot 45p Cardiff 45p Newport 45p Carmarthenshire 45p Pembrokeshire NJC Rate (Essential User) Ceredigion NJC Rate (Casual User) Powys 45p Conwy 45p Rhondda Cynon Taff 45p Denbighshire 45p Swansea 58p to 4,000 miles then 35p Flintshire NJC Rate (Essential User) The Vale of Glamorgan 65p* Gwynedd 45p Torfaen 45p Isle of Anglesey NJC Rate (Essential User) Wrexham 45p * - Vale 65ppm figure is a headline number subject to the following details for particular users: Page: 80 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

81 *Staff currently designated as Essential or Casual Users are eligible to claim allowances as detailed in the NJC car allowances document below and summarised in the following table :- ESSENTIAL USERS cc cc 1200c + Lump Sum Per Annum ,239 per mile (first 8,500) 36.9p 40.9p 50.5p per mile (after 8,500) 13.7p 14.4p 16.4p CASUAL USERS cc cc 1200c + per mile (first 8,500) 46.9p 52.2p 65.0p per mile (after 8,500) 13.7p 14.4p 16.4p The application of the Essential Car Allowance Scheme is not available for new employees, staff who obtain promotion / change of handbook / significant service terms. 8.7 The I-Expenses module of Oracle is used for employees to claim back mileage and expenses incurred whilst on Council business. The system is reliant almost entirely on the authoriser of the claim ensuring expenses are genuine and can be matched to the requirements of the claimants employed position. The I-Expenses system has a number of automated controls that can assist in ensuring that expense claims that are not in compliance with the authorities financial procedures are unable to be authorised, these are known as hard controls. The system will also indicate where an expense appears not to be in compliance but there may be a justifiable reason for this, in these instances the authoriser of the claim can authorise the expense claim for payment, these are known as soft controls. 8.8 The Internal audit report of February 2013 found that; Based on an assessment of the strengths and weakness of the areas examined, and through testing it has been concluded that the effectiveness of the internal control environment is considered to be sound and therefore substantial assurance can be placed upon the management of risks. This overall opinion is supported by the identification of a well-controlled system where only minor recommendations may have been made where it is considered that the action required is desirable and should result in enhanced control or improved value for money. 8.9 As part of this review, a mini-audit was undertaken to establish a basic understanding of actual current practice, based on data from September 2013 to February 2014, and the trends identified did raise a number of concerns; Page: 81 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

82 The claims checked indicate mileages claimed in the system being on average 8.6% higher than the distance calculated by Google Maps; Very few claims included enough detail to be checked accurately; The claim process can be difficult to navigate, particularly for infrequent users, and not particularly intuitive; Personal details such as license and insurance information, are recorded at the annual Personal Development Reviews (PDR), and no copies are kept; There is no guidance for managers to assess driver license categories, endorsements or insurance details; For any changes, a Change in personal circumstances form must be completed which doesn t allow for license or insurance uploads; Line Managers are updated by of outstanding approvals; Reporting is on multiple lines detailing date, purpose of journey, mileage; There is a good line management approval cascade in place; The policy guidance is clear that the most direct route should be used for mileage calculations; There is no electronic link to mapping or GIS software for route and mileage calculations, and is left entirely to staff integrity The table below provides some examples of the discrepancies discovered and although this table indicates an average 8.6% difference between what was claimed and what should have been claimed, this equates to a 9.4% over-claim, the minimal number of journeys that were capable of being checked would support a realistic savings target of 10-15%. Justification / journey Claimed Actual Difference Variance % FS Skomer Road to FSFC Gladstone Road % FS Skomer Road to Futre Inn Cardiff Bay. Conference % Bournemouth Town Hall & Return % Office to Neath Job Centre - assisting young person with carers allowance claim % Review client at Kingsland Crescent Barry + return to Ty Jenner % Attend APS service review at Porlock Drive Sully + return to Ty Jenner % House visit to client at Hugon Close Cardiff + return to Ty Jenner % Dock Office, The Church Llandrindod Wells, Return % Dock Office, The Church Llandrindod Wells, Return % Academy Meeting Luton % Office.. Palace Road, Cardiff % Penarth to Onibury Shropshire return to Penarth visit Y/P % Haydock Hse to Pencoed Campus Bridgend College return meet Y/P and tutor % Haydock Hse to Caerleon Campus Caerleon meeting re Y/P return to Barry % From office to Eastwood Park Prison Gloucester return Barry % Haydock Hse to Priory Oak Brackla to Haydock Hse support Y/P % Docks office Barry to Onibury Cravern Arms Shropshire to Docks office review meeting % Haydock Hse to Priory Oak Brackla to Haydock Hse support Y/P with Health assessment % Totals / average % Example Claims for Page: 82 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

