Agenda item

Roger Parkin, Strategic Director, Customer and Community Services, introduced a report to provide an overview of contractual performance for the Thames Valley Transactional Services Public Private Sector Partnership for the year ending March 2016.

John Wybrant, Key Account Director and Kevin Hales, Slough Site Director, arvato, address the Committee and discussed the Annual Scrutiny Summary set out in the report.

My Wybrant advised that he had been associated with the Slough project since 2011 when the contract was first set up. Arvato had succeeded in transferring its headquarter operations to Slough and the site was known worldwide. The arvato Farnham Road site now employed more than 600 staff (from the original 110 staff who had been tuped across) and the premises would be full at the end of the year. New business had been created and there had been continued year on year improvements. It was highlighted that targets had been reached without any compromise on efficiency and collections in Revenues had increased from the previous year.  Mr Wybrant  advised that there had been a significant 11% improvement in performance to cash increases to the Council, against national trends. He also discussed the adoption of customer services which continued to deliver a better service to the public and digital transformation. It was acknowledged that IT had presented challenges during the agresso transition period but the new service would ensure improved financial procedures and policies.

The Committee noted that arvato had recently added BMW to its contact centre business. In terms of provision for apprentices, it was noted that 34 had been created since Year 1 of the contract and of these 10 had secured full time employment with arvato. In addition 2 young adults had recently accepted ICT apprenticeships following a partnership with Fujitsu on behalf of the Prince’s Trust. 

The Committee noted that arvato continued to engage in the local community and was a member of Slough Aspire and Slough Business Community Partnership.

Going forward, actions would be agreed to ensure continued resilience and performance for the contract in Year 5.

Members asked a  number of questions around historical council tax collection and the effectiveness of kiosks. The Committee was advised that the previous lower collection rate was due to the lack of a stable recovery process and this had now been rectified through more direct interaction with  taxpayers. Kiosks were found to be cost effective and formed part of arvato’s longer term strategy of engagement. It was highlighted that taxpayers could still pay manually as before if they wished.

Members also raised the issue of 7 day letters being received on the day that the council tax was due which gave no time to make a payment on time.  It was acknowledged that there were some issues around postal deliveries and this was being looked at.

A Member also raised the concern that where an individual held 3 payment cards for separate properties, it was difficult to identify which card should be used for each payment.  He was advised that staff could assist with this and each account had a separate number. In respect of a question relating to the time it took to complete a benefit claim, a member was advised that the 20 days target included Saturdays and Sundays and Slough achieved a better result than others nationally.

Resolved-  That arvato Officers be thanked for their presentation and the report be noted.