Agenda and minutes

To record the attendance of substitute members, if any, who have been authorised to attend in accordance with the provisions of standing order 17(1), with notification having been given to the proper officer before the start of the meeting and to receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from:

·           South Oxfordshire District Councillor Sue Lawson: her substitute was Toby Newman;

·           Vale of White Horse District Councillor Katie Finch.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the committee meeting held on 22 October 2015 (previously published). 

To consider the outcomes of actions agreed at previous meetings.

To update on matters referred to Cabinet, district Scrutiny committees or other meetings or fora.

The minutes of the Joint Scrutiny Committee held on 22 October 2015 were approved by the committee and it was agreed that the Chair would sign them.

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting; and of any other relevant interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive notification of any matters, which the chair determines, should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances, which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chair.

The Chair reminded the committee that the documents printed on lilac paper were exempt and subject to strict confidentiality rules.

Any statements and/or petitions from the public under standing order 32 will be made or presented at the meeting.

None.

To review the attached scrutiny work schedule. Please note, although the dates are confirmed, the items under consideration are subject to being withdrawn, added to or rearranged without further notice.

The committee approved the work schedule and made no amendments to it.

To consider the strategic director’s report. 

The report was presented by the lead officer for the project: Steve Bishop, strategic director. Also at the table were: David Buckle, chief executive and lead officer for the client team; Matthew Barber, leader of Vale of White Horse District Council and Cabinet member for the corporate services project; Lynn Lloyd South Oxfordshire District Council Cabinet member for the corporate services project, and John Newton, consultant and project manager.

The committee had a wide ranging discussion asking questions of clarification and raising concerns about a range of topics; the main subjects raised and the responses are summarised below:

·           Would there be any impact on residents in terms of the services they would receive? The officers and Cabinet members believed that residents would experience an improvement in services as best practice and added value were included in the contract. The contractors would also be subject to more scrutiny and the need to meet key performance indicators than internal departments of the councils were currently subject to.

·           How would the client team work? A client manager would be recruited to work across all five councils. They would appoint a client team which would have specific areas of responsibility for various parts of the contracts. These posts would not be council specific.

·           How were the savings to each council apportioned? An agreement had been reached that each council would receive a percentage saving rather than cost sharing. This meant that South and Vale each benefited from a 27.4 percent saving on Lot 1 (awarded to Capita) and a 15 percent saving on Lot 2 (awarded to Vinci) across the 9 year span of the contract. Bidders were incentivised to provide savings from year one right through to the contract end. The savings were in percentages and the figures for each council were different as the base budgets were different. The savings given do not include the costs of the client team and therefore the net savings are expected to be lower once these were factored in.  The net average saving, after deducting client costs, to each of South and Vale councils will be approximately £750,000 per year throughout the contract.

·           What other benefits and savings would the councils make, particularly from the marketing of this model by the contractors? The model is extendable and it would be possible for other councils to replicate the business model, creating further economies of scale and therefore direct savings to existing councils: the mechanics of this would be worked out through the Lot 1 and Lot 2 contracts and the Inter Authority Agreement. Additionally, contractors would be providing expertise on the potential for further savings in the retained services, although these would be subject to political agreement.

Matters of Clarification

·           All data would remain the property of the sovereign councils, rather than that of the contractors.

·           All energy savings gained by the contractor (Vinci), of which the contractor would retain a significant part, must be due to the direct actions of the contractor and not to variables  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

The chair to move that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public, including the press, be excluded from the remainder of the meeting to prevent the disclosure to them of exempt information, as defined in Section 100(I) and Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, to the Act when the following items are considered:

Corporate services contract

(Category 3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information.)

The Chair moved that, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public, including the press, be excluded from the remainder of the meeting to prevent the disclosure to them of exempt information, as defined in Section 100(I) and Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, to the Act as the following items were to be considered:

Category 3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Category 4 - Information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority.

Appendices 6 to 10 attached. 

The committee asked for clarification of the above topics in more depth. There are no confidential minutes recorded as no new information was raised and there was no direct impact on the resolution of the committee.