Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Paid
Service and Strategic Advisor which set out
the recommendations from Stage Two of the review of the future of
the Integrated Shared Management Structure and Joint Working
Arrangements for South Holland District Council.
Members asked for clarity as to
what would happen if either Boston Borough Council or East Lindsey
District Council did not vote to pursue a business case to develop
the new local strategic alliance for South East
Lincolnshire.
- The Strategic Advisor
clarified that if the decisions had not been agreed at either
council then the recommendation would not be put forward to South
Holland District Council members at a special meeting of the
council on 1st July.
Members expressed concern over
the structure of the Shared Senior Management team and how this
would be shared across the 3 Councils.
- The Strategic Advisor
responded as follows:
- That the shared
Senior Management structure would include Tiers 1-3 of the current
SHDC Management structure, which would be the posts of Chief
Executive, the Executive Directors and the Assistant
Directors;
- The Chief Executive
and one Executive Director post are currently vacant;
- The costings for this
Shared management structure are split based on a population ratio
of 31% SHDC, 23% BBC and 46% ELDC;
- There would be a
smaller share of a larger number of senior officers across the 3
authorities;
- There would be a
greater cost saving to SHDC across this partnership than there was
across the Breckland partnership and as there would be a larger
team, there would be more resilience across the Senior Management
Team;
- It had been proposed
that there would be a Deputy Chief Executive in post at each of the
three authorities;
- Heads of Service
would remain SHDC based.
Members asked what would happen
to the current S151 Officer and Monitoring Officer at BBC/ELDC if
SHDC officers were to be installed in those statutory roles across
all 3 authorities.
- The Strategic Advisor
responded that the current officers had been informally consulted
about the proposals and were in principle happy to relinquish those
statutory roles. He confirmed that those officers would still be
employed within the Shared Management Structure.
Members raised concerns over
whether the current staff employed in the SHDC Management structure
were the best fit for the roles they were in.
- The Strategic Advisor
confirmed:
- That the starting
point for the structure were no redundancies for the SHDC senior
team. The partnership’s goal was not to fundamentally
restructure the management team but a bringing together of the
strengths of all three existing senior teams in a new structure
that would work for partnership;
- The strategic
alliance has a policy of no compulsory redundancies;
- No concerns about
current staff had been raised directly with the Head of Paid
Service.
Members asked whether there
could only be one person appointed to each statutory role across
the partnership.
- The Strategic Advisor
responded:
- That it had been
agreed that only 1 person would be designated in each statutory posts across the partnership to
enable consistent advice and support to be provided across the
three authorities.
- The Monitoring
Officer post did not require any specific qualifications whereas
the S151 officer was required to be a qualified accountant and the
Head of Paid Service was required to have a reasonable degree of
senior experience and
responsibility.
Members asked whether any
resignations had occurred at any level since the announcement of
the intended partnership.
·
The Strategic Advisor confirmed that that was not
the case.
Members were reassured to hear
that a Deputy Chief Executive would be put in post and based at
South Holland.
Members were concerned that not
enough information had been contained in the report, that Members
had not had enough engagement so far in the process and not enough
scrutiny had taken place.
Members commented that East
Lindsey and Boston Councils were setting up a Joint Scrutiny Panel
specifically to discuss the development of the business case for
the partnership. Was this something that could be set up at South
Holland as well?
Members wanted to understand
the level of services that East Lindsey and Boston were providing
their residents with and whether they will bring value to South
Holland’s services.
Members raised concerns that
there were no points to be able to monitor the success of the
partnership included within the report other than financial
savings.
- The Strategic Advisor
confirmed that the purpose of the report before members was to
signal a direction of intent but give the Joint Panels the
opportunity to amend or add recommendations to the report that
would go to Full Council.
Members commented that no
formal meeting had taken place in choosing the preferred
partnership option and they felt that an executive decision on the
preferred option should have been taken and scrutiny followed after
that.
- The Strategic Advisor
confirmed:
- That no decision had
been made so far and the decision for Full Council to make was to
enter into the partnership, subject to the business case that would
be put forward at the end of July being acceptable.
