• INFORMATION ABOUT THE COUNCIL
• THE MAYOR'S PRIORITIES
• HOW WE ARE WORKING TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS
• FINANCE AND RESOURCES DIRECTORATE

INFORMATION ABOUT THE COUNCIL

The London Borough of Hackney covers a total area of approximately 19 square kilometres from Shoreditch in the South to Stamford Hill in the North; and from the River Lea in the East, across to Finsbury Park in the West. The current Local Authority area was formed in 1965 from the old municipal boroughs of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington.

The total population for Hackney is 210,000.  Hackney has a relatively young population compared with Inner and Greater London, with a higher than average proportion of residents aged 0-15 (23% of the population) and fewer than average residents over retirement age (11% - females over 60, and males over 65).  It has over 7000 households with three or more children – the third highest among the Inner London Boroughs.

Hackney has one of the most culturally diverse populations in London.  The Council estimates that close to 56% of the population belong to black and ethnic minority communities including a large number of refugees and asylum seekers.

Hackney has the highest level of lone parent families with dependant children (10%) in Britain.  The borough is physically and socio-economically diverse, with an unemployment rate of 11%, more than twice that in England and Wales (5%).  Youth unemployment is a particular issue and this is even greater for black men.

 

THE MAYOR'S PRIORITIES

In October 2002, the people of Hackney chose the borough’s first directly elected Mayor. He was re-elected in May 2006. The Mayor has identified three central priorities for improving Hackney.  These priorities are behind everything the Council does.

Mayor’s Priority 1
Improving opportunities and quality of life in the borough, promoting social   inclusion, and reducing inequality.

The most important part of the Council’s work is the impact we have on the lives of local people. This is felt most directly in the delivery of local services. In the next year we want to build on recent improvements, and we are setting clear milestones on the way to excellent service delivery and management.

Increasingly, the Council is working with other local organisations to achieve our goals for improving the lives of Hackney people. There are many areas where we cannot achieve change solely through our own frontline services. This includes developing the local economy, reducing crime and nuisance, making the borough a more enjoyable place to live, reaching out more to children and younger people, and improving transport links. We want to take a lead in making these changes, but we recognise that other partners have primary responsibility for some of them, and that others can only be achieved by working together and pooling our expertise and resources.

Mayor’s Priority 2
Making sure the Council works properly and efficiently

To deliver the services that local people need and are entitled to, the Council must be a well-run organisation. We need to have the right policies, work strategies and staff in place to deliver to our residents. The key deliverables in this document are all geared towards better meeting the needs of local people, and doing this by becoming a better council and strengthening our partnership working. A measure of how well we are achieving this is our score in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), an independent review of our work by the Audit Commission. We will strive to achieve a rating of at least ‘Fair’ in the 2005 CPA.

Mayor’s Priority 3
Involving the whole borough in what we do

The Council cannot be separated from the community it serves. We need to understand what local people want, and let them know what we are doing to deliver it. We work in partnership with many local organisations, and we need to make sure that we communicate with them effectively. We are committed to involving diverse communities, individuals and organisations in planning, delivering and receiving our services. This commitment should be evident in all of the work that we do.

 

HOW WE ARE WORKING TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS

In its December 2003 reassessment, the Audit Commission judged Hackney to be the most improved borough in London and in the top ten most improved in the country.  In 2003, the Council delivered a balanced budget for the first time in many years, and we have continued throughout 2003/04 and 2004/05 to deliver our services within budget.  The proposals for the 2005/06 budget again include growth without the need for service cuts, with a Council Tax rise of less than 5%.

In 2004 the Council continued to make noticeable improvements in performance and this was acknowledged by our improved rating following another re-assessment by the Audit Commission in October 2004.  The Council also achieved Corporate IiP accreditation and this demonstrates our commitment to employee development to support the improvement of organisation performance and service delivery. 

There is still a great deal of work to be done by the whole organisation so the Council can make faster progress in delivering the improvements that the people of Hackney deserve. The Mayor’s priorities will be delivered by a Council that is continuing to strive for excellence in our internal workings, and building on our links with partner organisations and the wider community.

The Council’s Corporate Plan sets out the Corporate Values, the highest priority actions which must be delivered to make progress towards the Mayor’s three central objectives.  Working towards these Values will form the basis of the Council’s work over the next year.

