Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Rob Bridge (Chief Executive, NNC), Martin Henry (Executive Director of Finance, WNC), Marie Devlin-Hogg (Assistant Director of Human Resources, NNC). Adele Wylie (Monitoring Officer, NNC), and Cath Whitehead (Monitoring Officer, NNC).

The Chair invited those who wished to do so to declare any interests in respect of items on the agenda.

No declarations were made.

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

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2022 were approved as a correct record, subject to it being noted that Councillor Graham Lawman had been present not as a committee member, but as an observer.

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

The Joint Committee received a report of the Assistant Directors for Human Resources (NNC and WNC) which sought approval of a change request to re-profile the disaggregation timeline for the Learning and Development functions noted in 3.1 of the report, ensuring the safe and legal disaggregation of training provision and minimal disruption to service delivery across North Northamptonshire Council (NNC), West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) and Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT).

A copy of the report was attached to the agenda, marked Item 6a.

During discussion, it was confirmed that in disaggregating the Learning and Development functions, whilst West Northamptonshire Council was not currently a registered provider it would be able to commission services in the future.

RESOLVED:-

a)    That the recommendation to re-profile the disaggregation timeline for the Learning and Development functions listed below, to commence in October 2022 (re-profiled from April 2022) be approved:

                     i)        iLearn (Learning Management System, LMS).

                    ii)        The Business Support function.

                   iii)        The Apprenticeship Training Provider function.

                   iv)        Apprenticeship Employer Digital Account Service.

b)    That the recommendation to re-profile the disaggregation timeline for the L&D Children’s function that delivers services to the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT) be approved, in line with the Service Level Agreement timelines for 2022/23. This is currently due to expire on 30 September 2022, pending ongoing discussions with NCT.

Reasons for decisions:

·         Ensures that NNC, WNC and Northamptonshire Children’s Trust continue to operate in a safe and legal way, maintaining the ability for all three organisations to access statutory and mandatory training as required.

·         Ensures that our current apprenticeship learners across NNC, WNC and NCT continue to receive a consistent, in-house apprenticeship training service whilst completing their learning journey and the apprenticeship levy monies are managed and allocated in accordance with Education & Skills Funding Agency rules and regulations.

·         Ensures the fulfilment of our contractual and service level agreement obligations to the Children’s Trust.

Alternative Options Considered:

·         Continuing with a hosted service arrangement beyond March 2023 is not an option, as it fails to align to the Blueprint and the agreement to separate L&D services for WNC and NNC in the 2022/2023 financial year.

The Joint Committee received a report of the Assistant Directors for Growth and Regeneration (NNC and WNC) which requested approval to reprofile the North Northants hosted Place and Economy service, Economic Growth and Regeneration – Section 106 (S106) disaggregation. This was to enable sufficient time to disaggregate the service in a safe and legal manner due to limited capacity in the current offer and risk to resilience.

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager apologised for the late circulation of the report, which was now published on the website, marked as ‘Item 6b’.

During discussion, concern was expressed at delaying disaggregation until 1^st April 2023, it being considered that the original blueprint date for disaggregation by September 2022 should be maintained.

Accordingly, members of the Joint Committee requested regular additional reporting of progress be made by officers to ensure progress against disaggregation timelines were maintained.

RESOLVED:-

That the reprofiling of the timeline to disaggregate the Section 106 function to be concluded by 1st April 2023 not be approved.

Reason for Decision:

To not delay the reprofiling of the timeline to disaggregate the Section 106 function beyond the agreed blueprint.

Alternative Options Considered:

To delay the reprofiling in accordance with the recommendations of the report.

The Joint Committee received a report of the Assistant Directors of Human Resources (NNC and WNC) which sought approval to disaggregate the Learning and Development functions listed below, by 30 September 2022:

·         Adults, Communities & Wellbeing.

·         Children’s (the Education provision).

·         Leadership and Digital.

A copy of the report was attached to the agenda, marked Item 7a.

RESOLVED:-

a)    The disaggregation of the L&D functions listed below, by 30 September 2022, be approved:

·         Adults, Communities & Wellbeing.

