Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor K Shore (Cheshire West and Chester Council).

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made.

No questions had been submitted prior to the meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2022.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2022 be approved as a correct record.

To receive an update in relation to the Archives project.

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update on the Archives Relocation Project.

A formal review of the project has been undertaken by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in December 2021.  The development phase review was passed successfully and feedback from the review had been positive.  Formal notification of the successful review was received in January 2022 and work on RIBA Stage 3 had commenced and was timetabled to complete in the Summer, with the planning applications to follow in Autumn.

RESOLVED:

That the current status of the Archives Relocation Project be noted.

To receive an update on the progress of the shared services review and proposed next steps.

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update on the progress with the Shared Services Review.

The in-depth review of the ICT Shared Services was currently focused on the technical aspects and had begun to consider the financial aspects.  It was anticipated that this would be completed by April 2022 and the full findings from the review would be reported to the next meeting.

 A full implementation plan from the review of Transactional Services was being drafted but had not been finalised due to the priority to support implementation of UNIT 4.  It was expected that the implementation plan would be reported to the Joint Committee meeting in June 2022.

The review of the six smaller shared services had made recommendations to update service level agreements and budgeting arrangements.   It was proposed to put in place more proportionate governance and reporting for these shared services based on categorisation of the six services as either ‘shared service’, ‘managed service’ and ‘strategic partnership’.  Paragraph 7.5 of the report set out the revised approach to business planning and reporting for the six smaller shared services.

RESOLVED:  That the Joint Committee

1          note the progress to date of the Shared Services Reviews

2          note the revised approach to business planning and reporting, as set out in section 7.5 of the report.

To receive an update on the latest position with regard to implementation of the replacement HR and Finance system for the Councils and their partners.

Consideration was given to the report which detailed the latest position regarding the implementation of the replacement HR and Finance System for the Councils and their partners.

The report provided details on developments following the second programme go live, an update on the post go-live transition plan which would lead to and support programme closure, and an update on the proposed approach for the planned lessons learnt review of the programme later in 2022.

The period of ‘hypercare’ had been extended until the end of March 2022 to ensure that remaining defects were resolved, the roadmap of system development, upgrade and fixes were in place leading up to the financial year end in March 2022, continued support provided by external programme management advisors, and the continuing secondment arrangements for staff to support these activities.

A ‘lessons learnt’ review would be carried out by the Joint Committee and the Joint Scrutiny Working Group later in the year. The draft terms of reference had been shared with both and an informal discussion meeting would be arranged to consider them. 

RESOLVED:  That the Joint Committee

1          note the continuing activities leading to programme closure and exit from hypeprcare;

2          note the “transition to business as usual” plan; and

3          note the proposed approach to the ‘lessons learned’ programme review.

To consider the Shared Services Forward Plan.

Consideration was given to the Forward Plan for the Shared Services Joint Committee.

It was reported that the date for the January 2023 meeting should be 27 January 2023 and not 17 January 2023 as stated in the Forward Plan.

It was noted that the Chair and support for the Joint Committee would swap back to Cheshire West and Chester Council from the June 2022 meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the Shared Services Forward Plan be noted.