Meeting of Shared Services Joint Committee on Monday, 21st June, 2010
Meeting documents
Shared Services Joint Committee
Monday, 21st June, 2010
| Place: | Cross Room, Civic Centre, West Paddock, Leyland PR25 1DH |
| Present: | Councillors Mr C J Clark (South Ribble BC), Mr A Cullens (Chorley BC), Mr K Joyce (Chorley BC) and Mr S M Robinson (South Ribble BC) |
| In attendance: | Garry Barclay (Head of Shared Assurance Services), Susan Guinness (Head of Shared Financial Services), Gary Hall (Chorley BC) and Andy Houlker (South Ribble BC) Fiona Blatcher (Audit Commission) [the joint committee?s external auditors] |
| Public attendance: | None |
| Other Officers: | None |
| Item | Description/Resolution | Status | Action | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPEN ITEMS | ||||
| 1 |
Appointment of Chairman UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: Councillor Joyce be appointed chairman for the municipal year 20010/11. (Councillor Joyce took the chair) |
Agreed | ||
| 2 |
Appointment of Vice-chairman UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: Councillor S Robinson be appointed vice-chairman for the municipal year 20010/11. |
Agreed | ||
| 3 |
Apologies for Absence There was an apology for absence from Mike Nuttall (South Ribble BC). |
Noted | ||
| 4 |
Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest. |
Noted | ||
| 5 |
Minutes of the Last Meeting Minutes attached UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 March 2010 be signed as a correct record. |
Agreed | ||
| 6 |
Financial & Assurance Shared Services Annual Report 2009/10 Annual Report, Appendix to follow (2M/bytes) attached Annual Report - Appendix A (193K/bytes) attached The committee received its first annual outturn report covering a complete year, which had seen a relatively seamless transition from independent to joint working, albeit a challenging year. Appended to the report was the 2009/10 Statement of Accounts for the partnership. Staff within the partnership had contributed to develop the partnership?s core principles and purposes with a common shared direction. The results of subsequent staff surveys had given a lot of positive messages and indicated they were settling in to the partnership environment. There were numerous achievements in both Shared Assurance Services and Shared Financial Services detailed on pages 6 & 7 of the report. These included the Shared Assurance Team being accredited as a single team with ISO 9001 standard and the Shared Financial Services team had closed all the sets of accounts in line with the statutory timetable with unqualified audit opinion. The report showed collaboration worked and the partnership was where it wanted to be. It had a strong base to move services forward over the next 12-18 months which was largely down to the staff involved. During the year the partnership had completed 20 of its 25 key projects, the remaining five were in hand for 2010/11. Also 27 of the 45 partnership?s key performance targets had been fully achieved, and the report explained the position for the remainder. Partnership working was seen to be effective because whilst savings through shared procurement had been ?140,000 (against a target of ?100,000) across all the partnerships between the two councils overall savings had been in the region of ?250,000. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: 1. That the Annual Report be accepted and the good progress being made by the partnership be acknowledged; and 2. That the appended 2009/10 Statement of Accounts be approved incorporating the annual governance statement. |
Agreed | ||
| 7 |
Performance Report Performance Report (77K/bytes) attached The committee was presented with the first performance management report for 2010/11. Although due to the timing of this meeting this report indicated progress/results as at the end of April 2010 instead of a full quarter. At this point there were no issues for concern in either shared assurance services or shared financial services. The committee was updated on the current position relating to the replacement of South Ribble?s Financial Management System and create a joint system for both partner authorities. Also the potential collaboration with Zurich Municipal (both partner councils? insurers) on risk management. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: That the committee accepts the report and notes the good progress on overall performance being made. |
Agreed | ||
| 8 |
Appointment of External Auditor - Extension Annual Audit Fee 2010/11 Audit Commission Letter attached Audit Commission Letter attached The committee received notification that the Audit Commission had decided to extend the appointment period for the external auditor to the joint committee. This was now to also cover the accounts 2010/11 and 2011/12 and bring the appointment in line with that to both Chorley and South Ribble councils. Also the chairman had authorised the consideration of Annual Audit Fee 2010/11 as one of urgency in accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972. Although the item was presented for information purposes only, it related to audit and inspection work which would commence before the next meeting of the joint committee. The indicative fee for 2010/11 was ?7645 (the same as 2009/10) and was 40% below the Audit Commission?s scale fee. The audit areas would be financial statements and Value for Money (VFM) conclusion. Following the recent Government announcements about the external inspection of councils, the external auditor was asked if the Audit Commission had considered changing its arrangements. Immediately following the announcement the Audit Commission stopped all Use of Resources assessment work and had been working on potential alternatives. It was acknowledged that all parties had wanted to reduce the amount of regulation. However, as yet there was no clear picture what might be introduced. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: 1. That the extension of the appointment of the external auditor to cover 2010/11 and 2011/12 be noted; and 2. That the Annual Audit Fee 2010/11 including audit areas and planned outputs be noted. |
Noted | ||
| 9 |
Forward Plan Forward Plan (2M/bytes) attached The committee received a copy of the Forward Plan. It was suggested appropriate to include an additional item relating to Business Planning 2010/11 for the meeting on 27 September 2010. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: That the committee's Forward Plan be noted with the addition of an item relating to Business Planning 2010/11 for the meeting on 27 September 2010. |
Agreed | ||
| 10 |
Venue for Committee Meetings in 2010/11 UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: That the meetings of the Shared Services Joint Committee continue to be held in the Civic Centre, Leyland for 2010/11. |
Agreed | ||
(The meeting finished at 5.36pm)
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