the hillingdon improvement programme - London Borough of ...

THE HILLINGDON 

IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME 

A programme for excellence 

www.hillingdon.gov.uk

Hillingdon Council’s vision 

“A modern, well managed council 

delivering excellent services.” 

Cllr Ray Puddifoot 

Leader of the Council

The Hillingdon Improvement Programme 

3 

Contents 

1 Introduction by Councillor Ray Puddifoot, Leader of the Council 4 

2 Message from Hugh Dunnachie, Chief Executive 6 

3 Overview of the Hillingdon Improvement Programme (HIP) 2007 7 

4 The HIP Steering Group 8 

5 The HIP work streams 10 

6 HIP achievements 2007 12 

7 The Hillingdon Improvement Programme (HIP) going forward into 2008 28 

8 People, Resources, Culture 30

Hugh Dunnachie, Chief Executive and 

Cllr Ray Puddifoot, Leader of the Council


5 

Introduction by Councillor Ray Puddifoot, 

Leader of the Council 

Welcome to the Hillingdon Improvement Programme (HIP) 

annual report for 2007. HIP is a council-wide programme, 

which aims to deliver excellence as set out in my vision for 

the council. 

When I became Leader of the Council in 2000, it was clear 

to me that we had a lot of work to do to change the culture 

and operating model of the council if we were to improve the 

services we deliver to our residents. 

In 2003, following a business process re-engineering 

exercise using external consultants, I introduced HIP as a 

way of speeding up our ambitious improvement agenda. My 

intention is to build a more customer-focussed organisation, 

to modernise our business processes and to free up 

resources to provide improved services for our residents. 

From its inception, I have led HIP by chairing the steering 

group to ensure that we remain focused on the needs of our 

residents above all else. 

HIP has already been extremely successful, helping us 

to achieve financial stability, increased capacity and a 

change of culture across the organisation. However, 2007 

saw unprecedented change in our organisation, with HIP 

delivering substantial improvements both in the way we 

work and in the way we deliver services to our residents. 

As Leader of the Council, I am immensely proud of all that 

HIP has achieved and the changes that can be seen both 

inside and outside our council. 

I have said many times that the real test of how well we are 

doing is what our residents think about us. HIP has delivered 

many improvements in the last 12 months and looking ahead 

to the coming year, our increasingly ambitious Hillingdon 

Improvement Programme, which other councils are now 

looking to emulate, will further improve our residents’ 

satisfaction with their council, our staff and our services. 



6 The Hillingdon Improvement Programme 

Message from Hugh Dunnachie, 

Chief Executive 

The Hillingdon Improvement Programme has played a 

crucial role in helping us to make the changes we need 

to deliver our vision and priorities. It has been key to us 

delivering a range of improvements over the last year, 

to achieve our vision - a modern, well-managed council 

delivering excellent services. 

By working as one council, we are transforming the way we 

work, our practices and many of our buildings and facilities 

– this all adds up to us being a modern council, fit for the 

21st Century. 

But what makes HIP so special is that we did it ourselves 

– HIP is a home grown project, delivered by our managers 

and staff, who have played a crucial role in helping us deliver 

HIP. Our heads of service and service managers are leading 

many of the cross-cutting initiatives, which are being driven 

by staff from across the organisation, helping to transform 

our council. 

Under the three themes of People, Resources and 

Culture, we have made significant progress in developing 

our council, its people and the way we deliver services. 

As well as putting in place the high-level building blocks, 

such as re-structuring the council, sound financial 

management, service reviews and a robust approach to 

assessing and improving competency and performance, HIP 

has also delivered a range of improvements and initiatives 

that are making a difference. 

HIP has also helped us to be better at sharing good ideas and 

good practice across all parts of the council. Increasingly, 

we are gaining a reputation as an innovative council, seen 

by other councils and organisations as the leader in a 

particular field. 

The Hillingdon Improvement Programme has helped us to 

transform the way we work and will continue to provide the 

framework for even greater improvements in 2008. 

Hugh Dunnachie 

Chief Executive


7 

Overview of the Hillingdon Improvement 

Programme (HIP) 2007 

Most local authorities will have embarked on 

change management programmes in order 

to meet local challenges and respond to the 

outcome of inspections or changes to statutory 

responsibilities. These are often designed to deal 

with a specific task and are time limited. 

