To receive a report from Councillor Chris Brewis (SHDC) on behalf of the Partnership Scrutiny Task Group.

The Scrutiny Panel Chair Councillor Chris Brewis, South Holland District Council provided Members with a report that detailed the Joint Scrutiny of the South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership, pages 45 to 74 of the Agenda refer.

Councillor Brewis thanked all the members of the task and finish group which had undertaken a review of the progress on the opportunities identified in the approved business case for South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership including all Staff, Councillors and Officers who had supported the process.  In summary, the overall impression was good, however, more work was needed to make the Partnership more effective, and it was recognised that this part of the country was a vital area for the national economy. A special interest group of the LGA was recently formed and had its first meeting thanks to the national weight the Partnership had exerted.  It was optimistic that the Partnership was to become exemplars for excellent local government behaviour.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

• A Member queried if a longstanding ICT issue had been rectified and if there was to be progress any time soon.  It was further queried, what was the purpose of the Joint Scrutiny Report being brought to the Overview Committee.

In response, the Chairman advised of the purpose.  The Scrutiny and Policy Officer confirmed that report was to be presented to the Executive Board for comment and the recommendations would be added to the tracker.  The purpose of Overview Committee reviewing the report was that it had the opportunity to add any further comments before referring to the Executive Board.

Councillor Brewis advised Members that more focus was needed in future including target dates for aims and actions.

The Assistant Director – Corporate responded in relation to ICT, confirming that it was a recurring recommendation from over a year ago.  Members were advised that progress had been made and highlighted that ICT was a big piece of work centred around a single 365 tenancy across the Partnership. Background work had been completed and the cost to deliver the project came back at £800,000.  As Microsoft was developing its own product including the ability of tenancies to talk to one and other which may resolve the issues, the decision to invest was not being rushed.

It was recognised that frustrations existed in the organisation around service systems and that service reviews across the Partnership were necessary. Issues were present where contracts all ended at different points in time and aligning those contracts could enable single services.  The Council had been successful with a single telephony system across the Partnership using Ring Central and with a single website system for document sharing.  The priority for the Partnership was continuing to overcome service specific issues.

• A Member commented that salaries were not consistent across the Partnership which was one of the main concerns of workers at ELDC and should have been a top priority.  In response, the Chairman advised that there was a cost implication to consider.  The Assistant Director – Corporate clarified that there was no intention to have a single pay structure across the three councils as it was not affordable to Boston and East Lindsey to accept South Holland’s pay structure across all service areas.  Instead, the Council had made a commitment to a shared officer pay structure which recognised two or three-way sharing between councils.  These staff would still be working for one authority and the job they initially applied for.  The task in hand was to overlay the Partnership aspects to the dynamic rather than change sovereign council salaries.

• A Member further expressed that East Lindsey workers were disadvantaged by the pay structure and the impact should have been examined before the councils merged.  The Chairman advised that the three sovereign councils remained the same as before the Partnership and that any issues needing to be addressed would take time.  Councillor Brewis further advised Members that the issues were recognised, page 51 of the Agenda refers. 

• A Member referred to Appendix C, page 55 of the Agenda refers.   It was queried if the improvements and focus areas were singular responses.  The Scrutiny and Policy Officer advised that approximately 47 of the responses were recurring themes with a 39% anonymous response rate.  The reported responses aimed to assist the task group to focus on the Councillor’s concerns which occurred more than once.

• A Member made further reference to the statement to focus on core services to ensure capacity of staff, which suggested there was an issue in the delivery of services and transformation.  The Chairman explained that staff should not be expected to take on extra responsibilities within their job and that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund was a good example of asking for outside help to assist with capacity.

The Assistant Director – Corporate advised that reports now showed implications which included capacity. Offloading work to others within the organisation was a recognised issue, however funding streams such as Levelling Up and Town’s Funds had provided capacity funding.  This was to be utilised to appropriately resource the organisation.  In addition, there was a drive from the corporate management team to ensure resources and skills were brought in rather than adding to existing staff’s workload.

• A Member queried if bringing in external staff resources came at a cost to the authority.  In response, the Chairman advised that cost was not affected when it was from extra funding coming in.

• A Member queried what the statement that collaborative working with ELDC, EA, LCC in development of EA funding bid towards an Investment Plan for the coast referred to and how members of the public would comprehend the language used in the report, page 72 of the Agenda refers.  In response, Councillor Brewis advised of the responsibility to make the sure the food producing part of Great Britain was well protected and that awareness was maintained on all levels.

The Assistant Director – Corporate advised that the document was produced for the Joint Strategy Board and was to inform on the work that had been performed across the Partnership.  It was written for Councillors and Officers rather than members of the public.  Further clarification was to be sought from the Assistant Director – Planning and Strategic Infrastructure on what the work incorporated.

No further comments or questions were received.

Following which it was,

RESOLVED:

That the Scrutiny Report on the Joint Scrutiny of the South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership be noted and presented to the Executive Board.