 

FINANCE AND RESOURCES DIRECTORATE

There are 7 divisions within the Finance & Resources directorate of the London Borough of Hackney:

• Audit & Anti-Fraud
• education Partnerships
• Financial Management
• Financial control
• procurement & Fleet
• Revenues & benefits
• ICT

Audit & Anti-Fraud

The Audit and Anti Fraud Division, comprises 3 sections, each headed by a Senior Manager: Internal Audit, incorporating Internal Counter Fraud; Corporate Risk Management and Housing Benefit Counter Fraud. The work of the Division contributes to the improvement of the Council’s control environment/infrastructure, i.e. improvement in financial and non-financial control. Nearly, all our Key Deliverables form part of KD7 (Corporate Governance & Compliance). Each of the 3 sections is closely integrated and   there are also close links to a number of other Divisions within the Finance Directorate and also with other Directorates of the Council, e.g. Law & Democratic Services – when dealing with ethical governance.

Internal Audit & Internal Fraud (10 Staff)

Internal Audit comprises two teams – the In-house Audit Team and the Internal Investigation Team.  The role of the In-house Audit Team is to deliver, in conjunction with our Audit partners PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), a high profile audit service in accordance with statutory requirements made of the Council. The role of the Internal Investigation Team is to investigate any instances of fraud or irregularity that arise within the Council, i.e. excluding housing benefit fraud. It also conducts pro-active fraud work and deals with any allegations received under the Council’s whistle-blowing policy.

Housing Benefit Counter Fraud (22 staff)

The team contributes to the development and maintenance of a high quality and comprehensive counter fraud service in accordance with relevant government legislation, professional standards and leading edge techniques. It works closely with the Department for Work and Pensions and other London Boroughs. A risk based and intelligence led approach is used and the programme of work is determined by a combination of reactive investigative assignments (referrals from Housing Benefit staff and the community) and pro-active exercises. The team is committed to improving the quality of investigations and their timeliness resulting in an increasing number of fraud sanctions and prosecutions.

Corporate Risk Management (4 staff)

The section examines risk management at strategic, programme, project and operational levels and can cover a variety of topics such as contracts, procurement, external partnerships, grants,
project management, service delivery, budgets, performance management etc.

The Team covers all business risks, both financial and non-financial.   Corporate risk covers many different risk categories which can include items as diverse as reputation, service delivery, financial, environment, security, legislation, quality, political, social responsibility, health and safety, etc.

 

Education Partnerships

The Education Partnerships Division comprises 2 sections, the Education Client Team and the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Team.  The work of both sections contributes to the ‘A Good Place to Grow up’ Community Strategy outcome by working with the Learning Trust and the Children and Young Peoples Partnership.  As well as working to deliver better outcomes for children, the Division contributes to the Mayor’s aim of making sure Hackney is high performing and efficient, through performance management and financial scrutiny of the Learning Trust.

Education Client Team (4.6 FTE’s)

The Client Team manages the contract between the Council and the Learning Trust.  The 10 year Contract commenced 1st August 2002, following a direction by the Secretary of State for Education under S497a of the Education Act 1996.  The Council has no responsibilities in respect of the day-to-day operational issues, inputs and processes of the Trust, but retains  ultimate responsibility for delivering education in Hackney. 

The Client Team is responsible for monitoring the Trust against the 28 Key Performance Indicators in the Contract and working with the Trust to rectify performance where KPI targets are not met.  Issues are progressed through regular finance workshops and contract meetings with the Trust. The Client also facilitates Council approval of the overarching policy and direction of the Trust, through working with the Children & Young Peoples Scrutiny Commission in its review of the Trust’s Annual Plan.  

Although the Trust is responsible for managing the education estate and project managing capital projects, capital funding and spend has to be approved by the Council.  The Client works with the Trust in developing its capital programme, advising Members and the Executive, and facilitating approval of capital projects.
From April 2006 the Children and Young Peoples Plan (CYPP) will be the overarching strategy for children’s services in Hackney.  These services are currently provided by the Learning Trust, Children’s Social Services and the Health Authority (CHPCT). 

The Client Team is working to drive forward the governance and performance management framework for Children’s Services and has led on the creation of the Children & Young Peoples Partnership Board (CYPPB), Children & Young Peoples Chief Officers Group (CYPCOG), Children & Young Peoples Strategic Review (CYPSR) and Partnerships Property Group (PPG). 

