Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Rob Bridge, Councillor Helen Harrison, Martin Henry and Councillor Malcolm Longley.

Members were requested to declare whether they had any personal or pecuniary interest in any item to be considered by the meeting. No declarations of interest were made.

RESOLVED that:

(i)         The Committee approved the minutes from the previous meeting

There were none.

RESOLVED that:

(i)           The Committee appointed Councillors Lloyd Bunday and Adam Brown as deputy chairs.

The Chair invited Jane Carr (Director of Transformation) to introduce the report, who provided an overview of hosted governance and highlighted that:

• Governance arrangements would need to be agreed.
• Checks were being carried out to assess potential further system constraints regarding new legislation; as well as the feasibility of meeting work deadlines, previously set by transformation task and finish groups.
• Following these checks, draft exit plans for the disaggregation of each service would need to be agreed. Such exit plans would require approval from each service’s director and an exit strategy would be formulated, considering any potential legal issues.
• The different scenarios of disaggregation listed in the report included:

a)    Disaggregating a small service – approach would be approved by the Joint Officer Board and would go no further,

b)    Realigning the timeline of disaggregation for a service – if in line with major systems contract renewals, lead time for formal staff training should be considered. If supported, this approach would also be approved by the Joint Officer Board.

c)    If disaggregation was supported by the Joint Officer Board but an agreement could not be reached by directors, the Shared Services Joint Committee would determine the appropriate course of procedure.

d)    If a service was to be changed from a lead model to a hosted model, this would require approval from both the Joint Officer Board and the Shared Services Joint Committee.

The Chair expressed concern regarding the involvement of the Shared Joint Services Committee in disaggregation plans, where approval would only be required from the Joint Officer Board. He posited that any decisions which could have political or budgetary implications should also be considered by the Joint Committee. Members of the Committee agreed and requested that the Director of Transformation amend the plans for service disaggregation, to allow for greater involvement by the Shared Services Joint Committee.  The Director of Transformation agreed and assured the Committee that these amendments would be made.

RESOLVED that:

(i)     Subject to the amendments to allow for greater involvement by the Shared Services Joint Committee in service disaggregation plans, the Committee approved the proposal.

The Chair invited the Director of Transformation to introduce the report, who highlighted that:

• Plans for the reporting approach had been agreed – work was being carried out to determine next steps of service infrastructure.
• Key performance indicator data would be gathered, along with budgetary information and service plans.
• Timelines concerning KPIs would be brought to the next meeting of the Shared Services Joint Committee.
• The Committee would monitor services and be able to request additional information relating to performance – two main reports would be provided quarterly, listing all KPIs and financial data. This would be supported by a summary report, which would outline any red or amber outturns (areas the Committee may decide to scrutinise more closely.)

The Chair questioned why the Shared Services Joint Committee had not already received data regarding the key performance indicators of services under transformation, since the unitary authorities had been established since April 2021. The Director of Transformation explained that a period of time was required for each service to operate completely independently from its counterpart in the other authority, in order to gather such data. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this transformation had not occurred prior to vesting day. Nevertheless, information relating to KPIs and finances was now being collected and would be available at the next Committee meeting.

The Chair also questioned why the Committee would not be able to receive KPI information for North and West Northamptonshire, separately. The Director of Transformation explained that due to the fact that these hosted services were jointly shared across the unitary authorities, the KPI data would be combined across the board. The key performance indicators of some services, such as highways, were pre-determined due to existing contracts prior to disaggregation; therefore, could not be split between North and West.

Councillor Graham Lawman emphasised the importance and value of both unitary authorities engaging in performance monitoring across shared services.

RESOLVED that:

(i)     The Committee approved the governance structure.

There were no exempt items on this occasion.

There were no urgent items on this occasion.

The meeting closed at 2:30 pm.