CITY AND COUNTY OF CARDIFF

DINAS A SIR CAERDYDD

COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL25 October 2001

CABINET PROPOSALAGENDA ITEM:

Best Value Review For Legal Services

Background

1The Council has a duty of Best Value under section 3 of the Local Government Act 1999. As a best value authority the Council must conduct best value reviews of its functions in accordance with an order made under section5 of that Act

2The review of the Council’s Legal Service has been undertaken in accordance with the corporate requirements. Corporate Managers have undertaken a Peer Review. The Executive Summary outlines the main issues.

The Issues

3The Best Value Review Report is attached as an Appendix to this report. Its format follows the Council's Best Value Toolkit. The background documents are available for inspection by Members.

4This Best Value Review Report has been prepared on the assumption that no additional resources will be made available.

5The Best Value Inspectorate will be undertaking their inspection at the end of November.

ADVICE

This report has been prepared in consultation with Corporate Managers and reflects their collective advice. It contains all the information necessary to allow Members to arrive at a reasonable view, taking into account the advice contained in this section.
The Corporate Manager dealing with this report is Dianne Bevan
Legal Implications
Under the Local Government Act 1999 the Council (as a best value authority) must make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The Council is required to conduct Best Value Reviews of its functions in accordance with orders made under the 1999 Act. The proposals in this report can be achieved but subject to legal constraints.
Financial Implications
There are no financial implications arising as a result of the best value review.
Achievability
The proposals in this report can be achieved within existing operational and organisational arrangements.
Consequences
The acceptance of the best value report will trigger the implementation of .the Improvement Action Plan as outlined in that report
BYRON DAVIES
Chief Executive

09 October 2001

Background Papers : The background papers are detailed in the body of the Best Value Report some of which are not for publication as containing exempt information by virtue of paragraphs 7 and 10 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972
CABINET PROPOSAL
Committee of the Council to agree that the Best Value Review Report on Legal Services attached to this report be accepted.

The Best Value Report – Legal Services is attached as an appendix

BEST VALUE REVIEW

LEGAL SERVICES

September 2001

BEST VALUE REVIEW – LEGAL SERVICES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Context

The Council receives its legal service through its in-house team and a number of external providers, such as counsel and specialist legal practitioners. The service area as currently constituted came into being as a result of the restructuring of the Council in 1999. The service covers a range of legal work from debt recovery through to sensitive childcare proceedings and complex procurement and development transactions. Legal advice is given by the service area to the Council, Cabinet, committees, Members and officers and to certain outside bodies. Support is given to the statutory officers of the Council, in particular the Monitoring Officer, to secure the effective discharge of their functions within the legal framework.

Challenging

The Review concluded that there was a requirement for a legal service which went beyond that which it would need by reason of rights of audience and the like.

Comparing

The Review found that:

  • Practice and management performance of the service matched the Practice Management Standards set by the Law Society
  • In terms of cost, the in-house costs were generally lower than those in the market and comparable with other authorities in Wales.

Competitiveness

The market testing exercise previously undertaken by the Council in relation to Legal Services, the procurement exercises undertaken for specialist legal work and the award of the legal services contract to Legal Services by the South Wales Fire Authority in competition, demonstrated that legal services to the Council are competitive.

Consultation

The level of performance as perceived by Members and service users was generally found to be satisfactory or better and by Contacts to be good. The following were identified as key requirements for the service

  • A speedy and responsive service
  • Organised and efficient
  • Consistent good advice
  • Proactive in finding solutions to problems

The areas for improvement were identified as follows

  • More information needs to be given to clients on what services are available and on the constraints in terms of resources
  • The prioritisation of work should be planned more directly with the clients
  • Clients’ expectations in terms of the timeliness of responses and wished for outcomes should be identified
  • Professional resources should be used to their maximum by making available ‘legal tools’ in terms of standard documentation, advice and the like which could be used without direct recourse to the service providers
  • The legal service should be positioned to take a leading role in cross-cutting issues which can benefit from a legal input

The objectives for the legal service were identified as follows

  • The legal service will support and reinforce corporate initiatives.
  • The legal advice/service the Council receives will be optimised.
  • The legal service, as a Council-wide service, will encourage cross-service collaboration.
  • The legal service will support corporate objectives by assessing pending legislation and advising service areas that might be affected, about legal issues.

Four main options for service delivery were considered with the benefit of some input from private practitioners. The option which was identified as being able to deliver the objectives was a mix of internal and external provision.

The Improvement Action proposes a number of changes which are intended to secure that legal work is prioritised in accordance with the Council’s objectives and to provide a strategic approach to the delivery and procurement of those services.