But how many councils have developed an 

ambitious, wide-ranging and home grown 

programme - and made it work? At the London 

Borough of Hillingdon that’s exactly what we did. 

The Hillingdon Improvement Programme (HIP) 

is an internal, council-wide transformational 

programme that incorporates all elements of the 

council’s change and improvement programme. 

The programme is directed through the HIP 

Steering Group, led by the Leader of the Council, 

Cllr Ray Puddifoot with Chief Executive, Hugh 

Dunnachie and Cllr Douglas Mills, Cabinet Member 

for Improvement, Partnerships and Community 

Safety. Going forward, workstreams will involve 

more cabinet members and council staff. 

Other cabinet members and all of the council’s 

directors are responsible for specific parts of HIP. 

Launched in 2003, HIP has changed the culture 

and ethos of the council and generated a muchneeded 

focus across the organisation in the drive 

towards council-wide improvement. At the same 

time as delivering improved services, the HIP ethos 

has allowed us to generate savings of £26.5m. This 

means we are now able to run the council for less 

than at any other time, helping to deliver better 

value for money for Hillingdon’s residents, while at 

the same time, see our services improve. 

HIP is not only delivering the efficiency and service 

agenda for Hillingdon, but it is also delivering real 

improvements for residents. 

In January 2007, The Leader of the Council and 

Chief Executive developed eight ambitious new 

workstreams to focus on specific areas of work 

under HIP: 

1 Leadership and direction 

2 Management capability and capacity 

3 Performance management 

4 Organisational development 

5 Finance 

6 Customer focus 

7 Performance improvement 

8 Communications




Chairman 

Cllr Mills 

Cabinet Member 

for Improvement, 

Partnership and 

Community Safety 

Cllr Seaman-Digby 

Cabinet Member for 

Co-ordination and 

Central Services 



Programme Lead 

Jean Palmer 

Director of Planning and 

Community Services 

Jeff Maslen 

Director of Adult Social 

Care, Health and Housing 

Philomena Bach 

Director of Environment 

and Consumer Protection 

Christopher Neale 

Director of Finance and 

Resources 

Chris Spencer 

Director of Education and 

Children’s Services


9 

The HIP Steering Group 

The HIP Steering group was set up to drive forward 

HIP’s ambitious improvement agenda both at the 

top of the organisation and across all parts of the 

council. 

Ray Puddifoot, Leader of the Council is Chairman 

and overall programme sponsor for HIP, providing 

the strategic leadership. He is supported by 

Councillors Douglas Mills and Scott Seaman- 

Digby, who provide direction for the programme. 

All of the council’s directors, working with a 

cabinet member, sponsor one of the workstreams, 

to ensure that activities are closely co-ordinated 

across the council and to monitor delivery of work 

under their work stream. 

Each of the workstreams is led by one of the 

council’s senior managers, who ensure that 

the work programme for their workstream is 

delivered. 

Going forward, workstreams will involve more 

cabinet members and council staff. 

Hugh Dunnachie, Chief Executive is Programme 

Director, reporting directly to the programme 

sponsor with overall responsibility for ensuring 

the delivery of the programme.


Susie Kemp Pat Blackshire Claire Palmer Paul Whaymand Steve Palmer David Holdstock


11 

The HIP workstreams 

During 2007, a key part of the success of HIP 

and the evident impact it is having on the whole 

organisation, is as a result of robust leadership 

and that the improvement programme is owned 

corporately. 

The relationships between workstream sponsors 

and the managers have been strong and successful 

cross working has been the key to positive 

outcomes. 

Examples of successful corporate working include: 

• Service reviews 

• Thematic reviews 

• Development of the Performance and Development 

Appraisal (PADA) process 

• Life changes projects 

Almost all of the work was delivered within 

existing resources, further enhancing the 

council’s approach to value for money and building 

sustainability and capacity around managing 

change across the organisation. 

Each of the workstreams had a clear programme 

of work with clear outcomes. To ensure work was 

being delivered to targets, timescales and budget, 

each of the workstreams reports progress monthly 

to the HIP Steering Group.


