Future West Sussex Programme

1. Future West Sussex Programme

2. IntroductionIn 2013 the Council agreed the Future West Sussex Vision which outlined the County Council’s priorities for West Sussex for the next five years. Those priorities are as follows: 1.a To give children the best start in life • We want to make sure every child growing up in West Sussex has the best possible start in life. We know how important a child’s early experiences of life are and how the home environment he or she lives in, and the family support he or she receives, have a huge influence on their outcomes in later life. We believe that by supporting children and their families in these valuable early years we can promote positive, long-term impacts on their future health, wellbeing and achievements and encourage them to reach their full potential as adults. • We also believe that if we focus this support on those families that need it the most, we can then make a real contribution to reducing long-standing health and learning inequalities. Evidence tells us that when families break down the costs to society are high. Children are more likely to live in poverty, fail at school and end up being unemployed in later life. We believe we will make the biggest difference to the lives of children, young people and families by working together with partners to meet their needs as early as possible and by tackling issues at the root before they develop into more serious problems. • Ensuring the best start in life is also about making sure every child is ready for school when the time comes and providing support for families is key to this too. Children living in poverty can be up to nine months behind children from more advantaged backgrounds at the age of three. This negative impact goes on to affect educational attainment, employment and life chances further down the line. By ensuring that, wherever possible, children achieve a good level of development by the age of five we will be setting a solid base for their continuing education and positively impacting on future educational attainment.

3. 1.b To champion the West Sussex economy • We want the economy of West Sussex to be vibrant and resilient. A healthy economy will attract, retain and grow businesses that will provide high value employment for local residents and produce high quality products and services. Our vision is to develop a diverse and resilient economy and a digital infrastructure that will create the conditions that enable traditional and high-tech businesses of all sizes to flourish across a range of sectors. • Attracting businesses to West Sussex and encouraging their growth is one thing, but we know that people are the real key to the success of our county’s economy. West Sussex has fewer working age residents as a proportion of the population as a whole. To maintain or improve our relative economic position we need to attract and retain more people of working age and ensure that a higher proportion of them are working in high value jobs. Where benefits are administered locally, we want them to support people returning to work. • We will work with employers to ensure our residents have the right skills throughout their lives to meet the needs of our businesses. We know that an appropriately skilled workforce will help to attract and retain those businesses providing higher value jobs. We have a proven track record to build on - qualification and skill levels in many parts of West Sussex are high and school attainment is good.

4. 1.c To help older people remain independent for longer in later life • We want to ensure residents, families and communities have the right support in place to enable them to confidently prepare for later life so they can live independently for as long as possible and remain economically active for longer. With improved planning and coordination of services we believe we can offer the right level of support to the elderly population of our county. By providing information on these services earlier, we will ensure that individuals and their families are well aware of what help is available and are better placed to plan for their future. • We want to help everyone in West Sussex to live long, active, independent and healthy lives whatever their circumstances. We already know West Sussex is a healthy place to live and our residents enjoy a higher than average life expectancy. This is positive, but also presents challenges for individuals, families and public services in the future. We anticipate these challenges will include individuals needing more years of health and social care services, drawing pensions for longer, a smaller workforce to pay for care and an increased pressure on suitable housing and accommodation.

5. 2. In order to support the delivery of those priorities, the Council also agreed five key principles which will drive the manner in which we operate and ensure that we are directing our increasingly stretched resources to where they are most needed. We will: • Be there at times of crisis, such as fire or flood. We will plan, work and respond with our partners to ensure you feel safe where you live and have confidence that we will be there when you need us. • Minimise the burden of local taxation. We would rather increase the number of people paying local taxes than raise the level of council tax. • Help you to help yourself. We will be here to represent you and promote the aspirations of all in West Sussex but we won’t get in your way. When we don’t provide a service ourselves we will make sure you get the help you need by signposting you to the right place. • Help the most vulnerable feel supported and safe. We are here to make sure everyone has the opportunity to live their lives to the full, particularly the young, old and disadvantaged who might be in need of extra support. • Do the things that are best delivered collectively, such as waste management and highway maintenance. We will ensure we get the best outcomes for residents and manage our resources efficiently and effectively.

