Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Henry Batchelor, David Bard, Philippa Hart, Bunty Waters and David Whiteman-Downes. Councillor Lynda Harford was in attendance as a substitute for Councillor Bard, Councillor Anna Bradnam was in attendance as a substitute for Councillor Hart and Councillor Graham Cone was in attendance as a substitute for Councillor Bunty Waters.

There were no declarations of interest.

To authorise the Chairman to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 30 April 2015 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 April 2015 were agreed as a correct record.

No public questions had been received.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee ENDORSED the recommendations to Cabinet as set out in the Shared Services Overview report and in the shared Legal, Building Control and ICT services reports.

The Committee also RECOMMENDED:

a)    That performance of the Legal, Building Control and ICT shared services be monitored monthly at the Partnership Board for Shared Services and the Joint Committee, for the first six months of the shared services.

b)    That the Legal Practice Business Plan for 2016/17 be available for scrutiny by February 2016.

The Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council presented the Shared Services reports and business cases which would be presented to Cabinet. The Scrutiny and Overview Committee Chairman raised concern that these were being presented to the committee with such short notice before the Cabinet meeting. The Leader of the Council apologised for this and made the committee aware that attempts had been made to reschedule the Cabinet meeting to allow more time between the two meetings, however this had not been possible due to coordination required between all Councils involved in the shared services.

The Deputy Leader of the Council presented the Shared Services Overview report. Discussion and questions ensued:

·         It was clarified that Internal Audit was not a shared service with Huntingdonshire District Council; this was an option for the expansion of the shared service.

·         Members were informed that a lead authority ethos was being applied to shared services. It was noted that South Cambridgeshire District Council was not acting as the lead authority for ICT, Building Control or Legal shared services.

·         The Executive Director (Corporate Services) clarified that the Head of Service for each shared service, was accountable to all Councils.

·         Concern was raised that the reduction in economies of scale and savings would lead to the loss of staff through restructuring. The committee was informed that a number of posts had been held vacant in anticipation of a rationalisation of posts.

·         The cost of rebranding was queried. The Leader of the Council informed members that there was no cost to the rebranding as this would be done in-house. Council brands from the public’s point of view would not be changing. The rebranding was to give shared service teams a sense of common identity and staff had been involved in the rebranding exercise.

·         Staff involvement in the development of the shared services was queried. The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services confirmed that there had been a good level of engagement with staff with a detailed communications plan having been developed and staff involved in shared services discussions through workshops and brainstorming sessions. Formal engagement with staff began in May 2015.

The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services presented the Legal Shared Services report and business case. Issues raised by members of the committee were:

·         Savings on external legal costs across the three councils were slim. Members were informed that the savings on external legal costs were just one component of where savings were expected. Other savings would come from elements such as shared structures, libraries and systems.

·         A breakdown of the savings outlined at 3.1 of the Shared Legal Services Business Case was requested.

·         The Leader of the Council highlighted that shared services was not only about savings but about providing quality of service and increasing the resilience of services.

·         Concern was raised regarding potential implications of staff being required to travel more, staff becoming isolated through home working and losing touch with best practice as a result of this. This concern was acknowledged  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Staffing presented the Quarterly Position Report on Finance, Performance and Risk alongside the Corporate and Customer Services Portfolio Holder.

The committee thanked the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services for the new reporting structure and ENDORSED the recommendations to Cabinet.

Councillor Lynda Harford provided a verbal update on the work of the Scrutiny Committee’s Orchard Park Task and Finish Group. The committee was informed of recent changes to the membership of the Task and Finish Group, with Councillors Kevin Cuffley, Janet Lockwood and Bunty Waters joining the group. Councillor Harford updated the committee on the Task and Finish Group’s most recent meetings with officers from South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council, a workshop held with Parish Councils and a meeting that would take place in July with County Council Officers.

The group was on track to present its recommendations to the committee in September 2015.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee Chairman thanked the members of the Task and Finish Group for their work.

To enable the committee to consider its work programme for future meetings.

The Work Programme was noted.

The potential for the Scrutiny Committee to consider the Local Plan was discussed. The committee was informed that the Local Plan examination would start again in February 2016. The Committee agreed to monitor proceedings and once it was known how the Council was going to proceed and what would be submitted, it was thought that the committee may be able to look at this in the New Year.

a)    The Committee is required to appoint monitors to each Cabinet Portfolio, which are attached for information.

b)    Scrutiny monitors are invited to report to the Committee regarding Portfolio Holder meetings attended since the last meeting and specifically raise any issues challenged and the result and/or issues where the Committee could add further value.

Scrutiny Monitors were appointed as follows:

Due to some Members being unable to attend the committee meeting, a number of Scrutiny Monitors were still to be appointed, as outlined above.

·         3 September 2015 at 6pm

·         5 November 2015 at 6pm

The dates of future meetings were noted. The next meeting would take place on 3 September 2015 at 6pm.