1. That the creation of a Legal Services partnership arrangement with Brighton & Hove City Council and East and West Sussex County Councils to be known as Orbis Public Law, with effect from 1 April 2016, be approved.
2. That the establishment of a Joint Committee as the governing body for Orbis Public Law to oversee the discharge of the Council’s Legal Services function be agreed.
3. That the attached terms of reference for the Joint Committee and the appointment of the Cabinet Member for Business Services and Resident Experience to that Committee be approved.
4. That officers develop a Business Case for a Limited Company (which would be jointly owned by the four authorities) as the vehicle for an Alternative Business Structure (ABS), in a form approved by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority and if appropriate, present this to Cabinet for approval in due course.
5. That authority be delegated to the Director of Legal, Democratic and Cultural Services, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Business Services and Resident Experience to take any action necessary or incidental to the implementation of the above including an Inter Authority Agreement between the partner authorities.
Reasons for Decisions:
Developing a single shared service will benefit residents and contribute to corporate priorities by enabling a reduction in the overall cost of legal services through economies of scale and reducing duplication. At the same time it will increase resilience and flexibility, allowing the partners to reduce reliance on external suppliers and to develop areas of excellence and expertise.
The creation of an ABS would widen opportunities to generate more external income to further reduce the costs of services to partner councils.
[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Council Overview Board]