Agenda item

(a)       That the Committee notes the contents of the report and the local examples of shared services provided, including those in the accompanying appendix and presentation; and

(b)       That officers liaise with the Chairman in order to schedule presentations on various themes at future meetings.

The Corporate Manager (Capital Programme & Assets) introduced a report on shared services following the discussion in April which explored the benefits and limitations of outsourcing and/or creating shared services as a means to deliver Council services.  The report provided a brief overview of shared services along with local examples including a case study on joint Procurement Services with Denbighshire County Council.

A presentation was given by the Chief Officer (Planning, Environment & Economy) and Senior Minerals & Waste Planning Officer on the Minerals and Waste Shared Planning Service in North Wales.  In addition to detailing the experiences of establishing the shared service, the presentation highlighted the benefits, challenges and learning.  Having recently been shared with the Royal Town Planning Institute and Minerals Planning Association for the UK, it had been recognised as best practice for services with limited resources.

In welcoming the presentation, the Chairman reminded the Committee of the background to the request for this item, in particular to look at the sharing of back-office services such as legal, ICT etc which worked well in the private sector.  He spoke about the benefits and challenges in considering sharing resources.

His views were echoed by Councillor Bill Crease who referred to the potential to develop standard ICT applications across the organisation to achieve short-term savings.  Whilst acknowledging the challenges in agreeing a unified approach with other authorities, he gave examples of where savings could be made through joint procurement.

The Chief Officer (Governance) responded to the comments and spoke about the key objective for shared arrangements to deliver improved services with financial benefits.  He went on to say that the majority of service costs related to staff and therefore reducing headcount was one of the main cost savings in creating shared services.

Councillor Paul Johnson referred to the complexities and suggested looking at other examples across the UK.

Councillor Crease called for a consistent approach across portfolios to identify opportunities on which the Committee could have regular oversight.

The Chairman spoke about the role of the Committee and asked if Members wished to receive information on joint ventures including examples of authorities working together across the region.

The Chief Executive referred to the Council’s lean operating model and its current and forecasted financial position, highlighting the time and resources needed to understand the implications and risks.  He said that opportunities would continue to be explored and suggested that he liaise with officers to arrange for presentations on various themes for services/contracts to be shared with the Committee, accompanied by the relevant officers.

The Chairman agreed and asked that officers engage with him on this.  He moved the recommendations and was seconded by Councillor Crease.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Committee notes the contents of the report and the local examples of shared services provided, including those in the accompanying appendix and presentation; and

(b)       That officers liaise with the Chairman in order to schedule presentations on various themes at future meetings.