83 August 2013 January In respect of the current system, the destinations and way points are requested and the input is non-specific via a free text box and there is no direction or reminder to provide accurate information. General practice is to refer to the relevant town (for example, Penarth) with no additional detail. Mileage is recorded to the nearest mile and calculated by the claimant There are no rules set on the limit for mileage expenses, nor are there any alerts for identification of abnormal claims. The system relies on the line manager s knowledge and vigilance to ensure compliance with policy and their commercial awareness to appreciate the financial impact of travel decisions. In many departments there is a lack of central monitoring or control of all aspects of staff travel and few reports are generated. This has led to inconsistent practices which are now beginning to drive differing and inconsistent solutions and approaches across the Council It is recommended that the information required on claim forms is required to be more accurate in the future and that a tough stance is taken in enforcing this. Technology upgrades should be considered particularly linking the mileage calculations to mapping software to give accurate journey distances complying with policy. Further, regular audits of claims should be undertaken and sanctions applied where abuse is identified (this should be assisted by the move to electronic claim processing) Any IT system improvements should ideally incorporate the capability for license and insurance checks to be registered via web portals or similar Experience suggests that a properly run pool car scheme can reduce operational costs substantially. Edge can provide evidence that introducing such schemes in other authorities ensured that cost per mile was c.22 pence and therefore a car covering 11,000 miles p.a. would save c. 2,530 from the staff mileage claim bill. It is extremely important to note that this is only the case where the utilisation of those pool cars is managed effectively, the vehicles must have high utilisation, at or above 11,000 miles per annum. It is therefore recommended that a pool car scheme is introduced in a staged and controlled way (subject to formal analysis of current results and utilisation) with an effective re-charge mechanism. Page: 83 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

84 8.16 Whilst it is difficult to accurately estimate the financial impact of these recommendations, and, actions specifically around the introduction of pool cars would need to be based upon the production of a fully costed business case, it is expected that tighter electronic control of staff mileage claims could realise an additional saving in the region of 40,000 p.a. and that the introduction of a fleet of circa 35 fuel efficient vehicles well managed through an Integrated Transport Unit over time could save in the region of a further 88,550 p.a The associated cultural change through bringing in these changes should also not be underestimated and in our experience has been amounted to as much savings again, where staff are aware that claims are being monitored and where business travel is reduced because it takes some organisation. We have not accounted for this cultural effect in our savings projections Summary recommendations staff travel, grey fleet and pool cars: Ref: Recommendation: GF1 GF2 GF3 GF4 GF5 Change mileage claim requirements to introduce more accurate descriptions of journey start and end points and follow up with a planned audit process for mileage claims, incorporating appropriate management sanctions for abuse. Introduce regular management reporting of claim statistics, miles travelled and cost, by department to ensure senior management visibility and awareness of Grey Fleet costs. Introduce a centralised audit of local management records of staff license and insurance checks, following relevant communication and a period of grace. Report results to senior management. Technology upgrades should be considered particularly linking the mileage calculations to mapping software to give accurate journey distances complying with policy. Introduce a pool car scheme in stages in line with the growth in awareness and demand, ensuring all relevant processes and procedures are in place to allow effective chargeback of costs for usage and fuel. Ensure that available existing vehicles on the fleet that could be used as pool cars are included in the pool car fleet and booking arrangements e.g. meals on wheels vans (see ITU section). Page: 84 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

85 GF6 GF7 Analyse the utilisation patterns from a pool car trial to establish if there is the potential to undertake any education or SC runs using pool cars that will still allow the pool cars to be effectively utilised for the remainder of the day. In conjunction with the above, introduce staff travel guidelines confirming what mode of transport should be used in which circumstances. Page: 85 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

