Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors JP Findlow, P Groves, L Gittins and P Donovan.

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

Councillors D Brown and D Armstrong declared an Outside Body Interest as an appointed Member of the CoSocius Shareholder Board.

No members of the public were in attendance and no questions had been submitted prior to the meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 2 October 2015

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 October 2015 be noted.

To consider a joint report of the Chief Operating Officer, Cheshire East Council and the Head of Finance, Cheshire West and Chester Council on the mid-year position for the remaining Shared Service, including both financial and non-financial performance

The Committee considered a summary of the mid-year position for the remaining Shared Services, including both financial and non-financial performance.

It was reported that the mid-year financial outturn forecast was an aggregated overspend of £44k, predominantly attributed to the Occupational Health Unit. Five of the Shared Services had been rated as ‘Green’ in terms of their overall performance and two were rated as ‘Amber’ – these being Emergency Planning and the Occupational Health Unit.  An update on all the Shared Services as at mid-year was provided in the Appendices to the Report. 

Work would commence shortly on the four year Business Plans for the period April 2016 to March 2020 for each of the Shared Services.

The Strategic Risk Register had been amended to include the reversion of CoSocius into a Shared Service arrangement.

RESOLVED:  That

1          the Shared Services mid-year performance for 2015-16 be noted; and

2          the revisions to the Shared Services Strategic Risk Register be noted.

To consider a report of the Head of Professional Services, Cheshire West and Chester Council, on the procurement of Occupational Health Services

The Committee considered a report which provided an update on the future delivery option for the Occupational Health Unit.

It had been agreed that a joint arrangement between Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Warrington Borough Council be entered into.  Representatives from the three Councils had met to commence the procurement process and identify issues relevant to each authority.  These included:

·         the scope of the services required by each authority

·         the use of premises in Cheshire East/Cheshire Wet

·         TUPE implications for OHU staff

·         Pension arrangements for staff who TUPE to the new supplier

·         transfer of medical records and merging of software systems

A Procurement Initiation Plan was being placed on The Chest on-line procurement system to advise potential suppliers that there was a contact being planned and a ‘Supplier Information Day’ had been organised for 9 December 2015 in order that potential suppliers could be advised of the scope and nature of the contract before entering into a formal bidding process.

It had become apparent that with the large amount of work associated with the procurement exercise, the 1 April 2016 deadline would not be achievable. However, a start date of 1 September 2016 would be achievable and this would also tie in with the ChESS/SBSA services to schools’ contract which followed the academic year.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and the start date for the contract of 1 September 2016 be approved.

To consider a joint report of the Chief Operating Officer, Cheshire East Council and the Head of Finance, Cheshire West and Chester Council on the progress being made on key change projects within the Shared Service arrangements between Cheshire West and Chester Council and Cheshire East Council

The Committee considered a report on the progress being made on key change projects within the Shared Service arrangements in relation to Archives and Local Studies and the Archaeology Planning and Advisor Service.

It had been agreed that an alternative site for the Archives and Local Studies service would be sought in either Chester, Crewe or Winsford, with the potential for a two site solution not being ruled out.  Prior to determining the accommodation requirements the Archives Service was focusing on service delivery to meet future demands, not least in terms of technological developments.  Developing this vision would be fundamental to informing a successful Heritage Lottery Funding bid.

The Archive Service had been subjected to a further inspection under the new National Archive Accreditation Scheme.  It was reported that the outcome from the inspection were positive and that the key findings were:

·         the Service had a strong vision for the future, which was based on a good understanding of the people and possibilities involved

·         the Service had good structures in place, with strong management and leadership

·         the Service understood where its priorities lay in the future

·         the Archive’s primary home was working against them; being a drain on resources and preventing further development of the service offer.

Progress from the review of the Archaeology Advisory and Planning Service was detailed in the Report.  The second phase of the review had commenced to determine the most appropriate and effective means of joint working arrangements post 31 March 2016 and needed to take account of the wider scope of developing service delivery options and commercial opportunities currently being explored by Cheshire West and Chester Council. 

RESOLVED:  That

1          the progress on the delivery of the Cheshire Achieves and Local Studies Relocation Project be noted; and

2          the progress with the second phase of the service review of the Archaeology Planning Advisory Service be noted.

To consider a joint report of the Chief Operating Officer, Cheshire East Council and the Head of Finance, Cheshire West and Chester Council on the progress being made in the delivery of the Service Review programme

The Committee consider a report on the progress being made in the delivery of the CoSocius Service Review programme.

Details of the progress against each service review in each Tranche 1 were detailed in the Report and summary presentation.

It was noted that the response from the benchmarking exercise, carried out by Waterstons Ltd, had been poor, with only one supplier formally responding to the exercise.  The single supplier had only provided HR & Payroll transactional costing data.  No transactional costing data relating to Payments and Income were obtained through this formal exercise.  Combined with access to other pricing information and intelligence by Waterstons, it appeared that CoSocius charges for these services were broadly in line with the marketplace. 

RESOLVED:  That

1          the progress in delivery of the transactional services benchmarking review be noted; and

2          the progress to date with the series of service reviews underway and the opportunities for collaboration and sharing across both Councils identified so far be noted.

To consider a joint report of the Chief Operating Officer, Cheshire East Council and the Head of Finance, Cheshire West on the progress made in regards to the mobilisation of the programme of work required to deliver the establishment of  a Shared Service for the delivery of ICT to be hosted by Cheshire East and the establishment of a Shared Service for the delivery of HR & Finance hosted by Cheshire West and Chester

The Committee consider a report on the progress being made in regards to the establishment of a Shared Services for the delivery of ICT and the delivery of HR and Finance.

Following the decision to revert to a shared service agreement to provide ICT, HR and Finance, a fortnightly Joint Programme Board had been established and was made up of Workstream Leads who represented the key areas of activity within the programme. 

Communication was underway with all affected staff to inform them of the TUPE Transfer Date, future employer and associated terms and conditions. 

RESOLVED: 

That the progress with the mobilisation of the programme of work needed to establish the two shared services be noted.