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Declarations of Interest. (Where a Councillor has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest the Councillor must declare the interest and leave the meeting without participating in any discussion or making a statement on the item, except where a Councillor is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of dispensation.) Minutes: There were none. |
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To set out the recommendations from Stage One of the Review of the future of the Integrated Shared Management Structure and Joint Working Arrangements between Breckland and South Holland District Councils (report of the Head of Paid Service & Strategic Advisor enclosed). Additional documents:
Minutes: Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Paid Service & Strategic Advisor which set out the recommendations from Stage One of the Review of the future of the integrated Shared Management Structure and Joint Working Arrangements between Breckland and South Holland District Councils.
The following additional, fourth recommendation was tabled at the meeting, and members were advised that this additional recommendation would also be considered at Breckland Council’s equivalent Cabinet meeting. The additional recommendation would allow for decisions to be taken more swiftly, once the staff consultation period had ended:
· It is recommended that, subject to there being no material changes to the senior management structure following consultation with officers, delegated authority is given to the Head of Paid Service, in consultation with the Leader, to implement the said structure.
The following issues were addressed:
· The Leader wished to make it clear that there were no negative reasons for the proposed ending of the partnership between South Holland District Council and Breckland Council. The partnership had been innovative and successful, and was coming to an end for a number of reasons: 1) the challenges that had arisen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, working across two counties; 2) the retirement of the Joint Chief Executive towards the end of 2020; and 3) the national agenda around Local Government Reorganisation, and the benefits of working with authorities within the same County. These issues had provided the driving force for the need to undertake a strategic review. · Concern was raised that the proposed structure chart at Appendix 3 to the report showed Planning moving from being a Place-based function to Strategy and Resources (under Strategic Growth). In response, it was stated that this was only an interim position. A draft, interim structure had been produced which delivered structure proposals in line with the political weighting to the evaluation criteria, within the financial constraints, and which accommodated staff’s wishes, as far as possible, whilst the Authority was in negotiations with potential partners in the future. · In response to a question regarding savings achieved by the South Holland/Breckland partnership, it was confirmed that in the first 5 years of the partnership, there had been savings of approximately £4.4 million with ongoing savings of £0.5 million per year. Over the life of the partnership, until the present time, on average £740,000 of savings had been delivered each year, totalling around £7.4 million over the life of the partnership. · It was noted that, should one authority arrive at a new partnership before the other, assistance would still need to be provided between the authorities - Recommendation 2 of the report was in place to give a degree of flexibility and partnership working to address the situation when the partnership ended. It was noted that this agreement reflected the fact that the Breckland/South Holland partnership was ending in a positive way in its continued support for each authority. The Leader had made it clear to prospective partners within Lincolnshire that whatever future ... view the full minutes text for item 57. |