Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors P Findlow (Cheshire East Council), J Rhodes (Cheshire East Council) and 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 members of the public were present and no questions had been submitted prior to the meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2021.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2021 be approved as a correct record.

To consider a report which provides a summary of the 2021/22 Quarter 1 position for the Shared Service arrangements between Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council.

Consideration was given to the report which provided a summary of the 2021/22 Quarter 1 position for the Shared Services arrangements between Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West Council. The report included financial and non-financial performance information for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 July 2021 and Appendix 1 to the report provided a summary of overall performance along with a rating for financial performance, performance against delivery of business plan objectives and key performance indicator.

It was reported that the position for Q1 was that the performance of most services was in line with expectations, with no significant issues to report.   Emergency Planning, ICT and Transactional Services were currently reporting objective and KPIs that were currently off track but expected to be back on track by the end of the year.  Additionally, ICT and Transactional Services were reporting financial pressures and work was being undertaken to identify remedial measures to address these and deliver a balanced year-end position.

Clarification was sought on the period which the report covered and in response it was stated that the non-financial performance data was for the period 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021 and the financial information covered the period 1 April 2021 to 31 July 2021.

Members asked questions in respect of what was needed to improve the business carried out with schools, specifically in terms of what the Councils could provide and the charges for this service.

RESOLVED:

That the Shared Services Quarter 1 performance for 2021-22 be noted.

To consider a report on the progress of the shared services review.

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

The report set out the progress from the in-depth review of ICT Shared Services and detailed the key findings.  The model of delivery recommended by C.Co focused on a hybrid shared service and this would allow for the sharing of more standardised functions such as network and infrastructure and the alignment of other ICT functions, which were more business focussed, to the requirements of each Council.

Further work would be required to undertaken to understand the impacts, the delivery plan, the costs, and benefits of moving to the recommended model and it was recommended that this be carried out by both Councils with the assistance of an external partner. 

The review of Transactional Services was underway and had acknowledged the focus and ongoing efforts of the Service in supporting the introduction of Best for Business programme. 

RESOLVED:  That the Joint Committee

1                     notes the progress and content of the report;

2                     notes the emerging direction of travel for ICT;

3                     notes the latest findings for Transactional Services; and

4                     supports a period of detailed understanding and assurance on the recommended model for ICT Services outlined in section 6 of the report.

To consider a report which provides an update on the latest position with regard to the 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.  

Attached at Appendix A was the report previously shared at the informal Shared Services Joint Committee on 23 July 2021 which provided a comprehensive programme update for the HR and Payroll ‘Go Live’ programme and further updates were reported on the user acceptance testing, payroll parallel run and data migration. 

RESOLVED:  That the Joint Committee

1                notes and approves the contents of the report previously shared with the informal Shared Services Joint Committee on 23 July 2021; and

2            agrees the update on delivery of the implementation for the remaining programme.