The proposed Performance Indicators, when published, are intended to provide the stakeholders with meaningful data and an opportunity to monitor performance in terms of both inputs and outcomes.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Terms of Reference

Description of Baseline Information

Identification of the legislation/council policies

Policies

Legislation

Identification of Best Practice

Challenging the need for the Service

Review of Performance

Organisation

Operation

Performance

Base-Line Data Comparison

Good Practice and Performance Management

Cost and Competitiveness

Quality

Consulting Stakeholders

Methodology

Analysis

Conclusions

Preparing Revised Objectives

Determining the Options for Service Delivery

Costing the Options for Service Delivery

Selecting the best method of service delivery

The background to the proposals

Proposed Performance Indicators

Proposed Improvement Action Plan

Appendix 1 Legal Services’ Objectives

Appendix 2 Relevant Legislation

Appendix 3 Structure Chart

Appendix 4 Performance under Benchmarking Factor Process

Appendix 5 Comments on Process Factor Performance

BEST VALUE REVIEW – LEGAL SERVICES

Introduction

1.This is the report into the Best Value Review of legal services provided to the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff (the Council) undertaken in accordance with the Council’s duties under section 5 of the Local Government Act 1999.

The procedure adopted in the Review is that set out in the Council’s Best Value Toolkit.

Terms of Reference

2.1

Commencement Date:24 January 2001

Title of the Review:Best Value Review of the provision of legal services to the Council.

Scope:The review examined the following aspects of the Council’s functions

The performance and management of legal casework

The provision and commissioning of ad hoc legal advice

The input of legal advice into the decision making processes of the Council

For the avoidance of doubt the Review did not include any aspect of the functions in relation to or the performance of land charges or the quasi-judicial functions undertaken by the service area except in so far as they are incidental to the main areas of review

Team
Member Representation / Cllr Philip Robinson / Deputy Mayor (Business Arrangements)
Team Leader / Stephanie King-Davies / Chief Legal Services Officer
Team Members
Service Area Representation / Paul Anderton
Gareth Davies / Senior Legal Manager
Practice Manager
User Representation / Ann Barnett
Mike Heffernan
Dave Holland / Housing Services
Human Resources
Regulatory
Critical Friend / Terry Fear / Best Value

2.2Terms of Reference:

  1. To review

1.1the performance and management of the legal casework that is to say legal work directed towards a specific end e.g. debt recovery, the sale or purchase of property, prosecution of offences, the issue of statutory orders etc.

1.2the provision of ad hoc legal advice that is to say the provision of one off pieces of legal advice related to a specific issue without necessarily being directed to a specific project, proposal or item of work e.g. legal implications for reports, advice on members interests, legal issues relating to vires

1.3the input of legal advice into the decision making processes of the Council that is to say Member decisions through cabinet and committee or officer decisions taken under delegated powers

  1. To assess the quality of the service by

2.1identifying the aims of the service

2.2challenging the need for and the basis for the service and looking at alternative provision

2.3evaluating performance against the aims and comparing against relevant standards and indicators

2.4consulting with stakeholders

  1. To prepare improvement plan

2.3Reasons for Team Selection.

The Member representation was predetermined at a political level. The Member representative is Councillor Philip Robinson who is the Cabinet Member for business arrangements and is charged with ensuring the effective conduct of the business of the Cabinet and Council. His responsibilities include Best Value, Cabinet Office and liaison with all Party Groups.

The Best Value Toolkit designates the relevant Chief Officer as the Team Leader.

The Legal Service Area representation comprises

The Senior Legal Manager who has a general overall view of the operations and who is responsible for the day to day relationship with other service areas and establishing annual service levels.

the Practice Manager who monitors performance and manages budgets including those relating to other legal service suppliers

The Stakeholder representatives are

Ann Barnett from Housing Services, selected because she represents one of the core frontline services with day to day requirements for legal services

Mike Heffernan for Human Resources, selected because he represents a corporate Council-wide service which calls on the legal service but also has experience of providing services in circumstances which bear comparison with legal services

Dave Holland from Regulatory Services, selected because he represents one of the core functional areas of the Council and because the service which he represents works within a strong legal framework and is a frontline regulatory force

The critical friend in Terry Fear from the Best Value unit. Ideally an external overview would have been selected and though inquiries were made with all legal service areas in other local authorities in Wales and with similar organisations, no representative was available due to time pressures or logistical difficulties.

