1. That the establishment of a partnership agreement with East Sussex County Council for support services be supported.
2. That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Change and Efficiency in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Change and Efficiency, to agree final terms of an arrangement under which East Sussex County Council will delegate the provision of transactional support and IT hosting services to Surrey County Council from 1 April 2013.
2. That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Change and Efficiency in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Change & Efficiency, to agree the terms for the short-term lease of the Uckfield premises.
3. Tthat the approval of the decision to establish a partnership agreement for the provision of transactional support and IT hosting services to East Sussex County Council be considered by the full Council at its meeting in February 2013.
Reasons for Decisions
This partnership will build upon the strength of Surrey County Council’s shared services enabling both Surrey County Council and East Sussex County Council to make further efficiencies through economies of scale and build resilience in service delivery. Efficiencies will be delivered to the public sector from the joint procurement of IT technical support, utilisation of capacity within Surrey County Council’s Data Centre and from shared management and reduced overheads. In the longer term, the partnership could consider further sharing of common systems and the use of common processes enabling further functions to be shared across the two organisations.