To agree the minutes as a true record of the
meeting.
Minutes:
The minutes from the last meeting were agreed
by the Committee.
3.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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All Members present are
required to declare, at this point in the meeting or as soon as
possible thereafter
(i) Any
disclosable pecuniary interests and /
or
(ii) Other
interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any
item(s) of business being considered at this meeting
NOTES:
·Members are reminded that they must not participate
in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest
·As well as an interest of the Member, this includes
any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the
Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the
Member is living as a spouse or civil partner)
·Members with a significant personal interest may
participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that
interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial.
Minutes:
There were none.
4.
QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
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To receive any questions or petitions.
Notes:
1. The deadline for Member’s questions
is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (30 November
2017)
2. The deadline for public questions is seven
days before the meeting (29 November 2017)
3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days
before the meeting, and no petitions has been received.
The Committee is asked to review its forward
work programme and monitor progress on the implementation of
actions/ recommendations from previous meetings.
The
Chairman informed the Committee that a property ‘follow
up’ workshop would be organised in due course with the
Committee to consider Member engagement. This was formally agreed
for inclusion on the Forward Work Programme.
Along with
an existing item on the forward plan around the HR strategy, the
Committee agreed that an additional item on corporate health and
safety would be included on the forward plan for March
2018.
A Member of
the Committee queried if agency contracts could also be considered
with the HR strategy item in March 2018. The Chairman confirmed
that a HR item on agency staffing would be considered by the
Committee in June 2018 as part of a 6 month update.
The
Vice-Chairman queried if the Committee should consider the IT
digital strategy and in particular how this was being implemented
across the organisation. The Chairman explained that the digital
strategy was in the remit of the Overview and Budget Scrutiny
Committee and Members of that Committee had received a private
briefing on the strategy. The Chairman agreed to take this away and
discuss this further with the Chairman of the Overview and Budget
Scrutiny Committee. The Cabinet Member for Property and Business
Services supported the Committee in considering the digital
strategy.
A Member of
the Committee expressed the view that the Committee should have
more meetings in its schedule.The Chairman
explained that the Committee's meetings had been set up quarterly
for 2018 but there was room to hold additional workshops and
undertake site visits as members wish.
Cllr
Sinead Mooney and Cllr Mark Brett Warburton arrived at
10.15am.
Actions:
For a
property ‘follow up’ workshop to be included on the
Committee's Forward Work Programme.
For an item
on corporate health and safety to be included on the Committee's
Forward Work Programme for March 2018.
For the
Chairman to discuss the inclusion of the implementation of the
digital strategy to the Committee's Forward Work Programme with the
Chairman of the Overview and Budget Scrutiny Committee.
Tim Oliver, Cabinet Member for
Property and Business Services
Key
points raised during the discussion:
The
Chairman queried if Brighton and Hove were ready to join the Orbis
partnership and what work had been done in preparation for taking
on a new partner. TheOrbis Programme Manager
explained that Brighton and Hove formally joined the partnership in
May 2017 but work had begun 18 months prior to them formally
joining. Although, not formally integrated, a phased approach for
integrating each of the services was being undertaken. Key
challenges for Brighton and Hove were around technology. It was
recognised that their IT was not yet at the right level and
required further work so that they can contribute effectively to
the partnership.
Concerns
were raised around staff travel times and travel costs as a result
of needing to travel to different offices as part of wider Orbis
work. TheOrbis Programme Manager stated that
this was a concern but more meetings were being arranged through
Skype which would save money on travel expenses. Going forward
travel expenses would be linked to pay grades. The Director of
Finance clarified that this meant that expenses would be paid
through payroll.
It was
queried if each Orbis partner had their own sovereign property
strategy and what challenges this posed to the partnership as a
whole. TheDirector of Finance stated that
Surrey had a well-established property strategy. Although each
authority within Orbis would have a different property strategy,
each authority would be supported equally through the partnership
in ensuring their strategy was fit for purpose. The Chief Property
Officer in Surrey was in contact with each authority regarding
this.
The Cabinet
Member for Property and Business Services explained that the Orbis
Joint Committee had asked the Orbis leadership to add more
granularity to the business plan including a dashboard with
KPI’s. The Joint Committee had discussed its ambitions for
Orbis and would like to see at least 80% of processes within Orbis
to be the same. The revised business plan is expected to include
more details around integration on lower levels of the
partnership.
The
Chairman explained to members that the business plan was still very
much a work in progress and the Select Committee had the
opportunity to contribute to its development.
A Member
queried what impact savings on staffing had on staff resilience and
morale. TheDirector of Finance explained
that the development of staff was at the forefront of the business
plan with coaching, mentoring and support always being available to
staff. A number of programmes focused on developing staff were in
place and ‘epic champions’ within the partnership would
feedback any concerns from staff to senior leadership. Staff were
also given the opportunity to take advantage of secondments through
the partnership.
