Sopra Steria provides Cleveland Police with a range of services including HR, Business Support, Finance, Estates, Learning and Development, Control Room and ICT.
Staff in those services end date of 2020.
Under the terms of the contract, they are employed by Sopra Steria under the terms of an outsourced contract, which commenced in 2010 and has a contract arrangement can be extended. If that is to happen, it must be decided upon by a date in 2018. The Police & Crime Commissioner is the contracting body and it is, therefore, a matter for the PCC, in
consultation with the Force, to determine whether to extend the contract at this stage.
The PCC has received a full and detailed proposal from Cleveland Police setting out the options that that Force consider appropriate for future service provision in respect of these functions.
Based on a full and detailed consideration of that proposal, the PCC has made the decision not to extend this contract past its planned end point in 2020.
The remaining contract time period will be known as ‘due diligence’. This means we can assess how to collaborate, operate and perform more effectively in the future and plan our operational delivery when the contract comes to an end in 2020.
Significantly, this period of due diligence will examine how the services delivered by Sopra Steria can be returned and delivered ‘in-house’ by Cleveland Police.
The Force’s proposals are for the due diligence and business change process to be undertaken as a programme of work to be known as ‘Project Fusion’.
It is anticipated that the future service provision model will realise savings of c£8 million over the five year period 2020-2025.
The PCC is satisfied that the strategic partnership with Sopra Steria has succeeded in saving in the region of £70million over its contractual lifespan – and wishes to acknowledge the positive partnership with Sopra Steria.
The partnership reflected the Government’s focus at its inception in 2010, introducing private sector service provision into public services.
However, as an organisation Cleveland Police, has evolved significantly since the decision was made to outsource services.
Today, public policy and the PCC’s Police & Crime Plan favour collaboration between Blue Light services wherever possible and the PCC agrees with the Chief Constable that there must be innovative solutions to make further savings and deliver the best possible policing service to the people of Cleveland.
The Force’s Proposal documentation – entitled ‘Make or Buy’ – and the business case in respect of Project Fusion form the background to this decision.
The documentation and business case are not being published at this time, on the basis that they contain information which is commercially sensitive (and therefore confidential) and which is subject to consultation in due course with employee representation. They are attached to Part B of this Decision Record and will be published once those two conditions are
considered by the Chief Constable to have been discharged. A full Communications Plan has been approved in conjunction with this Decision Record Form which will ensure that all stakeholders are kept fully informed as this decision is carried into effect and Project Fusion gets underway.
Decision DRF-103015. Decision not to extend Sopra Steria’s Contract (application, 214kB)