Interface arrangements must be established between the Cleaning Service, school and representative of the PPP provider. This representative might very well be the building supervisor who, under current arrangements, transfers employment to the PPP provider. This transfer is carried out in accordance with the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). The Department of Trade and Industry has produced a document ‘Employment Rights on
the Transfer of and Undertaking’, explaining these regulations (www.dti.gov.uk).
The interface arrangements will need to incorporate SLAs, performance management and monitoring, relationship building and managing change.
7.2.1 Service Level Agreements
SLAs will be crucial to the success of managing interfaces, as they require to be sufficiently detailed and specific to ensure all parties are aware of their roles and responsibilities.
With the exclusion of cleaning from PPP schools, it is important to ensure that the contractors facilitate the activities of the service. This applies, for example, to the design of toilets, quality of fittings and suitability of floor and wall surfaces. These matters must be fully discussed at the planning stage between all parties.
Discussions with building supervisors confirmed their general desire to remain in the employment of the school as they consider themselves to be the link between the school and any external service providers. They are aware of the standards expected by the schools and are directly accountable to the principals. According to the survey, most school principals (80%) believe they should manage the building supervisor. It will be necessary to agree areas and levels of responsibility for all activities that are related to cleaning of the schools. Evidently these will involve risk allocation and dispute resolution. However, it will also include the role and any cleaning duties of the building supervisor, supervision of the cleaning staff, cleaning outside of normal school hours, access and security arrangements, monitoring procedures, work requests, response times and complaints. Clear procedures for cleaning will be described in a service specification, detailing daily, weekly, monthly and annual schedules, that has been agreed by all parties.
7.2.2 Performance Management and Monitoring
Performance management and monitoring are major parts of any interface arrangements. These include self-monitoring by the service provider and in-house monitoring by the clients (school and ESA). Consultation has highlighted the need for technical expertise in the monitoring process and the importance of record keeping, particularly if relationships become strained and penalties are imposed. However, it is important not to over-complicate the processes in that they become a bureaucratic burden on all parties. It is far more effective for the parties to develop good working relations alongside the formal processes.
7.2.3 Relationship Building
In addition to the formal procedures, it will be necessary to develop relations and understanding between the parties to ensure smooth running of the various school activities and to reduce the scope for misunderstandings and errors.
The actual arrangements should be made on a case-by-case basis, dependent on the situation in the school and the requirements of the individual parties. Some PPP contractors might require a cleaning site supervisor and others might wish the building supervisor to play a pivotal role. It is essential that, when agreeing the arrangements, the Cleaning Service and PPP contractors are flexible and practical in their approach to these situations.
Feedback from current PPP schools emphasises the importance and value of cultivating relationships and the amount of time and energy that is usually invested in this area. Consultation with other PPP contractors confirms the difficulties that are often experienced in managing an interface between two parties and believe the proposed circumstances for schools, with three parties involved, will require even more attention.
7.2.4 Management of Change
A significant aspect of operating within PPP is addressing the necessary culture change within schools. Teaching staff and school employees will naturally want to work under the terms of the previous regime, to which they are accustomed. However, they need to be continually made aware that the buildings are now the property of another party and that they are simply the tenants. The building supervisor, under PPP an employee of the contractor, is normally contacted via a helpdesk, using a booking system. Requesting assistance, especially at short notice and outside of core working hours, will likely incur additional charges. It is necessary for school staff to adopt a more strategically planned and organised approach. This is an area in which all parties must work together for the benefit of the whole school. Meetings with PPP providers to schools in NI have confirmed a number of issues such as the need to clarify the correct reporting mechanisms to school personnel for cleaning and other services, confusion over areas of responsibility, possible joint use of a helpdesk facility and the impact on the planned wall and floor life cycle models. BELB is presently in the process of forming a ‘Strategic Partnership’ with a PPP consortium to build and maintain schools, in which cleaning and catering services have been excluded. The results of the board’s detailed investigations, the service specifications produced and arrangements for interfaces should provide valuable guidance to other schools to which PPP will apply.
It is clear that interface arrangements will require considerable effort and much more detailed work at individual sites prior to the Cleaning Service delivering alongside a PPP contractor. Nevertheless, these have been achieved by other organisations and can be reproduced in similar situations in NI.