Issue - meetings

To provide an update on key performance metrics across the partnership

Witnesses:

Nikki Neal - Head of Strategy, Performance and Change

Leigh Whitehouse - Executive Director of Resources (SCC)

Phil Hall - Acting Chief Operating Officer (ESCC)

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The Head of Strategy, Performance and Change introduced the report and highlighted that there were amendments to section seven of the report ‘People insight’ which had been circulated with the Committee and is attached as Annex A showing tracked changes.

2.    The Head of Strategy, Performance and Change summarised that:

a)    There were a number of changes to the services within the Orbis Partnership last year, relating to the disaggregation of services and resulting contribution ratios. The two main changes were: the full disaggregation of the Property service from 1 April 2020 reverting to sovereign control in all partner locations; HROD and Finance services reverted to sovereign control (with the exception of some centres of expertise CoE) in SCC but remained integrated across BHCC and ESCC; and the agreement on 30 June 2020 to transfer the Pensions Administration service from Business Operations to ESCC and SCC finance functions to allow greater strategic capacity and alignment.

b)    Regarding each of the services’ three-year savings profile, IT&D and Procurement were on plan to achieve their individual savings targets taking over just £800k, but it was unlikely that the £750k savings target for Business Operations would be met. Plans for improvement had been paused due to Covid-19 and the service was working to close the gap through greater alignment between the three sovereign authorities -discussions were underway at the joint management board.

c)    The ERP replacement projects in SCC: Digital Business & Insights (DB&I) programme and ESCC: Modernising Back Office Systems (MBOS) programme were at different stages. In SCC, Unit 4 had been awarded the contract and would manage critical processes, with a proposed go-live date of 1 December 2021. In ESCC, the main objective was to implement a modern system across the critical processes and was at the final stage of procurement with planned implementation in April 2023.

d)    The Performance and Change team was delivering change programmes such as the Developing Partnering Excellence Programme and staff-based initiatives across the Partnership with over twenty-one unique sessions for staff last year and eighty-five digital events - which had higher attendance and so a ‘virtual first’ approach including e-learning was prioritised, a demonstration of the intranet site Orbis Home was provided which collated resources for staff. 

e)    The spending on agency staff for Orbis overall decreased slightly compared to Q1 2020/21, BHCC and ESCC FTE had remained stable with a reduction in FTE in SCC due to the transfer in June of Pensions Administration staff from Business Operations into the Finance service.

3. A Joint Committee member queried the disaggregation of services which contradicted the founding principle of the Orbis Partnership of integration across the sovereign authorities.

a)    In response, the Executive Director of Resources (SCC) noted that over the last few years there had been a refinement of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5

To provide an update on key performance metrics across the partnership

5.1       The Committee considered a report by Nigel Manvell (Deputy Chief Finance Officer Brighton & Hove City Council), Kevin Foster (Chief Operating Officer East Sussex County Council), Leigh Whitehouse (Executive Director of Resources Surrey County Council), which highlighted:

• The narrative from each partner on the impact of Covid-19
• Staffing levels including agency spend
• The RAG report on progress with savings 

5.2       The Committee asked questions about:

• Quantification of performance measures such as customer service levels, or whether activity has led to a specific result or contributed to other targets such as savings
• Number of Internal Audit “draft reports”

5.3       Officers responded:

• The different authorities collect data in different ways so it is hard to collate a matching set of data for presentation.  Each authority conducts surveys, but it is hard to undertake a survey across all three partners.  Work is under way to develop measurable outcomes.  
• The Internal Audit team had been carrying a number of vacancies, and provided advice on the risks presented by changing working practices in response to the pandemic (such as increased remote working).  A revised Audit Plan will be presented to the Audit Committee in November.

5.4       The Committee RESOLVED to (1) note the Orbis service performance information presented;

(2) advise that service performance information should continue to be presented in the format shown in Section 2 and Annexe 1;

(3) advise that there are no additional/alternative performance measures that should be included;

(4) confirm that the People insight data presented in section 3 is still relevant/helpful; and

(5) agree the proposal for Internal Audit as the focus of the next service spotlight performance review.