Agenda and minutes

To note attendances, substitutes, and any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interest in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members of the public are entitled to address the Joint Committee on reports contained within the agenda.  One person can speak in support of each item, and one against, with a limit of three minutes each.  It would be helpful if any person wishing to speak would give prior notice to the Democratic Services Officer named below.

No members of the public were present.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2012 be approved as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

PRESENT

OFFICERS

Jackie Gray – Shared Services Manager, to be recorded as an officer of Cheshire East Council rather than Shared Services.

Consideration was given to a report which sought approval for the extension of the transitional Youth Offending Shared Service. 

The Youth Offending Service had been designated a transitional shared service to ensure that a strategic review was undertaken and the most appropriate long-term model introduced.  This work was completed by the Youth Justice Board in March 2011 and the recommendation was for the current arrangement to continue.  Two previous extensions had been agreed by the Joint Committee. 

Work to identify an appropriate long-term model had progressed in accordance with the terms of reference agreed by the Joint Officer Board, with both Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester client managers completing an initial analysis of their long term requirements of the service.  During the second phase of the review, to determine whether the current sharing arrangements could and should satisfy these requirements, an approach was received from the Cheshire Sub-Region Leadership Team requesting that options for a potential pan-Cheshire Youth Offending Service be explored.

This aspect of the review had now been completed and it had concluded that a pan-Cheshire Youth Offending Service be implemented.  Cheshire West & Chester were minded to support this recommendation and join up with the Warrington and Halton Youth Offending Service whilst Cheshire East Council did not believe that this provided the best option for their service users moving forward.   It had, therefore, been agreed that current sharing arrangements between the two authorities be dissolved in favour of pursuing alternative service delivery arrangements.

The current arrangement between Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester was due to terminate on 30 March 2012.  However, a further extension up until 30 September 2012 was sough to ensure that a comprehensive transfer plan could be agreed and implemented by the two Councils. 

RESOLVED:

That an extension of the transitional Youth Offending Shared Service until 30 September 2012 to allow Cheshire West and Chester Council to review activity in order to inform future delivery be approved.

RESOLVED:

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item pursuant to Section 100(A)4 of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and public interest would not be served in publishing the information.

Consideration was given to the joint report of the Director of Finance and Business Services (CE) and the Director of Resources (CWAC).

RESOLVED:  That

(1)       the request for funding for estimated one off costs for the Emergency Planning Shared Services redundancies be noted; and

(2)       the decision on staffing reductions and associated costs be delegated to the Section 151 Officers in each Authority in consultation with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Shared Services Joint Committee to enable implementation by 1 April 2012.