Apologies (if any received).

There were no apologies for absence.

Councillor Zulfiqar Ali attended the meeting remotely via zoom.

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any of the items n the Agenda at this point of the meeting.

Members may still disclose any interest in an item at any time prior to te consideration of the matter.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Joint Committee held on 3^rd December 2021 (attached) and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2021 were agreed as a correct record. There were no matters arising.

Report and appendix attached.

The oneSource Strategy 2020-2023 was originally published in February 2020 and set out the priorities for oneSource over the following three years, identifying the five strategic priorities for the organisation. These priorities were delivered in a number of ways, through service planning, through projects and activities, and via BAU.

The report, and the presentation attached in Appendix 1, provided an update on progress over Q3 2021-22. It included key activities from services, as well as an overview of the key projects that delivery this strategy. The report explained the changes that have taken place in one Source over the last few months and addressed the plan for the organisation going forward. It was noted that a review of oneSource arrangements should be discussed between the Councils’ Leader/Mayor and the Chief Executives.

The Committee noted the one Source Strategy 2021-22 progress update for Q3 (October - December) presented in Appendix 1 to the report.

Report and appendix attached.

The one source Performance Indicators formed part of the Providing Quality Assurance and Performance Management of Service Delivery Report that was agreed at Joint Committee and was reported to the Committee and partner Councils on a quarterly basis and presented the Performance Report for the third quarter (Oct -21 to Dec-21) of 2021-22.

It was noted that the procurement section of the report had not been presented accurately and should be disregarded on this occasion.

It was anticipated that income from debt collection would improve following the pandemic. Officers would circulate details of the proportion of agency staff and the level of legal costs. Details on the impact on collection rates of the Council Tax rebate could also be provided although it was noted that rebates would be administered separately to Council Tax accounts themselves.

The Committee noted the one source Performance Report for the third quarter of 2021-22 as shown in Appendix 1 of the report.

Report Attached.

The transfer of the Newham Health & Safety function from oneSource to Newham Council with effect from 1st April 2022 including the transfer of Newham-employed staff and related salary budgets was proposed. Concern was raised by Havering Members that the report stated that Havering was looking to increase staff in this area when this was not the case. It was therefore suggested that approval of the arrangements be delegated to the Council Chief Executives in consultation with the Leader/Mayor of the respective Councils.

The Committee agreed:

·       In principle to the transfer of the Newham Health & Safety function from OneSource to Newham Council with effect from 1st April 2022.

·       To delegate authority to the Councils’ Chief Executives, in consultation with the Mayor of Newham and Leader of Havering, to approve the detail of consequent financial and staffing arrangements.

·       To delegate authority to the Director of Legal & Governance, to vary the terms of the oneSource agreement and, if necessary, update the oneSource Scheme of Delegation to reflect the transfer.

Report and exempt report attached.

It was explained that Newham would like to end its use of the workplace investigation service, which was a small team within the shared HR and Organisational Development function. The proposed arrangements for implementing the change and meeting the resulting cost were set out in the report.

The Committee agreed:

·       That the Newham delegated function, in respect of the workplace investigation service would be removed from the one source shared service arrangement.

·       To the proposed arrangements for implementing this change and meeting the resulting cost.

·       To delegate the timescale for implementation to the one source Director of HR and Organisational Development, in consultation with the section 151 officer for each council.

Report attached.

A summary of OneSource’s period 10 forecast and the movement from period 6 was set out in the report.

Discussion occurred around scrutiny, review, and maintaining consistency and project management due to the vacancy of the oneSource Managing Director post. Some Members favoured recruiting a replacement urgently but it was noted that the Havering Chief Executive was currently providing additional scrutiny of oneSource matters. It was decided that further discussion would be taken offline and a mutual arrangement re any replacement for the Managing Director would be sought in conjunction with the Council Leaders and Chief Executives.

Savings of more than £3m were continuing to be pursued although it was accepted that there was a risk of these being impacted by a period of prolonged inflation.

The issue re outstanding monies due from the Evaluation Office remained unresolved and it was agreed that the Director of Asset Management should draft a letter from both Leaders to the Evaluation Office. It was also agreed that an update on social value in procurement should be brought to a future meeting of the Committee.

The Committee agreed to note the period 10 position and its improvement from the period 6 as well as the continued work being undertaken by the oneSource management team to further reduce the projected overspend and bring spend back in line with budgets.

It was also to be noted that this was Councillor Roger Ramsey’s last meeting and the Committee thanked him for his support and guidance to oneSource.