Agenda item

To receive a report from the Chief Commercial Officer which reviews the recent re-provision of the corporate support services work and how it might impact on how the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board carry out future overview and scrutiny of corporate services.

Consideration was given to a report by Sophie Reeve (Chief Commercial Officer), which reviewed the recent re-provision of the corporate support services work and how it might impact on the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board’s future overview and scrutiny of corporate support services (CSS).

The report also provided an update on Serco's performance against:

·       Contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) specified in the Corporate Support Services Contract between July and September 2018; and

·       Serco's progress against key IMT-related transformation and transactional projects, as set out in Appendix A to the report.

The Chief Commercial Officer presented the report to the Board, which provided detailed information under the following sub-headings: Background; Council Housekeeping; Payroll and HR Administration Further Improvements; Possible Approach to Future Overview and Scrutiny; and Performance against KPIs.

Questions and comments from members and officers included the following: -

·       During the review period July – September 2018 inclusive, all of the measured KPIs had been achieved (green).  Performance against KPIs had been consistently strong between April and September 2018, Table 1 on page 19 of the agenda pack detailed the overall KPI Summary Performance.   As a result of the consistent strong performance over the last 12 months, the Council had streamlined its contract governance with the introduction of a single monthly Partnership Board and lighter touch service review meetings.

·       The Council had recently established an Agresso Programme Board, with the intention of raising its profile.  The programme would include a rebuild of the Agresso configuration in line with the standard configuration and where necessary a consequent re-design of the associated business processes.

·       An IMT Board had also been established which would be chaired by a chief officer and would ensure that IMT improvements were given the highest priority and that impetus was maintained.  One of the first things it would consider was the adoption of an IMT Strategy, which would be available in draft form by the end of 2018.

·       The IMT Strategy was likely to consist of three sub strategies: Information Management Strategy; Service Delivery Strategy; and Technical Strategy.

·       Serco had recently appointed a dedicated Operations Director for Lincolnshire on a full-time basis, which had added senior capacity and had accelerated decision-making, and had made Serco more responsive to operational issues.

·       There were a number of Council housekeeping measures that were proposed in the report, which had included a reduction in the number of Council end user devices in use; and a reduction in email accounts (particularly in relation to leavers).  The Board expressed concern that the total number of live email accounts exceeded the number of employees.  The Board was assured that the Council’s processes for leavers, which managers were required to follow, included the deactivation of email accounts.  It was also advised that in certain instances the manager might wish to keep the email account open to access the e-mails; however, it was confirmed that the former employee would no longer have access to the account themselves. 

·       The Board supported the introduction of the council housekeeping initiatives, as this would improve the overall service, reduce cost and strengthen partnership working.

·       As the CSS was now improving and performance had stabilised, the report proposed a possible approach to future overview and scrutiny which included a suggestion for the Board to exercise a wider Overview function and look forward to the future delivery of the support services taking a more strategic view on a six-monthly basis.  The report outlined what could be considered as part of the overview function.

·       In addition to the proposed Overview reporting, reports could be taken focusing on scrutiny matters, such as KPI exception performance reporting; progress against outstanding payroll matters; and new housekeeping initiatives by the Council.  A separate scrutiny report could also be presented detailing IMT issues, including progress made against the top 20 IMT projects and by the IMT Board.

·       The Board supported the proposals on the future overview and scrutiny arrangements for the CSSC.

·       The Board welcomed the continued improvements in KPI performance and reiterated the need to receive exception performance reporting going forward as and when necessary. 

·       A concern was raised regarding the suggestions, as part of the proposed council housekeeping, that there would be a reduction in the number of exceptions given where a purchase order was not required; and a possible reduction in the use of ‘one time’ suppliers.  In response, the Board was assured that ‘one-time suppliers’ refers to a system process and it was not an intention to reduce the number of suppliers.  It was also advised that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) would be supported in introducing purchase ordering, which would ultimately simplify the process for SMEs.

·       The Board supported the introduction of a Benefit Realisation Review approach in relation to IMT scrutiny activity, as this would advise whether the benefits anticipated by key IMT projects and services were realised.

·       In response to a question, the Board was advised that the two KPI performance indicators in mitigation were as a result of the Agresso and Mosaic systems not yet being fully integrated.  It was advised that both Adult Care and Serco had provided additional resources as part of the system workaround until a long-term resolution could be found.  It was advised that grant funding was available to support the introduction of online financial assessments, which would also help achieve the KPIs.  It was agreed that in future the report would provide information on any agreed mitigation.

·       In response to a question, the Chief Digital Officer updated the Board on IMT project 277 – OpenText Migration, where support would be given to the County Council and OpenText in migrating the IMP document management system to the OpenText hosted solution, effectively a cloud storage system.  It was advised that the project was currently at the test stage and following a revision to the project plan, to add an additional testing phase, the revised target go-live date was 21 January 2019, subject to third party availability.

RESOLVED

(1)  That the proposed approach to future overview and scrutiny arrangement, as detailed in the report on pages 17 and 18 of the agenda pack, be supported.

(2)  That the Board records its reassurance on the performance of the Corporate Support Services Contract.

(3)  That the progress against the top 20 priority IMT projects, as detailed at Appendix A, be noted.

(4)  That the comments of the Board be noted by officers.