Issue - meetings

Motion

Meeting: 21/06/2017 - Council (Item 22)

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Minutes:

Members considered the following notice of motion submitted by Councillor P. M. McDonald:

“In the light of the recent discussions regarding the extending of shared services and the reports made by the Internal Auditors regarding the poor recording of costs allocated between Bromsgrove and Redditch. That this Council calls upon leaders of all parties to come together to immediately carry out a full review of all costs allocated to each Council, to ensure Bromsgrove Council Tax payers are receiving their fair share of services and not subsidising those of Redditch”.

The motion was proposed by Councillor P. McDonald and seconded by Councillor L. C. R. Mallett.

In moving the motion Councillor McDonald shared his concern that chief officers were spending more than there allocated time at Redditch Borough Council, which was leading to a reduction and resources for the Council, together with additional travel costs for staff. Members were informed that he believed there should be an exercise to ensure that every area currently involved in shared services is considered. Councillor McDonald also made reference to the comments made by the Council’s Internal Auditors in respect of the lack of robust records or agreements, to ensure a clear audit trail of transactions between the two Councils. It was reiterated that it was important that the residents of Bromsgrove received a fair deal and that the appropriate services and officers were available to help them.

During the debate a number of points were raised by Councillor G. N. Denaro, in particular it was clarified that the Auditors, either Internal or External had never referred to the cost recording as being poor. Furthermore it had been confirmed that this was not reflective of the work within the audit reviews that had been carried out into the shared services arrangement. It was further confirmed that in respect of the cost allocation, at the meeting of Council on 26^th April it was agreed a review would be undertaken by the Chief Executive to verify that the Management Team costs reflected the true time spent at each Authority and Councillor Denaro was happy to extend this to cover all shared services staff costs.

An amendment to the motion was proposed by Councillor G. N. Denaro and seconded by Councillor L. C. R. Mallett that the issue be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Board’s Finance and Budget Working Group to consider the appropriate format and timetable for the review.

On being put to the vote the amendment was declared to be carried.