1

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Description of Baseline Information

3The following is baseline information used in the Review

What / Where/source / Background document ref. number
1 / Current Objectives / Best Value Plan, Community Plan and Ambitions for Cardiff
Business Plan / 1
2
2 / Current Performance including comparisons with other service providers / All Wales Bench Marking Club Information[1] / 3
South Wales Legal Officers Best Value Group list of outside providers[2] / 4
Outside providers comparative costs prepared from Legal Services data[3] / 5
Legal Commission Rates / 6
Other published rates and salaries / 7
Law Society/Courts taxing rates / 8
3 / External Recognition / ISO 9001:1994 currently under transition to ISO 9000:2000 Standard Series (final date March 2002) / 9
4 / Previous Surveys /
  1. Undertaken by Legal Services
  2. Undertaken by Schools Services
/ 10
5 / Activity Statistics /
  1. Chargeable/non-chargeable hours[4]
  2. No. of matters
  3. No. of individual transactions
  4. Cost
  5. Charge
  6. Trends
  7. Sickness[5]
  8. Income[6]
/ 11
6 / Details of Review Systems /
  1. Work Review
  2. Supervisory File Review[7]
  3. Business Improvement Minutes and Process
/ 12
7 / Main items of expenditure / Revenue
Capital / 13
8 / Capital Assets employed / Office Accommodation
IT / 14
9 / Contractual Arrangements / SLA’s with Service Areas
Schools
Council of Museums in Wales[8]
South Wales Fire Authority[9] / 15

Identification of the legislation or council policies relating to the provision of the service

4.1It is necessary to put some context around the provision of legal services to local authorities. The professional responsibility of a lawyer to his/her clients whether that lawyer be employed directly by the client or engaged is the same. In general the law recognises that in-house legal services are for professional purposes (legal costing and evidential purposes) to be treated like firms of solicitors in the private sector albeit that recent decisions on costs have challenged that principle.

4.2Local authorities are generally not in the business of providing direct legal services to the public although the law will inform the services that are provided. Thus the legal service is not affected directly by the demands of Council taxpayers but the policies of and the demands on the Authority do affect the nature and extent of the legal service that may be required. Additionally matters which are not within the control of the Authority affect the requirement for the provision of legal services, for example, challenges to the Authorities powers/decisions, changes in legislation such as the introduction of the right to buy etc.

4.3The legal service does not support just one function or service of the authority but a multiplicity. The client for the lawyer has many facets – the corporate body of the Council itself, the committees, the administration, a number of service areas, service delivery teams and individual officers and members whilst undertaking their roles as such. Thus it is probably fair to say that any legislative provision which impacts upon the functions, powers, duties and operations of the Authority are material to the provision of the legal service and any policy which applies to any of those things will affect the priorities and performance of the legal service.

Policies

4.4In order to look at this aspect consideration has been given to the corporate objectives of the Authority, which appear most directly relevant to and impact of the provision of legal services. The Council’s objectives have derived from the pledges of the administration, which were captured in the Lord Mayor’s address to Council and now in the document titled Ambitions for Cardiff. These objectives are rehearsed in the Council’s Best Value Plan. Each objective has a number of supporting objectives which together form a policy framework for each Service Area. The key objectives are: -

  • To provide a first class service to children in Cardiff Schools that will help them reach the very highest standards.
  • To pursue vigorous economic development policies to increase prosperity and job opportunities in Cardiff.
  • To ensure that the Council plays a full role in the provision of decent, affordable housing for families and individuals.
  • To develop comprehensive policies to protect the environment of the City and the Health of its citizens.
  • To target resources to provide enhanced care and support services to the City’s vulnerable citizens.
  • To support the development of quality, accessible sporting and leisure facilities for all, young and old.
  • To adopt sustainable policies for the environment that address the various transport needs of Cardiff.
  • To develop the County Council’s role in relation to community leadership and community government
  • To ensure that the County Council is an open, accountable and responsible local authority.

4.5The achievement of each of these key objectives impacts upon the demand for and the delivery of a legal service to the Authority. This is both in providing support to all services in the context of their priorities and in developing the relevant strategy and legal framework to deliver the objectives. In particular: -

There is a requirement for robust and timely advice on the interpretation of new legislation and the changes in the law.

There is a need to develop appropriate legal mechanisms which have been rigorously examined and analysed and which secure the objective in the best way.

There is a need to support the Monitoring Officer to ensure that the risk of challenge is minimised.

4.6The key priorities for the Council for 2001/02 are built upon the objectives outlined above. Appendix 1 sets out the main priority areas where the Legal services Business Plan identifies that a legal service can make a material and measurable contribution. The Business Plan thus makes the link from the corporate vision and objectives through to the day to day operation of the service.

Legislation

4.7Without detracting from the general importance of any piece of legislation (whether primary or secondary) or the law in general the key legislation which relates to the provision of any legal service to local authorities is that which provides the primary constitutional framework. Legal services are provided within and govern that framework. The principle enactments in this context are set out in Appendix 2.

Identification of Best Practice in Service Delivery taking into account political priorities and local circumstances

5.1The following sources were used to identify best practice

The Audit Commission’s Management Paper 10 – Competitive Counsel? Using Lawyers in Local Government[10]