Issue - decisions

1.

Title of Item/Report

Xentrall Annual Report 2023/24

2.

Record of the Decision

Consideration was given to a report on the progress and performance of Xentrall Shared Services, the Stockton and Darlington partnership and demonstrated how Xentrall had delivered savings whilst continuing to improve performance and deliver strategic projects.

Xentrall Shared Services, the Stockton and Darlington partnership, was established in May 2008 and in its seventeenth year. The Xentrall services were:

•         ICT (strategy and operations)

•         Transactional HR (payroll, pensions, recruitment, sickness absence)

•         Transactional Finance (creditors, debtors, banking, schools finance)

•         Design & Print (professional buyer, in-house design and print)

The original business case identified a number of efficiencies and benefits to be delivered resulting in initial savings of £7.4m over the original ten-year period of the partnership. The successful partnership arrangement had delivered all these plus additional efficiencies and benefits and significant additional savings as reported to Members over previous years. At the same time the quality and performance of services had not been compromised but improved, with both customer and staff satisfaction increasing over the life of the partnership.

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. Both Councils had benefited both financially and through a continued programme of service improvements brought throughout the lifetime of the partnership.

3.

Reasons for the Decision

N/A

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