Designing Better Services (DBS)
Designing Better Services (DBS) is Moray Council's programme of delivering efficiencies within the council, while (supposedly) improving the service delivered to members of the public. There are a number of aspects to this programme currently ongoing:
- Contact Centre - The council is concentrating contact with members of the public through a Contact Centre located next to the existing Council Headquarters in Elgin. A number of staff will be moved there from offices around Elgin and this will mean various other properties will no longer be required by the council. There will also be contact points in Forres, Buckie and Keith. There will be a reduced number of phone numbers needed to access council services as a result of these changes, and a number of redundancies across departments.
- Pool Cars - By using council provided vehicles rather than private cars the council hopes to generate savings and reduce the carbon footprint.
- Procurement - Centralising purchasing of goods is predicted to save the council money due to cheaper prices and staff redundancies.
Moray UNISON was represented on the project board, however we felt that other members of the board were merely rubber stamping decisions. As a result we wanted to distance ourselves from this body, so the council could not have claimed to have been making decisions with our approval. We are still part of the Workforce Forum where decisions impacting on staff are discussed.
