(a)    

Plymouth’s approach to shared services was of national interest, and was being watched by several national bodies;

(b)   

the overall strategy was to create a service vehicle that would ease the capital burden on the council, enable the transfer of risk, and to provide on-going benefits to the council and partners by offering standardised services at  competitive rates;

(c)    

the ideal client base was any public sector organisation in Plymouth and Devon, the initial focus was on delivering the business case to include Public Health, NHS Plymouth and Sentinel CiC;

(d)   

there were  two key gateways for delivery of the project by April 2014 –

·         December 2012 - Business case agreed with the partners;

·         May 2013 – Approval of system design and the service level agreements;

(e)   

Plymouth City Council had 277 business software applications operating across all departments.  The model of ICT infrastructure had grown through business needs and demands but had high overheads and complex interfaces which led to duplication.  Nearly 30 per cent of the existing applications could be consolidated into the proposed core infrastructure;

(f)     

the business case for the allocation of £3million in capital to invest in developing a core infrastructure would be presented to the Cabinet in September 2012 and would set out:

·                The components of a core infrastructure that would enable customer service transformation and a modernisation and efficiency programme.  

·                The opportunity for application consolidation onto the core infrastructure.

·                The development of a core suite of self-service applications to reduce internal costs.

·                The opportunities for transformation of services and service redesign in every department over the next 2 – 3 years. 

(g)    

the first systems and departments to migrate would be human resources and organisational development.

(h)   

the specific risk levels and mitigating actions regarding shared services would depend on which organisations made up the final partnership.  A risk register would be developed once final membership had been confirmed;

(i)     

both Sentinel Community Interest Company (CiC) and Public Health (Plymouth) would be partners.  Further discussions with other NHS areas and Plymouth Community Healthcare were on-going.  Shared services would also be discussed at the September meeting of all Devon council Chief Executives;

(j)     

the formation of a company, which could be set up as a community interest company (CiC) or social enterprise, could protect the investment made into shared services.  The approach would provide improved technical facilities for the city and positively affect the economy by protecting and increasing highly skilled jobs;

(k)   

surrender of control and investment was a concern of many potential partners. By adopting a CiC or social enterprise model the organisation could remain in public ownership.  The surrender of some control should not be seen as negative as benefits would be delivered across public sector.