Reigate & Banstead to consider partnership with Kent County Council

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council could enter into a partnership with Kent County Council to jointly deliver Revenues and Benefits; Finance and Procurement; Information Communications Technology (ICT) and Personnel services if proposals to be considered by the Council’s Executive at their meeting on Thursday 17 June get the go-ahead.

Cllr Mrs Joan Spiers, Council Leader, explains:

“In order to deliver our ambitions for new facilities and deal with the impact of the recession on our finances the Council needs to save £4 million pounds over the next few years. Given the role the public sector will be expected to play in contributing to reducing the country’s budget deficit we believe that the target is likely to increase.

“We shall continue to deliver high quality services to our residents, and achieve this whilst living within our restricted budget. This means we have to look at how services will be delivered in the future. We initially focussed on Revenues and Benefits; Finance and Procurement; ICT and Personnel and Payroll services because the markets for the provision of these services are the most developed.

“The Council has now investigated alternative service delivery options and identified that a Public Sector Partnership with Kent County Council will provide the most cost effective way of delivering these services, whilst maintaining the service quality, flexibility and responsiveness that we demand. Other options considered as part of the process were outsourcing to a commercial private sector provider or “DIY service transformation”, which would see us investing in improved systems and resources to provide the services in house. I believe that neither of these options is as good as the Partnership.

“Kent County Council has an impressive track record of these types of partnerships already and a partnership with them will mean that these services will remain in the public sector for the foreseeable future while we benefit from the economies of scale that a larger partner can bring. A key advantage of a Public Sector Partnership like this is that all funds will be retained in the public sector for reinvestment in local services or to help off-set Council Tax.”

The Public Sector Partnership would be governed by a Joint Member Board, made up of Councillors from each authority.

Cllr Mrs Spiers continued:

“If this way forward is agreed, clearly it will have an impact on the number of staff employed by the Council. However we would seek to minimise redundancies and redeploy staff where possible, including within the wider Partnership.

“The majority of staff would continue to operate from Reigate Town Hall in the short term and locations may change over time as the Partnership develops. However, the elements of services which require face to face contact will remain within the Borough.”

If the proposals get the go-ahead, detailed plans will be drawn up in the coming months to be considered by the Executive, with a view to the first stages of the Public Sector Partnership operating from 1 April 2011 and the remaining elements merging during 2011/12.

Cllr Mrs Spiers added:

“Reigate & Banstead will continue to examine other services and service providers and choose which supplier fits each group of services – one size may not fit all. The Council operates many businesses and we have to behave in a cost effective, business-like manner in order not just to survive but to continue to provide good quality services to our residents and businesses. This may well include other partnerships with Surrey authorities.”

For a copy of the report to be considered by the Executive please see following link: http://collateral.newsflashconnect.co.uk/RemoteStorage/Reigate-banstead/Releases/1071/Item%2004%20-%20ASD%20Tranche%201.pdf