From multi-agency partnerships to hot-desking staff, local government is changing fast. Facilities management will be in the front line as councils rethink the use of their buildings in order to modernise service delivery.
Local authorities are hauling themselves into the 21st century with Cromwellian zeal in response to central government's modernising agenda.

The purpose is to use local authority assets more efficiently to deliver better local services.

Inside or outside the public sector, many facilities managers will be familiar with at least some the modernising jargon — Best Value, e-government, public/private partnerships, beacons and pathfinders (see The Jargon, below).

Among the plethora of initiatives springing up are customer contact centres and one-stop shops, for example at Hertfordshire County Council and Haringey Council in London. There are also several flexible working initiatives such as those run by Camden and West Sussex. Then there are the massive public private partnerships that councils have been developing with suppliers such as Amey, Capita and Hydra to deliver a wealth of front line and back room services. The backdrop to all these projects and plans is the government's stated target that local authorities should be delivering services electronically by 2005.

More than maintenance
Like all changes in working practices, facilities have to be thought through right from the start. 'It's a tremendous opportunity for facilities management,' says professor If Price from Sheffield Hallam University. 'But it means refashioning local government facilities into something more than traditional building maintenance.'

First and foremost, property services and facilities managers have to get to grips with the changing nature of council space. All authorities have to draw up asset management plans and justify how they use their fixed assets. In addition alternative methods of delivery through partnerships, call centres and websites are raising big questions about what type of people are needed and where. All this adds up to local authorities seeking out more efficient uses of their buildings.

Kent County Council, for example, is in the middle of a drive to reduce its space needs by 40 per cent over five years. Work began in 1998 and the council has so far reduced its accommodation by 28 per cent. 'Part of our thinking is about getting improved accommodation and in the right place,' says knowledge manager for Kent County Council, Alan Phelps.

This is also behind West Sussex's rethink of its office space. The council is in the process of cutting back its 35 support offices and consolidating into four of its five existing administrative hubs. These are based in Worthing, Chichester, Bognor, Horsham and Crawley, and are linked by video conferencing. 'It will be a slow and probably painful process to get through,' says Stuart Hutchinson, head of administration for the property department and the prime mover behind the scheme.

To ease the process, Hutchinson and his team have installed almost 1,900 space planned work stations and introduced some break-out areas and meeting rooms. At Hutchinson's suggestion the council has also introduced a massive homeworking initiative to encourage staff to stay away from the office.

Hutchinson reckons that between 500 and 1,000 council workers could work from home. His own department is setting an example, about half of his 120-strong property team work from home part of the week.

Unlike Camden (see Hot-desking in Camden, below) homeworking at West Sussex isn't accompanied by desk sharing. 'People still prefer to have a little desk space of their own, however small,' Hutchinson says.

In addition to the pressures of asset management plans and e-government initiatives, councils must consider how to retain face to face contact. As Stuart Dilley, business manager with Camden's property services points out, even web-savvy citizens don't necessarily want to discuss rent or tax arrears over the phone with a call centre, or via email.

But Peter Cordey head of property services at Hillingdon, suggests property service managers shouldn't get too hung up on the issue of face to face contact. Hillingdon is currently working with Cisco Systems, which happens to be a local firm, to deliver e-services to residents. 'We are not working on the assumption that there will be an end to face to face contact. Some people do feel uncomfortable with the technology but that will reduce as time goes by,' he says.

Hutchinson agrees. He says that satellite offices to complement e-government just aren't necessary. The vast majority of county services such as libraries, schools, social services are normally accessed directly anyway. Others such as planning are delivered over the phone. In addition, information on all county services is available either via the library or one of the half dozen county one-stop shops. 'Getting to us isn't that hard,' Hutchinson says.

E-delivery
The modernising agenda is not just about what services local authority facilities management provides but also how it provides them. In addition, e-government is not going to be limited to obviously public services such as education, housing and planning. Facilities managers have to think through their own e-delivery plans.

'One of the interesting things we don't talk about enough in our business is having a user driven facilities service,' says Phil Roberts, head of strategic facilities management at Hertfordshire County Council. 'There is a lot of talk about facilities strategies but that's all to do with men in suits talking to the chief executive. Imagine turning it around and providing a highly responsive service at the desktop,' Roberts says.

Ultimately he sees no reason why this should not happen. For example, as Internet and Intranet access develops, why shouldn't Hertfordshire schools book facilities on line? 'It could simplify our supply chains too if our contractors could interface directly with us,' Roberts points out.

As new service delivery models spring up council property and facilities chiefs also have to think seriously about their management skills. Central government has made it clear that traditional outsourcing is over, the name of the game now is partnership. Some partnerships are with other public bodies but mostly with the private sector. Over the past couple of years a variety of large-scale partnerships worth several million pounds have been developing. These include the partnership between Lincolnshire County Council and Hyder to deliver £28m worth of support services each year, and Amey's £4m contract with Wolverhampton to maintain street lighting and pavements.

But these partnerships have to be managed says John Williams, executive director of the New Local Government Network. He has just co-authored a report on several of the partnerships that councils have been developing with private sector suppliers.

These deals are far more difficult and complex than anything local authorities have done before, he says, and they are placing corporate procurement skills and relationship management at the heart of a council's vision about how it will transform services.

'Procurement and contract management are no longer nerdy pursuits for techies. Now they are senior level skills and officers and politicians have to turn their minds to them,' Williams says.

'In some of the deals we looked at, local authority officers were up to the challenge but these skills are in short supply,' Williams warns.

Hutchinson at West Sussex reckons facilities management has already changed massively in local authorities. 'Five years ago, we were only concerned with making buildings work and the plumbing operable. Now we are saying let's use these assets in a more flexible way and the result is a much more integrated facilities management operation,' Hutchinson says.