Building School’s for the Future (BSF) Team (6.2 FTE’s)

BSF is a national programme to bring all secondary schools and SEN secondary provision up to 21st century standards.  DfES funding for Hackney will be in excess of £130m and the total investment is expected to be in excess of £167m.  The funding will be used to rebuild or remodel all maintained mainstream (including VA schools) and SEN secondary schools in Hackney.

Nicole Wood is the BSF Programme Director and the programme is sponsored by Mayor Pipe and the Chief Executive, Penny Thompson.  The BSF Project Board is chaired by Penny Thompson and membership includes representatives from schools, the Trust, Partnership for Schools (PfS) and Council members. 

The BSF Team is made up largely of agency staff and staff seconded from both the Council and the Learning Trust, bringing their own knowledge and skills set as required at each stage of the project.   The Team has also procured project management, legal, financial and architectural services from specialists in BSF and PFI

The BSF Team and the Learning Trust, following consultation with stakeholders and the public, jointly developed the Education Vision for Hackney, which has received both Cabinet and DfES approval.  Leading on from the Vision, the Team developed the Strategic Business Case (SBC) (Cabinet approval October 2005) and the Outline Business Case (OBC) (Cabinet approval February 2006).   Once these documents are approved by the DfES, the Team will attempt to acquire a private sector partner and with the partner and PfS, form a Local Education Partnership (LEP).  The LEP will be the procurement vehicle through which the BSF programme will be implemented.  The OBC contains detailed proposals for the first 3 schools to benefit from BSF.  The LEP in conjunction with the Council, Trust and the schools themselves will develop detailed proposals for the remaining schools.  It is expected that at least one school will be rebuilt through a PFI agreement, although none of the first 3 projects were suitable for PFI. 

The current timetable calls for the preferred partner to be selected in July 2007, work to commence on the first school in January 2008 and the programme to be completed by 2012.

Only 60% of Hackney children currently attend secondary schools within the borough, but the Vision calls for 80% of secondary pupils to attend Hackney schools in the future.  Only additional 6th form places will be created by BSF and therefore it falls on the academies programme to create the growth required.  Mossbourne Academy opened in 2004.  The Petchey and Bridge academies open in 2006/2007 and 2 further academies are proposed. The Trust leads on the academies programme, but it is part of the BSF team’s remit to ensure the academies fit into a coherent secondary strategy.

 

Financial Control

 

The aim of the Financial Control Division is to scrutinise, review and appraise financial control in all the Service and Central Directorates.  Whilst Service Directorates are responsible for Financial Control, the main function of the Division is to ensure the accurate monitoring, controlling and reporting of revenue and capital budgets.  In order to carry this out, the Division is responsible for:

• overseeing the implementation of corporate accounting standards;
• facilitating and recommending improvements to corporate financial monitoring and reporting processes and/or frameworks;
• ensuring compliance with the corporate monitoring and reporting frameworks;
• developing and monitoring the implementation of the Council's Medium-Term Financial Plan and Budget Strategy;
• Ensure appropriate financial control and reporting arrangements are in place for major projects.
• providing timely, high quality financial information and advice to the Council;
• scrutinising, reviewing and challenging the financial management and internal control arrangements within the Council; and
• Ensuring that sound financial arrangements exist between the Council and key agencies / partnerships with whom the Authority delivers its services e.g. Renaisi, the Learning Trust and NHS bodies.
• Ensuring good external relationships with the Government, external auditors and professional bodies.
• There are 11 staff within the Financial Control Division

Financial Management

The aim of the Division is to:

• Maintain the Corporate Financial Management System
• Manage the Council’s cash balances and maximise the income from those investments
• Provide an Insurance Service
• Monitor the performance of the Council’s Pension Fund
• Provide a Banking and Exchequer Service
• Produce the Council’s annual statement of accounts
• Provide technical accounting support including Taxation, Financial Standing Orders and Financial Regulations, together with interpretation of the Government’s Revenue Funding Proposals
• Manage the agency agreement with the London Pension Fund Authority which provides a Pension’s Administration Service.

