Partnership Strategy and Framework November 2024

The term ‘partnerships’ is often used to mean different things. This can be confusing and lead to inconsistency of approach. At MVDC we use ‘partnerships’ as an umbrella term to cover a variety of arrangements which are set out below. Partnerships that are within the scope of this Strategy focus on the way we work with other local authorities. They include:

Shared Services

A shared service is where two or more local government organisations work together to provide services to the organisations within that partnership. This will be through a formal arrangement and will involve the sharing of staff, risk and reward of such an arrangement. There will be a shared operating vehicle/delivery model to deliver the outcomes for that service. This can range in size from individual officer posts to large Council-wide partnerships. 4

Provision of goods and services to and/or from another local authority/authorities

This is where an authority provides or receives goods and services to and/or from another local authority/authorities. This can include, for example, the discharge of a statutory function to another local authority or the provision of a non-statutory service. Such arrangements involve the sharing of risk and reward but not the sharing of staff.

Commercial – traded services

This is where one local authority trades its services to another local authority. To enable a profit to be made this would be achieved through the establishment of a company that is completely or partly owned and controlled by the local authority. This company can then act as a trading body and can provide their services to a wider market than another local authority. Partnerships that are outside the scope of this Strategy include:

Contracted out services

This is where the Council decides to contract out the provision of a service to a non-governmental, usually private sector, organisation. A procurement exercise would be undertaken to select the contractor. They will act under our instruction and the contract will be managed by an MVDC officer.

Grants to other organisations

These are grants that can be provided by MVDC to a range of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. These are time limited grants and are provided to organisations that can contribute to achieving the outcomes in the MVDC Council Strategy.

Public/Private Partnerships, such as a Joint Venture

This type of partnership is between public and private sector organisations. This arrangement is focused on meeting the requirements and delivery of specific projects. Funding may come from a variety of different sources and there may be different expectations in terms of outcomes.

Collaboration

A collaboration can be a regular or one-off activity to achieve a shared aim, which may or may not require a formal agreement. We work closely in collaboration with, for example, Surrey County Council, the NHS and the police. An example of a one-off activity would be a collaboration to procure a learning event to achieve reduced costs and shared facilities. The above partnerships are considered to be out of scope of this Strategy as they each have different arrangements in place for the monitoring and reporting of performance. This is due to the nature of the individual arrangement and how it has been established which dictates how it is then governed.

Partnership working is increasingly becoming a helpful way for councils to deliver public services. It can make us more effective at meeting local residents and businesses service needs, minimising the financial burden on council taxpayers and, overall, providing strong community leadership. MVDC recognises that, when done well, action taken in partnership with others can be more effective than separate action by an individual authority. Working in partnership can produce many benefits, including:

• Delivery of services that better meets the needs of residents and the wider community

• Improved efficiency of service delivery and value for money – making best use of scarce resources to achieve better outcomes for residents and the wider community

• Improved resilience, particularly in service areas where it may be hard to recruit

• Generation of additional income

• The potential to access additional resources.

It is timely to develop this Partnership Strategy now as the Council has approved the Council Strategy 2024-28, which sets our vision and priorities over the next four years. The vision is:

• A Mole Valley that is Fairer, Greener and provides Opportunity for all.

One of the priorities in the Council Strategy is:

• ‘Progressing Together: Working with our partners and the Mole Valley community, our mission is to transform our services to ensure that they are modern, valued, efficient, digital by choice and accessible by all’.

The Council has also approved its Transformation Programme (Evolve 2026). This supports the Progressing Together priority. Partnerships is one of the 8 core themes, and has an objective to:

• ‘Introduce a partnership strategy that agrees an approach that is right for today’s challenges. We will also review our existing partnerships to assess effectiveness and value for money.’

Now that we have approved the Council Strategy 2024-2028 and the Transformation Programme, we can align our Partnership Strategy to these key documents.

