Suffolk County Council Delivering Differently Outsourcing insourcing and

Suffolk County Council Delivering Differently Outsourcing, in-sourcing and divestment Aidan Dunn Head of Procurement Suffolk County Council

Our ambition was to take a more commercial approach To be a smaller and more effective Council To put a much greater emphasis on commissioning and have much lower levels of direct service provision. To improve services whilst spending less money

What Suffolk has done: Between April 2011 and 2013 the Council divested nine different services and business units. Through this process: – Transferred 4000 staff out of direct Council employment – Set up contracts totalling over £ 75 m. On 1 st June 2014 SCC in-sourced its Back Office Services from a Joint Venture with BT

5 Spin outs….

2 external traders …. 2 ‘traditional’ outsources ….

1 internal trader…. 6

Why Divest ? Potential Benefits • • • Financial Commercial Flexibility and service responsiveness Increased Community Involvement Staff Benefit

Observations & issues (1) • Suffolk County Council was ambitious in its approach to divestments and took calculated risks • Critical to the success is a service lead who is passionate, skilled and committed to ‘pulling’ the service out of the Council. • That needs to be married with a can do attitude within the Council to ‘push’ the service out. • The divestment process itself is complex and is a short term distraction from service delivery issues • It brings an absolute focus on non service issues such as back office services, governance, cashflow, taxation and legal arrangements.

Observations & issues (2) • No one size fits all for the organisational form • ‘Back office’ costs and Overheads – there are step down savings to be made here too • Divestment in itself will not completely solve the budget gap, although it has a role to play in the mixed economy of services.

How divestments are managed once they have left SCC Internal Service Provision Job Descriptions Internal Service Metrics Control over Staff Contracts of Employment Salaries Performance Development Reviews To be replaced by External Service Provision Specifications Key Performance Indicators Negotiation with service providers Management and control of contracts Invoice processing Provider service reviews

Have you noticed a difference in the library service in Suffolk over the past year? • I think it is about the same 53. 8% • I thinks its got better 39. 4% • I think its got worse 6. 8% I’m amazed that we still have such an excellent service. I moved here from the London borough of Brent where 50% of libraries have been closed. So I know how lucky I am to be here!" Suffolk Libraries Customer

How divest