Agenda item

1.

Title of Item/Report

Xentrall Annual Report 2024/25

2.

Record of the Decision

SUMMARY

Consideration was given to a report that reviewed the progress and performance of Xentrall Shared Services.

Xentrall Shared Services was a public sector partnership between Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council (SBC) and Darlington Borough Council (DBC). Established in May 2008, Xentrall was in its seventeenth year working jointly with both Councils supporting them in the delivery of their services.

The services delivered by the partnership were:

a.       Xentrall Design & Print (Printing Services, Design Services, Displays & Exhibitions)

b.       Xentrall Finance (Creditors, Debtors, Banking, Income, System Support & Development)

c.        Xentrall HR (Payroll, Pensions, Recruitment, System Support & Development)

d.       Xentrall ICT (Service Desk, End User Device Management, Platform, Applications, Architecture Strategy, Information Security)

The initial aim of Xentrall was to improve service performance and reduce the cost of the functions it delivers by £7.4m over the original ten-year period of the partnership. Xentrall surpassed this financial expectation by delivering £14m savings across the same period as reported to Members over previous years.

The quality and performance of services had also improved over the lifetime of the partnership through a range of past and continuing service improvements and developments.

This was a significant achievement for a public / public partnership and it compared very well to other private sector partnerships many of which had failed over the same period or been brought back in-house and for a variety of reasons.

In recognition of the on-going success of the partnership, in 2015 Members agreed to amend the original ten-year period into an on-going rolling agreement which continues to this day.

The partnership was governed by the Xentrall Executive Board, namely the Director of Finance, Transformation & Performance (SBC) and Executive Director – Resources and Governance (DBC), and was managed by the Assistant Director (Xentrall Shared Services).

Xentrall continued to perform very well and deliver developmental projects alongside its day-to-day services to both Councils and external customers.

Looking forward, activities would include:

a.       Xentrall Design & Print will continue to support both Councils, working closely with their respective Communications Teams and other services to ensure they all receive the solutions they need. The service is looking to reduce the number of prints produced on the printer/copier fleet at both Councils by using alternative bulk printing methods.

b.       Xentrall Finance will continue to work with both Councils have a number of projects planned or underway which include; implementing the migration of the main finance system and income management systems to a cloud-hosted solutions

c.        Xentrall HR wlll continue to work with both Councils and external academy customers in the exploitation of the HR/Payroll system and the MyHR employee interface and app. Legislative changes will continue to be applied to the system in a timely manner, as will the application of any pay awards as and when agreed.

d.       Xentrall ICT will continue to support both Councils and external customers with information and technology solutions. The service is planning to implement further cyber security measures and planning further exploitation of the ICT service desk system to improve services to customers. 

In addition to the above programme and as with previous years, the continual service improvement mentality within Xentrall would be applied to leverage any further service improvements and/or savings for both Councils where possible. Outside of this programme, Xentrall would continue to assess new business opportunities should these arise as this approach aligns with the Xentrall business model of tactically growing the business, which in turn helps to support both Council’s Medium Term Financial Plans.

3.

Reasons for the Decision

Information item only.

4.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None

5.

Declared (Cabinet Member) Conflicts of Interest

None

6.

Details of any Dispensations

None

7.

Date and Time by which Call In must be executed

N/A