·         Children’s (the Education provision).

·         Leadership and Digital.

b)    Delegated authority be granted to the Monitoring Officers for North and West Northamptonshire Councils to put into place a deed of variation to the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) for the service to exit the IAA;

c)    That both WNC and NNC be approved to act in accordance with Service Plans, Exit Plans, and any Collaborative Working Agreements agreed by both WNC and NNC service leads and approved by Monitoring Officers until such time as a formal Deed of variation has been completed.

Reasons for Decision:

·         Ensure the safe and legal disaggregation of Learning and Development functions, in line with the Local Government Reform Blueprint.

·         Enable each authority to tailor their learning and development provision to their organisational/corporate priorities and service delivery model.

·         To ensure that any changes to the Inter Authority Agreement arising from disaggregation are correctly enacted with proper authority.

Alternative Options Considered:

The option to remain as a hosted service was considered but it is

recognised that this option does not align to the Disaggregation Blueprints

agreed by the Shadow Executives in September 2020.

The Joint Committee received a report of the Head of Programme Management and Strategic Partnerships (WNC) and the Head of Transformation – Partnerships and Design (NNC) which provided a progress update in relation to the development of Service Plans for lead and hosted shared services between the two Councils following handover to business as usual on 1 April 2022.

The report also proposed amendments to the Inter Authority Agreement and sought approval of performance measures and finance information, as well as providing an update on the performance reporting timeline for 2022/23.

A copy of the report was attached to the agenda, marked Item 7a.

RESOLVED:-

a)    That the proposed amendments to the IAA Schedule 2 be approved;

             i)        Appendix A - Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC)

b)    That the proposed IAA Schedule 3 Service Plans be approved;

             i)        Appendix B - School Swim Service

c)    That the 2022/23 performance reporting timeline be noted, for information.

Reason for Decisions:

·         To ensure information held within the IAA schedules accurately reflects service functions and completed service plans and reporting mechanism are agreed and in place for all approved IAA Service plans.

Alternative Options Considered:

·         Not to approve the Service Plans and Schedule 2 amendments - this could result in inaccuracy of the IAA schedule content and create a delay to reporting and monitoring.

The Joint Committee received a report of the Monitoring Officers (NNC and WNC) which requested variation to the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) to ensure that the governance and approval processes were aligned to the agreement requirements, and that all service plans, change requests and approvals to disaggregate services that have been previously approved by Shared Services (Joint Committee) from 1^st April 2021 up to and including 27 April 2022 were duly incorporated.

A copy of the report was attached to the agenda, marked Item 8b.

RESOLVED:-

a)    That approval be given to varying the IAA to incorporate all Schedule 3 Service Plans, amendments, and deletions to schedule 1 and amendments and deletions to Schedule 2 Specified Functions authorised up to and including 27 April 2022 for lead and hosted shared services, as set out in 2.3 of the report.

b)    That approval be given to vary the IAA to incorporate the Schedule 3 Overarching Principles for Service Plans, as set out in Appendix A.

c)    That it be noted that both WNC and NNC will act in accordance with Service Plans, Exit Plans, amendments to both the IAA and its schedules and any Collaborative Working Agreements agreed by both WNC and NCC service leads and approved by Monitoring Officers and where necessary by the Joint Committee until such time as a formal Deed of variation has been completed.

Reasons for Decisions:

To ensure that the IAA agreement and all schedules are up to date and present an accurate reflection of the lead and host arrangements and governance arrangements are in place and are streamlined, and all authorised changes to the IAA agreement and schedules therein are duly incorporated and legally enforceable.

Alternative Options Considered:

If the Committee had not approved the required changes; each IAA variation notice would be required to be served in writing and delivered to both Chief executives prior to circulation of JOB papers which would contain the same requests, causing potential further delay to the governance process.

If the Committee had not approved the required changes: All authorised IAA schedule 3 and schedule 2 change requests and made to date would be unenforceable legally and key information could be missed, without incorporation by deed of variation.

The Chair reported that there was no urgent business to be transacted.

There being no further items of business, the Chair closed the meeting and thanked members and officers for their attendance.