Single Status

The council is working within a national programme of achieving Single Status which means that all employees are covered by similar terms and conditions that do not differentiate between the type of work being undertaken or the salary level of the member of staff within the council.

The Council’s Green Commitment

The council is working with local businesses and community groups to promote Croydon’s social, economic and environmental well being. A green travel plan has been produced which sets out a range of measures to inform and encourage staff to help the environment. The plan aims to provide an environment which allows staff and council members to reduce the need to travel and select the most appropriate means when travel is necessary. Guidance is available on flexible working, journey planning and responsible driving.

The public has informed the council through surveys and consultative forums that the best way to help the environment is to encourage others to look after it and to demonstrate good practice. Employees should therefore comply with the following:

• Recycle white paper (including magazines, newspapers and white envelopes) in the central complex, and in outer offices where facilities are available.
• Use other recycling facilities where available (including can recycling bins in kitchens in the central complex).
• Seek to avoid unnecessary use of paper and other resources.
• Seek to minimise use of the car.
• Follow the council’s Environmental Procurement Policy when purchasing goods and services.
• Endeavour to reduce the environmental impact of council activities in the course of their jobs, and work to encourage others to adopt good practice.
• Print documents sparingly and double sided.

Smarter Croydon

A project devised to tackle long term underinvestment in some areas of the borough. Some pieces of land had several departments involved in their maintenance, which fragmented service delivery. Some projects include building developments, environmental projects such as graffiti removal, deep cleansing of streets and private boundary areas are in place.

Safer Croydon

An extensive state of the art CCTV network has contributed to a significant reduction of crime in Croydon. An increased highly visible police presence at disorder hotspots in the evenings and at weekends has also had very positive effects. A multi agency approach has been established to tackle graffiti.

Streetscene

There are over 50 capital improvement projects on almost 100 sites. More than 75 community grant funded projects, a fully corporate graffiti removal service (the Environment Response Team) and the Street Champion’s scheme whereby many local residents help maintain and improve their neighbourhoods.

E-Government

E-Government is part of the modernisation agenda, which stipulates a significant percentage of council services should be accessible online. Electronic service delivery will enable different parts of the council to work together seamlessly: instead of customers having to approach several departments for different services, a single point of access will be possible.

Investors in People (IIP)

Developed in 1990 by a partnership of leading businesses and national organisations, the standard helps organisations to improve performance and realise objectives through the management and development of their people. Since it was developed the standard has been reviewed every three years to ensure that it remains relevant, accessible and attractive to all. The most recent review was completed in November 2004.

The IIP standard recognises organisations who meet its demanding indicators. In December 2001 Croydon attained a long-standing goal of achieving the Investors in People Standard in all council departments and has maintained its corporate recognition ever since with the most recent award in 2005. The council is working towards re-recognition against the standard in April 2008.

Investors in Equality

This is a standard developed by the council. It illustrates how a commitment to equality can be expressed while working towards Investors in People. Most departments have already been assessed twice against this standard and have made good progress over the last two years.

Customer Focus

Customer Focus will modernise the way customers access council services in the following ways.

• A partnership with CapGemini (our IT Consultancy) for the provision of information technology services. This will enable the council to provide electronically enabled services and help employees provide information across a range of services to satisfy customer needs.
• Improving access to council services by giving customers more choice in the way they contact the council, e.g. telephone, internet, face-to-face or by letter/fax.
• Reviewing the way in which the council delivers services, to ensure that they are more customer focused.

The Customer Services Division (part of Corporate Services Department) includes both the Contact Centre and One Stop receptions. This represents the first part of the council’s re-organisation around the customer. An element of Customer Focus includes service transformation, which involves the radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical business areas, such as cost, quality, service and speed.