Agenda item

Andrew will provide a short presentation on opportunities for joint working which will arise from Hampshire County Council Transformation programmes.

Andrew Smith, Chief Executive of Hampshire County Council gave a presentation on the impact of the County Council’s Transformation Programmes and the opportunities this had presented for joint working now and in the future.  Andrew set out the financial context of the transformation journey to date which commenced in 2008 and by 2015 will have realised a cumulative total of £200m savings.  The next phase of transformation through to 2018 was being worked up which would see a further tranche of savings.

Partners had been updated earlier in the proceedings on the roll out of superfast broadband, the troubled families programme and H3.  The superfast broadband project started with £3.5 million of District Councils and Hampshire County Council monies; the investment now stands at £32 million with some £20 million leveraged through the Hampshire Partnership.  The troubled families programme provides an excellent example of multi-agency             working; previously an average of 11 agencies would have been working separately with one troubled family.  The H3 partnership has crossed cultural boundaries, has 75,000 staff using it, has a new IT platform and is attracting new partners; this couldn’t have been achieved if the County Council’s headquarters building had not undergone significant refurbishment turning the former car park into additional working space.  Examples of local shared services (joint funding, Service Level Agreements and shared service, capacity building) are treasury management, legal services, technical resources to the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership, audit, human resources, IT (Hampshire Public Service Network) and procurement.

Andrew focussed on a number of initiatives that would be coming on stream soon which could benefit from a collaborative partnership approach:

·         acceleration of the Extra Care programme – leveraging funding through successful partnership working

·         modernisation and updating programme for country parks for the enjoyment of all – approximately one million people visit Hampshire’s country parks every year

·         joint funding of flood protection measures – if all funds were pooled, it might be possible to leverage further central government funding

·         contributions to LEP funded schemes – for example, providing training facilities for young people to grow skills and the economy

·         primary school places approved - £150 million of investment

·         Hampshire Cultural Trust was set up with Winchester City Council – would be made stronger by the addition of other local authorities

It was noted that capital spending at £600 million over three years was at its highest level.  Existing property programmes such as Workstyle continue apace with new or updated buildings in Basingstoke, Havant, Test Valley, Rushmoor, Eastleigh and Totton and a multi-agency hub located in Fareham.  The County Council will be looking again at its Contact Centre as part of a digital strategy for the Council and its partners, planning major land release, planning for secondary school places to 2017 and beyond to realise the supply of places that is required at this level of schooling and will be negotiating contract extensions for waste management and highway maintenance.  The largest single issue for partners going forward is the Better Care Fund (BCF) and the issues around locality working, low cost local provision, integration of budgets, joint staffing, engagement with hospitals and general practitioners and the inherent growth year-on-year as a result of people living longer.

In conclusion Andrew confirmed his view that collaboration is here to stay and strong partnership working was the only way forward.  Andrew also confirmed that a workshop on Public Service Transformation would be held on 3 October 2014 to which partners would receive an invite to in due course.