Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive attached.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Paul Foster) and the Deputy Chief Executive (Chris Sinnott) presented an update on the shared services arrangements with Chorley Council, which also highlighted savings made, staff satisfaction levels and the risk register.

Members noted the progress made since the expansion of shared services in 2019 but queried if the Council would consider sharing services with other authorities than Chorley where applicable. In response, the Leader confirmed that the administration would be open to this and that discussions with other local authorities are constantly underway to discuss further sharing opportunities.

In response to a query regarding how the different cultures of each authority are recognised and maintained, it was emphasised that each council maintains its own sovereignty and there was a need to understand the priorities for each authority. Work such as aligning policies, organisational development and networking had also been undertaken to bring each authority together.

The committee was keen to note any challenges experienced through shared services and what lessons had been learnt.

Challenges in the reorganisation of the Council’s IT and Gateway services were acknowledged and lessons around communication to and with staff were recognised.

Members queried what measures were being taken to improve these services. It was explained that an additional £1.2 million had been allocated to improve IT hardware and that extra resourcing within Gateway had recently improved the call waiting time to an average of 1 minute.

Assurances were also provided that there were no direct issues with competing priorities and demands and that mitigating measures such as annual business planning and extra resource allocation were in place to deal with such issue.

The committee suggested undertaking joint scrutiny of shared services with Chorley Council’s Scrutiny Committee, which the Leader supported.

Members welcomed confirmation that a review of management capacity was underway with a report expected within the coming months.

Queries were also raised with regard to capacity at other levels and assurances were provided that this is constantly monitored through business planning, monthly Directorate Management Teams (DMT) meetings and weekly Senior Management Team meetings.

It was questioned as to which services were earmarked for the next phase of shared services, to which the Leader and Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that no decision had been made on this yet.

The total savings through shared services were identified within the appendix to the report and members sought confirmation as to when these savings would be made.

It was confirmed that the savings identified had already been achieved.

Members also noted that all risks within the Risk Register were marked as either amber or green and queried whether this was realistic given the significance of the shared services programme.

In response, the committee was advised that the Risk Register reflected the view of the Council’s Risk team and that amber represented a medium-level risk.

The committee thanked the Leader of the Council and the Deputy Chief Executive for their report and attendance.

Resolved: (Unanimously)

That the Scrutiny Committee

1.     thanks the Leader and Deputy Chief Executive for attending, presenting their detailed report and answering questions;

2.     welcomes the achievement, progress and improvements made as a result of Shared Services;

3.     asks that the individual examples of issues concerning ICT systems be investigated further;

4.     feels re-assured that the Council is aware of the issues with the Customer Services and ICT review and that steps are being taken to resolve these as soon as possible; and

5.     explores further the opportunities of joint Scrutiny of Shared Services with Chorley Council.