Issue - meetings

To receive a report by the Managing Director following the agreement in principle between Huntingdonshire District Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council to work as a partnership to deliver a range of shared services.

1)  Endorses the approach to shared services outlined in the report;

2)  Approves the establishment of a Joint Committee without delegated powers to oversee the delivery of shared services;

3)  Appoints the Executive Leader as the Council’s representative to the Joint Committee and Councillor Howe as the deputy appointment;

4)  Approves the Sovereignty Guarantee detailed in Section 8 of the report;

5)  Agrees the approach to cost sharing principles and partnership agreement as outlined in Section 9 of the report; 

6)  Approves that the final partnership agreement be delegated to the Managing Director, in consultation with the Executive Leader of the Council.

7)  That formal consultation commences with Staff Council and affected staff on 24 July 2015, closing on 1 September 2015.

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) containing a number of recommendations regarding the first phase of the partnership arrangement between Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC), South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) and Cambridge City Council (CCC) for ICT, Legal Services and Building Control shared service proposals.

It was explained that the Councils intended to share services as there were significant risks in doing nothing.  Each Council had to identify significant savings as well as protecting and preserving services and retaining skilled staff in a competitive market place.  Shared services offered a way of mitigating these risks.

The Cabinet were referred to the main risks associated with sharing services across the three Councils as highlighted in the Officer’s report.

A Lead Authority model was being used for the shared service arrangements since it best reflected the current vision for shared services and the starting position of each partner Council.

It was explained that a Joint Committee with no delegated powers or functions was to be established to oversee the operation of shared services, supported by an Officer Board.  The remit of the Joint Committee was to provide advice, oversight, challenge and endorsement of the shared service business plans and budget. The Joint Committee would receive regular updates on the operation of the shared services and would take reports and recommendations for decision to their respective Executives (and Full Council, if appropriate), at agreed points with the engagement of each Council’s Scrutiny Committees. Membership would consist of the Leaders of each Council with a nominated Deputy attending in their absence.  The Cabinet appointed Councillor Howe to deputise for the Leader on the Joint Committee.

The Cabinet endorsed the Sovereignty Guarantee to give confidence to individual Councils’ Executives that they would retain sovereignty of their organisations, as well as Executive decision-making powers.

The Cabinet expressed appreciation to the Managing Directors and Management Team of the three respective Councils and to the Leaders of Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council for their assistance throughout the process.

Prior to the meeting of the Cabinet a summary of the comments from the South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council Scrutiny Committee meetings following consideration of the ICT, Legal Services and Building Control shared service proposals had been circulated to the Cabinet.  The comments of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Panels (Economic Well-Being) and (Environmental Well-Being) had also been circulated to the Cabinet prior to its meeting.

In considering the additional recommendations by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Environmental Well-Being) the Cabinet suggested that the three respective Executive Councillors responsible for ICT should convene regularly to discuss the matter and that the Overview and Scrutiny Panels should receive update reports from the respective Councils’ Scrutiny Panels to scrutinise topics related to shared services.

In conclusion the Cabinet,

RESOLVED

1)  to endorse the approach to shared services outlined in the Officer’s report;

2)  to approve the establishment of a Joint Committee without delegated powers to oversee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21

To consider a report on Shared Services as presented to the Panel by the Managing Director.

The Panel received a Shared Service Overview report by the Managing Director, setting out the overarching principles to apply to proposed shared services for Legal, ICT and Building Control. The report was due to be considered at Cabinet on 16th July 2015 and had previously been discussed at the Overview and Scrutiny (Economic Well-being) Panel on 9th July 2015.

Members queried whether the initial agreement of 5 years, with reviews scheduled for years 2 and 4, is an appropriate term. It was explained that a 5 year term fits with the councils’ financial planning cycles and scheduled review points would provide an opportunity for testing whether the aims of the shared services were being delivered. However, the shared ambition for the shared services is a long-term arrangement and it is hoped that dispute resolution measures outlined in the report would resolve any issues between parties.

Members stated that they would have expected the report to provide more information on risks if circumstances changed or a shared service was found not to be a suitable option after its establishment. Members sought assurance that such risk and associated costs were fully understood if there was a need to opt-out.

Members considered that there is a need to ensure that basic ICT support between councils is adequate and that systems will work together as ICT problems could present a serious risk to service delivery, as has occurred when Central Government has introduced various high profile systems. The Panel was informed of the reasoning behind why ICT is one of the first services to be shared so a common IT service will be put in place to support the other shared services across the whole geographical area. Principles being agreed will mean software adopted across all three councils will not be new to all of the councils, taking a best fit approach to existing systems.

Scrutiny arrangements for shared services were discussed as they would like the ability to review and approve any changes proposed by other councils. It was confirmed that all three leaders would sit on the proposed Joint Committee but arrangements would allow each authority’s scrutiny panels to ‘call in’ or request items on shared service matters if appropriate. Budget savings through shared services would appear in each council’s budget reports.

Subject to the following additional recommendations, the Panel recommended that the Cabinet approve the recommendations in the report.

·  consider whether the full cost of an exit strategy and associated risks if any of the shared services are dissolved are known and understood;

·  consider the need to ensure that the costs of introducing any new ICT systems to support the shared services are well managed; and

·  consider whether the safeguards in the sovereignty guarantee are sufficient to allow the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Panels to scrutinise topics related to shared services.

J Lancaster will present a report outlining the overall approach to the development of the first phase of the Shared Services programme to the Panel.

The Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Economic Well-Being) considered a report presented by the Corporate Director for Services.  The primary subjects for discussions were as follows:

·  Lead Authority Model

·  Head of Shared service position

·  Robust governance; joint committee

·  Business plan

·  Intelligent Client function

·  Identity for Shared Services (branding etc.)

·  Sovereignty guarantee

Members raised questions regarding the effects of Shared Services on Councillors; the Panel were informed that Shared Services will lead to a more robust service, and that these improvements will create extra resilience for HDC, SCDC and CCC. 

In terms of Scrutiny, there may be instances where joint Scrutiny Panels may be appropriate with each Council reporting their findings from the Shared Service implementation. 

It was agreed that strong communication channels between officers and members need to be developed and upheld to maintain clarity and understanding of the areas for improvement within each separate Council.

The Panel provided positive feedback on the work achieved so far, and recommended that the reports should be approved by Cabinet.