HIP achievements 2007 

Leadership and direction workstream 

The leadership and direction work stream was set 

up to: 

• establish ways of working and the split of roles 

and responsibilities between the cabinet and 

Corporate Management Team (CMT) 

• establish clear ways of working between CMT and 

the Operational Managers Group (OMG) 

• develop and embed the ‘one council’ approach to 

support the HIP themes and the council’s vision 

- a modern, well managed council delivering 

excellent services 

Cabinet Sponsor 



Workstream Sponsor 



Workstream Manager 

Susie Kemp 

Head of Organisational 

Development and 

Performance Improvement 

The leadership and direction workstream has 

focused on ensuring the top levels of the organisation 

are working efficiently and collaboratively, with 

clear direction and understanding of roles. This 

has ensured that senior mangers have been able 

to take a more strategic approach to delivering the 

council’s priorities.


13 

There has been noticeable change in the culture 

of the organisation, leading to visible, improved 

leadership and communication across the 

organisation. Changes in behaviour have also been 

identified and developed with more people wanting 

to contribute to the workstreams. 

A direct consequence of that change in culture is 

that managers in particular, but also staff at all 

levels understand what is expected of them and 

are taking an innovative and “can-do” approach to 

improving the organisation. 

Once the Operational Managers Group (OMG) was 

set up, the leadership and direction workstream was 

responsible for ensuring that it works effectively 

alongside CMT to add value to the decision making 

process. OMG has been a successful addition to 

the management structure of the organisation. 

Outcomes and achievements 

• Generic role profiles are now in place for 

directors, heads of service and service managers, 

clearly setting out roles and responsibilities of the 

‘Hillingdon manager’ 

• A set of competencies developed for directors, 

heads of service and service managers which 

underpin the generic profile 

• A new appraisal process introduced for directors, 

which now involves the Leader and Cabinet 

member in the appraisal process 

• A revised simpler and easier to use Performance 

and Development Appraisal (PADA) process is 

now in place for all staff, who will be assessed 

against the new competency framework every six 

months 

• Work was undertaken to develop working 

relationships and terms of reference for the 

Operational Managers’ Group (OMG) 

• A new leadership and management development 

programme (LMDP) is being introduced and 

learning and development needs are being 

identified to drive the establishment of the 

development of the LMDP for directors, heads of 

service and service managers with a corporate 

management programme for team managers and 

supervisors 

• The council plan - Fast Forward to 2010 - was 

refreshed setting out the council’s priorities for 

the next three years. It was widely circulated 

amongst partners, stakeholders and sent to other 

councils in London. At the 2007 staff roadshows, 

every member of staff was given a personal copy 

of the council plan.



Management capability and capacity workstream 

The management capability and capacity 

workstream was set up to: 

• complete the development of capability needs of 

all heads of service and service managers 

• establish an overall human resources strategy 

and plan 

• identify management capability and capacity 

needs at service manager level and implement 

solutions in response 

• develop the management talent of the council, 

specifically through the establishment of a 

Hillingdon Academy 





Jeff Maslen 

Director, Adult Social Care 

Health and Housing 


Claire Palmer 

Corporate Personnel 

Manager 

To ensure the council has the right people in 

place, doing the right jobs, a review was carried 

out of the skills and competencies required by the 

organisation’s managers to deliver its vision and 

priorities. This work has been key to ensuring 

the council has strong managers and high quality 

leaders.


15 

Human Resources (HR) is working with managers 

to ensure to review all HR polices so that they are 

robustly tested and external input is also being 

used to bring expertise and experience from other 

organisations. 

Reviewing all the policies will also remove barriers, 

perceived or otherwise, that are in the way of a 

proactive, positive, fair and consistent approach to 

the management of staff. 

A continuous process of review and challenge will 

then be business as usual for HR to ensure that 

flexible and innovative development of policies 

is ongoing and meets the changing needs of the 

business. 

Following a review of HR policies, further work is 

being undertaken to look at: 

• changes to the presentation and content of the 

policies, including length, language, layout and 

access 

• enhancing skills to implement the policies (with 

specific links to the management development 

programme) 

• organisation culture (ensuring all policies are 

linked to the HR strategy and workforce plan) 

• HR support to managers and the organisation as 

a whole. 


• Completed heads of service review against 

competencies 

• Consistent job titles for heads of service and 

service managers and support services 

• Introduced minimum and maximum of direct 

reports at a management and delivery team level 

• Implemented competencies for service managers 

and completed review for approximately 90 

managers. These competencies are now 

incorporated into other HR policies, including the 

recruitment and selection policy. They now form 

an integral part of the person specification for all 

posts to ensure that staff are appointed who are 

able to meet the council’s requirements. 

• This exercise also ensured that the implementation 

of the new PADA process with competencies for 

all staff was more effective as managers had had 

experience of the competencies and ratings. 

