Agenda item

That the continuation of the provision of a shared legal service by Harrow Council under the Inter-Authority agreement dated 1 June 2023 be endorsed.

The Leader of the Council introduced a report that recommended the continuation of the provision of a shared legal service by Harrow Council under the Inter-Authority agreement dated 1 June 2023 and expiring on 31 March 2028.

The legal service had been outsourced to HB Public Law (HBPL), a shared legal service hosted by the London Borough of Harrow, in 2018 primarily due to the number of challenges faced by the former internal legal department which included a lack of critical mass given the size of the authority, resilience and recruitment difficulties. The current agreement ran to 31^st March 2028 and was terminable on 6-months notice which could be served on 1^st April or 1^st October of each year of the agreement.  The first point at which the Council could serve a break notice to terminate the agreement was 1^st April 2024 and the purpose of the report was to consider whether that should be done.

The report set out a financial analysis, performance reporting arrangements, details of a survey conducted by the Monitoring Officer into the customer satisfaction levels with HBPL and the measures being taken to improve performance.  A soft market testing exercise had been carried out that concluded that HBPL provided the best value.  The option to bring the service back in house had been considered, however, it was recommended that the current arrangements with HBPL continue at the current time.  This would enable continuity of service provision whilst keeping open the opportunity for further market testing and/or consideration of in-sourcing the service to take place in the future.

Having made a request to speak, Councillor Sabah was invited to address the Cabinet.  He expressed the view that the report lacked detail in a number of areas and that the Council should seek to bring the service back in-house from 1^st October 2024.  The Cabinet noted the comments made and the Monitoring Officer offered to answer any more detailed questions outside of the meeting.  It was restated that the option of internalising the service would be kept under review but it was not considered to be the right time to bring it back in house, primarily for the same reasons as it was originally outsourced.

Lead Members asked a number of questions about the proposal including about the low response to customer satisfaction survey and the ways in which performance could be improved to deliver better value and service quality to the Council.

After due consideration the recommendation to continue the current arrangement with HBPL was endorsed.

Resolved –  That the continuation of the provision of a shared legal service by Harrow Council under the Inter-Authority agreement dated 1 June 2023 be endorsed.