Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director Responsible for Finance.

The Director Responsible for Finance presented the report on advising on the financial performance of Strata during 2016-17, including both revenue and capital spend. 

The Director responsible for Finance reported that Strata had been set a savings target of £254,052 in the original business case. Following approval to move staff to new Strata terms and conditions, a revenue saving of only £26,964 had been projected at the start of the financial year 2016/17. However, the Strata budget had delivered £310,950 of revenue savings for 2016/17 including employee savings of £51,695 resulting from vacancies, £54,000 from the mobile telephone budget and £318,356 from income, notably Central Government funds, especially for Revenue and Benefits systems.

Members were advised that Strata had repaid £100,000 to the Councils and the Board had identified the following options for the Strata Joint Executive Committee:-

·         return the additional £200,000 to the Councils; or

·         following the IT Director’s review, two areas of the business had been identified which would benefit from additional resource in order to strengthen the service provided to Councils and to generate further savings. The Board had recommended the appointment of two Project Managers and one Supplier Engagement Manager on fixed term contracts for two years. The cost was estimated at £132,000 a year, with the balance of funding coming from anticipated additional savings generated by the Supplier Engagement Manager. 

The two Project Manager posts would support the Business Analyst teams in delivering IT projects. This would enable the Business Analysts to focus on delivery and allow for better engagement with the client services. It would also alleviate many of the problems identified in the IT Director’s report in respect of the strain and excessive workload that the team was currently facing. 

The Supplier Engagement Manager post would work more closely with suppliers to drive greater efficiency in contract negotiation, again removing another element of work from the team.  By having dedicated experts in project management and supplier engagement, the Company would be better placed to use the skills of its team to match the requirements of the customers.

A Member raised the option of having a compensation plan if Strata did not deliver projects on time. The Executive supported a report from the Strata Board on any possible compensation penalties.

The Director Responsible for Finance clarified the budget position regarding the Council’s mobile phone data provision and that any changes to projects in the convergence plan would be reflected when the plan was updated.

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee considered the report at its meeting on 15 June 2017 and its comments were reported.

RESOLVED that:-

(1)        the report be noted; and

(2)       the Board submit a report on compensation penalties for non-delivery of projects on time; and

RECOMMENDED that;-

(3)          the three Councils approve the appointment of two Project Managers and one Supplier Engagement Manager on fixed term contracts for two years.  The cost is estimated at £132,000 a year, with the balance of funding coming from anticipated additional savings generated by the Supplier Engagement Manager.