• Working with managers from across the 

council and people from outside the council, a 

comprehensive review of all 170 HR documents, 

covering 80 policy areas has been completed to 

make sure they are effective, efficient and fit-orpurpose. 

• “Rising stars” are being identified for the Hillingdon 

Academy, which was launched in December 

2007. 

The council is taking an innovative approach 

to developing its people. As part of the work to 

develop the council’s managers and leaders of 

the future and improve succession planning in 

the organisation, the Hillingdon Academy was 

launched in December 2007. More than 30 of the 

council’s ‘rising stars’ and senior managers of the 

future were selected to be part of the first intake 

into the academy. 

The ‘virtual’ academy will provide a mix of learning 

and development methods, which will include 

partnerships with the business sector, offering 

secondments and opportunities to work on projects 

within business, as well as in the public sector.



Performance management workstream 

The performance management workstream was 

set up to: 

• review and improve performance management 

across the council so that: 

- there is a clear and transparent link between 

council priorities and directorate and team 

goals 

- individual performance can be more effectively 

assessed, measured and developed in line with 

the council’s priorities 


Cllr Scott Seaman-Digby 





Philomena Bach 

Director, Environment 

and Consumer Protection 


Susie Kemp 




This workstream is key to every member of 

council staff understanding their role in delivering 

the council vision and priorities. Its purpose was 

to review, build on, modify and replace existing 

performance management arrangements in order 

to: 

• more clearly identify the accountability for 

performance and other outcomes at corporate 

director level


17 

• specifically ensure that the new Deputy Chief 

Executive role is equipped and functions effectively 

in leading the drive for better management, 

measurement and delivery of performance across 

the council 

• ensure that council priorities are transparently 

translated into directorate and lower level plans 

and that processes are in place so that this state 

of affairs becomes ‘business as usual’ 

• establish measurement, reporting and remedialaction 

processes and accountabilities to facilitate 

the further improvement of service delivery to 

residents and the efficient management of the 

council 

• establish a new performance management 

regime for managers that supports: 

- the measurement of personal performance 

against council priorities 

- the evaluation of performance, behaviours and 

personal capability against clearly defined role 

profiles for each level of management within the 

council 

- establish a staff incentive scheme to encourage 

and reward staff for exceptional performance in 

pursuit of the council’s priorities 


• The workstream has achieved its objective of 

identifying the accountability for performance and 

other outcomes at corporate director level through 

improved service planning. The golden thread 

is now thoroughly embedded in the organisation 

leading to officers have a clear understanding of 

their role in delivering the council plan. This has 

resulted in council priorities being transparently 

translated into directorate and lower level plans 

and that processes are in place so that this state 

of affairs becomes ‘business as usual’. This is 

evidenced through Group, Service and Team Plans 

being done for 2008/9 in a more timely fashion 

that will lead into the 08/09 officer PADAs. 

• HIP team bonus scheme introduced to underpin 

the focus on service planning and delivering 

excellent services. The scheme uses a mechanism 

to stretch team targets and to encourage better 

team working. The first winners of this scheme 

will be announced in May 2008. 

• Following a thorough review of the personal 

development and review forms (PADAs), 

competencies were introduced for every member 

of staff – six for employees and 13 for senior 

managers – covering all aspects of what Hillingdon 

is looking for from their staff and managers. 

• The corporate learning and development 

programme was reviewed to underpin the 

development of employees and managers against 

the new competencies. 

• A value for money strategy with a robust action 

plan to ensure that VFM is embedded into the 

organisation and understood by every manager so 

that value for money is at the heart of everything 

we do as a council. 

• A new performance management framework 

is now in place, utilising technology to improve 

monitoring across the council.



Performance improvement initiatives workstream 

The performance improvement initiatives 

workstream was set up to: 

• implement the new HIP performance / efficiency 

improvement initiatives, to deliver the extra 

cashable savings required by the council for 

2007/8 

• scope and size the performance / efficiency 

improvement initiatives which will deliver the 

council’s cashable savings target in 2008/09, 

2009/10 and beyond, through a programme of 

service and thematic reviews. 


Cllr Scott Seaman-Digby 








Susie Kemp 




The performance improvement initiatives 

workstream has led the council-wide service and 

thematic reviews, which are aimed at delivering 

the dual outcomes of efficiency and excellence. 