Modernising public services, preferably with private sector input, is a government mantra. Beyond a commitment to modernise, it is pretty much up to local authorities how they deliver.

As a result new service models, new partnerships and new relationships are springing up every week. Everyone working in the sector predicts a radical change in the local authority landscape.

As councils such as West Sussex and Hertfordshire have shown, facilities management is as much a part of the modernisation agenda as any front line service. Whether delivered in-house or by a private sector partner, this is the chance for facilities management to put itself at the heart of the public service vision.

Further reading
Modern Councils, Modern Services, Access for All — www.dtlr.gov.uk
Can Strategic Partnering deliver Best Value? www.nlgn.org.uk

Hot-desking in Camden

At the London Borough of Camden, the property services division in the chief executive’s department is piloting flexible working. The 20 surveyors who make up the professional property services team have been working from home since April this year. ‘You don’t get the interruptions that you get in the office. People are more focused and productive, while homeworking also improves their work-life balance,’ says Stuart Dilley, business manager in property services. There are a few rules. The staff who provide valuations and property management services for the council’s 1,200 commercial properties have to be available between the hours of 10.00am and 4.00pm. They also have to make it into the office twice a week. Ten ‘hot desks’ have been set aside for them and these can be booked in advance for half-day sessions. The early signs suggest that the scheme has improved productivity and saved money, says Dilley ‘Some of our staff say that getting into the mentality of working at home was difficult to start with. But we’ve provided some good back-up and they would all say now that they have become more effective,’ he says. ‘Their managers would tell you that their performance has improved too.’ The introduction of hot-desking also saved £32,000 on accommodation charges. ‘This is approximately one third of the accommodation charges for the division,’ Dilley says. Dilley now wants to use the scheme to improve the service the department offers. For example, there are plans to extend the service so that it is available to professional clients from 8.00am to 6.00pm, and to provide a repairs service on Saturday mornings. ‘We want to encourage people to vary their working hours, by agreement and in partnership with us to meet the demands of both our internal customers and business tenants,’ Dilley says. Ultimately he hopes that increases in productivity will enable the council to reduce costs to clients too and provide a more accessible and flexible service.

Joined up working

Working with other public agencies — as well as the private sector — is a key part of central government’s modernising agenda for public services. Hillingdon LBC has taken this to heart and is working with the local hospital and primary care trusts to devise a single model for delivering health and social care across the borough. Graham Betts, head of social services at Hillingdon is leading the project. ‘It’s about identifying what health and social care services we need for the future and how best they can be provided. It is also about building the infrastructure that will enable these services to be delivered,’ he says. ‘We are looking for greater flexibility across the social care economy — this includes the way we manage our property and fixed assets.’ Betts is on the joint steering group that is running the project. Under it there are a range of joint client groups and Peter Cordey, head of property services at Hillingdon, represents the council on the estates management taskforce. ‘Our aim is to make the most use of our combined resources while recognising that we are separate bodies with separate responsibilities to our own organisations,’ Cordey says. For the moment the group is busy auditing their respective properties, but the aim is to come up with a joint plan by the end of November. ‘One of the things we are looking at is whether or not the support and administration functions of the primary care trust and those of social services should move into joint premises,’ Cordey says. Realistically, a single health and social care economy is a few years down the line. But Cordey points out that the three organisations are building on things all the time. For example, they are on course to pool mental health budgets next year. Cordey recognises that there could be a bit of territorialism between the agencies when it comes to property management. Common sense will get round most of this — for example, if a property is council-owned, then Cordey and his team will be responsible for property services. ‘However, ultimately, it’s all about breaking down traditional barriers,’ Cordey says.

The connected community

As one of the government’s pathfinder projects, Tameside MBC is pioneering a local authority website — e-tameside. Its aim is to provide access to local services and information via the net. There are huge implications for property management. Adam Allen, asset planning and information manager, is leading the facilities management side of the project. First and foremost he has to decide what property services information local people might want and how best to provide it. ‘Unlike most other services, our information is based on maps and diagrams. There is a big issue about how much information we include with a map and how people interpret it,’ Allen says. For example currently someone can ring up the authority to find out if a piece of land or a property is council-owned. Allen and his colleagues can give them additional information such as ‘yes, but it’s governed by a trust’, or ‘yes but there is a right of way through it’, and so on. ‘We have to decide how much of that can we convey on the web and how do we do it,’ Allen says. ‘We have to ask ourselves whether local users will interpret the information correctly, and will they get the same service as if the rang up and asked for the info over the phone?’ As more property services become accessible on-line there is a perhaps more serious long-term implication for the way facilities management is organised. There are currently three different facilities management sections covering social services, recreation and administration. They have three separate systems and three separate heads of department. But if e-tameside is to work, there has to be a consistent approach. ‘We need to standardise everything from the contracts we use to the quality of our maintenance,’ Allen says. ‘It could mean operating a single system or each section using the system in the same way. At the very least it means a single point of contact.’ The council wants it sorted out by the time of the Best Value review at the end of 2002. ‘If we all work together then it should be achievable,’ Allen says.

The jargon

  • ESD — electronic service delivery. All local authorities are expected to make 100 per cent of their services accessible on-line.
  • IEG — implementing electronic government. Councils have to submit an IEG statement to central government by 31 July this year.
  • PPP — public private partnerships. There are no specific rules but involve some form of joint management board or committee.
  • Pathfinder projects — the government has just announced 25 pathfinder projects covering 105 councils that are using ICT to deliver services.
  • Beacon status — beacon councils have already modernised in some way.