Issue - meetings

To approve the business plans for ICT, Legal and Building Control Shared Services and to approve the Terms of Reference for the Shared Services Joint Group, to enable that Group to operate as a formal committee from September 2016.

i.  Note and agree the report in principle; and

ii.  That the report be presented to the Cabinet meeting in June to allow the Business Plans to be reconfigured into a more succinct document in response to the comments made by the Cabinet, as contained within the Minute.

The Cabinet considered a report by the Corporate Director (Services) (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) regarding the Business Plans for the ICT, Legal and Building Control Shared Services for the period 2016/17 and the Terms of Reference for the Member Board that formed the strategic part of the governance arrangements, to be known as the Shared Services Joint Group.

It was considered amongst the Cabinet that the Business Plans were complicated to comprehend and inconclusive.  The documents did not appear to be typical Business Plans, but more a technical manual that included a project plan.

It was suggested that an executive summary was required.  When the report was presented to the Overview and Scrutiny (Finance and Performance) Panel, due to the unmanageable volume of the documents, the majority of the Panel had not read the Business Plans.

The Cabinet noted that the shared service was predicted to deliver financial savings of 15% per annum over the succeeding five years.  However, it was considered that it had not been tested as to how the savings would be realised. 

The Cabinet acknowledged the significant amount of work that had already been achieved.  However, the Business Plans needed to be re-configured and commercialised.  For the purposes of monitoring and scrutinising, the documents needed to be condensed.

The Cabinet were reminded that there were two other authorities within the shared service and therefore a compromise was required to agree a document that satisfied all three Councils.

On the basis of the discussions, the Cabinet considered that it could not support the recommendations as contained within the Officer’s report and instead,

RESOLVED

i.  to note and agree the report in principle; and

ii.  that the report be presented to the Cabinet meeting in June to allow the Business Plans to be reconfigured into a more succinct document in response to the comments made by the Cabinet, as contained within the Minute.

To receive a report on the Shared Service Business Plans and the Terms of Reference for the Joint Group.

The Panel received a report on the 2016/17 Business Plans for Building Control, Legal and ICT Shared Services and the Terms of Reference for the Joint Group, a Member board established to provide strategic direction and leadership to the shared services. The Executive Member for Commercial Activities explained that shared services are one of the main activity streams intended to deliver the savings planned in the Council’s budget. The business plans are live documents so will be updated throughout the year.

The three new shared services commenced in October and the business plans set out details of the services they will deliver, expected savings and planned efficiency measures. The plans are live documents so will be updated throughout the year. They each include an overview of staffing, an operational plan and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Performance against these indicators will be reported to the Panel on a quarterly basis.

The Panel was informed that the building control services at Cambridge City and Huntingdonshire both had the same ISO 9001:2008 accreditation but that they were currently registered separately with a different organisation. It was confirmed that the intention was to secure a single ISO accreditation to cover the whole Building Control service. A business process re-engineering resource has already been allocated to help improve processes and achieve the accreditation with a target validation date of March 2017.

A Member was concerned that local authorities will stop providing Building Control services and asked if there was a plan for dealing with increased competition from the private sector. The Panel was told that options such as setting up a trading company had been considered initially but it was decided to proceed with a shared service instead. Local authorities are required to provide certain statutory services that wouldn’t be provided by private sector. The Building Control Shared Service should be more resilient than three separate services and the business plan takes the market into account. A risk register is being maintained to identify and manage risks.

Members were informed that the business plan for the ICT Shared Service includes standardisation and adoption of common systems. For example, a new financial management system is being procured to underpin everything that all three councils do. There has already been a lot of progress made in improving systems to allow staff to work more flexibly and remotely.

(At 7.21pm, during the discussion of this item, Councillor T Alban joined the meeting).

A Member asked whether the plans considered the demand for information by people unable or unwilling to use computers. In response, the Panel was informed that the ICT Shared Service’s main focus is on supporting Council services to be more efficient and effective and this includes supporting a move to greater self-service and digital service delivery. It was also pointed out that increasingly the public are accessing services not from computers but from their smartphones. The Council’s Customer Service Strategy recognises the need to understand customer needs and provide information and services in accessible ways and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31