86 9.0 Financial Summary 9.1 Summary transport spend We have detailed the current position as best as possible in each individual section, the finance team have provided a full summary of 12 / 13 Actual spend and 13 / 14 revised budget summaries, these show respectively 10.94m and 11.65m: Area 12 / 13 Actual Budget 13 / 14 Revised Budget Contract Hire Vehicles 4,852,336 5,511,673 Pupil Conveyance (including Special) 930,595 1,056,417 Fuel 923, ,719 Car Allces - Officers 754, ,468 Garage SLA 679, ,767 Hire Of Transport 628, ,779 Owned Vehicle & Plant 623, ,501 Lease Rentals - Vehicles 229, ,916 Insurances Vehicles 224, ,257 Further Education Travel Awards 192, ,174 Repair Of Vehicles (non SLA) 175, ,893 Garage Labour 148, ,639 Staff Travel 144, ,292 Conveyance Of Clients 80,558 74,344 Car Allowances 62,705 69,600 Lease / Rental and Purchase Vehicles 55,231 35,926 Insurance 37,397 38,146 Hire 28,214 28,500 Repairs 27,525 28,000 Travel Expenses - Staff 27,376 23,534 Tyres & Tubes 25,994 29,417 Excess Trav Expns - Staff 22,014 10,013 Conveyance Pupils 17,123 14,610 Transport Of Meals 11,004 9,690 Garage SLA/Labour 8,792 1,492 Purchase Of Vehicles 7, Vehicle Licences 5,600 6,921 Licences 2,984 2,065 Travel Expenses 2,820 3,750 Public Transport - Client Use/Volunteers 1,446 - Conveyance of Pupils 1,423 1,910 Transportation Service Vehicle MOTs (non SLA) 824 3,377 Travel Expenses - Volunteers 816 1,540 Public Transport - Client Use 790 3,230 Trav Expns - Members Travel Expenses - Members Public Transport - Staff Use Travel Expenses - Counsell 5 1,000 Car Allces - Teaching Staff 2 - Travel Expenses (Staff) - - Excess Travel (staff) - - Travel Expenses (Clients) - - Lubricants Totals 10,937,695 11,654,815 Page: 86 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