Members of
the Committee asked for more detail around the Centres of Expertise
(CoE) in regards to the pace of progression and queried if
... view
the full minutes text for item 6.
This report provides
the Committee with budget planning information for Business
Services & Orbis.
Minutes:
Declarations of interest:
None
Witnesses:
Sheila Little, Director of
Finance
Louise Lawson, Senior Principal
Accountant
Tim Oliver, Cabinet Member for
Property and Business Services
Key
points raised during the discussion:
A Member of
the Committee queried building running costs and asked what costs
this included. TheSenior Principal
Accountant explained that this cost included rents, utilities and
some staffing costs and that a cost breakdown could be provided if
members wished to see further detail. The Chairman added that
building running costs would be discussed at the property
‘follow up’ workshop.
Members of
the Committee agreed that associated costs with buildings needed to
be allocated and ‘cross charged’ to services to ensure
there was ownership of costs. The Cabinet Member stated that as the
Leader had agreed, Surrey would be moving forward with a
‘place agenda’ that would include discussions with
services around their property needs. Currently there was no clear
data around how much staff and services were using in terms of
building costs but this would be developed to ensure transparency
of costs.
Queries
were raised in relation to insurance costs. The Director of Finance
explained that £4m was the cost for the 2017/18 insurance
premium. The £1.3m income had been generated through insuring
on behalf of schools.
It was
explained that a corporate allocation model with costs was in place
for when returns were submitted to government. The Director of
Finance agreed to share this with this Committee.
Members
agreed that it was important that managers were aware of their
costs especially in regards to property. The Cabinet Member was in
agreement that services needed to be aware of costs, especially
those they had control over. The practicalities around how this
information is collated and shared would need to be discussed with
the Director of Finance.
Recommendations:
For the
Corporate Services Select Committee to report key comments on the
budget item to the Cabinet Member for Property and Business
Services.
Actions:
For the
Director of Finance to share corporate allocation costs with the
Committee.
The Select Committee is asked to scrutinise the
Orbis Public Law (OPL) business plan and to agree any areas for
further consideration by the Orbis Public Law Joint
Committee.
Rachel Crossley, Assistant
Director (Chief of Staff)
Sarah Baker,Legal Services
Manager
Tim Oliver, Cabinet Member for
Property and Business Services
Key
points raised during the discussion:
The item
was introduced by theLegal Services Manager who explained that a fair
amount of work was still required on the journey to integration.
The shadow year for OPL would be extended into 2018/19. During
2017/18 a key piece of work had been focused on getting all
authorities on the same case management system, a complex project
in its own right.
A Member of
the Committee queried costs if Orbis Public Law (OPL) was set up as
a new legal entity. The Legal Services Manager gave some background
to the alternative business structure (ABS) model, explaining that
there were no proposals to set this up at present as the costs
would be considerable and there was not a clear business case to
support it. Under current legislation, OPL can undertake work for
different local authorities without becoming an ABS.
There was a
discussion around the difficulty in recruiting childcare advocates.
The Legal Services Manager explained that there had been two
recruitment drives to recruit to vacant posts but these had been
unsuccessful. The role would involve advocates attending both
courts in Guildford and Brighton. Recruiting to these roles would
bring in a saving of £100k to OPL partners. It was further
added that currently 60-70% of hearings were covered in house by
team lawyers and acceptable results were achieved.
Members
queried if it was possible to recharge costs back to teams for the
legal services they used. The Chief of Staff stated that a balance
needed to be achieved in regards to the support services required
and the time pressures legal services were under. As a starting
point it would be useful to understand and monitor what services
were using the legal team.
A Member of
the Committee queried why there were challenges to recruiting to
advocacy roles. TheLegal Services Manager explained there were a number
of challenges. With the increase in childcare cases many of the
people within this field were already employed. Staff were also
constantly moving on as there were vacancies and opportunities in
this area. OPL was also competing with London wages which were more
attractive.
The
partners within OPL are aligning ways of working and from 2018 work
would to be allocated to all four authorities. This was part of the
commercial pathfinder project. The Cabinet Member added that the
Joint Committee were in agreement that they wanted to see an
acceleration of the work being undertaken by OPL. The Joint
Committee also asked to be provided with a KPI dashboard setting
out where each authority was in terms of progression. Areas where
joint working could be developed also needed to be
identified.
Discussions
around cross charging services was raised again by Members. The
Cabinet Member agreed that it was possible to capture the work
being undertaken by staff through time ...
view the full minutes text for item 8.
9.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
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The next meeting of the Committee will be held
at 10:00am on 7 March 2018 in the Ashcombe Suite, County Hall.
Minutes:
The next meeting of the
Committee will be held on 7 March 2018, at 10.00am in the Ashcombe
Suite, County Hall.