Purpose of the item: To agree
the minutes of the Resources and Performance Select Committee held
on 22 June 2023 as a true and accurate record of proceedings.
The minutes of the Resources
and Performance Select Committee held on 22 June 2023 were formally
agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
30/23
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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Purpose of the item: 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.
Hazel Watson declared a
non-pecuniary interest that she was a governor for The Ashcombe
School.
Edward Hawkins declared a
non-pecuniary interest that he had previously been appointed as
Director of Halsey Garton Property Ltd. Cllr Hawkins confirmed that
he was no longer appointed to the position. Cllr Hawkins further
declared that he had previously been appointed as Deputy Cabinet
Member responsible for property. Cllr Hawkins confirmed that he was
no longer appointed to the position.
31/23
QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
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Purpose of the item: To
receive any questions or petitions.
NOTES:
1.
The deadline for Members’ questions is 12:00pm four working
days before the meeting 12 October 2023).
2.
The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting
(11 October 2023).
3.
The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no
petitions have been received.
Purpose of the item:to provide a status update following
implementation of the “MySurrey” system and
particularly to focus on the process for capturing ’lessons
learnt’
David
Lewis, Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources
Leigh Whitehouse,
Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of
Resources
Anna
D’Alessandro, Director of Finance – Corporate and
Commercial
Key
points raised during the discussion:
The Deputy Chief Executive and
Executive Director of Resources introduced the report and
provided Members with a brief outline. It was noted that the
purpose of the report was to provide a status update following the
MySurrey ‘go live’ date and particularly to focus on
the process for capturing lessons learnt. Members noted that the
Digital Business and Insights Programme (DB&I) was to implement
a new Unit4 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (now known as
“MySurrey”), as a replacement for the previous SAP
system. Details on the context of the item were included within the
published report.
A
Member noted that the Council’s plan was to discontinue the
use of SAP in December 2023. With regard to external organisations,
such as multi-academy trusts, which were being transitioned from
the Council’s SAP system to other providers, the Members
asked whether Officers were on track for the transition to be
completed by the end of December 2023. The Director of Finance
– Corporate and Commercial confirmed that in May Cabinet had
made the decision to off-board the multi-academy trusts and
academies from the council’s payroll system and that they
would be supported by the Council with the onboarding of their own
payroll system. The Director stated that the project was on track
with agreed timeliness and that the Council continued to support
the programme by providing essential resources and
expertise.
The Chairman asked the witnesses for their view on whether the
SAP contract would need to be extended beyond December 2023. The
Deputy Chief Executive and Executive
Director of Resources responded that the Council held a perpetual
licence for the software, which would allow it to use the software
on an ongoing basis. However, there was an additional annual fee to
have software support available which was due to end in December
2023. The witness explained that SAP was currently only being used
for school payrolls during their transition to other providers, as
previously noted, and that the SAP software would become redundant
once those transitions were complete. In relation to a contingency
plan in the event that the software was required following December
2023, Members noted that the replacement software, MySurrey, went
live in June 2023 and so the SAP system would only need to be used
during the transitional phase for external organisations and for
data archiving purposes.
The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of
Resources explained a ‘Lessons Learnt’ exercise would
be completed as part of the transition to ‘business as
usual’ and the closure of the DB&I programme.
Members noted the explanation that the main reason
for school payroll issues in September 2023 was due to a technical
issue related to incomplete forms relating to data capture being
entered into the system. Members also noted that the main issues
with the new ...
view the full minutes text for item 32/23
Purpose of the item:The report is due to be considered by the Strategic
Investment Board at its meeting in December 2023. As part of good governance, it has previously been
agreed to have the annual and mid-year reports scrutinised in
advance by the Resource & Performance Select
Committee.
David
Lewis, Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources
Natalie Bramhall,
Cabinet Member for Property, Waste and Infrastructure
(online)
Leigh Whitehouse,
Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of
Resources
Anna
D’Alessandro, Director – Finance and
Commercial
Neil Jarvey,Strategic Finance Business Partner,
Commercial
Simon Crowther,
Director – Land & Property
Charles
Maxlow-Tomlinson, Managing Director – Halsey Garton
Property
Key
points raised during the discussion:
The Cabinet Member for Finance &
Resourcesintroduced the report and provided
a brief summary. Members noted that, as part of its strategy to
innovate in developing new models of delivery and to benefit from
the freedoms introduced by the Localism Act, Surrey County Council
had made investments and created trading companies to deliver
income and efficiencies and in doing so had established a Strategic
Investment Board, which reports annually to the Council. The
purpose of the Board was to safeguard the Council’s interest
as a shareholder and to take decisions in matters that required the
approval of the council as owner of a company. The report was due
to be considered by the Strategic Investment Board at its meeting
in December 2023. It was previously agreed to have the annual and
mid-year reports scrutinised in advance by the Resource and
Performance Select Committee. Members noted briefings on the
companies, for which details can be found within the published
agenda.
The Chairman asked for details on the
strategic objectives for each of the
companies, how they have changed over time, what ‘good’
would look like in relation to Connect2Surrey, and for details on
the expansion goals for Surrey Choices. With regard to ambitions
for Connect2Surrey, the Strategic Finance Business Partner,
Commercial explained that the approach was to reduce the spend on
third-party large agency contracts and to increase the number of
permanent staff using the resources contained within the
council’s Recruitment team. With regard to Surrey Choices,
the Strategic Finance Business Partner stated that he understood
that the company had some initial financial control issues but now
felt confident that the company was in financial control. In
relation to expansion of services, it was stated the focus was
still on the residents of Surrey and to expand into community-based
services to support residents with various schemes which included
independent travel and employment support.
With regard to Halsey Garton Property, a Member
noted that the company delivered a pre-tax operating profit of
£1,941k and asked whether the company was still profitable
post-tax. The Member further noted that no dividend was anticipated
to be paid from the 2023/24 trading year. The witness stated that
the company was still profitable following taxation and highlighted
the benefits returned to the council throughLoan Interest Arbitrage and dividends.
A Member stated that Government had said that
councils should not enter into commercial property investments for
purely investment benefits purposes. Officers agreed that new
legislation would mean that the council could no longer take on
these types of investments for purely commercial gain; however,
officers had been advised that existing assets would not need
...
view the full minutes text for item 33/23
34/23
EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC
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Recommendation: That under Section
100(A) of the Local Government
Act 1972, the public be excluded from the
meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that
they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information under the
relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.
Recommendation:That under Section 100(A) of the Local
Government
Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for
the following items of business on the grounds that they involve
the likely disclosure of exempt information under the relevant
paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.
Purpose of the item: For the
Select Committee to review the attached Forward Work Programme and
Recommendation Tracker, making suggestions for additions or
amendments as appropriate.
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