87 9.2 Existing Savings plans We have made some commentary against the transport savings plans which were in existence prior to the commencement of the report: Dire ctora te Ref Proje ct/ W orkstre a m Brie f Description L&S L16 Libraries - Savings from Transport and Supplies Transport and and Services Budget. Supplies and Reduce various transport and Services Budgets supplies/services budgets. Service implication to be minimal. Assume 50% for transport. L&S L17 Catering - Savings from Transport and Supplies Transport and and Services Budget. Reduce Supplies and various transport and Services Budgets supplies/services budgets. Service implication to be minimal. Assume 50% for transport. VSH V2 Double Shifting of Vehicles VSH V3 Increased Use of Mobile Technology VSH V9 Drop Refuse Collection Pickup Vehicle VSH VSH VSH VSH VSH VSH V10 Refuse Vehicle Use - Replace 2 refuse vehicles with 1 15t vehicle Double Shifting of Vehicles mainly in Waste Management to increase usage. Increased usage of technology to track vehicle usage - Route optimisation By using route optimisation and tracking of vehicles changes can be made to the number of vehicles required/reconfiguration of routes Drop 1 x 26t and 1 x 7.5t vehicle from refuse and replace with a 15t vehicle.use route optimisation and tracking of vehicles changes can be made to the number of vehicles required V14 Refuse Vehicle Remove 1 crew and vehicle from the Use - Drop Street street cleansing team. Cleaning Pickup Vehicle V16 Refuse Vehicle Use - Drop Mechanical sweeper and driver. V17 Reduction in Streetcare Crew V22 Reduction in one food waste vehicle. V23 Home to work transport DEV D7 Review of Transport Function Reduction of 1 x mechanical sweeper and driver. Drop 1x Streetcare vehicle and 2x Staff Rounds to be reconfigured with the help of vehicle telemetry and routing software to identify a vehicle that can be disposed of within food waste collection. Stop home to work transport unless essential for job and increase the number of pool cars Restructure of Transport Function. Only practical with a corresponding reduction in functions. DEV D8 Supported Bus Reduce budget by 25% in line with Services and Fee 2013/14 WG reduction to local Business transport services grant. DEV D9 Transport Surveys Additiona l Deta il/cha nge s Require d Green Waste round is to be double shifted with the refuse collection round. This will avoid having to hire in vehicles for the seasonal collection of green waste. Vehicle telemetry to be analysed for vehicles in Highways and Parks to ascertain vehicles being under utilised or optimising the route they travel. May lead to vehicles being disposed if under utilised Rounds to be reconfigured with the help of vehicle telemetry and routing software to identify a vehicle that can be disposed of within refuse collection. Rounds to be reconfigured with the help of vehicle telemetry and routing software to identify a vehicle that can be disposed of within refuse collection. 1 vehicle to be disposed of at auction. Reduces the flexibility of the service. 1 vehicle to be disposed of at auction. Reduces the flexibility of the service. 1 vehicle to be disposed of at auction. Reduces the flexibility of the service. Rounds to be reconfigured with the help of vehicle telemetry and routing software to identify a vehicle that can be disposed of within food waste collection. 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 T otal Review Commentary 5,000 5,000 Uncle a r how this sa ving is to be ma de, ha ve tra nsitione d in from Sept ,000 5,000 Uncle a r how this sa ving is to be ma de, ha ve tra nsitione d in from Sept , ,000 T his sa ving pla n looks re a sona ble ha ve tra nsitione d in from July ,000 80,000 T his sa vings pla n looks re a sona ble. T his proce ss will ne e d to be re pe a te d a cross a ll fle e t a re a s, we ha ve e nsure d no double counting, ha ve tra nsitione d in from September ,000 70,000 T his sa vings pla n looks re a sona ble, ha ve tra nsitione d in from September ,000 85,000 T his sa vings pla n looks re a sona ble, ha ve tra nsitione d in from September ,000 65,000 T his sa vings pla n looks re a sona ble, ha ve tra nsitione d in from September ,000 50,000 T his sa vings pla n looks re a sona ble, ha ve tra nsitione d in from September ,000 50,000 T his sa vings pla n looks re a sona ble, ha ve tra nsitione d in from September ,000 90,000 T his sa vings pla n looks re a sona ble, ha ve tra nsitione d in from September 2014 Vehicle telemetry to be analysed for all vehicles to identify those being under utilised as a number of vehicles currently undertake a high amount of home to work mileage. 100, ,000 Have re duce d sa ving to 36,660 pe r a nnum he re, Audit re port sugge sts c.188,000 mile s pe r a nnum in home to work mile a ge, ha ve a ssume d 75% of this fue l cost will be sa ve d a nd tra nsitione d in from Se pte mbe r Ability to re move ve hicle s will be de a lt with unde r a se pe ra te sa vings line 20,000 20,000 W e ha ve re move d this sa ving a s we fe e l tha t our re comme nda tion a bout a n Inte gra te d T ra nsport Unit will preclude savings in this area 45,000 30,000 75,000 T his is a re quire d budge t re duction, it is uncle a r how the se sa vings will be me t but a ssume tha t it will re quire cuts in se rvice bus contra cts which will ta ke time to a gre e so ha ve tra nsitione d 75,000 in from October 2014 Cease transport survey service 15,000 15,000 T his sa vings pla n looks re a sona ble a nd ca n be put in pla ce imme dia te ly a s it is in e ffe ct a de cision not to spe nd Many of the existing savings plans look reasonable but will require significant effort to bring to fruition, for this reason we have conservatively transitioned many of them in during FY 2014 / 15 such that the budgetary effects are taken over FY s 2014 / 15 and 2015 / 16. Page: 87 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

88 9.2.3 It is further recommended that all savings plans are brought together under one programme of change for the following reasons: To avoid several projects competing against each other. To avoid double counting. To further underpin the concept of centralised management of transport (The ITU). 9.3 Additional Savings Plans We have laid these out in detail in section 14.0, a summary of all efficiency savings available are: In Project 14/15 15/16 16/17 Total Efficiency (baseline) 700,627 1,552,105 1,626,834 3,879,566 Budget Change 700, ,478 74,729 1,626, The tables above shows that the programme can deliver a baseline saving of 3.88mand a post project budget reduction of 1.63m. Page: 88 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

