Decisions

The Joint Committee interviewed two applicants for appointment to this position. It carefully considered their respective merits and satisfied itself as to their competency by reference to their written profiles, oral presentations and the answers to questions concerning the role and by wider questioning.

The Joint Committee indicated its provisional intention to make an offer to Ben Plant.

The Joint Committee interviewed two applicants for appointment to this position. It carefully considered their respective merits and satisfied itself as to their competency by reference to their written profiles, oral presentations and the answers to questions concerning the role and by wider questioning.

The Joint Committee agreed on a suitable candidate for the post and indicated a provisional intention to make an offer to Ben Plant.

The joint committee resolved to exclude members of the public from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the public were present during these items there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

The joint committee resolved to exclude members of the public from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the public were present during these items there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

It was explained in the report that the existing oneSource brand had been in place since its inception almost five years ago. The brand was intended to provide the shared service with an identity that staff could share and that could be marketed externally to attract business. With the changing priorities of the partner councils there was debate as to whether the branding remained fit for purpose.

To date, an audit of the various channels through which oneSource is branded has been conducted. Recommendations had been made as to whether branding should be retained, reduced or removed for each of these channels. Furthermore, quick wins had already been implemented to reduce the visibility of branding in some areas.

The Joint Committee debated the merits of the current logo/branding and whether there needed to be variations to reflect the partner authority receiving the service.

The Joint Committee noted the report and recommended option 3 as its preferred brand.

It was explained that the time of drafting the report the oneSource accounts were in the process of being finalised. It was explained therefore that the Period 11 position was being reported and that an updated outturn position would be presented at the next Joint Committee meeting.

The oneSource shared forecast for Period 11 was an underspend of (£0.375m). The projected outturn split between the three boroughs was (£0.146m) to Havering, £0.165m to Bexley and (£0.394m) to Newham.

The Period 11 forecast for non-shared areas managed by oneSource but not part of the cost share were a £0.056m overspend for Havering, (£0.027m) underspend for Newham and nil variance for Bexley.

The shared and non positions were inclusive of the original oneSource business case savings of £14.88m, reduced to £13.517, following the removal of Democratic and Council Tax Benefit Services from the oneSource model in Newham. The split of the savings was £12.191m for shared, and £1.326m for non-shared.

The Joint Committee noted the Period 11 oneSource forecasted outturn position as at February 2019

It was reported that following May 2018 elections, a consensus emerged across the three partner authorities that oneSource should primarily deliver their corporate priorities and support council services rather than generate external business.  Areas of improvement and re-prioritisation for oneSource emerged from this agreement. 

It was agreed in January that oneSource should prepare an improvement plan to be agreed by the oneSource Joint Committee with effect from 2019-20 noting that a number of the improvements were already underway.

The Improvement and Action Plan, included as an appendix to the report, would be embedded into service plans for each oneSource directorate.  oneSource services have had service plans, service level agreements and performance indicators in place since 2014 and were substantially refreshed in 2017/18.  Service plans and Improvement Plan priorities would be kept under review to reflect partner Council priorities.

It was commented that the culture change programme needed to be more embedded into the improvement plan and that there was insufficient clarity regarding the allocation of resources to support the partners authorities, this was particularly relevant given the differing priorities of the partners and, specifically, the senior management reorganisation at Newham.

It was added also that whilst there had been consensus that oneSource should primarily deliver their corporate priorities and support council services rather than generate external business, the Improvement Plan should nevertheless include a protocol on how requests for oneSource support services by external parties are evaluated.

The Committee resolved:

1.            To agree the oneSource Improvement Plan and Action Plan subject to the amendments as outlined in the body of minute ??

2.    To delegate to the Interim Executive Director, oneSource to finalise the Improvement Plan and Action Plan following consultation with the Chief Executives of the partner Councils (or their nominees).

3.         To note:

a)         Progress on the Action Plan will be reported to the Joint Committee and partner Councils.

b)         Services plans for each oneSource directorate were being completed to reflect the Improvement Plan, taking into account the partner Council corporate priorities, and including agreed performance and service standards.

c)         The partner Councils and the Interim Executive Director would agree the resources available to deliver the Improvement Plan, following the approach outlined in the report.

The report before Members set out the base budget for oneSource services for both shared and non-shared for the financial year 2019/2020 including the apportionment between the three partner Councils.

The base budget for oneSource shared was £33.508m and £12.942m for non-shared after taking into consideration non recurring funding from 2018/2019 and agreed growth and savings for 2019/2020.

It was noted that inflation had been agreed within each authority but had not been loaded into the financial system at the time of reporting.

The Joint Committee noted the based budget for oneSource services for 2019/2020 and the services that had been transferred between shared and non-shared during 2018-19.

To approve the establishment of an Additional Resource Provision at Nelmes Primary School

·       The Committee considered the report and RESOLVED to GRANT PLANNING PERMISSION subject to the conditions as set out in the report and to the prior completion of a legal agreement to secure the following planning obligations:

1.     An Education contribution of £24,000 (4 dwellings x £6,000) subject to indexation.

2.     Any other planning obligation(s) considered necessary by the Assistant Director of Planning.

The Committee considered the report and RESOLVED to GRANT PLANNING PERMISSION subject to the conditions as set out in the report.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 April 2019 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The Director of Children’s Services will be asked to award the contract.