Purpose

To consider whether the functions of Legal
Services and Information Governance should be delegated from
Guildford Borough Council to Waverley Borough Council and a joint
team created for delivery.

Content

Decision:

1.    
Delegate the Legal Services and Information
Governance functions to Waverley Borough Council for delivery of
services through a joint team with effect from 1 July
2025;

2.    
Note that Guildford Borough Council officers within
the existing Legal and Information Governance Service will be
transferred to the employment of Waverley Borough Council where
joint posts will be created to deliver the service; and

[DU1] That the Executive
recommends that Council resolves to:

1.    
Note the
Executive’s delegation of the Legal Services and Information
Governance functions to Waverley Borough Council for delivery of
services through a joint team with effect from 1 July
2025.

2.    
Note
that the joint staffing structure for delivery of the Legal
Services and Information Governance functions will consist of staff
transferred from Guildford Borough Council on 1 July 2025 and
Waverley Borough Council staff. 
[DU2] [DU3] 

3.    
Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Democracy,
Law & People, in consultation with the co-Chairs of the Joint
Governance Committee, to update the Inter-Authority Agreement to
include provisions that ensure all decisions in relation to any
delegated functions are made by both Guildford Borough Council and
Waverley Borough Council.
Reason(s):

1.    
To enable
Legal Services and Information Governance to operate in an
efficient and cost-effective way, making use of the resources
available and sharing experience and knowledge. 

2.    
To ensure
that joint working is undertaken in a consistent manner and in
accordance with existing HR policies for such posts and the
Inter-Authority Agreement between the two authorities for the
sharing of staff.

3.    
To provide
increased resilience across both authorities as there will be a
larger pool of officers delivering the services across Waverley
Borough Council and Guildford Borough Council.  This will provide additional resilience to cover
sickness absence, annual leave, vacancies or increased workload
should this be required.

4.    
The
ability to provide more specialist skills across both authorities
leading to increased efficiency and a potential for a reduced
external legal spend.  There will be an
expansion of knowledge for individuals and sharing of best practice
in the delivery of services. 

5.    
To deliver
the capacity and capability needed to embed successes in ongoing
collaboration efforts and enhance the pace of future collaboration
and local government reorganisation, continuous improvement in
service delivery and realisation of cashable and non-cashable
savings.

6.    
To reduce
dependency on expensive external resources and further implement
succession planning and career development which have already seen
an increase in internal promotion appointments to
vacancies.
Other options considered and rejected by the
Executive:
Option 1: Do nothing. Each authority
would retain its own separate Legal Services and Information
Governance Team undertaking work for their own client departments
only providing consistency for staff and client
departments.  The disadvantage of this
option is that it does not further the collaboration, provide
resilience or reduce costs.  External
legal support would continue to be needed to provide additional
capacity and specialism.  At present
Guildford Borough Council provides support to the Waverley Borough
Council legal team and recharges on a case-by-case basis, an
interim sharing agreement has also been put in place so that
Guildford Borough Council is sharing staff to cover the Data
Protection Officer Role.  It is highly
likely that there will continue to be recruitment issues between
the two teams.  Both authorities are
currently carrying vacancies and locums are being used to provide
additional support which is not sustainable.   
Option 3: Restructure existing teams. The Legal Services and Information Governance teams at both
authorities have recently undergone restructures in order to ensure
that the operating model provides the best value for
money.  It is highly unlikely that any
further savings could be created through a restructure.  Any reduction in staffing is likely to impact
significantly reduce capacity within the teams and could impact on
the service provided to client departments in both authorities.
This risks reputational damage if either authority is unable to
meet deadlines.  Additional posts have
already received approval at in the Waverley Borough Council Legal
Services and Information Governance teams in order to ensure that
there is sufficient capacity.  A further
restructure of the individual teams is not considered feasible as
both teams are operating at high capacity and any reduction in
numbers would not enable the service standards to be
maintained.  If the size of the existing
teams is reduced this will lead to an increase in the amount of
work being outsourced which will have a significantly higher
cost. 
Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or
lead councillors and any dispensation granted:
None.

 [DU1]I think this is the same
as 2.2 e.g. its just ancillary actions to implement a
recommendation

 [DU2]Do you want this bit
in?  What if TUPE takes a bit longer -
would you want flexibility?

 [DU3]I think the creation of
the posts is an Exec function as per our policy and IAA, and the
sharing of the staff is a Council function (see Local Choice
functions).