The reviews will be a regular and ongoing process 

throughout the council and the outcomes will 

ensure services are managed effectively to provide 

services, equipment, buildings and work processes 

that are fit for the 21st century.


19 

The improvement programme in the reviews so 

far have identified a number of service specific 

improvements as well as fundamental crosscutting 

improvements designed to take towards 

excellence and to deliver efficiencies. 

The service reviews have confirmed that most 

expenditure is committed to existing ways of 

working, structures, processes and systems – to 

modernise and realise efficiencies will require 

significant improvement projects to fundamentally 

changes (for example the way customers access 

information and services, are sign-posted to other 

services, how we process these interactions 

and deliver these services. This includes the 

infrastructure). 

The reviews have found that areas identified as 

needing modernisation and improvement in terms 

of process and structure are also those that are 

likely to bring savings. By achieving excellence we 

will also achieve efficiencies. 


• Rolling programme of service reviews put in 

place 

• Completed service reviews in Adult Social Care, 

Health and Housing (identifying savings of £4.4m) 

and Environment and Consumer Protection 

(identifying savings of £1.7m) and started a review 

of Education and Children’s Services 

• Service review toolkits developed to transfer 

knowledge from one service review to another, 

building on good practice. The toolkit includes 

guidance on: 

- service visioning 

- review methodology 

- front office / back office split 

- channel migration 

- organisational development 

- procurement 

- communications



Organisational development workstream 

The organisational development workstream was 

set up to: 

• develop and implement structures within each 

directorate below head of service level 

• develop and implement structures to deliver low 

cost, sustainable organisational answers 

• identify and develop efficient and improved 

solutions for shared and potentially central 

support services 

• establish the Operational Managers Group 

(OMG). 


Cllr Douglas Mills 



Partnerships and 



Jean Palmer 

Director, Planning and 

Community Services 


Pat Blackshire 

HIP Strategic Improvement 

Manager 

The organisation development workstream 

has focused on developing clear and consistent 

operating models for the organisation. 

This has allowed structures to be put in place to 

ensure a consistent approach to the implementation 

of the council’s policies and procedures across the 

organisation, to improve the council’s governance 

arrangements and standards of internal control.


21 

The principles of the support service review 

and the organisation development business 

support models are being incorporated into the 

implementation of the service review process and 

methodology, so that support service structures 

are aligned with new arrangements for the delivery 

of services. 

As well as delivering improved and consistent 

working arrangements, significant savings have 

also been identified. The savings will contribute to 

the council’s overall efficiency targets, and some 

will be used to further develop new skills. 

The Operational Managers’ Group was set up to 

ensure the council takes a cross-cutting approach 

to key issues. This is a group of all heads of service, 

which is used for: 

• information sharing 

• generation of new and innovative ideas 

• service / performance improvement 

• collaborative working. 


• Organisational structures have been redesigned 

and principles have been put in place for 

management structures, with new ways of 

working across all groups for generic support 

services. 

• The model for lower level structures in the council 

was developed and an organisation development 

toolkit was designed to help assess organisational 

structures against the council’s model for levels 

of management and spans of control. This is 

now encompassed within the service review 

methodology and was used in the reviews of Adult 

Social Care, Health and Housing, Environment and 

Consumer Protection, Legal Services and Human 

Resources. 

• The model also now forms part of business as 

usual for the organisation and will be applied 

as services restructure, as part of their drive to 

deliver improvements in services for residents. 

• Developed and implemented a corporate model for 

administration support services. This has already 

identified for delivery gross savings of £818,000 

of which £230,000 will be reinvested in new skills 

and areas that are currently under-supported. 

• Consistent job descriptions and person 

specifications developed as part of the review 

of administration support services. These 

included directorate (PA and administration 

staff), operational business support (generic 

administration and business support) and 

specialist (performance/information) support 

units. 

• The Operational Managers’ Group was successfully 

launched in December 2006.



Finance workstream 

The finance workstream was set up to: 

• centralise finance management within the Finance 

and Resources directorate 

• promote and support zero-based budgeting 

(ZBB) and ensure that finance best practice is 

consistently and accurately in place across each 

of the directorates 

• ensure that financial controls are in place that 

provide confidence and clarity that agreed budgets 

can be managed accurately and reliably with no 

surprises. 





