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Agenda item

Publica Review - Detailed report

Purpose

To consider the Detailed Transition Plan, to note its content and to approve the recommendations therein.

 

Recommendations

That, subject to the resolutions of Cabinet on 25 July 2024, Full Council resolves to:

1.    Approve the implementation of Phase 1 of the Publica Transition based on the Detailed Transition Plan and the phasing for the transition.

2.    Delegate to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the decision to deal with any final detail matters arising from the Detailed Transition Plan.

3.    Delegate authority to the Director of Governance and Development (Monitoring Officer), in liaison with the Leader, to update the constitution by making any consequential changes required as a result of Phase 1 of the Publica Transition.

4.    Carry out a budget re-basing for the 2026/7 financial year so that the funding provided to Publica is proportionate to the services received.

5.    Note that following the decision on Phase 1, preparatory work for Phase 2 will commence and will be the subject of a separate report

6.    Note the following as included in the Detailed Transition Plan;

Section 2: Transition Planning:

·         Note the Design-Led principles

·         Note the Key Goals for Transition

Section 7: Modelling Assumptions and Outputs:

·          Note the cost modelling for Phase 1.

Section 9:  Post-Transition Support:

·         Note the need for post-transition support.

 

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to consider the Detailed Transition Plan, to note its content and to approve the recommendations therein.

 

The Chair invited those Publica officers who felt that they should leave the room to do so.

 

The Chair then invited the Leader of the Council, Councillor Joe Harris, to introduce the item. The following points were made:  

 

·         There were concerns about the sovereignty of the Council over its staff and the attractiveness of the Council as an employer at the time of introducing Publica in 2017.

 

·         The Leader noted his own vote against the establishment of Publica as an organisation at that time.

 

·         The concerns were noted as being manifested as part of the Council’s current day-to-day operations during his time as Leader.

 

·         The misgivings around Publica were not a reflection on the staff who work hard at the Council across a range of areas who support people and businesses across the District.

 

·         The Leader wished to thank all staff for their work and noted that they were the Council’s greatest asset to deliver the Council’s priorities. 

 

·         The Leader noted that the transition of services would put staff at the forefront of the process to ensure they can deliver to the best of their ability.

 

·         Phase 1 would return staff to the Council and set the Council’s brand and identity as it becomes a major employer in the District once again.

 

·         The report outlined the need to define what success looks like for the Council and how the future of the Council’s services would look.

 

·         The Overview and Scrutiny Committee were thanked for their work in scrutinising the report and providing constructive feedback. Following this, the Leader proposed an additional recommendation to the report which read as follows:

 

7. Note the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and therefore ask officers to work with members to clarify and define what success for the Council and continuing Publica will look like and the values that will underpin this success in order to improve efficiency and enhance services for residents, businesses and community organisations in the district.

 

 

 

·         The Leader noted that a lot of the change required would take time but this was the beginning of the journey and the priority was to complete the Phase 1 transition of staff at pace.

 

·         It was noted that the short-term and medium-term financial assumptions were clear but that unforeseen costs were possible and that mitigation measures would need to be prepared. 

 

·         It was highlighted that the transfer of staff would help to prepare the Council for the need to respond to the changes likely to take place in the local government sector. 

 

·         This was an opportunity to reset the Council as an employer and to ensure all employees feel valued and empowered in their roles.

 

·         In the 50th Anniversary year of the Council, it was noted that this would be a significant moment in the history of the organisation. 

 

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Mike Evemy seconded the recommendations and made the following points:

 

·         In previous years, outsourcing to the private sector and economies of scale was something that all councils were seeking to do. This was also supported by the UK Government at that time through grant funding.

 

·         Previous arrangements at that time under GO (Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire) Shared Services included transactional services like HR and Payroll under this model.

 

·         Publica was created in 2016 and went live in 2017, taking on the vast majority of services. It was highlighted that in hindsight this could have been seen as a step too far.

 

·         The councils had been left with very little policy and strategic capabilities which made it hard to influence staffing structures and associated spending. 

 

·         The Publica Shareholder Councils all had individual circumstances within their own Districts which needed to be met through services. This had become particularly prevalent with the change of administrations in the Shareholder Councils. 

 

·         It was reiterated that it wasn’t a criticism of the staff within Publica but rather of the model it was operated under.

 

·         Following the review of services by Human Engine and the decisions taken to repatriate services to the Council, senior management in the Councils and Publica had been working closely with the Programme Director to drive the process.

 

·         Publica as a company would still have a role within Council services which would need to be closely managed by the Council.

·         The expected cost following the transition  was estimated to be around £376,000 per annum which represented a 10% increase over the current cost within Publica. The key factor in this increase was the offering of all staff the Local Government Pension Scheme which the modelling assumed all staff would take up with few opting out. 

 

·         There were key principles for success in the Detailed Transition Plan and key performance indicators would be drawn up and monitored. These principles included enabling performance and value for money to be measured, simplify processes, manage resource deployment, and embed cost recovery in services.

 

Members made various comments around previous concerns of the financial impact of the transition of services. It was also noted that the work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had produced previous amendments which were rejected around monitoring the financial costs.

 

Council noted points raised that the Phase 1 and 2 transitions would have a long-term impact on the cost of delivering services and the scale of services provided.

 

Council noted that extra transparency around agency staff costs and the whole project costs would be of benefit as promised at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Council noted that Senior Management of the Council had worked very hard to deliver the change and to have an ‘open-door’ to Members for questions.

 

Council noted issues with staff recruitment because of Publica’s lack of access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

 

Council noted the findings of the Peer Review which had raised the original concerns around the Publica shared services model. 

 

Council noted that Publica did not need to be totally dismantled to deliver improvements and that any change would need to be done creatively.

 

The Leader in summing up made the following points: 

 

Councillors across the political divide had shared frustrations around the operation of services under Publica.

 

The Leader was comfortable that the vast majority of the financial questions had been answered. There would be some unknowns but there was confidence in the work done by the Chief Finance Officer and the Programme Director. 

 

There would be difficult decisions around staffing structures but the Council would have control over future requirements. 

 

There was hope that the new UK Government would give long-term funding certainty, but this wasn’t available right now. 

 

It was stated that most councils were moving away from Teckal companies. 

 

While the transition may provide challenges the Council would plan to mitigate these where possible. 

 

It was stated that the transition of services in future years would likely be seen as a positive step for the District.

 

 

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

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