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Meeting: 23/11/2010 - Joint Overview and Scrutiny Board (Item 35)
35 Worcestershire Hub Joint Scrutiny Task Group - Final Report 
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Minutes:
The Board received a report from Worcestershire County Council Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board on the Worcestershire Hub. The report outlined the review of the Worcestershire Hub and made 22 recommendations to Worcestershire County Council (WCC) Cabinet, including some which related to the County’s statutory partners, including Bromsgrove District Council.
The Chairman asked the Head of Customer Services for a succinct definition of what the “Worcestershire Hub” was and its relationship to Bromsgrove District Council. She defined the Hub as “the partnership through which we provide joint access to council services”. It was the “umbrella” under which the County Council and district councils within the Worcestershire area provided access to their services. Within this umbrella, Bromsgrove District Council managed its own Customer Services Centre, at the Dolphin Centre.
Malvern Hills, Worcester City and WCC had shared customer services accessed through the Hub. It was explained that the Worcestershire Hub call centre at Perry Wood dealt with customer enquires for those local authorities that had a shared services agreement; this did not include Bromsgrove District Council (BDC).
Overview and scrutiny committees throughout the County had been invited to participate in the WCC Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board Task Group investigation, by nominating a representative to be co-opted onto the Task Group. Participating local authorities were: WCC, BDC, Malvern Hills District Council, Redditch Borough Council, Worcester City Council, Wychavon District Council and Wyre Forest District Council.
Councillor Taylor was the BDC co-optee and gave a presentation on the investigation and commented on its effectiveness.
The terms of reference for the Task Group were:
• the development of the Worcestershire Hub, including the Worcestershire Hub Shared Service,
• how to make the Worcestershire Hub fit for purpose in the future,
• differences in provision across Worcestershire, what they are and why they exist,
• what are the gaps in provision and what are the opportunities?
The Task Group ran from 5th November 2009 and was due to report to WCC Cabinet on 25th November 2010. Evidence hearings had been held between January and July 2010, with 9 Task Group meetings and site visits.
Overall the Task Group report had concluded that:
• there was a need for clear evidence about the benefits to encourage the remaining district councils to join the Hub,
• service transformation was essential and that the Hub should be at the heart of service transformation, and
• a co-ordinated approach to customer service across the county to enable savings and minimise duplication should be encouraged.
The Chairman asked the Head of Customer Services the cost to BDC of being part of the Hub umbrella, considering that it managed its own customer services. She said that it did not cost the Council anything and that it paid for its own call centre. WCC contributed to the running costs and some of the staffing costs of the Bromsgrove Customer Services Centre, as the centre dealt with customer enquiries relating to County services.
Councillor Taylor commented that the governance of the ... view the full minutes text for item 35