Christopher Neale 

Director, Finance and 

Resources 


Paul Whaymand 

Head of Accounting 

The finance workstream has supported almost all 

of the other workstreams to ensure they deliver 

value for money and efficiencies. A series of HIP 

‘bite-sized’ events were delivered to all managers 

and budget holders to ensure there is a consistent 

level of knowledge and skill in the organisation 

about managing budgets and the zero-based 

budgeting process.


23 

The finance and performance improvement 

workstreams have been aligned to interlink 

existing work, for example around organisational 

development and value for money, to deliver a 

programme of organisational-wide service reviews 

and the achievement of the council’s medium term 

financial strategy. 

In 2007, the council was able to make £15m of 

savings, invest more money in priority services 

and increase the council’s balances, despite major 

challenges such as the under-funding to support 

unaccompanied asylum seekers that come through 

Heathrow Airport. 

for 2008/09 and extra investment in priority 

services, whilst at the same time, not making cuts 

in services. 

• The council’s finances have further improved, 

with balances increasing from £7.2m at the start 

of the year to more than £11m. 

• Core competency framework in place for all 

budget managers. 

• Revised and targeted training programme for 

budget managers with six e-learning packages in 

place. 


• The finance functions across the organisation have 

been centralised, restructured and enhanced. 

• A plan for implementing zero based budgeting 

(ZBB) throughout the whole organisation for the 

2008/09 budget is now in place 

• A value for money strategy and action plan has been 

agreed and self-assessment is now underway to 

determine where the council currently sits within 

the framework. 

• Delivered a revised medium-term financial 

planning (MTFF) process incorporating service 

reviews, zero-based budgeting processes and 

budget efficiency reviews. This has given the 

council flexibility in planning its council tax rates



Customer focus workstream 

The customer focus workstream was set up to: 

• fundamentally review our relationship with 

our customers focussing on delivery that is 

modern, cost effective and improves customer 

satisfaction 

• identify further on-going customer initiatives 

• deliver the customer access strategy objectives 

of providing value for money, equality of access, 

greater choice of access, increasing customer 

satisfaction, more efficient and effective services, 

and to present as “one council”. 











Steve Palmer 

Head of ICT 

The customer focus workstream has been working 

on a range of initiatives to improve the speed and 

choice of ways to access council services for 

residents.


25 

A key element of this work has been the development 

of proposals for a residents’ entitlement card. This 

will be piloted in 2008 and introduced in 2009. The 

card will offer residents a range of benefits and 

entitlements to local services, putting the residents 

of Hillingdon first and at the heart of everything 

the council does. 


• The feasibility study for the introduction of the 

residents’ entitlement card was completed. 

• Four life changes projects were started to provide 

the full-range of service information to residents 

who have or who are planning to go through major 

changes in their lives. These are: 

- bereavement 

- the transition from primary to secondary 

school 

- moving to and from benefits 

- information for people who are aged 64 and 

over. 

The anticipated outcome from these projects is for 

improved access for our customers to information 

that they need, developing more opportunities for 

them self-serve, with faster access to information, 

24-hours a day, seven days a week. 

• By changing the processes in environmental 

services, residents now receive improved services 

when reporting issues about abandoned vehicles, 

waste services, street cleansing, environmental 

enforcement, parks and open spaces and grounds 

maintenance. 

• By improving and extending the council’s client 

indexing system, the council is able to gather more 

detailed information about customers, improving 

the ability to plan for future service needs and 

demands. 

• The council’s customer records management 

system OneServe was developed to include 

the recording and management of members’ 

enquiries, improving the service. 

• The Institute of Customer Service (ICS) training 

programme was rolled out for 76 front-line 

staff who were presented with professional 

customer care accreditations in December 2007. 

This programme has enabled staff to develop 

skills to improve the customer experience and 

promote the reputation of Hillingdon Council as 

one that delivers excellent customer service. We 

are looking to extend the use of this scheme in 

2008/9.



Communications workstream 

The communications workstream was set up to: 

• provide communications and change management 

support to the work being developed in the other 

workstreams 

• provide expertise and leadership to identify 

communications issues for each of the 

workstreams so that managers and staff 

understand and accept the changes that come out 

of HIP 

• improve internal communications. 








Chris Spencer 

Director, education and 

childrens’s services 


David Holdstock 

Head of Corporate 

Communications 

The communications workstream underpins the 

other seven workstreams to ensure staff and other 

key people understand the overall HIP initiative, as 

well as individual elements of work under each of 

the themes.


