Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Leanne Buckingham, Rob Bridge (Chief Executive, NNC), Anna Earnshaw (Chief Executive, WNC) and Janice Gotts (Director of Finance, NNC).

No declarations were made.

The Chair reported that no notifications from the public to address the meeting had been made.

RESOLVED that:  The minutes of the meeting held on 19 January 2022 be approved as a correct record

The Chair noted that there were no previous actions to note at this time.

The Joint Committee considered a report of the Assistant Directors of Education (WNC and NNC), which set out the re-profiling of the timeline of Safeguarding in Education disaggregation from 31 March 2022 to September 2022 in line with the academic year. The report was marked as item 6a on the agenda for the meeting.  

In answer to queries on the report the following was confirmed:

·         All schools whether they be special schools, academies or LA maintained came under the same Ofsted inspection routine.

·         Information could be provided following the meeting on class sizes.

·         Special schools in the North of the county were reaching or at capacity so the department would work with them to create more places. 

·         The placement process was something they supported.  Pupils were sent to the school that best met the needs they had rather than to where there was a place.

·         The practice around pupils with special educational needs had been to ask for an educational healthcare plan if special provision was required.  Until the previous year there had been a disproportionate number of children in special schools.  They worked with all partners to ensure a child’s educational outcomes were still delivered through an educational healthcare plan but they could not just be in a special school.  There was a need to meet the needs of a child by accessing all services to support them in the best possible setting for the child.

·         They were also working with the judiciary to ensure if a child came to tribunal that everyone involved in the conversation understood the conversation.  Families sometimes felt that without a tribunal they would not have a child in a special school but sometimes their needs were best met in a different way.

·          

The Panel also noted that communication was key in the efforts.  Just sending the schools a message demonstrated that they were considered part of the process.

RESOLVED that:  That the Joint Committee Shared Services:

a)    Approves the disaggregation of the Schools Admissions service in its

           current form and on an equal basis by September 2022 as set out

           within Option 2 (section 5.1 of the report); and

b)    Grants delegated authority to the Monitoring Officers for North and

West Northamptonshire Councils, in consultation with the Section 151 officers, to take any further decisions and actions necessary to implement recommendation a) above and conclude the requirements of the exit plan for IAA schedule 2B3.

The Joint committee considered a report of the Assistant Director Highways (WNC and NCC) which set out the disaggregation of the Highways Service.  The report was marked as item 6b on the agenda for the meeting.

In answer to queries on the report the following was confirmed:

• The team would work in shadow form prior to the split on 1 September 2022. 
• Plans would include future proofing the work.  They would split into 2 teams which would work independently of each other.  Many of the staff lived in the West but they would need to form a team in the North as well as West.  There was a process that was being followed in relation to this and the unions were being consulted as they had with other teams that had disaggregated.
• Any person who would be required to work in the North when they lived in the West would be compensated by receiving their first years’ worth of travel expenses back from the Council.

RESOLVED that:  That the Shared Services Joint Committee:

a)    Approves the disaggregation of the Highways and Transport service by 30^th September 2022;

b)    Approves the proposed arrangements for disaggregation, budget, staffing, contracts and cost implications, as set out in section 5 and section 7 of this report; and

c)    Grants delegated authority to the Monitoring Officers for North

           Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council to take

           any actions required to give effect to the recommendations and

           conclude the requirements of the Exit Plan of IAA Schedule 2.

The Joint Committee considered a report of the Head of Programme management and strategic partnerships (WNC) and Head of Transformation –

Partnerships & Design (NNC) which updated them on progress to date in relation to the development of Service Plans for lead and hosted shared services between North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council.  The report was supported by various service plans form various services.  The report was marked as item 7a on the agenda. 

RESOLVED that:  the Shared Services Joint Committee approves the following proposed service plans;

a)  Appendix B - SEND Information and Support Service (IASS) service plan

b)  Appendix C - Assistive Technology service plan

c)  Appendix D - Visual Impairment service plan

d)  Appendix E - Shared Lives service plan

e)  Appendix F - Personal Budget Support Service (PBSS) service plan

f)   Appendix G -Adult Mental Health Practitioners (AMHP) service plan

g)  Appendix H- Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC) service plan

I)   Appendix I - Streetlighting PFI service plan

The Joint Committee considered a report of the WNC Performance and Governance

Manager with the quarter three performance for services delivered via the Inter-Authority Agreement (IAA) arrangements between North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) and West Northamptonshire Council (WNC).  This item was marked as Item 7b on the agenda. 

Congratulations were expressed to officers who had managed to bring all performance to above or expected performance. 

RESOLVED that:  The Shared Services Joint Committee notes the quarter three performance report shown in Appendix A.

None notified.