Agenda item
Publica Transition Update
- Meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Monday, 6th January, 2025 4.00 pm (Item OS.131)
- View the background to item OS.131
Purpose
For the Committee to receive a presentation on Phase 1 of the Publica Transition.
Recommendation
For the Committee to note the update and agree any recommendations it wishes to submit to Cabinet.
Invited
Councillor Joe Harris, Leader of the Council
Robert Weaver, Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Pollard, Programme Director
Minutes:
The Chief Executive Officer provided a presentation on the Publica Transition, explaining that there had been an intense period of reviewing services and a number of teams were now directly employed by the Council.
In terms of lessons learnt from the Phase 1 transfer of staff, the Chief Executive stated that in hindsight it would have been helpful to have had a dedicated Council-side communications function to get the messages just right. The difficulty of building a financial model for the costs of individual services provided by Publica had also been underestimated.
The Chief Executive highlighted the governance arrangements and the positive role of the Officer Transition Board. The Programme Board comprised the chief executives of the partner councils plus the Programme Director. As part of Phase 2 there was a need to continually improve the functioning of the governance model, which had generally worked well.
The Chief Executive Officer stated that Phase 1 had been delivered under budget with only minor slippage in the timetable and that staff retention had remained good.
A report setting out the detailed transition plan for Phase 2 would come forward to members in March with an implementation date of July 2025. Property, Programme Management and Waste and Recycling were considered to be critical services for inclusion in Phase 2.
The implications of the government White Paper on devolution would need to be considered and may have impacts for the timing of the repatriation of other services remaining in Publica post-Phase 2.
The Committee considered the implications of local government reorganisation for the programme and questioned whether a cost-benefit analysis of Phase 2 was being undertaken. The Chief Executive agreed that reorganisation was a matter of time and that there was a need to ensure that work undertaken now would not be unpicked in future. Phase 2 remained important, especially in terms of managing the relationship with Ubico, project management, and property but it was unlikely that Phase 2 would extend beyond these three key areas.
In response to a question about whether staff were keen to transfer to the Council, the Chief Executive reiterated that it was important to not create an “us and them” culture.
In discussion the Committee noted that:
- Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire were unlikely to look to each other either for forming unitary authorities or combined authorities. The sharing of services with West Oxfordshire District Council would become defunct in a couple of years’ time.
- Staff included in Phase 1 had had the opportunity to take part in focus groups and a welcome session had been well received. The Council was also working on its emerging People Strategy.
- A small minority of roles included in Phase 1 were shared roles that could not be split and those roles had been advertised internally.
- The Chief Executive felt that Phase 1 had led to a new relationship with staff as he no longer had to go through the Publica Executive and could communicate directly.
- There was no wish amongst the shareholders or the Publica Board for Publica to trade commercially so this option had not been progressed.
- An example of Phase 1 leading to better working methods was the planning case management system, which could now be made to work specifically for the Council, leading to improved automation.
The Committee thanked the Chief Executive Officer for the presentation.