Agenda item

(To consider a report from John Wickens, Assistant Director - IMT and Enterprise Architecture, and Sophie Reeve, Assistant Director, Commercial, on the Corporate Support Services Review Project which sought the views of the board on: the scope of services included within the Corporate Support Services Review (CSSR) Project; the validity of a single Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) type provider for future services; and the principles and rationale of the early draft IMT model which is under development)

The Board considered a report and presentation from the Assistant Director – IMT and Enterprise Architecture, and the Assistant Director, Commercial, on the Corporate Support Services Review Project which sought the views of the Board on: the scope of services included within the Corporate Support Services Review (CSSR) Project; the validity of a single Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) type provider for future services; and the principles and rationale of the early draft IMT model which was under development.

The Corporate Support Services Review Project had been established as part of the Council's Transformation Programme to support informed decision making around the future delivery of services in the current Corporate Support Services Contract with Serco. The contract with Serco would end in March 2024. Further extensions beyond that date were not possible and the Council needed to have alternative arrangements in place and therefore planning had now commenced. Serco currently provided IT service delivery, People  management (Payroll and HR Admin), Finance (Adult Social Care Finance) and the Customer Service Centre (CSC). The contract had been in place since April 2014.

The intention was to report progress to the Board at regular intervals to coincide with the existing quarterly updates on the performance of the existing corporate support services contract. This was the first such report and dealt with IMT, scope, and the market to establish a potential model which met the Council's requirements beyond 2024. It was necessary to be clear about the scope of services that should be included in the review. It was noted that beyond the current Corporate Support Services Contract, the market conditions had changed so significantly that alternative options to a single BPO type provider should be explored.

 Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·         The Board was satisfied that the scope of services included within the Corporate Support Services Review (CSSR) Project should be limited to those services currently delivered by Serco namely IMT, HR Admin and Payroll, Finance (including ASC Finance) and the Customer Service Centre (CSC).

·         There was recognition that the single Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) type provider was coming to an end and did not support the Council's commissioning intentions and was likely therefore to be replaced by a number of specialist providers for future services.

·         Regarding the principles and rationale of the early draft IMT model which was under development it was thought that there was a need to shape requirements to what the market offered. Where customised solutions were considered then the Board would need to know the risks and consequences. It was noted that customised solutions were more expensive and likely to be more risky than off the-shelf tried and tested ones.

·         Managing a variety of providers would be more challenging and it was confirmed that officers were in liaison with other local authorities on how they managed risk with multiple providers and also on the solutions they employed.

·         Payroll and adult and social care were two services which would prove to be challenging in attracting a choice of external commercial providers, however, work was underway in reviewing the options and possibilities. It was noted that one option would be a 'shared service' arrangement with other local authorities. It was confirmed that Serco  may well be interested in a smaller  contract for example for the CSC services.

·         One piece of work was to determine what services would look like in 2024. For example the CSC was likely to look different to what it did now and more emphasis would be given as to how it could be provided digitally in the future. Modern responsive solutions were an important requirement for future provision.

·         It was acknowledged that IT was a big part of the Serco contract and it was agreed that change and exit should be phased to maintain stable service delivery.

(At this point Councillors B Adams, Mrs J Brockway and L Wootten gave their apologies and left the meeting)

RESOLVED:That the Board receive the report and the feedback provided on the three points be taken into consideration by officers as the project progressed.