Councillors and committees

Agenda item

ORBIS BUSINESS PLAN REFRESH

This report provides an update to the Orbis Joint Committee on the development of a revised business plan and progress made on the key elements developed to date.

 

Minutes:

Declarations of interest:

 

None

 

Witnesses:

 

Kevin Foster, Chief Operating Officer, East Sussex County Council

Sheila Little, Director of Finance for Orbis and Surrey County Council

David Kuenssberg, Executive Director of Finance and Resources, Brighton & Hove City Council

Adrian Stockbridge, Orbis Programme Manager, Surrey County Council

Gail Perryman, Orbis Programme Co-ordinator, East Sussex County Council

 

Key points raised during the discussion:

 

1.    Officers introduced the report and explained the key components of the refreshed business plan.  It was highlighted that there were currently no financial details within the business plan, although officers recognised the ongoing austerity with local government funding and were therefore working on an assumption that further savings options would be required by each of the Sovereign Partners.  Areas of search for a further 2-8% saving being required in 2019/20 and 2020/21 will be firmed up during the Medium Term Financial Planning process.

2.    Members noted that by the end of 2019, the partnership will have delivered 20% saving on gross costs without impacting on service delivery and that there would come a point where it would not be possible for further efficiencies to made in some areas purely through the creation of the shared service and service integration.

3.    Members questioned the management structure and suggested there was a lack of clarity about the challenges ahead and direction of leadership.  Officers explained that each partner authority had ownership with three sovereign leads.  The leads work together to provide strategic direction, whilst acting individually to address sovereign-specific challenges.

4.    Members suggested added granularity in the business plan with greater detail would be more useful.  The inclusion of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) would allow Members to assess whether the partnership was on track. 

5.    Members acknowledged that within Business Operations, there were over 100 KPIs to measure performance, whilst in areas such as finance, as the nature of the business was different, those KPIs were less relevant and developed.  The Orbis Programme Director explained that performance metrics across finance, people and risk management were being developed with a view to pulling them into a balanced scorecard document to be able to review easily.

6.    Members were informed that benchmarking was possible in some services, for example IT & Digital, however in other areas, services were working to develop their own.

7.    Officers explained that delivering Centres of Expertise was core to the business model and would enable efficiencies to be delivered. 

8.    Members noted additional income was expected to be generated by Business Operations winning additional business through accounts payable and receivable and pension administration services.  It was acknowledged however, that this was a difficult market with tight margins.

9.    Members suggested that the business plan required consolidating into a smaller, more focussed document, including financials and for this to be reviewed at the next meeting in January 2018.

 

Actions/ further information to be provided:

 

Officers to amend the Orbis business plan refresh document based on Member feedback and bring back to the Committee in January 2018.

 

RESOLVED:

 

The Members noted the Orbis business plan refresh and requested some amendments be made to the document for review by the Committee in January 2018.

 

Supporting documents: