Agenda item - Worcestershire Regulatory Services Service Plan 2018/2019

Agenda item

Worcestershire Regulatory Services Service Plan 2018/2019

Minutes:

The Board was asked to consider and approve the Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) Service Plan 2018/2019.

 

The Business and Relationships Manager, WRS, presented the report and in doing so informed Members that the Service Plan would help raise Members awareness of what the service was proposing for the relevant financial year.  The Service Plan also provided a sign off that some central government bodies liked to see in relation to service delivery plans.

 

The service would continue to shape its work around the strategic priorities for local authority regulatory services, which were provided more than five years ago by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Regulatory Delivery Team.

 

A range of high level activities were identified within the plan, informing Members of the general focus of activity.  Below this would sit a number of team plans that would be used to drive the actual business activities.

 

The plan was devised in the face of on-going financial uncertainty in local government generally.  Working with businesses and other partners was a key theme for both generating income to mitigate financial risk; but also to ensure that outcomes were delivered that matched the priorities of partners and stakeholders.

 

The Business and Relationships Manager, WRS, highlighted that delivery for other local authorities was the key income generation strategy, supported by work for the private sector and specific grant monies. 

 

Looking forward, it was likely that other authorities or groups of authorities may come into the market, creating a need for WRS to remain competitive and retain its particular expertise to sell.

 

The Risk Register, as detailed at Appendix D in the report, had been updated to reflect the fact that WRS had now fully developed their own IT database and the fact that both WRS accommodation and ICT hosting had been moved to Wyre Forest District Council.

 

Further detail in relation to the Food Hygiene work of the service had been included.  This was one of the recommendations from the auditors following the recent Food Standards Agency visit in May 2017.

 

It was noted that there was a typographical numerical error on page 50 in the main agenda pack.  Paragraph 2, the figure should read £3.025M and not £3025M.

 

Councillor J. Squires, Worcester City Council, commented that WRS provided an excellent service, but she was aware that maybe not all Members of the Board were fully aware of what services each partner authority had signed up for.

 

The Head of Regulatory Services, WRS, informed the Board that each partner authority had, under the Worcestershire Shared Services Partnership agreement, signed up to a “Statement of Partner Requirements”.  He would take the comments on board and look at how best to cascade this information to Board Members. 

 

RESOLVED

(a)  that subject to the typographical numerical error, as detailed in the preamble above being noted and corrected, the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Service Plan 2018/2019 be approved; and

 

(b)  that Members of the Board note the level of work to be undertaken by the service this year, in relation to their roles as local food authorities.

Supporting documents: