Agenda and minutes

It was agreed that a representative from Havering would Chair the meetings for the remainder of the 2013/14 municipal year, after which a representative from Newham would assume the Chair for the 2014/15 municipal year.

Councillor Steven Kelly was appointed as Chair, with Councillor Lester Hudson appointed as Vice Chair.

The purpose of the report was to recommend to the Joint Committee the establishment of the shared senior management structure to manage the new shared back office support service between Havering and Newham Councils. This included the Managing Director role, and direct reports to that post.

It was explained that the Business Case for the shared service agreed by both Councils created the role of Managing Director. This role was an amalgamation of elements of the current roles of the Group Director Resources at Havering and Executive Director Resources and Commercial Development at Newham. With the current transformation pressures on both councils neither council can afford to lose their existing Resources Director roles in the short term. It was therefore agreed that initially the Managing Director role would be covered on a shared basis by both the current Directors with both remaining as employees of their current Council. The role and job description had been agreed by the Chief Executives of both Newham and Havering.

Furthermore, in order to lead the functions within the scope of the shared service, it was proposed to create a joint senior management structure. This includes the statutory functions of Section 151 officer and Monitoring Officer on behalf of each authority. The         structure ensured a clear lead on each statutory function for each authority.

The functions in scope of the shared service would be:

·       Finance

·       Human Resources and Organisational Development

·       Legal and Governance Services

·       Asset Management Services

·       ICT Services

·       Transactional and Exchequer Services

In addition, it was proposed to create an additional function of Business Services, to support the business of the shared service, including service improvement, planning and performance management, and business development.

The structure would be a joint management arrangement, with postholders being responsible for managing the service in both authorities. The structure would deliver savings through the deletion of duplicate posts in one borough or the other. The savings would be £455,000 in a full year and will be shared on the basis of the agreed funding formula.

It was noted that all posts in this structure proposal were being evaluated under the Hay job evaluation scheme by the Newham HR team and moderated by the Havering HR team.

The Joint Committee AGREED:

1. To the appointment to the post of Managing Director on the basis of being shared between the existing Group Director of Resources (Havering) and the existing Executive Director for Resources and Commercial Development (Newham). This arrangement would be reviewed by the Joint Committee after the joint service had settled down.

2. The Senior Management Structure as set out in an attachment to these minutes, and that the process to consult with affected post holders in order to appoint to the posts in accordance with the Change Management procedures should commence.

The report explained that Havering and Newham Councils had agreed to set up a shared back office support service.As set out in section 17 of the Business Case, a name and branding would be developed for the new shared service. The name and branding would support the achievement of the wider programme objectives, in particular to engage staff in working for the new shared service and to market the service to potential new customers.

The name and branding would be used:

·         To give the shared service a distinct identity for the people working for it (though they would continue to be employed by one of the Councils), positioning it as a new and different service that they will be proud to work for

·         In any material and activities designed to market the service to other public sector organisations.

It was noted that the name and branding would not be used in communications with residents in either of the boroughs as the shared back office service would not be customer-facing. Residents would still contact, and receive communications from, the individual councils.

The report recommended a name and branding for the Havering and Newham shared back-office support service.

The Joint Committee AGREED:

1.    That the name for the back office support service would be ‘OneSource’.

2.    To adopt the design style as shown in an attachment to these minutes.

3.    That the domain name would be www.onesource.org.uk.

4.    That the strapline would be ‘supporting public services’.

5.    That avocado and black colours would be used for the branding.

In order to facilitate the effective and efficient conduct of the shared services between Havering Newham Councils, it was recommended that the Joint Committee delegate certain functions and responsibilities to the Managing Director and management board of the shared service, who may in turn, where they considered it necessary to do so, delegate further to officers within their respective service directorates, subject to maintaining a written schedule of such delegations.

The Joint Committee:

1)    Recommended that the proposed delegations be approved by each Council through its own processes;

2)    Noted that the approval process for the London Borough of Havering would be consideration by the Governance Committee which would then make a recommendation to Council, and that for the London Borough of Newham the Mayor would amend his scheme of delegations and report this to the next ordinary meeting of Council;

3)    Agreed, (subject to the proposed delegations being approved), to delegate certain functions to the Managing Director and Directors as shown in an attachment these minutes;

4)    Noted that the Chief Executives of the two Councils would separately enter into an agreement under s113 of the Local Government Act 1972 to place the officers within the shared services functions at each other’s disposal, for the purpose of carrying out any non-executive functions which would be necessary for them to fulfil to enable the efficient operation of the shared service.

The report explained that the programme to share the back office support services between Havering and Newham Councils had been formally structured to ensure that the programme was delivered in a way that meets the vision and requirements of each Council.

The key tasks and milestones required to deliver the programme had been identified and progress would be reported through the programme governance structure.

The report detailed, at a high level, the programme’s governance structure, the overall programme plan and the key tasks and milestones during the implementation phase.

The Joint Committee NOTED the report.