Decision details

Adoption of the Transformation & Collaboration Programme including:

·        To seek agreement to the GBC and WBC Executives working more jointly on these matters in the future e.g., by way of simultaneous meetings.

·        To seek a mandate to progress the issues of co-location and single officer structure and receive a report back in October 2023.

Decision:

That the Executive:

(1)         notes and endorses the Guildford and Waverley Partnership Vision statement, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Executive;

(2)         notes the progress made to date with regard to the Guildford and Waverley collaboration initiative, as set out in Appendix 2 and section 7 of the report;

(3)         adopts the proposed Transformation and Collaboration Programme, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report;

(4)         approves a project to explore the potential benefits of co-locating Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council staff within shared premises or single HQ, resourced separately from this Transformation and Collaboration Programme, and to receive a report for consideration with an options appraisal and recommendations.

(5)         approves a project to explore a single shared officer structure between Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council, resourced through the initial Transformation and Collaboration budget allocations, and to receive a report for consideration with an options appraisal and recommendations.

(6)         agrees the additional resources as set out in section 10 of the report (£100,000 of revenue and £100,000 of capital. For Guildford Borough Council this would be funded from flexible use of capital receipts and the Finance Recovery Reserve. For Waverley Borough Council this would be funded from the invest to save reserve) to support the initial start-up of this programme and notes how the revenue funding will be spent to secure officer support as set out within Appendix 4;

(7)         notes that the initial benefits realisation work with the joint Executive Heads of Service has been carried out by the Organisational Development and Finance Teams, with a rough order of magnitude for savings through collaboration projects at £700,000 but that this figure is expected to increase over time as the detail of more plans is developed;

(8)         notes that the required level of funding to support the delivery of the programme in the longer term cannot be made available at this time, necessitating a phased and prioritised approach in the first instance (focusing more on staff terms and conditions and immediate savings opportunities and less on the broader and more complex questions of the operating model for both authorities);

(9)         requests that consideration be given in February 2024 to how the broader programme can be fully funded and taken forward when the budgets of both Councils are agreed (and adopting a revised programme structure in line with that increased level of funding at that time);

(10)    approves the principle of the Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council Executives working in partnership on matters relating to the Transformation and Collaboration Programme;

(11)    approves the principle of Simultaneous Executive Meetings (SEMs) for the Executives of Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council to consider matters relating to the Transformation and Collaboration Programme;

(12)    delegates authority to the Joint Executive Head of Legal and Democratic Services to schedule regular meetings, as required, simultaneously of the Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council Executives, in consultation with the Leaders of both Councils, and

(13)    invites Overview and Scrutiny Committees to scrutinise and comment upon the draft options appraisals, the recommendations and the costs and savings before these are finalised and brought back to the Executive for further consideration.

Reasons:

1.     To articulate and set the framework and goals for the collaborative work between Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council and provide a direction of travel;

2.     To enable collaborative work to continue with the resources available and allow officers to resubmit bids for funding to deliver the vision in future years;

3.     To ensure Executive members of both Councils can jointly debate and decide matters coming to them relating to the Transformation and Collaboration programme, ensuring transparency and agile decision making across both authorities, whilst maintaining sovereignty of both councils;

4.     To ensure decisions relating to sharing premises and staffing are subject to proper scrutiny; and

5.     To support the plans of both councils to achieve financial sustainability, particularly for Guildford Borough Council in the light of the reset Budget 2023/24 report (Full Council 25 July 2023) and Financial Recovery Plan (Full Council 10 October 2023) and revised Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

1.     Take no further action on collaboration.
The Executive could choose not to progress the collaboration initiative as set out within the report. The JMT is already in place and the Executives could decide that this joint team will continue to manage the two councils’ separate teams and services as they are without any further change, foregoing any future potential opportunities for service development and cost reduction.

2.     Do something else
The Executive could agree to pursue the collaboration in a different way or to a greater or lesser degree. Options for the Economic Case to deliver the objectives of the Programme are set out in the PID (Appendix 5). For example, the Executive could resolve to pursue some of the projects referenced within the report but not others or it could ask for officers to focus on something else altogether. If collaboration were to be abandoned, the termination provisions of the Inter-Authority Agreement would apply and the significant costs of dissolution would have to be reported to both councils appropriately.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.