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:
- 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.
- 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. 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.