Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Kate Lymer and Peter Morgan, and also from Councillor Simon Fawthrop.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report ES17059

As a result of recent Audit reports, service reviews by the Director of Environment and an external audit by the Food Standards Agency the report recommended the allocation of additional resources for Environment and Community Services (ECS) to ensure key front line services had the appropriate and sustainable level of staff to:

·  fulfil the corporate requirements for contract monitoring and business support; and

·  deliver the expected standards of service in key areas.

Without the additional resources there was a high risk of further non-compliance with contract monitoring arrangements, a lack of progress with regard to Public Protection commissioning work, incomplete and weak business continuity arrangements and possible intervention by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) with regard to the management of the Food Safety Team.

Members agreed that the safety of residents had to be a priority, and supported the proposals. There were comments that the balance of the proposals was too much towards office based and administrative staff, but the exact requirements had been carefully considered to ensure that the Council’s statutory requirements were met. 

RESOLVED that

(1)  Three additional posts be agreed to deliver a dedicated Performance Monitoring and Business Support function to the Environment and Community Services Department.

(2)  Additional temporary resource for 2.5 years be agreed in the Public Protection and Community Safety division to support the commissioning programme.

(3)  Additional Food Safety Officers be agreed to clear the outstanding back log of inspections and provide a sustainable resource to meet current demand.

(4)  A temporary Business Continuity Officer post be agreed for 2 years to support the Emergency Planning Manager deliver a robust corporate plan for enabling services to be provided in the event of an emergency.

(5)  The additional costs in 2017/18 and future years set out in paragraph 6.1 of the report be approved - £238k in 2017/18, £467k in 2018/19, £306k for 2019/20 and £217k from 2020/21 onwards; the costs will be funded from the Council’s 2017/18 Central Contingency Sum.

Report CEXO1630

Since taking over the Council’s IT contract in 2016, BT had performed well and the report examined the remaining in-house IT functions and the option of transferring these services to BT through a variation to the existing contract. A  thin client would be retained which would include information governance functions. This would be a key area with the introduction of the GDPR in May 2018. The proposals had considerable benefits in terms of the resilience of the service which BT, as a large organisation, could offer, greater security and prospects for staff, and the opportunity for modest savings and greater transparency on expenditure.

An additional staff consultation response had been circulated concerning the deletion of the Business Services Manager post, which was to be retained on the client side for six months to support the transition of services. The Director of Corporate Services commented that the situation would change considerably post transfer and the position would be reviewed if necessary. 

The Executive and Resources PDS Committee had commented on the Council’s disputes with another part of BT over the payment of invoices for highway works and suggested that this should be offset against the payments made by the Council to BT for IT services. Members of the Executive were also keen to ensure that the Council used its influence to resolve this issue, and the Leader stated that he required a meeting at a senior level with BT. 

RESOLVED that

(1) It is agreed that the transfer of services take effect from the 1 November 2017 for a minimum of 6 years with a total contract sum of £9.3m.

(2)  The one-off funding in 2017/18 of £62.2k for mobilisation of staff as set out in paragraph 6.9 of the report be noted and agreed, funded from the Central Contingency.

(3)  A variation in the Council’s Pensions Policy be agreed, including a fixed employer contribution rate as set out in paragraph 6.16 of the report.

(4)  £65k p.a. be set aside in an earmarked reserve funded from the BT savings for provision against potential future pension liabilities as set out in paragraph 6.8 of the report.

(5)  £279k of the overall budget be retained to fund 5 staff within the Client Unit as detailed in paragraph 3.11 of the report.

(6)  It is agreed that £180k is retained by the Client Unit for Project Support to be drawn down and allocated when required as set out in paragraphs 6.2 – 6.3 of the report.

(7) The additional savings identified by officers of £30k for Outlook archiving and Citrix Mobile working as set out in paragraph 6.10 of the report be noted.

(8)  It is noted that there may be one post made redundant as a result of these proposals amounting to £28k, to be funded from the Central Redundancy Reserve, as set out in paragraph 6.13 of the report.

(9) The outcome of staff and trade union consultation, along with the management response to any issues that may have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 306.