The Division is made up of the following Sections:

Insurance (4 staff)

The Insurance function covers all of the arrangements relating to the Council's insurances.  This includes arranging insurance cover for all of the Council's operational activities, receiving claims on the various policies and liaising with the appointed claims handlers and legal representatives on the determination of those claims.  Advice and support is given to all Directorates on insurance matters and the section works closely with the risk management group in producing programmes to minimise the financial risks to the Council from service activities.

Accountancy (14 staff)

The Accountancy Section is split into four discrete teams, each reporting to the Chief Accountant, They have a variety of major tasks, as follows:-

Consolidation Team – The main role of this team is the co-ordination of the closure of the Council’s accounts and the subsequent production of the annual statutory Statement of Accounts. The team is responsible for liaison with the service directorates throughout the Council on all accountancy issues, ensuring that the CIPFA Accounting Codes of Practice and other best practice are complied with.

Technical Team – This team provides technical advice on all finance related consultation documents and legislation. It also carries out a research function, looking at future developments in accountancy and finance related issues. The other major function of the Technical Team is to provide the Council with an effective taxation advisory service.

Capital Team – The capital team are responsible for all issues relating to capital accounting including the closure of the capital accounts and input to the annual Statement of Accounts. They are responsible for the maintenance of the Council’s Capital Asset Register and in conjunction with the Property Services Division, they commission the annual programme of asset revaluations.

Grants Team – The Grants Team are responsible for the co-ordination of all grant claims from across the Council. The team are responsible for monitoring the submission of grant claims and ensuring that all statutory deadlines are complied with.

Treasury Management & Pensions and Investments (6 staff)

The Treasury function covers management of the cashflows in and out of the Council's bank accounts on a daily basis.  It ensures that any surplus balances are invested on the London Money Market to earn interest for the Council and that investment risks are minimised by dealing only with secure financial organisations.  The team also deals with all borrowing and leasing requirements of the Council.

The Pension function covers arrangements for the administration of the Council's Pension Fund and the management of the Pension Fund's investments. Five external investment managers have been appointed to manage these investments.  The performance of the external managers is monitored regularly by officers and by the Pensions Sub-Committee who ensure that the Pension Fund is properly managed and administered in accordance with the statutory requirements.

Systems Team (7 staff)

The Financial Systems Team is responsible for the management and development of the Authorities Core Financial system (CedAr e5), which includes Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payables, Procurement and the General Ledger modules. The key objectives of the team are to identify potential technical solutions to the Council’s financial management information requirements, and to implement these within an agreed timetable, while providing proactive advice and support to client departments.

Exchequer Team (10 staff)

The Exchequer team deals with all aspects of the Council’s banking arrangements including bank reconciliation and allocation of income.  In addition the team is responsible for the management of the Council’s debtor and creditor position with a particular focus on driving up performance, performance reporting and training.

The Procurement and Fleet Division has two clearly defined and distinct functions.  The Procurement team supports the whole Council in the management of its contracting and contract management activities. Fleet Management supports council policies by managing the vehicles to deliver directorate services such as; Passenger Transport, Refuse Collection, Grounds Maintenance, Building Maintenance and Street Cleaning.

PROCUREMENT & FLEET

Procurement (20 staff)
Procurement has five key corporate roles:-

• To prepare and deliver the overall Procurement Strategy
• To give practical procurement advice and guidance to the Directorate with regards to best practice and statutory responsibility.  
• To set standards and lead by example on Corporate Contracts, providing support to directorate procurement capacity
• To manage best practice procurement process
• To provide business intelligence information to inform on procurement strategies.

Fleet (5 staff)

Fleet Management has a number of key roles within the council:-

• To effectively manage the council fleet ensuring operations and maintenance are within the legal framework;
• To offer guidance and establish procedures to ensure vehicle usage is in line with best operating practice, and council statutory responsibilities.
• To specify and source appropriate vehicles for council needs at best

REVENUES & BENEFITS

The Division is made up of:

• Benefits
• Revenues – Council Tax and National Non Domestic Rates
• Cashiers

Their primary functions are to:

• help families on low incomes meet their housing costs; and
• maximise income due from Council Tax and Business Rates.

The service is responsible for the collection of Council Tax and Business Rates and the administration and payment of both Housing and Council Tax Benefit.  In discharging these functions, they are required to:

• Act within the law;
• Deliver an efficient, professional and customer focused service; and
• Create an environment for staff to work and develop.