- A reasonable amount
of informal member engagement had already taken place prior to a
preferred option being chosen and Members were aware of the reasons
for the informal basis of engagement;
- If, it was the view
of Members, that the business case that was brought to Full Council
is not satisfactory, the decision to form a partnership would be
taken or not at that time.;
Members asked who would have
input in developing the business case and what would be contained
within it.
- The Strategic Advisor
detailed:
- That the business
case was already being developed in anticipation of a decision
being made;
- The business case
would detail the strategic and financial case for going into the
partnership. It would detail how financial savings would be made
and how the strategic priorities would be delivered;
- It would detail the
services that are in scope for review and the order in which these
services would be reviewed;
- The business case
would also include the timeframe for the delivery of the programme
and any investments that were required for that
delivery;
- That subject to the
decision taken by the Full Council, the interim Chief Executive and
Head of Paid Service, Rob Barlow, would pull together the resources
to build the business case, memorandum of agreement and the
proposed structure of the partnership to be considered by the Full
Council by the end of July 2021.
Members asked how the new
interim Chief Executive was going to get an insight into the way
that SHDC works and it needs and priorities.
- The Strategic Advisor
responded that if Rob Barlow were to be appointed as Head of Paid
Service and Chief Executive on an interim basis, he would engage
with members immediately to ensure he was aware of the priorities
of SHDC.
Members expressed concerns that
the priorities of South Holland did not line up with those of East
Lindsey and Boston.
Members raised the following
areas as observations to be made to Full Council regarding the
Panel’s concerns:
- Targets needed to be
set that are not purely financial;
- Reassurance needed to
ensure that Senior Managers time would not be taken up
disproportionately elsewhere;
- Reinforce that
officers were visible and easily accessible to members;
- A robust programme
put in place to raise staff morale before and after the
process;
- Ensure that the
authority was able to take opportunities to work with other
authorities and private enterprises outside of the
partnership;
- Ensure that PSPS
maintains its independence as long as it remains
effective;
The Strategic Advisor reassured
Members that priorities would always be determined by them. In
terms of the partnership, priorities need to be looked at on an
individual basis to ascertain whether they would be better done
alone or in partnership.
Members asked whether specific
timescales could be written into the recommendations to
Council.
- The Strategic Advisor
asked members for clarity what a realistic timescale would look
like for them and what format they would like Scrutiny to take
place in.
Members asked whether the other
2 authorities were member-led.
- The Strategic Advisor
informed Members that work would need to be done to assure officers
that the relationship with members would be the same and consistent
across the partnership and that members expectations were taken
into consideration.
Members questioned how the 31%
time share for shared officers would work in a practical
sense.
Members were disappointed that
the business case had not yet been developed and presented to
members as part of the report.
- The Strategic Advisor
confirmed that the business case had not yet been developed as a
decision was only made recently but that Members would have time to
consider the business case before the Council meeting at the end of
July.
The Panel agreed that more time
was needed to look at the business case and member input was vital
and the potential interim Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service
needed to be involved in those conversations.
Key areas for discussion to
include:
- New
Structure
- Memorandum of
Agreement – how partnership is governed
- Business
Case
DECISION:
It is suggested that a further
recommendation be made to the Full Council, the recommendation
being:
‘That a Joint PDP/PMP Working Group be established to
review the proposed report and associated documentation in advance
of the business case decision for the next Council
decision.
- The associated
documentation to include the Business Case, Memorandum of Agreement
and proposed structure for consultation.
- The Working Group
to include the Chairman and Vice Chairman of PDP and PMP and the
remaining members to be appointed from the membership of the above
Panels and to reflect where possible the political balance of the
Council.
- A series of topic
briefings will be prepared by officers for the Working
Group’s considerations.
- The Joint PDP/PMP
Working Group to provide a report and recommendations directly back
to the Council on its findings as part of the next report to the
Council.
- The final version
of the report will be for the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the
Working Group to agree following Member opportunity to provide
feedback.’