The Strategy and Change Scrutiny Panel are scheduled to meet on 22 July 2025 to discuss the panel's terms of reference and work programme, an overview of strategy and change, a value for money report on Your Voice Your Town consultancy, and a workforce strategy progress report.

Workforce Strategy

The panel will receive a workforce strategy progress report. The Ealing Council Workforce Strategy aims to:

• Develop the existing workforce
• Attract and retain hard-to-recruit technical and specialist staff
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement
• Align workforce development with the council's strategic priorities and community engagement goals

The report notes that 60% of the workforce is over 45, while only 2.6% are aged 16–24.

The report also lists key updates to the strategy, including:

• The launch of the People Manager Fundamentals programme for managers who are grade 15 and below.
• A review and update of the induction for employees and managers.
• Procurement is underway for leadership development programmes at Levels 3, 5, and 7 using the apprenticeship levy¹.
• The first cohort for Rise Up for aspiring managers is complete.
• The council has committed to employ 30 apprenticeships per year.
• Employees have been supported to adopt new technologies, including AI.
• The inclusive mentoring scheme continues to run supporting employee and managers.
• Pathways and career grades have been created for hard to recruit professional roles.
• Introduction of rental deposit and childcare nursery deposit loans are ready to be launched along with a number of other family friendly policies.
• A new graduate scheme was launched which aligns with professional bodies.
• An exercise to reduce reliance on agency and off contract workers who have been with us over 2 years is ongoing.
• In addition to the 25 years long service monetary award for employees, recognition certificates have been introduced for staff who have completed 5, 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-years' service and an invitation to have tea with the Mayor will be extended to those who have reached 25 years.
• Welcome to Ealing cards are sent to all new employees signed with a handwritten note from the Chief Executive.
• Introduction of Employee Awards is underway.
• There is a supporting policy statement that is included in promotional and advertising materials that includes the following extract 'we welcome applications from candidates who are entering the employment market in the early stages of their careers'
• Introduced an borough wide work experience programme.
• Family friendly policies have been reviewed and enhanced these include maternity, paternity and adoption which will offer more generous paid leave.
• There are a number of other policies that have been reviewed or introduced Neonatal Care Leave and Pay, Care Leaver and Kinship Policy, including being registered as a Foster Friendly Employer, Retirement Guidance, Grievance Policy & Procedure, Recruitment & Selection Guidelines, Disability Guaranteed Interview Scheme, Care Leavers Guaranteed Interview Scheme.
• EDI content on the council's website and internal platforms has been reviewed and enhanced.
• We have reviewed our policies on reasonable adjustments, bullying and guaranteed interview scheme for disabled candidates and care leavers.
• There are eight established employee equality networks across the council.
• Wellbeing days for all employees have been introduced and the first Health and Wellbeing Roadshow which took place in February 2025, was a great success.
• A new EDI Handbook for frontline staff has been collaboratively developed with staff equality groups and published.
• An EDI vision and mission statement is being considered and developed with senior leaders, staff equality groups and trade unions representatives.
• As part of the council's continued vision to tackle inequality and crime and in line with the council's strategy, we are working towards White Ribbon Accreditation².
• To support the community in applying for council roles, there are members of the HR community who are part of the Youth Participation Group which focuses on initiatives to enable community involvement in decision-making.
• S&C recently sponsored a stand at the Westfield Jobs Fair, in order to target potential new employees and promote the council as an employer.
• The HR team attended West London University and delivered a guru lecture to HR students who are studying at degree level to encourage them to consider applying for jobs at Ealing.
• All role profiles have been updated to emphasise the connected community and partnership working.
• We are currently exploring secondments with community partners, and there is a policy in place in readiness.
• We are promoting partner vacancies on the council's internal jobs page.
• Partners and other stakeholders are now included routinely on recruitment panels, particularly in senior recruitment posts.
• We are working in partnership with Basics to create a Learning Hub- this will be for council employees, partners and the community.

Your Voice Your Town

The panel will receive a value for money report on the Your Voice Your Town (YVYT) consultancy. The council plan 2022-2026 outlines a commitment to establishing town forums that have more power to set the spending priorities for local communities.

New Local was selected to provide advice, training, capacity building and technical expertise to establish Town Forums across the borough's seven towns.

The report notes that the consultancy contract followed Ealing's open tendering procedures. Five consultancies were invited to respond to the brief:

• Collaborate CIC
• Involve
• New Local
• Renaisi
• Young Foundation

The selection criteria were 80% based on quality and 20% on price. New Local scored the highest.

The report also notes that outputs achieved far exceed those specified in the Request for Quotation (RFQ). The methodology of engagement enabled deep and extensive conversations which led to the recommendations of the Communities in the Lead model and achieved the following results:

• Collated nearly 500 responses from a digital survey
• Carried out interviews with Councillors, Community organisations and officers
• Facilitated community workshops across seven towns: 600 interactions across 32 events. Held 6 YVYT conversation cafés over 4 weeks speaking to 200+ persons
• Produced case studies and video content focused on lessons from local democratic innovation from across UK and internationally
• Delivered training to members, officers and VCSF organisations
• Many residents were not previously engaging with the council through ward forums.

Strategy and Change Directorate Overview

The panel will receive an overview of the Strategy and Change Directorate, including key projects. The Strategy and Change Directorate covers a range of corporate responsibilities which ensure that Ealing Council is an efficient, compliant and productive organisation. These functions include:

• Human resources, including workforce, planning and development
• Health and safety
• Strategic commissioning and contract maximisation
• Management information and performance reporting

The directorate leads on developing the council's strategic and policy approaches to ensure that the organisation delivers the administration's priorities. Part of this work is to build a strong evidence base for policy development and decision making.

The third priority of the directorate is to deliver the council's Connected Communities vision, ensuring that communities are driving choices, investment and decision making in their own towns.

The council's Communications in the Strategy and Change directorate leads campaign work to celebrate the diverse communities across the borough and the work of the council, as well as managing social media, press and public relationships, and design and film offices.

The Strategic Director of Strategy and Change is the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for several priority programmes for the council including:

• Health Determinants Research Collaboration
• Connected Communities
• Place strategy
• Asset based commissioning
• Citizens Tribunal and response to the Independent Race Equality Commission
• Your Voice, Your Town
• Borough of Sanctuary
• Cost of Living

The Strategy & Change directorate provide enabling support across the council to deliver priority projects. The directorate is also responsible for leading specific projects, including:

• Your Voice Your Town
• Borough of Sanctuary
• Cost of Living Support
• Councils Website Improvement
• Urban Hack
• Learning Academy
• Health Determinants Research Collaboration
• Go Vocal

Strategic Commissioning is a new responsibility for the directorate. Commissioning is the process for deciding how to use the total resource available in order to improve outcomes in the most efficient, effective, equitable and sustainable way.

Panel Terms of Reference and Work Programme

The panel will consider its draft terms of reference and work programme for 2025/26. The draft terms of reference state that the panel will:

• Ensure that the views of major stakeholders are incorporated in its scrutiny of the services provided by the Strategy and Change Strategic Directorate
• Not duplicate the work of other Panels looking at any related issues
• Not widen its remit without the express agreement of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The key expected outcomes are to ensure that the work of the Strategy and Change Strategic Directorate is:

• Progressing on the commitments to residents set out in the Council Plan
• Managing key strategic pieces of work effectively
• Managing key strategic risk effectively

The panel may choose to co-opt additional non-voting advisory members from relevant external organisations.

The main themes for review have been scheduled in the outline Work Programme in consultation with Councillor Jon Ball, Chair, Councillor Miriam Rice, Vice Chair, and relevant service officers.