Agenda item

ARAC (23-01) Paper 6 – Ways of Working update

7.1 Ed provided an overview of the Ways of Working (WoW) programme. The structure was designed to become a single programme management structure through which the Commission’s existing Estate, People and Sustainability strategies, and its Agile Futures and Capacity Review plans, were aligned under a strategic framework.

7.2 He referred to a number of activities to be undertaken in the various workstreams, and how in November 2022 the Commission approved a business case to exercise a break clause in the lease of the Commission’s North Wales Office, currently in Colwyn Bay. The move to a co-location arrangement at the Welsh Government’s Sarn Mynach offices in Llandudno Junction would realise a saving of over £100,000 over a four year period.

7.3 A specific workstream in the WoW programme would be responsible for producing detailed options and advice on the lease of Tŷ Hywel, due to end in 2032. It had also been agreed by the Commission to develop a Resource Management Strategy to determine resourcing parameters and workforce planning. The output from the Strategy would be a Medium-Term Resourcing Framework, comprising a Medium-Term Financial Plan and Workforce Plan.

7.4 The Committee appreciated the scale of this programme that strayed into a number of different areas and questioned whether, in that context and given the need for close co-ordination with the Senedd Reform programme at all times, Ed was comfortable that the right mix of skills, capacity and capability, was in place to manage the risks and deliver the expected outputs and outcomes.

7.5 Ed confirmed that he was assured with the resource currently allocated to  the programme but was in the process of mapping out detailed future requirements. The Committee was aware of previous cultural issues within the PCO and noted that, whilst these had been resolved, there were still a number of business analysts vacancies within the Commission. 

7.6 A significant amount of work had been undertaken to review the budgets. This included various financial, workforce and corporate planning systems and processes for the current financial year, the 2023-24 financial and the three year period beyond that. The intention of this work was to establish a Medium-Term Resourcing Framework (comprising a detailed medium-term financial plan and a full workforce plan) by June 2023. Project prioritisation would be closely linked to corporate planning and project management resource would only be allocated to core projects based on the prioritisation tool.

7.7 It had been revealed in the press that the Welsh Government office occupancy was around 20% and Ed confirmed that the occupancy of Tŷ Hywel was around 50% on business days but, as expected, much less on non-business days, and that this trend had been stable for some time. Ed also outlined that, as a workforce, Commission staff were organised around Member activity i.e. business days. As there were clear peaks and troughs it had created issues in terms of developing plans for a more efficient use of workspaces, but the Ty Hywel 2026 project, within the WoW programme, was engaged in detailed planning work to help address this. The re-location of the Colwyn Bay office in North Wales was also a project in its own right.

7.8 Ed also explained that further discussions had been held around a ‘regional presence’ for Commission staff but no decisions had been made. The Committee felt that the new intake of Members for the Seventh Senedd may push for a more regional presence. Ed confirmed that the relocation of the North Wales office was, in part, designed to allow the Commission to anticipate and respond to any future demand in that regard. 

7.9 The Committee was mindful of the need to ensure the promotion of inclusion in all strategy development to help future-proof the workforce and to ensure that the WoW programme was not too Cardiff Bay focused. The Committee was pleased to see the development of the programme and the workforce requirements, and appreciated the concerns regarding the need for clarity of communications to differentiate between the Senedd and Welsh Government in any plans to co-locate. 

7.10 Finally, Ed confirmed that, following an internal promotion, the WoW programme required a programme manager but that an interim plan was in place to backfill this position internally.