6. In order to deliver this vision of a better West Sussex for our residents we need to change the way that we do things and how we work with our partners. We know that there are big challenges ahead in health and social care and that we need to support local communities more effectively to ensure that they are able to support themselves and each other. We also need to improve the level of customer service our residents can expect from us while managing the increasing demand for our services. So we have devised the Future West Sussex programme which aims to deliver the outcomes set by Cabinet and respond to the challenges set out above. This programme is outlined in more detail below. • The programme is ambitious and in order to deliver it we need to ensure that the council is fit for the future. In recent months we have been looking at what sort of management structure we require to allow us to achieve the ambitions set out in paragraph 1. Further detail on how the proposed management structure will help us achieve our ambitions is further on in this document. The management structure as proposed has been based on the following principles: • A smaller, agile senior management structure that is flexible enough to adapt to the challenges we face ahead • Bringing together commissioning and delivery • A focus on key priorities - economic growth, resident services and our ambitions for stronger communities • A sharper commercial focus • Bringing together Children's and Adults to take a more coordinated approach from childhood to later life with additional senior management capacity • Smaller more strategic centre that enables and supports • Looking at the whole structure not part Before looking at the new structure the following slides provide further details on the individual programmes of work underway to help us achieve our ambitions.

7. Transformation Programme StructureOur Future West Sussex transformation programme has the structure set out below, with our three priorities underpinned by three enabling work-streams. Further detail on each of these is set out in the following slides. • GIVING CHILDREN THE BEST START IN LIFE A STRONG AND DIVERSE ECONOMY INDEPENDENT FOR LONGER IN LATER LIFE STRONGER COMMUNITIES CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COUNCIL FIT FOR PURPOSE

8. Transformation Programme Structure Giving children the best start in life Two major work-streams are underway within our children’s services. The first is focused on early intervention; the earlier we can identify and intervene when we become aware of a child or family experiencing difficulty, the greater the opportunity to get that child and family back on track and avoid a more lengthy, costly and potentially complex intervention at a later stage. The other area is focused on improving our children’s social care from adequate to good, as rated by Ofsted. A strong and diverse economy West Sussex is a great place to do business but our GVA growth is lagging behind that of some of our neighbours. With a strengthening economy we need to have a greater focus on targeted inward investment in sectors and industries that provide high value jobs for the people of West Sussex, and that make business rate contributions that can off-set the need to make cuts in front line services. We are refreshing our approach to economic growth and how we work with local, national and international businesses. Independent for longer in later life With increasing demand for services, an ageing population, implementing the Care Act and progressing our plans for integrating our adult social care with the health sector this area of work is the most complex aspect of our transformation programme. Several work-streams are underway as outlined, along with work-streams focused on supporting our residents to remain independent for longer and giving residents greater choice in the options for care open to them.

9. Transformation Programme StructureOur priorities for children, the economy and independence in later life are underpinned by three key enablers. These are outlined below: Stronger communities By working with our communities we can support them to build their resilience, become stronger and do more to help themselves for example with initiatives such as time banking, greater and more effective use of volunteering and taking a co-design approach to repurpose public buildings for the benefit of local communities. We aim to use the opportunity presented by stronger communities to achieve added benefits such as reduced health inequalities arising from social isolation. Customer Experience All of our customers - be they residents, visitors, businesses or, internally, colleagues – should be able to expect the highest standards of service in their interactions with us. We should have multiple channels through which customers can interact with us and all of these channels should be easy to find, to use and to navigate. Council fit for purpose This workstream aims to make sure that the Council has the right skills and capabilities to deliver its ambitions and that the leadership and organisational structure is aligned to deliver the priorities outlined above. We will achieve effective and efficient ways of working and ensure that every pound of tax payers’ money is spent on the right things, in the right way.