27 

A staff survey was carried out in December 2006 to 

ensure the council was able to benchmark levels 

of awareness and understanding. This allowed 

comparison against a survey carried out in 

December 2007 – 12 months on. In addition, staff 

were asked key questions at the staff roadshows in 

October 2007, to further gauge levels of penetration 

of key messages. 

A range of communications tactics were employed 

throughout the year, to ensure key messages were 

disseminated as far and wide as possible. These 

included: 

• teamHillingdon 

• staff roadshows 

• HIP ‘bite-sized’ briefing sessions 

• posters 

• Horizon (the council’s intranet) 

• e-mails 

• Managers’ briefings 

• teamBriefing 


• 83% of staff understand HIP (up from 54% in 2006) 

• Council vision - The council’s vision is now clearly 

displayed throughout council buildings, on every 

telephone screen. It has also been reinforced at 

every opportunity, particularly in HIP briefings, 

to ensure every member of staff, irrespective of 

position or grade, understands it. 

• teamHillingdon - As part of improving the council’s 

internal communications with its staff, a new staff 

newspaper was introduced in September – team 

Hillingdon. This is also available in an electronic 

format and as an audio download for staff with 

visual impairment. 

• HIP week - Successfully delivered, with 

workstream managers, a series of events for 

HIP week to raise awareness amongst staff. This 

was followed up with publicity about the various 

events. 

• HIP team bonus - Delivered awareness campaign 

to promote HIP team bonus to staff 

• Achievement posters - These have been redesigned 

and re-branded and are now refreshed 

every two months. 

• Managers’ briefings - An electronic briefing for 

managers was developed, which is sent out by the 

Chief Executive to all managers. It contains key 

information about HIP. 

• Horizon - The HIP pages on Horizon were 

completely refreshed and updated. This includes 

an A-Z of HIP, details about the HIP Steering Group 

and its members, and other HIP news. 

• The HIP champion forum (a group of staff from 

across the council) was refreshed with new 

members. The group has fed back on issues such 

as sickness management, teamHillingdon and 

making Hillingdon a greener council. They now 

have access to their own, shared drive, giving 

them regular HIP updates. 

• HIP bite-sized events - Developed concept and 

provided communications support for the ongoing 

series of short briefing/information sessions for 

managers. These included: 

- PADAs 

- budgets 

- zero-based budgeting 

- service planning 

• Developed breakfast sessions with the Chief 

Executive, to complement lunch sessions with the 

Leader of the Council - These are now monthly due 

to the high numbers of staff who want to attend. 

• Service reviews - Communications strategy and 

plan template developed and introduced for the 

service reviews. Work is now ongoing with all of 

the directorates to develop communications for 

the next phase of the service reviews. 

• 1,600 staff attended the staff roadshows - Although 

not exclusively HIP, these were a key vehicle for 

the Leader and Chief Executive to speak to all staff 

about the progress of the council, including HIP.


The Hillingdon Improvement Programme Going Forward into 2008 – 

Building on our strengths 

The programme for HIP going forward will set 

even more demanding and challenging targets. It 

is about constantly looking for new improvement 

initiatives as well as building on our success to 

date. 

HIP will remain the council’s primary initiative 

to deliver improvements, efficiencies and the 

council’s transformational service agenda. 

Further developing the work delivered during 

2007, HIP will be widened to become even more 

ambitious in its aims. To do this, we will involve 

more Cabinet members and senior officers to help 

drive forward and monitor progress. 

Going forward, as well as performance and 

process improvements, there will be more project 

orientated workstreams. 

The Hillingdon Improvement Programme going 

forward into 2008 will now comprise of the 

following 13 worksteams; 

• Organisational Development and Performance 

Improvement 

• Customer Experience 

• Estate Management 

• Harlington Road Depot 

• People Performance Capability and Capacity 

• Waste and Energy 

• Finance 

• RAF Uxbridge 

• Procurement 

• Building Schools for the Future 

• Affordable Housing 

• Policy Initiatives 

• Communications 

“The Hillingdon Improvement Programme will 

build on its success to date but also develop a bold 

approach to what is achievable and deliverable” 




29 

HIP Going Forward Programme - Work streams Cabinet Lead, sponsors and managers as identified below: 

