On 24 April 2017 Vale of Glamorgan Council Cabinet agreed to establish a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) for Catering Services with an anticipated ‘live’ date of 1 April 2019. CIPFA C.Co Ltd (C.Co) was engaged to provide a ‘checkpoint’ or ‘Gateway’ review of progress to date with a specific remit of assessing the requirements to get to a ‘Go’ position, assessing the overall governance of the project and the currency of the financial business case assumptions.
Although Catering Services, and its readiness to be a trading company, was the principle service under review it was also necessary to understand the Council’s readiness to ‘spin out’ one of its services and to gauge its ability to support commercial activity of this nature. Support services’ contribution to the project was considered in the following areas:
• Finance
• Legal
• Human Resources
• ICT
• Communication
• Project Governance, Management & Support
The project was delivered using a commercial assessment model and involved a mixture of desktop review, on-site face to face interview and a meeting with the Project Team.
C.Co recognised that ‘pace’ was critical to the reinvigoration of this project and were able to submit an interim findings document at the end of the on-site week, in advance of the final report, that was well received and enabled the Council to begin to immediately address some of the accepted project issues.
C.Co identified a number of opportunities for the Council to improve its delivery of this project and tabled a number of recommendations covering:
• Project and general governance
• Commercial readiness
• The Financial Business Case
• Legal readiness
• Human Resource implications
• ICT impact
Although the focus of this review was the Catering Services LATC, C.Co were also able to identify a number of wider, added value, considerations for the Council that will inform its future project and commercial activity.
The report has been well received and is actively being used to support the project moving forward.
C.Co’s recommendations provide clear focus for the future direction of the Programme and reinvigorated the Partnership. As always it has been constructive and productive to work with C.Co who provide clear momentum to their work.
Cheshire & Warrington Public Sector Transformation – Director of Sub-Regional Transformation
The onsite team proved a good fit for the council. they were helpful and thought provoking, gave a clear challenge in a manner which didn’t feel anything other than a desire to help us improve
DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
Working with C.Co on a recent project has been a very positive experience with outcomes that will provide a real benefit to our organization. Their public sector experience meant that issues were quickly understood and the project could hit the ground running and move along seamlessly.
Head of Commercial, Economy & Resources Finance, ROCHDALE BOROUGH COUNCIL
We found working with C.Co to be really valuable in re-energising our LATC project, bringing challenge and experience along with a sense of momentum that will allow us to take forward the recommendations and deliver a successful project.
Operational Manager – Performance & Policy, VALE OF GLAMORGAN
C.Co proved to be one of the most professional companies we have engaged with in a long time. Their professional approach, understanding of the business at all levels, coupled with a proactive style, helped engage staff and bring about the right recommendations for the future.
Head of ICT, CITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON COUNCIL