SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL AND EAST SUSSEX PARTNERSHIP - SHARED SERVICES
Surrey County Council, as with other public sector bodies, is faced with delivering services to the public in the context of reduced funding. One option to deliver better value for money is to work in collaboration with other councils to deliver services. The Council has entered into a number of discussions with other local authorities to explore collaboration opportunities under the SE7 initiative.
The Strategy to develop partnerships as key to delivering benefits to residents, ensuring resilience and achieving efficiencies was endorsed by Cabinet in November 2011. The report “Time for Leadership, Leading the Change Agenda” set out the strategy, benefits and framework for working in partnership and collaboration.
The Change & Efficiency directorate has been evaluating collaboration and partnership opportunities in the context of this strategy and has set out the vision “to be a leading public service provider of innovative business solutions and transformational change”.
In line with this, it is proposed that Surrey County Council and East Sussex County Council enter into a partnership agreement, under which Surrey County Council will carry out transactional support activities and IT Hosting services on behalf of East Sussex County Council.
[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee]
Additional documents:
Decision:
1. That the establishment of a partnership agreement with East Sussex County Council for support services be supported.
2. That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Change and Efficiency in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Change and Efficiency, to agree final terms of an arrangement under which East Sussex County Council will delegate the provision of transactional support and IT hosting services to Surrey County Council from 1 April 2013.
2. That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Change and Efficiency in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Change & Efficiency, to agree the terms for the short-term lease of the Uckfield premises.
3. Tthat the approval of the decision to establish a partnership agreement for the provision of transactional support and IT hosting services to East Sussex County Council be considered by the full Council at its meeting in February 2013.
Reasons for Decisions
This partnership will build upon the strength of Surrey County Council’s shared services enabling both Surrey County Council and East Sussex County Council to make further efficiencies through economies of scale and build resilience in service delivery. Efficiencies will be delivered to the public sector from the joint procurement of IT technical support, utilisation of capacity within Surrey County Council’s Data Centre and from shared management and reduced overheads. In the longer term, the partnership could consider further sharing of common systems and the use of common processes enabling further functions to be shared across the two organisations.
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Change and Efficiency welcomed the opportunity for Surrey County Council to enter into a partnership agreement with East Sussex County Council to carry out transactional support activities and IT hosting services on behalf of East Sussex County Council. She considered that it was a very important strategic opportunity, which would enable both Councils to make further efficiencies through economies of scale.
The Cabinet Member for Community Safety referred to the Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) that the report stated would be carried out in January 2013. She requested the opportunity to review it, prior to the start of the arrangements on 1 April 2013 and this was agreed.
RESOLVED:
1. That the establishment of a partnership agreement with East Sussex County Council for support services be supported.
2. That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Change and Efficiency in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Change and Efficiency, to agree final terms of an arrangement under which East Sussex County Council will delegate the provision of transactional support and IT hosting services to Surrey County Council from 1 April 2013.
3. That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Change and Efficiency, in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Change & Efficiency, to agree the terms for the short-term lease of the Uckfield premises.
4. That the approval of the decision to establish a partnership agreement for the provision of transactional support and IT hosting services to East Sussex County Council be considered by the full Council at its meeting in February 2013.
Reasons for Decisions
This partnership will build upon the strength of Surrey County Council’s shared services enabling both Surrey County Council and East Sussex County Council to make further efficiencies through economies of scale and build resilience in service delivery. Efficiencies will be delivered to the public sector from the joint procurement of IT technical support, utilisation of capacity within Surrey County Council’s Data Centre and from shared management and reduced overheads. In the longer term, the partnership could consider further sharing of common systems and the use of common processes enabling further functions to be shared across the two organisations.