(if any) - receive

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Forhad Hussain.

Members are invited to disclose any pecuniary interests in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting. Members may still disclose a pecuniary interest in an item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on 10 November 2017, and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on 10 November 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The oneSource shared forecast financial position shows a projected overspend of £0.142m as at December 2017, Period 9. This was an improvement on the Period 6 projected overspend of £0.796m. The £0.654m improvement between Period 6 and Period 9 was largely due to an improvement in the ICT and Exchequer Services forecasts.

£11.069m have been applied to shared budgets since oneSource’s inception in 2014/15. Savings of £10.927m are forecast to have been achieved by the end of 2017/2018. The projected overspend split between the three boroughs is (£0.140m) to Havering, £0.155m to Bexley and £0.127m to Newham..

Early Period 9 indications regarding non-shared areas managed by oneSource but not part of the cost share are as follows; (£0.348m) underspend for Havering, £4.715m overspend for Newham and nil variance for Bexley.

The Joint Committee noted the current oneSource projected forecasted outturn position based on the financial monitoring as at the end of December 2017.

The report provided Members of the Joint Committee with an opportunity to review the latest version of the oneSource corporate risk register.

It was reported that the oneSource Management Team reviews the corporate risk register on a periodic basis. As part of the review process the Management Team recently undertook a risk review workshop to refresh the corporate risk register.

The results from that review have been incorporated into the updated risk register.

The Joint Committee noted the contents of the risk register.

The report before Members provided details of performance with oKPI 1 Customer Satisfaction with oneSource services. The indicator was collected by an electronic survey campaign, which was undertaken biannually.

Members noted that the oneSource Business Services team monitors the relationship between oneSource and its customers and overall performance, ensuring oneSource meets the expectations of the programme and needs of its customers.

oneSource was set a challenging 80% target for customer satisfaction for the services to exceed. In October, satisfaction exceeded this target for the first time with 82% overall customer satisfaction. This rose from 75% in March 2017 and has seen continued upward trend since October 2016 where satisfaction was 72%. in October 2016. 

Individually, customer satisfaction with the service received is 89% from Havering Council, 81% from Newham Council, 55% from Bexley Council and 78% from oneSource. Customer satisfaction has increased for Havering and Newham, with satisfaction in both councils exceeding the target. Satisfaction within oneSource dropped slightly to 78%. There was a significant decrease in satisfaction within Bexley, with overall satisfaction at 55%. 

Satisfaction within Havering, Newham and oneSource were within a similar range, bordering near the target; however, within Bexley, satisfaction reduced due to lower than expected results. Therefore further investigation and actions are required to address this.

The Joint Committee noted oneSource’s Customer Satisfaction key performance indicator (KPI).

The report provided an update on a number of key activities across oneSource.

With respect to the transition to trading, it had been decided to delay the activation of the dormant company, oneSource Partnership Ltd, which had been planned for early spring.

Having reviewed the extent of the tasks required to set up the company, it was not possible to make the January round of Cabinet meetings. Work was ongoing to develop the oneSource Partnership Ltd Business Plan, with further discussions planned with partner authorities regarding the future direction of oneSource.

In terms of the oneSource Integrated Programme Plan, work was underway to implement two new ICT systems that will allow oneSource to manage its finances in a more commercial way. There are four initial service review pilots and these are making good progress with completion scheduled for the end of January.

It was noted that the Transition to Trading programme plan would eventually be combined with the oneSource Transformation Plan into a oneSource Integrated Programme Plan for the period to April 2019.

oneSource continues to have success in being shortlisted for numerous awards, including a nomination for the Best Service Delivery Model award at the Local Government Chronical Awards in March 2018.

Work has begun to renegotiate contracts awarded work by the Newham small businesses as they move to company status, with a view to extending the length of the contracts from one year to three years. It was noted that was of particular relevance to the overall oneSource offer and the need to diversify into services that are more suited to small businesses.

Finally, it was anticipated that the new oneSource Interim Chief Executive would be appointed in the coming weeks.

The Joint Committee noted the report.