To elect a Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee for the ensuing year in accordance with paragraphs 9 and 10 of Schedule 1 to the ‘Delegation and Joint Committee Agreement’: Watford members to appoint the Chair and Three Rivers members to appoint the Vice-Chair.

RESOLVED –

(1)     that Councillor Mark Watkin be appointed Chairman of the Joint Shared Services Committee; and

(2)     that Councillor Brian White be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Joint Shared Services Committee.

RESOLVED –

(1)     that Councillor Mark Watkin be appointed Chairman of the Joint Shared Services Committee; and

(2)     that Councillor Brian White be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Joint Shared Services Committee.

To receive any disclosures of interest.

None received.

None received.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Joint Shared Services Committee held on 223 September 2013.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Shared Services Committee held on 23 September 2013 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Shared Services Committee held on 23 September 2013 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To announce items of other business notified to the Secretary of the Joint Committee, together with the special circumstances which justify their consideration as a matter of urgency. The Chairman to rule on the admission of such items. (Note: If other confidential business is approved under this item, it will also be necessary to specify the class of exempt or confidential information in the additional item(s)).

None.

None.

This report considers the service plans and budgets for the shared services in the medium term.

RESOLVED –

that the Service Plans for Finance, ICT and Human Resources and the revised Service Plan for Revenue and Benefits, circulated at the meeting, be approved subject to the Key Performance Indicator information in respect of Revenue and Benefits being corrected and updated.

The Joint Committee considered the service plans and budgets for the shared services in the medium term.

The Heads of Services of Finance, Human Resources, ICT and Revenues and Benefits introduced their Service Plans and answered Members’ questions.

Finance

In reply to questions the Head of Finance stated that his Service had achieved savings of more than £400,000 since the introduction of the Shared Service Finance Service.  The team had met every challenge and that further reductions through retirements would be managed.

The Service Plan of the Finance Section on being put to the meeting was Approved.

Human Resources

The Head of Personnel outlined the Human Resources Service Plan.

The Service Plan on being put to the meeting was Approved, the voting being 6 in favour, 0 against and 0 abstentions.

ICT

The Client Manager outlined the ICT Service Plan.

In reply to questions and comments from Members:

-          The Council Servers would be migrated to a site provided by CAPITA.

-          The Council had made a submission to the Cabinet Office to seek accreditation in respect of the Public Service Network (PSN).

-          There were sufficient controls to ensure that CAPITA delivered the service required under the contract.

The Service Plan on being put to the meeting was Approved, the voting being 5 in favour, 0 against and 1 abstention.

Revenues and Benefits

The Interim Head of Revenues and Benefits circulated an updated Service Plan at the meeting which included Performance Indicator information.  He stated:-

-        The workload of the Revenues and Benefits had increased by 26% since the inception of Shared Services.

-        Challenges in respect of Universal Credit were currently being overcome by the use of temporary staff.

-        The budget for the service had not been set to the correct level, for example, the postage budget only met 10% of current costs.

-        He had reviewed the service and there was a need for resources to be allocated to the correct place.

-        There had been an increase in workload with backlogs but he hoped to have the Service sustainable by the end of the financial year.

In reply to comments and questions from Members he stated -

-          System reports had been interrogated at to see if additional payments or underpayments would be  created.

-          The manner in which complaints were logged and dealt with would be investigated.

-          The level of and type of calls from the public and how they were  being dealt with to be checked to see if they could be dealt with in another way.

-          Quality team monitoring to ensure error rate reduced.

-          It was hoped to create space for Managers to manage.

-          Encourage staff to come forward with ideas for improving the system and implementing those ideas.

-          The introduction of Universal Credit was now a long way off and at that time the Council may convert temporary staff to permanent staff to deal with its introduction.

The Service Plan for the Revenues and Benefits, subject  ...  view the full minutes text for item JSS21/13

This report gives performance information for the 1^st Quarter of 2013/14.

RESOLVED –

that the report be noted.

This report gave performance information for the 2^nd Quarter of 2013/14.

The Committee noted updated figures for Revenues and Benefits in relation to change of circumstances, for Watford it was now 14.13 days and Three Rivers 13.55 days.

RESOLVED –

that the report be noted.

To receive a presentation on the future arrangements for shared services.

(1)     that the presentation by the Director of Finance circulated at the meeting detailing future arrangements for Shared Services with a timetable for achieving the arrangements be noted; and

(2)     that a progress report on the implementation of the new arrangements be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee.

The Committee received a presentation on the future arrangements for shared services.

The Committee thanked the Director of Finance for the presentation but were concerned about the governance of implementation of those arrangements.  The Director undertook to provide a progress report to the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED: -

(1)     that the presentation by the Director of Finance circulated at the meeting detailing future arrangements for Shared Services with a timetable for achieving the arrangements be noted; and

(2)     that a progress report on the implementation of the new arrangements be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee.

This report provides an update on the ICT Service Provision.

RESOLVED –

that the report be noted.

This report provided an update on the ICT Service Provision.

RESOLVED –

that the report be noted.

This report provides an update on the Revenues and Benefits Service and current performance of the Benefits Service.

RESOLVED –

that the report be noted.

This report gave an update on the Revenues and Benefits service.

RESOLVED –

that the report be noted.