10. Organisational Structure • There will be a Chief Operating Officer post in the new structure. Currently the role has service delivery responsibilities as well as acting as the Head of Paid Service and providing leadership to the officers. The change to the existing role in the new structure is that it will have responsibility for internal and external business development and more direct support to the Cabinet and the Executive Directors delivering change and services. The role will also be the Head of Paid Service. • Care, Wellbeing and Education – bringing together commissioning and delivery. Placing the statutory role with the Executive Director will make sure the right decisions are made at all times. Leading and balancing the full support we give to people who are vulnerable and in need. Managing the transition from children’s to adult’s and providing one face to health and other partners. • Residents Services – Making sure we provide the best universal services with a clear focus on satisfaction for our residents. • Communities and Public Protection – bringing together Fire and Rescue, Community Development and Regulatory Services. Focusing on protecting and preventing risk in the community. Working with communities and partners such as district, borough, parish and town councils and the voluntary sector. • Corporate Resources and Services – bringing together support services into a small strategic centre that will focus on supporting the other parts of the organisation to deliver agreed priority outcomes. • Collectively – as a corporate leadership team the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Directors will collaborate to develop organisational strategy for consideration and agreement by the Cabinet and members, ensuring that it meets the political objectives of West Sussex and establishes priorities that are appropriate and deliverable. In addition each Executive Director will act as the Council’s principal policy advisor for the areas within their remit, providing guidance and support to Cabinet and Members in translating their political objectives and priorities into coherent initiatives that will deliver exceptional public services for West Sussex.

11. Organisational Structure As a result of both formal and informal consultation with staff and some stakeholders the Council has taken the view that further work should be undertaken in three key areas as follows: Planning and Infrastructure: the question of whether there should be a Director of Planning and Infrastructure - to take a longer-term view of development and environmental, social and economic impacts on the county - was raised. In order to give this feedback due consideration further, and more detailed review of this area is being undertaken. Education and Skills: A large number of comments were received on the size and scope of the Director of Family Operations and the inclusion in this function of Education and Skills We believe that further more detailed work is required before a final decision is made on the strategy and structure in this area. • We also believe it is essential that wider engagement takes place on this issue with key stakeholders such as Schools. We have, therefore, commissioned a peer review to assess the best and most appropriate structure to take forward the agenda described in the Education & School’s policy including post 16 and Adult Education and to deliver our priorities in relation to education and skills. • Safeguarding and Assurance: The third area being considered, which will also be subject to a peer review, is that of safeguarding and quality assurance of our social care contracts which is currently within the public health and social care commissioning directorate. The review will look at whether safeguarding and assurance would be strengthened by placing it with the Executive Director, independent of commissioning and operational delivery.

12. Proposed Organisational Structure

13. Organisational Structure The proposed structure aligns our organisation more closely to our priorities and delivery of outcomes as described above in the transformation programme structure. We bring together our Adult and Children’s social care operations and commissioning and our Public Health functions. In doing so we are adding additional senior capacity to drive our priorities for giving children the best start in life, easing the transition from childhood to adulthood and ensuring our residents can remain healthy, independent and active for longer in later life. We are also bringing Education and Skills under the remit of our Care, Wellbeing and Education Directorate to address the education and skills agenda for school age children, post 16 education and adult education and aligning the outcomes we are seeking to achieve for all of these groups. Our economic and commercial ambitions are owned and driven at the highest level of the organisation, signalling our intent to generate income and grow our economy in a way that is complementary to our core activities and can off-set the impact of reductions in revenue support grant. By joining our Fire and Rescue and Community development activity we can optimise how we work with communities and partners to improve resilience, prevent and manage risk and help communities to help themselves. We can use existing and develop new networks and relationships with partners to help our communities become stronger. We bring together our customer services functions such as our libraries and registrars to create a focus on delivering exceptional customer experience and resident satisfaction. We include in this area those functions that drive resident satisfaction even where residents may not be aware that the council has a role such as waste management or infrastructure planning. Finally, we create a small strategic centre that supports and enables the organisation to deliver the priorities we have set and achieve our ambitions for West Sussex.