Work stream Cabinet Lead Work stream Sponsor Work stream Manager 

Organisational Development and Performance 

Improvement 



/DCEO 

Susie Kemp 

Customer Experience Cllr Douglas Mills Hugh Dunnachie Steve Palmer 

Estate Management Review Cllr Jonathan Bianco Jean Palmer Paul Whaymand 

Harlington Road Depot Cllr Jonathan Bianco Hugh Dunnachie Bill King 

People Performance Capability and Capacity Cllr Scott Seaman-Digby Jeff Maslen Pat Blackshire 

Waste and Energy Cllr Ray Puddifoot and Cllr Sandra Jenkins Philomena Bach Kevin Byrne 

Finance Cllr Ray Puddifoot Christopher Neale Paul Whaymand 

RAF Uxbridge Cllr Keith Burrows and Cllr Douglas Mills Jean Palmer Jales Tippell 

Procurement Cllr Scott Seaman-Digby Christopher Neale Susie Kemp 

Building Schools for the Future Cllr David Simmonds Chris Spencer Bill King 

Affordable Housing Cllr Philip Corthorne Jeff Maslen Neil Stubbings 

Policy Initiatives Cllr Ray Puddifoot and Cllr David Simmonds Philomena Bach Kevin Byrne 

Communications Cllr Ray Puddifoot Chris Spencer David Holdstock


People, Resources, Culture 

To help ensure that all staff understand the impact 

of work under HIP, the programme is delivered 

under three themes: 

• What success looks like: A well-managed council 

with a structure that ensures the right people are 

in the right places doing the right jobs. 

• What it means for staff: Through strong and 

inspirational leadership, the council will have 

clear priorities, a strong performance culture and 

will reward staff. 

• What success looks like: The council’s finances 

and resources will be managed effectively to 

provide services, equipment, buildings and work 

processes that are fit for the 21st century. 

• What it means for staff: All staff will have a 

role in delivering value for money services of a 

consistently high standard. 

• What success looks like: A modern council that 

has a ‘can do’ culture, with all staff, councillors 

and contractors supporting each other to work as 

‘one council’. 

• What it means for staff: Every member of staff will 

feel proud to work as part of ‘team Hillingdon’. 

This simple approach has helped get buy-in from 

staff across the council. In the latest HIP staff 

communications survey (December 2007) three 

quarters of staff were able to identify the three 

themes of People, Resources and Culture.


31 

What people have said about HIP 

The Hillingdon Improvement programme – 

Delivering excellence 

“The new PADA form has made it possible for all 

employees to be clear about their individual targets 

and how they contribute to the council’s vision and 

the service priorities. The process and expected 

competency standards provide senior managers 

with a clear overview of officers’ performance and 

developmental needs. This also allows exceptional 

and under performers to be identified. 

The process enables managers to measure progress 

towards meeting the targets identified in the service 

plan by focussing individuals on clearly defined 

priorities. This provides a clear link to the group and 

council plans. 

Importantly, all employees across the council are 

engaged in the same process creating a common 

understanding of the aims and objectives of the 

organisation.” 

A key member of the PADA working group, Pauline 

Nixon, Head of Access and Inclusion Education 

and Children’s Services 

‘’In bringing together education, social services and 

health professionals, through the Every Child Matters 

agenda, the organisational development model is 

an invaluable neutral tool to achieve integrated 

structures, without the perception that either a 

social care or education organisational model is 

being applied. The model has therefore become an 

important reference point for all the change we are 

considering.’’ 

Julian Wooster 

Deputy Director, Children and Families 

Education and Children’s Services 

“The new corporate model for administrative support 

services has been successfully implemented in 

Education and Children’s Services with the welcome 

addition of a new post of business support manager, 

funded by the savings identified for re-investment in 

under-supported areas.’’ 

Sarah Harty 

Head of Resources, Policy and Performance 

Education and Children’s Services 

‘’The HIP Organisational Development support 

services review identified gaps in key support skills 

across the organisation and released resources to reinvest 

in under supported areas. The implementation 

of the new corporate model for administrative 

support in Planning and Community Services enabled 

the directorate to restructure support services. The 

resources released through the review allowed the 

directorate to recruit key support and performance 

specialist staff.’’ 

Alan Dalton 

Interim Head of Community Safety 

Planning and Community Services 

“HIP is enabling managers to drive forward the 

improvement agenda for the council” 

Response to HIP communications staff survey 

HIP has brought better communications all round and 

much clearer leadership – I know where I am aiming 

to go.” 

Response to HIP communications staff survey

www.hillingdon.gov.uk 

9412

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