Agenda item

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.

Declarations of interest:

None

Witnesses:

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:

1. The item was introduced by the Legal 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. A Member of the Committee queried why there were challenges to recruiting to advocacy roles. The Legal 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 recording. This would inform managers where time was being spent. The Cabinet Member agreed to look into this going forward. The Chief of Staff confirmed that teams in legal monitored where their time was spent but this data had not been routinely shared with other services and this is something the service could look at.

8. The Committee were in agreement that time recording was positive as it would evidence which services heavily relied on legal services and where cross charging could take place.

9. The aim is for OPL to be fully integrated by 2019/20. Getting all partners within OPL to develop at the same pace has been difficult but timescales and milestones for the next 6 months will be included in the business plan and presented to the Joint Committee in January. The Cabinet Member stated that the Council’s first obligation was to residents and the cost benefits to them. Currently, the Cabinet Member is unclear on the level of benefit to be achieved through OPL. Over the next 6 months the priority will be understanding and identifying which areas of OPL should be progressed and focussed on. By the end of 2018 a detailed business plan should be in place. 

Recommendations:

• For the Corporate Services Select Committee to report key comments on the Orbis Public Law business plan to the Cabinet Member for Property and Business Services.