Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J. Riaz, Worcester City Council, A. N. Blagg, Worcestershire County Council and Mrs. E. Stokes, Wychavon District Council.

No declarations of interest were received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Worcestershire Shared Services Joint Committee held on 22nd November 2012 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes be approved as a correct record.

The Joint Committee received a presentation from Mr. M. Thomas, Project Manager in respect of the ICT Implementation – Highlight.  The presentation provided an overview of the ICT project.  Mr. Thomas informed Members that the ICT project had started in September 2012 and was moving at a rapid pace.  Project Governance was in place with fortnightly Project Board meetings and weekly checkpoint meetings being held.  After looking at the amount of resources involved from Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) officers, and the mitigating the risks; it was agreed that data scoping would be transferred to Idox.  WRS had liaised with key agencies in respect of training required and a core team would be trained in order to to deliver training.  Mr. Thomas highlighted to the Committee that all risks were being monitored and mitigated and the overall project status was Green.    

The Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services responded to Members’ questions with regard to the mobile devices to be used and remote printing facilities.  Members were informed that a preferred supplier for the mobile hand held devices had been sourced, and that the devices would be purchased on a business based need and not on personal requirements.  Each hand held device would be linked to a document management system, which would enable users to retrieve any cleansed historical data stored, send emails, letters or reports to customers or request printed documents to be forwarded to customers.

The Chairman thanked Mr. Thomas for his presentation.

(A copy of the presentation is attached at Appendix 1 for information).

Members were asked to note the Performance Data  - Quarter 3, 2012 / 2013 report produced by officers who were currently working in Worcestershire Regulatory Services experimental Intelligence Unit. 

The Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) informed Members that officers would appreciate feedback on the performance report as to the usefulness of the information provided and if Members required any further information to be included in future performance reports.  The Head of WRS highlighted that producing the report, from such a wide range of systems had been time consuming, but once a single database was operational it would be more straight forward.

Mr. S. Wilkes, Business Manager, WRS introduced the report and in doing so informed Members that performance remained at an acceptable level during this time.  The report highlighted performance in a range of areas with district specific information where possible.  The report included the Top 5 consumer complaint categories for each partner authority.  The Business Manager (WRS) responded to Members’ questions in respect of the planning information detailed in the report for each partner authority; and explained that the information provided was a reflection of the support provided to planning teams and not the number of planning applications.  Planning teams could request from WRS a whole range of information dependant on the complexity of individual planning applications, for example noise, vibration, land contamination and air quality. 

In response to Councillor K. Jennings, the Business Manager (WRS) informed the Committee that he would look to include in future performance reports, the number of new cases received and incidents dealt with, therefore providing Members with a comparison on previous quarters.

Following further discussion, and with Members aware that performance data currently had to be extracted from nine different databases, officers agreed to scope the following information being included in future performance reports:

·        Licensing Information and taxi data

·        Number of food hygiene and safety inspections per district

·        Detailed information on where good / bad premises were located within a district

RESOLVED that, subject to officers scoping the additional information to be included in future reports, as detailed in the preamble above, the Worcestershire Regulatory Services, Performance Data - Quarter 3, 2012/2013 be noted.

The Joint Committee received a presentation from Mr. D. Trafford, Key Account Manager, Idox, suppliers of the Worcestershire Regulatory Services integrated IT solution. 

Mr. Trafford informed the Committee that Idox was a provider of software solutions to local government who currently provided and supported software solutions for approximately 320 local authorities throughout the United Kingdom. 

The presentation provided Members with information on ‘What Worcestershire Regulatory Services brings’ and ‘What Idox brings’ to the partnership relationship.  Mr. Trafford highlighted that during an initial meeting in May 2012, officers from Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) had explained and detailed the ‘Systems Thinking’ approach, which had taken place within the service, and this had struck a chord with Idox who had been impressed with the innovation shown by WRS.  All WRS staff worked well with lots of intense activity.  The IT Solution was not just a traditional Environmental Heath, Trading Standards or Licensing system; it was a system that was flexible and able to support both customers and staff.  A fully integrated solution with the ability to share data with other organisations and able to support a multi–skilled, mobile workforce.

Mr. Trafford responded to Members’ questions and in doing so informed the Committee that a high percentage of the delivery and cost of developing the innovative solution was being meet by Idox, however WRS would receive some recompense in providing the IT Solution to other local authorities. 

The Chairman thanked Mr. Trafford for his presentation.

(A copy of the presentation is attached at Appendix 2 for information).

The Committee considered a report that outlined the way in which the Worcestershire Regulatory Services activities linked to National and Local Priorities taken from the relevant Sustainable Community Strategies.

The Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) introduced the report and in doing so informed the Committee that under the Worcestershire Shared Services Partnership, Service Level Agreement; WRS would normally produce a three year service plan, for adoption by all partner authorities.  Since the operating environment was undergoing rapid change and the financial situation beyond 2014 was so uncertain, the Management Board had agreed for a one year service plan to be produced.

Mr. M. Kay, Business Manager, WRS, informed the Committee that the WRS Service Plan 2013/2014 provided a clear picture of the challenges ahead and included an Executive Summary.  The streamlined suite of outcomes and measures, as detailed in the service plan, were a departure from the usual Local Government performance indicators, this new approach reflected what was important to the customer and had been developed through the Management Board and Joint Committee.

The Head of WRS responded to Councillor K. Jennings in respect of item 6, Finance, as detailed in the service plan, and agreed to provide further details to the next meeting of the Joint Committee, with regard to the potential of a one year pilot of modified service standards for Worcester City Council.  

The Head of WRS informed the Committee that the Business Continuity, as detailed in the report, would be presented to the Joint Committee during early 2013.

Further discussion followed with regard to Audit Arrangements, joint scrutiny arrangements, as detailed on page 32 of the report.  Wychavon District Council’s, Scrutiny Committee had proposed a joint scrutiny of Worcestershire Regulatory Services.  All of the shared service partner authorities with the exception of Worcestershire County Council had agreed to participate in the proposed joint scrutiny.  The Head of WRS was tasked to provide the following information to the next meeting of the Joint Committee in respect of the proposed joint scrutiny of WRS:-

·        The agreed Terms of Reference for any proposed joint scrutiny arrangement of Worcestershire Regulatory Services; and  

·        The Joint Committee’s involvement in any proposed joint scrutiny arrangement of Worcestershire Regulatory Services.

RESOLVED:

(a)       that the Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services be tasked to       provide further details to the next meeting of the Joint Committee, with             regard to the potential of a one year pilot of modified service standards     for Worcester City Council; and

(b)               that the Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services be tasked to provide the information, as detailed in the preamble above, in respect of the proposed joint scrutiny arrangements of Worcestershire Regulatory Services, to the next meeting of the Joint Committee; and

(c)               that the Worcestershire Regulatory Services, Service Plan, 2013/2014 be approved.

The Committee were asked to consider a report which detailed the financial position for the period April to November 2012.

The Financial Services Manager introduced the report and in doing so informed Members of the revenue monitoring current underspend of £164,000 and a predicted year end saving of £193,000; and the reasons for the underspend.  Member’s attention was drawn to page 66 of the agenda and the revised charging for 2013/2014.  It had been anticipated that a review of charging would be undertaken by April 2013.  Officers continued to work through the options and variable methods of reallocating costs and it was proposed that a formal review would be completed by June 2013.

RESOLVED:

(a)               that an extension until June 2013 of the basis of charging, be approved; and

(b)               that the financial position for the period April to November 2012 be noted.