Agenda item - Progress on reconstitution of Worcestershire Shared Services Partnership of Worcestershire Regulatory Services

Agenda item

Progress on reconstitution of Worcestershire Shared Services Partnership of Worcestershire Regulatory Services

Minutes:

The Committee received an update on the progress on the reconstitution of Worcestershire Shared Services Partnership of Worcestershire Regulatory Services.

 

The Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) informed Members that he had taken over from the Acting Head of WRS, who had presented previous reports to Joint Committee Members.

 

The Head of WRS informed Members that partner councils were progressing with the approval of the recommendations from the Joint Committee meeting held on 25th June 2015, five of the district councils had completed the process, with Worcester City Council outstanding. 

 

Discussions with Worcestershire County Council (WCC) remained on-going in relation to a contractual agreement with WRS.  A report outlining senior management thinking at WCC on the delivery of its regulatory functions currently discharged through WRS, including Trading Standards and Animal Health, was presented at their Council meeting held on Thursday 12th November 2015.  It was recommended and approved that authority be delegated to WCC, Director of Business, Environment and Community (BEC) to negotiate with WRS partners for WCC to give appropriate notice for withdrawal from the Joint Committee and to formally take back direct control of County regulatory functions and the staff delivering those functions.

 

Whilst this was different from what was originally envisaged, the delegation to senior managers at WCC did accord with the decisions made by the Joint Committee at the meeting held on 25th June 2015 and therefore further consideration or resolutions were not necessary for either the Joint Committee or the district partner councils.

 

The Head of WRS further informed Members that he would now work with the Director of BEC at WCC to facilitate this, using the currently agreed methodology of a short term service level / contractual agreement. This would allow for the smooth transition from WRS delivery to direct WCC delivery during the first quarter of 2016/2017, aiming for completion on 31st May 2016.  The contract would have terms that indicated it was intended to run for twelve months with termination by either party by giving notice of one calendar month.  This would allow for any slippage in timescales, however, managers currently envisaged the transition being completed no later 30th June 2016.

 

Alongside these discussions, there were on-going discussions, with regard to whether or not WCC should continue to utilise some of the facilities and software that WRS had procured and developed in the five years since it was established.  It was hoped that this could be realised and should result in an on-going services contract that would continue to benefit both members of the partnership and WCC.

 

In order to avoid an additional financial burden being imposed on district partners, WCC would pay a sum to cover the cost of the additional overheads and management that otherwise would have been covered by WCC contractual arrangement with WRS.  This was going to be a substantial sum and should ensure that the service had a significant amount of time in which to either bring in other customers or to adjust its management and other overheads.

 

The loss of Trading Standards and Animal Health functions would make no impact on the services ability to deliver the Environmental Health and Licensing functions for the six district partner councils.  The functions leaving the service were wholly separate.

 

The Head of WRS reiterated that as previously reported the six remaining district partners would have to enter into a new Shared Services Agreement to govern their future working arrangements.  It was envisaged that this would be based on the existing Shared Services Agreement and that Bromsgrove District Council, Legal Services, would work with relevant officers in each partner authority on the new Shared Services Agreement.

 

A brief discussion followed on the time frames and more importantly that there would be no impact on the remaining district partners.

 

RESOLVED that the update on the progress on the reconstitution of Worcestershire Shared Services Partnership of Worcestershire Regulatory Services, be noted.

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