We have been working in partnership with other local authorities for many years, with each partnership being entered into when an opportunity arose and the time was right. This approach has been successfully managed so far and, the Partnership Strategy will now enable us to maximise opportunities to achieve greater value for money by streamlining systems, resources and budgets by taking a more strategic approach.

The new Partnership Strategy is supported by a framework formed of 8 design principles that allow us to assess what we want to achieve from our partnerships, assess how well our current partnerships are performing, and enable us to have a strategic approach when we are considering entering into a new partnership.

By taking this structured approach we will have greater confidence in our decisions to work with others. We will review existing partnerships against the principles in this Partnership Strategy, and to ensure that they continue to provide value for money.

The outcome of these reviews may lead us to change partnership arrangements where this may no longer be the case. Governance The Corporate Governance Board (CGB) will receive regular updates on current partnerships’, including on areas such as performance, risk and budgets. CGB also has a role to provide an advisory function in relation to emerging partnerships.

A report will be shared with Scrutiny Committee on an annual basis, covering all partnerships within the scope of this Strategy.

The report will include information ranging from formal board-level reports to executive summaries depending on the nature of each partnership. These governance arrangements are consistent with relevant codes and frameworks including ‘Delivering Good Governance in Local Government framework and guidance notes’ (CIPFA/ SOLACE 2016).

We have three key objectives which are:

To have a strategic and proactive approach to the consideration of new partnerships and to the review of current partnerships.

The strategy, principles and framework will ensure that any new or reviewed partnership considers the big picture for value and new opportunities for income generation. It gives us a common language that allows us to be clear what we want from future partnerships. It also lines us up more confidently to work on longer term strategic partnership opportunities and challenges.

To ensure that current partnerships are regularly assessed against the principles to ensure that they continue to contribute to the delivery of the Council Strategy vision and priorities.

Clarity on how we manage partnerships will ensure that we are confident they are achieving the best outcomes for MVDC, residents and the wider community. By undertaking regular reviews and assessments we are able to ensure continuous improvement is embedded in our partnership working arrangements.

To have transparency in the monitoring and reporting of partnership performance.

An annual report to scrutiny on partnership performance enables oversight and scrutiny of our arrangements. Achievement of these objectives should also place MVDC in a good position should there be a steer (either nationally or locally) on future expectations of working in partnership across local government.

There are eight design principles which will form the basis for new partnerships, and an assessment tool for existing partnerships. These reflect the set of principles which were agreed by Cabinet in 2021, with further insight added as a result of lessons learned over the past few years of partnership working.

Principle 1: Partnerships can only work between willing partners

All authorities in the partnership should aspire to the same key priorities and outcomes. Goals and drivers for each authority need to align to avoid divergence in priorities and approach to budget setting. Considerations under this principle would include the development of shared vision and strategy, stakeholder engagement, and trust and accountability between partners.

Principle 2: Partnerships work best where there is a shared culture and values

Potential partnerships are more likely to be successful if the partners have a similar culture and values to that at Mole Valley District Council. Consideration would need to be given to how aligned long-term strategies and core values are at each authority, whether there is alignment in goals and drivers for being in partnership, and the establishment of monitoring arrangements to ensure continued alignment.

Principle 3: Fair distribution of which authority should host, focused on which is best placed to deliver as each opportunity arises

Where effective governance arrangements are in place, the identity of the authority which employs the staff, the “host authority,” should be less visible. However, each partner should have the opportunity to be considered as “host authority” and MVDC would expect there to be a fair distribution of the role between partners over time. Considerations would need to be given to formal agreements (such as an Inter-Authority Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding), clarity in roles and responsibilities, and structures, systems and processes.

Principle 4: Partnership to be considered only where optimal to service delivery – it may be unsuitable to deliver core services with partners

Some services are very local and need a strong locally based knowledge of the area, such that they are not necessarily suitable for partnership working. Others, such as transactional services, are less reliant on knowledge of the area, and are potentially more suited to partnership working. Consideration would need to be given to whether ‘face to face’ services will need to be delivered to the local community by the partnership, whether there is a need for local geographical and community based knowledge or whether a local presence isn’t required due to the service being more transactional.

