Issue - meetings

Orbis was created as the ‘compelling alternative’ for back office service

delivery in Surrey, East Sussex and Brighton & Hove, with an ambition to

pioneer new models of service delivery. EY has been engaged as a

strategic partner to Orbis to support the ongoing development of the

partnership and to enable Orbis to learn from market leading practice in

order to remain sustainable.

To raise awareness of the wider operating context, in August 2017 EY

launched a quarterly market insight bulletin tailored to Orbis. This aims to

share ‘snap shot’ insights from the local, national and international arena

to bring fresh perspectives, share examples of where new initiatives are

being introduced and raise questions for Orbis to consider as part of its

ongoing evolution.

N.B. Report to follow.

Declarations of interest:

None

Witnesses:

Adrian Stockbridge, Head of Strategy, Performance and Change, Orbis

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.       Members were informed that the report had been delayed and therefore would be circulated electronically upon receipt.

RESOLVED:

The Joint Committee noted that the report would be circulated electronically upon receipt.

To provide an update to the Joint Committee from EY who have been engaged as a strategic partner to Orbis to support the ongoing development of the partnership and to enable Orbis to learn from market leading practice in order to remain sustainable.

The Committee considered a report introduced by Kevin Foster on the work done with EY, and welcomed Neil Sartorio and Hayley Stearn from EY to the meeting.   

Witnesses:

Kevin Foster , Chief Operating Officer, East Sussex County Council

Hayley Stearn, EY

Neil Sartorio, EY 

David Kuenssberg, Executive Director of Finance and Resources, Brighton & Hove City Council 

Sheila Little, Director of Finance for Orbis and Surrey County Council 

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    The Committee’s attention was drawn to the State of Shared Services report, which identified that the majority of organisations had an in-house model and were not outsourced, and that there was a growing trend towards customer-centric services. The focus tends to be on the sustainability of the operating model, rather then  whether it is created to generate profit or to break even.  

2.    Members asked questions about how to define a measurement of Value Added.  It was acknowledged that this is more of a challenge than transactional metrics, but it was set out that proxy measurements on agreed areas of shared value are the most illustrative way of achieving this aim.

3.    Neil Sartorio highlighted some of the projects set out in the Quarterly Market Insight.  This included the EYC3X project, which uses data analytics to identify where early intervention could assist children in care and the homeless, in the light of the growing challenge of the current funding situation.       

4.    Officers illustrated how Orbis would assist staff in front line services implement the learning from the EY insight, such as shared learning between the authorities or shared back office services such as Finance teams, but acknowledged that it could be hard to quantify in terms of avoided future costs. 

5.    Members asked questions about the Cyber Security insight, and were informed that it is managed as an Orbis function, and that each partner authority receives its own update.  It was also confirmed that cyber security will feature on the performance dashboard.  

RESOLVED:

Members noted the presentation.