Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest that they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting.

Interests were declared in the following agenda items:

7. Amendment to Membership of Joint Appraisal Sub-Committee 2015/16.

Sue Smith, Declaration, as the item related to her appraisal.

9. Review of Three Way Shared Services: Legal and ICT.

Karen Curtin, Declaration, as a Director of Graven Hill Village Development Company Limited, which was a customer of the ICT Service.

Sue Smith, Declaration, as a Director of Graven Hill Village Holdings Limited and Graven Hill Village Development Company Limited, which was a customer of the ICT Service.

The Chairman to report on any requests to submit petitions or to address the meeting.

There were no petitions or requests to address the meeting.

To receive communications from the Chairman.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2016.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 22 January 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman to advise whether they have agreed to any item or urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

There were no items of urgent business.

The responsibility for appraising the Joint Chief Executive lies with elected members appointed to the Joint Appraisal Sub Committee.

The Joint Appraisal Sub Committee is made up of a total of 8 members (including the Leaders from each Council), drawn from the Joint Commissioning Committee (JCC).

At the 10 August 2015 meeting of the JCC, Members resolved to appoint Councillors Atack, Bowen, Breese, McCord, Reynolds, Richards and Turner to the Joint Appraisal Sub Committee for the municipal year 2015/16. As the Leader of Cherwell District Council was not a member of the JCC at that time, he could not be a member of the Joint Appraisal Sub Committee but can attend ex officio.

Following a decision of the respective Full Council meetings in October 2015 to increase the membership of the JCC from 8 to 12 Members, 4 new Members appointed to the Committee.

Councillor Wood, Leader of Cherwell District Council (CDC), has requested to amend the CDC membership of the Joint Appraisal Sub Committee, removing Councillor Reynolds and appointing himself.

The Committee considered a request from Councillor Wood, Leader of Cherwell District Council (CDC), to amend the CDC membership of the Joint Appraisal Sub Committee, removing Councillor Reynolds and appointing himself.

Resolved

(1)          That the membership of the Joint Appraisal Sub Committee be amended as follows: Councillor Barry Wood to replace Councillor George Reynolds.

The following item of business contains exempt information as defined in the following paragraphs of Part 1, Schedule 12A of Local Government Act 1972.

1             Information relating to any individual

3         Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Members are reminded that whilst the following items have been marked as exempt, it is for the meeting to decide whether or not to consider each of them in private or in public. In making the decision, members should balance the interests of individuals or the Council itself in having access to the information. In considering their discretion members should also be mindful of the advice of Council Officers.

Should Members decide not to make a decision in public, they are recommended to pass the following recommendation:

“That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business, on the grounds that they could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Schedule 12A of that Act.”

Resolved

That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business, on the grounds that they could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Schedule 12A of that Act

Exempt Report of Chief Executive

The Chief Executive submitted an exempt report which presented reviews of the three way legal and ICT services requested by Cherwell District Council’s Executive and South Northamptonshire Council’s Cabinet following the decision to undertake no further joint working with Stratford on Avon District Council.

The report set out recommendations to bring to an end the three way sharing arrangements as the reviews demonstrated that continuation of these services was not in the long term strategic interests of the authorities.

Resolved

(1)          That the reviews of legal services and ICT be noted.

(2)          That the Full Council meetings of Cherwell and South Northamptonshire Councils be recommended to agree that the section 113 agreement setting out the arrangements by which legal and ICT services are shared with Stratford on Avon DC is terminated and the specified six month notice period is used to the extent that it is necessary to wind down the three way services.

(3)          That the legal and ICT services for  Cherwell District Council and South Northamptonshire Council be provided by two way shared teams once the three way teams are disbanded.

(4)          That transition plans be enacted to ensure risks associated with change are mitigated and that updates be brought to future meetings of JCC with regards to progress.

(5)          That £200,000 funding from existing resources at SNC and CDC be allocated to support the transition arrangements for ICT which will be managed over a period of six months.

(6)          That the Head of Law and Governance be authorised to co-operate with the Head of Legal and Democratic Services at Stratford on Avon District Council with a view to progressing the disbanding of the three way legal service and the implementation of a two way team as quickly as is practicable.

(7)          That it be noted that a Project Board would be established to oversee the transition work for the ICT Service and it be agreed that the membership of the Project Board include the respective CDC Executive and SNC Cabinet members whose portfolios included ICT and other elected Members with expertise in ICT, to be appointed by the respective Leaders.