89 10.0 Integrated Transport Unit 10.1 Integrating transport functions The creation of an Integrated Transport Unit (ITU) is a key recommendation of this transport review. It will mean a significant change in terms of: How transport is managed and who will be managing it. Changing relationships to Client and Provider for some Directorates. Changing levels of autonomy and control The ITU concept has been enthusiastically received by all Officers interviewed as part of this review process, however, agreement will still be needed ideally at CMT level to endorse such a change How is transport managed currently? Transport across the Council represents a very significant cost in the region of 11m p.a. in a number of areas: Education both Additional Learning Needs and Mainstream. Social Care both Adults and Looked After Children. Fleet Procurement, management and maintenance. Supported Local Bus Services both the commercial and the community transport sectors. Staff Travel These resources, policies and processes are managed within all of the directorates in the Council and within the various teams in each directorate There is no overview of similar spend across the Council as a whole, no consistent approach to procurement and no overview of the utilisation of expensive resources Some examples: Adults & Children s services purchase taxi services via an Approved list of suppliers with individual social workers booking directly to the taxi provider. Education and supported bus contracts (both Mainstream and Additional Learning Needs) are managed by raising an annual OJEU Prior Information Notice (PIN) and the teams responsible run competitions as required through the year. The upshot is that certain contractors are doing business with the Council at different costs depending upon the department/manager they are dealing with. Page: 89 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

90 Requirements to see proof CRB checks (now DBS) differ across areas. Vehicles used for the meals on wheels service which sit idle after 1.30pm every day are not used as pool vehicles in the evening. Vehicles are purchased in silos (even within teams in a directorate) without consideration as to what other vehicles are on the fleet and any potential synergies. Greenlinks Community Transport vehicles doing 30,000 p.a. are replaced after 5 years whilst other similar vehicles doing much less mileage may be replaced after 7 or 8 years, a sensible approach to mixing these vehicles would reduce overall costs These few examples (and there are many others) suggest at best that transport resources and spend are not being managed optimally across the Council and at worst that there are risks of safeguarding and procurement non-compliance The proposed solution An Integrated Transport Unit is the solution to these issues. All transport related resources are brought together in one unit that acts as the Councils central point of contact for all matters regarding transport: Best practice can be used for the procurement of external transport services. Spend per supplier can be made more transparent and per mile costs can become more standard. Policies and processes in terms of safeguarding, health & safety checks and contractor management can be harmonised and the best of all approaches utilised. Suppliers can no longer work for one part of the Council whilst potentially having been excluded through poor service from another part of the Council. A fleet utilisation overview can be taken, the ITU acting as broker between departments where synergies can be seen. The ITU can organise vehicles swaps and shares to make best use of all vehicle assets through their lifetime. The ITU can ensure that internal assets are utilised fully before entering in to expensive external contracts. User departments can concentrate on their core business activities e.g. social care or delivery of education services in the knowledge that the transport unit will find the best transport solution for them. The ITU can take a lead role in ensuring staff travel costs are optimised: Page: 90 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

91 o o o Agreeing and monitoring the size and location of the pool car fleet. Managing a pool car booking system. Holding driver records on Tranman and alerting managers when licence and insurance checks are required The ITU would be made up of all staff across the Council currently involved in transport coming together in one unit and taking advantage of the economies of scale therein Discussions with those relevant staff in interviews carried out to date have been very positive and it should also be noted that the Council has had two previous reviews (one internal and one commissioned by the Sewta bus group) that came up with the same recommendation of a centralised ITU For information, transport within the Council is currently organised as follows: A typical ITU might look like this: Page: 91 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

92 Example ITU Structure A phased approach could be used to bringing this organisation together which may start with virtual integration around procurement, policies and processes and end with physical integration and co-location Issues to be considered It will be crucial to get the answers to these questions right in order to give the ITU the best chance of being a successful support unit for all Directorates: Question Where should the ITU sit? Where should budgets sit? How will Client relationships work? Commentary The ITU as described is not independent of any of the individual directorates but it does need to sit within a management structure. It is a high volume operational unit and needs an appropriate line management structure. This will be a key consideration. Should budgets sit with the ITU under direct control or with Client services controlled by an agreement around reporting, commitment accounting, efficient use of resources etc. Again this will be crucial, regardless of where the budget sits, Client departments will need to feel satisfied that the ITU has the ability and more importantly the will to manage to the optimum cost levels and that they will look after the available budget as carefully as the Client Page: 92 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