Principle 5: Partnership to be ‘right sized’

Partnerships can vary in size. They should not be allowed to grow beyond the point where they become too big to be efficient, effective, and responsive. Consideration would need to be given to what ‘size’ partnership would achieve the best outcomes for Mole Valley, the decision making process for reviewing and amending arrangements between partners if growth is considered, and external factors which may impact effective growth (such as recruitment challenges).

Principle 6: Partnership to create benefit (financial and/or non-cashable) with value for money at the heart of partnership working

Creation of partnerships should deliver tangible benefits. Such benefits could be financial, but they could also be non-financial, such as building capacity or making a service more resilient. Wider factors should always be considered to avoid unintended/wider costs being missed. Considerations under this principle would include the development and monitoring of Key Performance Indicators and clearly defined SMART actions, and the communication of these to stakeholders.

Principle 7: Partnerships that support building capacity through bringing skills

Small authorities can’t always directly employ a full range of specialists. Partnerships can enable the sharing of these specialist skills and knowledge. Consideration would need to be given to the skills and experience required by MVDC to improve and/or increase to deliver better outcomes, and whether skills and experience in other authorities will enhance service delivery and why. In addition, consideration should be given to whether MVDC could be the lead authority. (See principle 3).

Principle 8: Partnerships are more effective where the same IT systems are used by each partner

IT systems need to align to enable efficiencies and streamline ways of working. Consideration needs to be given to corporate back-office systems in addition to the core systems used by the service being considered for partnership working. Consideration also needs to be given to the cost of moving to the same system as another authority to enable effective service delivery in the partnership.

We expect a three phased approach to be adopted for all partnerships, as set out below. To ensure consistency, an internal toolkit will support this approach and include a mechanism for existing partnerships to assess whether they continue to meet the objectives of this Strategy.

Phase 1: Explore

Before entering any new partnerships, the Council will want clarity on the rationale for the partnership, and alignment to delivery of the Council Strategy. There would also need to be clarity on the driver for the new (or updated) partnership. This may be a request from another local authority or driven by us. In this phase we will expect Business Managers and Executive Heads of Service to review the opportunity through the lens of the Partnership Strategy and Framework. We need to be confident that it will meet our key objectives and partnership principles and demonstrate a good fit using an initial checklist.

Phase 2: Design

If the outcome of phase 1 is to proceed, the next phase is to ensure that we define and design the partnership to match our governance and service delivery requirements. This will ensure there is a clear audit trail on establishing good practice and better enables us to manage and monitor performance against objectives. In this phase we will expect Business Managers and Executive Heads of Service to complete a more detailed assessment, which will consider governance, systems, budgets and ways of working. We will ensure that MVDC’s best interests are captured at this point to avoid divergence from our strategic approach. At the end of this phase, we would expect:

• Documented arrangements to be in place, such as an Inter-Authority Agreement or aMemorandum of Understanding.

• Confirmation that the partnership arrangement will provide added value.

• Governance arrangements are clear and performance management, financialmanagement and risk management are formally reviewed.

• Arrangements for the monitoring, reporting and review of the partnership are clear.This may include through internal and/or external boards to ensure transparency.

• There is an appropriate authorisation process for any financial or other liabilities to beincurred by the partnership and/or the Council.

• Termination arrangements are understood.

• An exit strategy is in place should the partnership come to an end.

Phase 3: Deliver

Once a partnership has been agreed and formal arrangements have been approved, we then move into the delivery phase. Here the key aim is to ensure we have robust and consistent monitoring of performance. The partnership arrangement will be added to our internal monitoring arrangements and included in an annual update to Scrutiny Committee. By monitoring performance, risks, issues, and opportunities on a regular basis we will retain a focus on continuous improvement and lessons learned. This will support future partnership discussions and potential amendments and/or enhancements to the Partnership Strategy over time.