In order to do so, the actual day to day work entails:

• Customer management;
• Payment of benefits;
• Collection of revenues;
• Dealing with correspondence;
• Dealing with telephone calls;
• Supplying monitoring information to the Government.

Benefits (110 staff)

Fiona Darby, Head of Benefits, leads the Benefits Section. 
There are four Benefits teams each headed by a Team Leader.  A separate Complaints and Appeals team and a team of Officers responsible for Landlord Liaison.

The primary function of the section is the processing and payment of customers' housing and/or council tax benefit claims quickly and accurately within the prescribed legislative framework, as laid down by Central Government.

The Benefits Section also has close links with the Audit and Anti Fraud section to ensure that proactive action is taken in eliminating any fraudulent or erroneous claims made, either deliberately or inadvertently.

Revenues (70 staff)

Vernon Strowbridge is the Head of Revenues and leads a team of approximately 70 staff responsible for the billing, collection and the recovery of both Council Tax and Non Domestic Rates (NDR).

The collection of council tax has strong links with the Benefits Section through the award of council tax benefit.  NDR is due from all commercial properties within the Borough and is collected on behalf of the Government.  As with Council Tax, the key role of this unit is to efficiently recover the debt by ensuring liability is accurate and where necessary recovery action is taken to pursue the debt.

Support Services (85 staff)

Kay Brown, Head of Support Services, leads the Support Services section.

It consists of a number of teams covering a very diverse area, but including frontline and back office functions, along with finance & subsidy, application support and training, which goes to ensure that the whole business runs smoothly.

The other sections within Revenues & Benefits are dependent on all support functions being operated in a timely, effective and efficient way to assist with their daily business.

The areas that make up Support Services are:

• Frontline operations (Customer Services).
• Contact centre (Telephone team for Benefits).
• Post Room.
• Scanning.
• Indexing.
• Cashiers.
• Training Policy & Development.
• Finance & Subsidy.
• Overpayment Recovery.

• Application Support (IT).

ICT

The main business of this division of service is to provide an effective and uninterrupted delivery of an ICT Service to the stakeholders within the authority across all directorates.  This includes the management of 3rd party suppliers and associated ICT related contracts.  The central corporate ICT structure is divided into two main areas:

1          E-Business
                        ICT Project Support
Corporate Contact Centre/Translation Service
                        Web Services
                        GIS Services

2          Information Services
                        ICT Commissioning – inc Technical Projects 
                        Telecommunications
                        Print & Photocopying Service

E-Business 

ICT Project Support Office – (7 staff)

Scope

• Provision of a corporate project office to monitor and co-ordinate ICT projects throughout the council setting standards for projects, equipment and software.
• Small systems development
• Management of some corporate ICT projects

Aims and Objectives

• Improve the delivery of projects through establishment and monitoring of Prince 2 based project management methods and systems development/package implementation standards across the council.

Web Services – ( 5 staff)

Scope

• Front line service delivery channel for an increasing range of council services
• Develop and maintain the council’s website and intranet

Aims and Objectives

• Increase the range of services available through the council’s website.
• Improve the use of the council’s intranet

Current Activities

• Development of departmental networks to manage web content
• Implement the phases of the web strategy

Geographic Information System – GIS – ( 5 staff)

Aims and Objectives

• Matching and linking of the council’s key property databases to the LLPG
• Improving the council’s GIS data for use by both council staff and external customers

• Information Services

ICT Commissioning – (4 staff)

Aims and Objectives

• The service standards for the framework agreements for the supply of hardware and software are defined in the agreements and managed through regular service reviews with the suppliers. 
• In general the service standards relating to data protection compliance are set by the Data Protection Act 1998.

Telecommunications – (12 staff)

Aims and Objectives

• Regular monitoring of telecommunications technologies and pricing to ensure that services provided are cost effective and up to date.
• Provision of quality switchboard services to the public by ensuring that calls are handled in accordance with agreed targets.

Print & Photocopying Service – (7 staff)

Aims and Objectives

• The unit aims to provide high quality, cost effective print and copy services to customers with all jobs delivered to costs and timescales agreed with clients.
• Delivery of services that are competitively priced in comparison with the external market (achieved through monitoring of market prices and regular review of pricing).
• Delivery of continuous improvements to service through active monitoring and management of services.
• Retention of existing clients and development of new internal clients.