Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/074

Contact: Lorna Baxter, Chief Finance Officer Tel: (01865) 823971/Steve Munn, Chief HR Officer Tel: (01865) 815191

Report by Chief Executive (CA11).

This report provides an update and next steps in the externalisation of corporate facing HR and Finance back office services and the joint venture proposal to cover school back office and schools learning and foundation years.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)            agree to join the Hampshire partnership as an operational partner for the provision of back office support services with an expected go-live date of 1^st July 2015.

(b)            note that a report will be brought to Cabinet in September 2014 setting out the progress made towards a business case for a second partnership with Hampshire concerning a range of school improvement and support services.

This report provides an update and next steps in the externalisation of corporate facing HR and Finance back office services and the joint venture proposal to cover school back office and schools learning and foundation years.

Councillor Liz Brighouse, Opposition Leader, stated that the Labour Group supported the public/public partnership as proposed but that there were some issues of concern. There was a risk that people would leave in advance of externalisation and this would need to be managed. There had been a lot of hard work with trade unions to avoid major conflict around human resources such as staff relations: there was a need to ensure that people we need to continue to work sensitively with schools are based in Oxfordshire and available to schools to avoid escalation of issues.

Councillor Howson, speaking as a local councillor, welcomed paragraph 6 but queried if there was any condition on the level of buy in. He expressed concern at the transition cost and asked how the IT funding was to be spent. He was concerned about incompatibility issues between systems. He also expressed concern with regard to education improvement which he hoped would continue to be delivered within the County and that the work of Education Scrutiny would not be downgraded.

Councillor Waine, speaking as a local councillor broadly supported the proposals. He knew that all efforts were being taken to keep schools and governors informed and this was important going forward. Schools were the customers and without their buy in there would be no service. Schools would be looking for value for money, efficiency and accessibility. He queried whether work was being done to ensure the QUEST offers were a local service and requested that schools be totally involved in performance monitoring.

Ian Jones, COTO, stated that following initial fears they were heartened by the proposals. Personal contact was vital and he detailed a number of individual concerns including querying where staff direction would lie. Councillor Tilley thanked Mr Jones and other Trades Union members for their support.

Ms Darnton, speaking as a representative of the Schools Forum, noted the improvement in the proposal from the early stages. She shared concern about the reality of the partnership and the potential for the loss of control which was a key point of negotiations going forward. Named contacts were currently much valued. The change in the period for buy in from 1 year with Oxfordshire to 3 years for the partnership was a concern and could affect take up.

Councillor Rose, in moving the recommendations commented on the points made and confirmed that efforts had been made to keep all involved. The Council valued its relationship with Trades Unions and policy would remain with Oxfordshire. He noted the requests to keep various aspects local but recognised that it was not possible to keep everything in house and still achieve the savings.

Lorna Baxter added that the transition costs included the cost of aligning IT with Hampshire. Steve Munn confirmed that HR policy and strategy remained with Oxfordshire County Council. Graham Shaw added that with regard to the 3 year contracts that 1 year contracts were hard to sustain and 3 years was the norm.

RESOLVED:           to:

(a)            agree to join the Hampshire partnership as an operational partner for the provision of back office support services with an expected go-live date of 1^st July 2015.

(b)            note that a report will be brought to Cabinet in September 2014 setting out the progress made towards a business case for a second partnership with Hampshire concerning a range of school improvement and support services.