Report To:	Cabinet	9 July 2015
Lead Officer:	Executive Director (Corporate Services)

Shared ICT Services

Purpose

Cambridge City Council (CCC), Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) and South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) have agreed to work in partnership to deliver shared services and have agreed general principles to underpin the approach.

This report provides the business case to establish an ICT Shared Service (ICTSS) between the Councils and details the activity to create the ICTSS.

This is a key decision because it results in the authority incurring expenditure which is, or the making of savings which are, significant having regard to this Council’s budget for the service or function to which the decision relates and it was first published in the May 2015 Forward Plan.

Recommendations

Cabinet is recommended to approve the Business Case and delegate authority to the Executive Director (Corporate Services) to make decisions and to take steps which are necessary, conducive or incidental to the establishment of ICTSS in accordance with the business case.

Reasons for Recommendations

Reasons for the recommendations are set out in the Shared Services Overview Report.

Background

When this matter was last reported to Cabinet, approval was given to develop a business case and to appoint an ICT Shared Service Programme Lead. This was funded in full by the Transformation Challenge Award (TCA) made by Government to the three Councils concerned to support their work towards a range of shared service arrangements.

The business case for the establishment of the ICTSS can be found at Appendix A to this report. The rationale for the establishment of a ICTSS between CCC, SCDC and HDC is that it will enable the creation of a shared applications systems and technical infrastructure to facilitate wider shared service delivery for all Council Services, reduce overall IT cost, increase resilience and capacity and improve staff recruitment, retention and development.

Considerations

It is proposed that HDC will act as the lead authority for the ICTSS; although it is recognised that different ICT teams take on a variety of functions across each Council, the scope of the ICTSS has been agreed by the partner Councils and is described in this business case.

The ICTSS will be created by the TUPE transfer of staff from CCC and SCDC to HDC; this is proposed to happen on 1 October 2015. Interim management arrangements will be put in place prior to the appointment of the proposed Head of the ICT Shared Service.

The gross ICT operation budget of the three Councils in 15/16 is £5.798m. This figure excludes the costs of the contract that the City Council has with Northgate, which is a fixed price contract ending in 2018. Therefore, no savings have been shown against that element of ICT cost and in calculating the ratios of operating budgets at start- up, which is used as the basis for savings and cost distribution, the Northgate element has been excluded. The ratios for 15/16 are therefore CCC 32.7%, HDC 38.4%, SCDC 28.9%. They will change to CCC 41%, HDC 35.7%, SCDC 23.3% in 16/17 because the 16/17 budgets will additionally include the 3 Councils departmental non- staffing IT budgets. An exception to the use of the ratio for cost distribution is in respect of those employees ring-fenced for the proposed management structure where it is proposed that those costs will be borne by the pre – TUPE employer.

As with all service areas within the three Councils, each ICT team has already been challenged to reduce the costs of delivery; savings have accordingly already been taken by each Council from their 15/16 budgets (the last year when each Council approved its own ICT budget if this Business Case is accepted). Reduction of 15% of the net revenue budget after income has been applied for 16/17.

Interim management arrangements will be put in place prior to the appointment of the Head of the ICT Shared Service. This cost is estimated at £80k. There are also costs associated with implementing flexible working across the three Council and options and costings for this are currently in development.

There will be a Service Catalogue which describes the range of services which will be available to users. These service descriptions include details of service availability, support availability and business priority. The Management Team will have responsibility for ensuring proper on-going monitoring arrangements for work progress and proper client care through the agreement and reporting of appropriate ‘key performance indicators’ with each participating council. A technical roadmap is in development which will target key outcomes to be achieved in creating a single service.

The covering report on shared services, elsewhere on this agenda, details the general principles used to underpin the establishment of shared services between the 3 Councils.

Options

Options are set out in the Shared Services Overview report.

Implications

In the writing of this report, taking into account financial, legal, staffing, risk management, equality and diversity, climate change, community safety and any other key issues, the following implications have been considered: -

Financial

The ICTSS has a minimum saving target of 15% of net revenue budget after income has been applied.

Staffing

HDC will become the Lead Authority for the ICTSS. As such, identified ICT staff in CCC and SCDC will transfer under TUPE to HDC on the go-live date. Formal consultation with staff, Unions and Staff Council at HDC will take place during August in accordance with each Councils policy on consultation. The consultation will be in respect of the proposed TUPE arrangements and new management structure.

Equality and Diversity

An Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA) has been carried out. The EqIA will be reviewed at all key stages including when the implementation papers are ready and after consultations have taken place.

Climate Change

Low Positive Impact. Reduction in accommodation and energy use associated will have a positive impact. Potential negative impact from increased travel will be mitigated by increased mobile and remote working.

Consultation responses (including from the Youth Council)

This will be conducted in accordance with the Councils agreed policy.

Background Papers

Appendices:

Appendix A – ICT Shared Service Business Case

No other background papers were used in the preparation of this report.

Report Author:	Alex Colyer – Executive Director (Corporate Services)

Telephone: (01954) 713023