Agenda item

Report attached

1. Cabinet authorised all necessary amendments and variations to the Agreement so as to give effect to the following:

That the Council withdraws its delegation from One Source of the following shared services:

•                    Human Resources and Organisational Development

•                    Procurement

•                    ICT

•                    Asset Management

•                    Finance: Pensions Accountancy and Treasury

That the Council withdraws its delegation from One Source in respect of the Reconciliations function, following the review of scope. This will be determined once a bi-borough process improvement plan is implemented over the next few months.

Cabinet agreed that the Council would retain the following functions within one source, namely:

•                    Legal and Governance

•                    Exchequer and Transactional

•                    Corporate Business Systems Team

•                    Print Services

2. Cabinet authorised the s.151 Officer, in consultation with the Chief Executive, to make all necessary arrangements to give effect to the authorisation at 1 above, including but not limited to:

a) Implementing the HR and other operational processes to give effect to the recommendations.

b) Agreeing the dates for the withdrawal of those services listed at 1(a).

c) Agreeing, amending and finalising any variation or variations to the Agreement and the delegations contained therein as necessary to give effect to 1 above, and thereafter to sign and complete any variation on behalf of LBH.

d) Making arrangements to receive staff into LBH as a result of the amendments to the Agreement.

e) Making arrangements to allow LBH to share some of the proposed withdrawn services for a transitional period beyond the agreed date of implementation whilst permanent arrangements are put in place within LBH.

f) Making arrangements to provide a support service to the retained One Source services.

g) To prepare and / or receive and thereafter agree and set the investment case for the ICT function

3. Cabinet agreed that The Council waived the right to any compensatory payments due under the Agreement noting that London Borough of Newham will also be waiving their rights under these reciprocal arrangements.

Cabinet was presented with the FUTURE OF ONE SOURCE.

Report was introduced by Councillor Chris Wilkins, Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation.

A report before Cabinet to approve the Future of one source report. One Source is a “back office” partnership established in 2014 between London Borough of Newham (”LBN”) and The London Borough of Havering (“LBH”) to provide most of the back office or support functions that the councils depend on to deliver other services. The arrangement delivered considerable savings on inception and was considered a relatively ground-breaking innovation at the time.

There is now a need to return some services to each council as each council now needs bespoke and unique support for some services as not all the shared services are delivering the benefit of shared services.

A member asked about how the split in services will affect staff and whether subsidising funding will occur through the split. Officers confirmed that there is a legal impediment for not subsidising services in the other council. The cost of sharing will be ongoing review to ensure transparency and fairness for each Borough.

It was AGREED:

1.          That Cabinet authorised all necessary amendments and variations to the Agreement so as to give effect to the following:

That the Council to withdraws its delegation from One Source of the following shared services:

·         Human Resources and Organisational Development

·         Procurement

·         ICT

·         Asset Management

·         Finance: Pensions Accountancy and Treasury

b) That the Council withdraws its delegation from One Source in respect of the Reconciliations function, following the review of scope. This will be determined once a bi-borough process improvement plan is implemented over the next few months.

c) Cabinet agreed that the Council would retain the following functions within one source, namely:

·         Legal and Governance

·         Exchequer and Transactional

·         Corporate Business Systems Team

·         Print Services

2. Cabinet authorised the s.151 Officer, in consultation with the Chief Executive, to make all necessary arrangements to give effect to the authorisation at 1 above, including but not limited to:

a) Implementing the HR and other operational processes to give effect to the recommendations.

b) Agreeing the dates for the withdrawal of those services listed at 1(a).

c) Agreeing, amending and finalising any variation or variations to the Agreement and the delegations contained therein as necessary to give effect to 1 above, and thereafter to sign and complete any variation on behalf of LBH.

d) Making arrangements to receive staff into LBH as a result of the amendments to the Agreement.

e) Making arrangements to allow LBH to share some of the proposed withdrawn services for a transitional period beyond the agreed date of implementation whilst permanent arrangements are put in place within LBH.

f) Making arrangements to provide a support service to the retained One Source services.

g) To prepare and / or receive and thereafter agree and set the investment case for the ICT function.

3. Cabinet agreed that the Council waived the right to any compensatory payments due under the Agreement noting that LBN will also be waiving their rights under these reciprocal arrangements.