93 department does. It is likely that the ITU management will need to be excellent. Who will run the ITU? How quickly can you move to an ITU? As stated this will be a high volume operational unit, with very significant budget (either direct or indirect), with a requirement for client safeguarding rules second to none, and with a requirement to have excellent customer, contractor, client and staff management skills. Running this unit will be a demanding role and needs the correct calibre of candidate who has all these skills as well as the ability to control costs tightly, this will be a key appointment. The agreed ITU structure will need to be funded adequately. Many of the existing structures will automatically fit in to the new structure, some will not, and this process will need to be managed effectively. Some functions will become part of the ITU remit but will likely have no staff attached to them e.g. social services where it would be very difficult to pinpoint any one person whose job is mostly transport, or staff travel where there is no overview position currently, or post 16 transport where the positions are already earmarked for removal Summary of Recommendations Summary of recommendations in respect of the creation of an Integrated Transport Unit are: Ref: ITU01 ITU02 Recommendation: Create an Integrated Transport Unit to encompass all transport related activity for VoG. Empower a Steering Board to agree the structure of the organisation, budgetary and line management and the terms of reference. Page: 93 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

94 11.0 Change Management 11.1 Change Management It should be noted that the effective introduction of the changes required in transport operations within VoG, with multiple strands and actions, means that they cannot be undertaken in a matter of weeks but need adequate time allocated to allow new processes, systems, concepts and above all culture to bed-in and become the norm It is inevitable that a peak in workload will be created at the start of the project and potentially at key subsequent stages as major elements are delivered. These peaks will need to be resourced adequately, in terms of both time and skills. Expecting existing operational teams to carry the burden of delivering a major change programme is unrealistic and has the potential to lead to significant problems There are a number of critical elements that are required to make a change project of this scale successful including: Focused support from the senior management team. A robust governance model. The right level of resource with appropriate skills. Effective engagement with key stakeholders Transformation resource required to manage the project to a successful conclusion must be clearly identified and able to provide the required input and time allocation. If available, these can be provided from within VoG. If the capability and capacity is not available internally with the appropriate mix of skills and change management expertise, then external support can be selected It will be critical to long term success however that not only is adequate transformational expertise made available, but that the appropriate level of support is delivered by senior management for the project as a whole; this will be central to the programme s long-term success and sustainability. Senior management must take the lead in key communications and may be required to provide support to the operational teams through difficulties and challenges from external agencies, in particular those that might be expected to mobilise media and political backing to resist change Support and buy-in to the change program will also be needed from service managers and staff involved in the day to day transport operations. Again, overall success will rely heavily on the commitment and impetus provided by the service managers in supporting the transformation team; their involvement and leadership will be critical. Page: 94 Commercial in Confidence April 2014

95 Governance will play a key part and will provide the vehicle through which to access senior management support, access decision making, report on progress, remove barriers to progress and manage risks effectively. On a project of this type it would be expected that a Steering Group would be introduced, comprised of senior managers with an executive level chair. Initially meeting monthly, the steering group would typically have executive decision making powers in respect of the project and the ability to quickly resolve blockages and disputes, as well as acting as final arbiter in respect of financial and contractual matters The Steering Group should receive monthly reports comprising the following key data, in the form of a succinct report for formal sign-off: Current project overview. Progress against plan. Financial progress against agreed targets, including investments required. Outstanding issues & risks. Decisions required, supported by relevant business cases where required A typical structure for the steering group and governance structure for a transformation project such as this is illustrated below: Project Sponsor Potential Partners: 1. NHS / PCT 2. Police Service 3. Fire Service 4. Third Sector & Voluntary Groups Steering Group Stakeholders: 1. Councillors 2. Staff / Unions 3. Service Users Specialist Support: 1. Finance 2. HR / Legal 3. Procurement Passenger Transport Team Fleet Mgt. Team Key Internal Customers Transformation Management Typical Steering Group and Governance for Transformation Projects Page: 95 Commercial in Confidence April 2014