Agenda and minutes

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

There were none.

The Chair to report on any requests to address the meeting.

There were no requests to address the meeting.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 21 September 2022.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 21 September 2022 were agreed and signed by the chair as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

To receive communications from the Chair.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Shared Services Joint Committee.

At the Chair’s invitation, the Assistant Director Safeguarding and Wellbeing Services presented the report and explained that the service was hosted in the West and provided long-term support to adults and care leavers as an alternative provision to care. The Shared Lives Scheme was CQC regulated, and the report was seeking approval for disaggregation by 31 January 2023 to continue the joint working arrangements. There were additional costs that had been allocated for a manager within NNC but that was going to be absorbed into the current line manager structure. The Assistant Director Safeguarding and Wellbeing reassured the committee that they were on track for disaggregation subject to the committee’s approval and a consultation would follow on Friday if agreed.

The Chair thanked the Assistant Director Safeguarding and Wellbeing for the very informative report. Members discussed the report and welcomed the plans going forward and recognised the hard work that had gone into the Shared Lives Scheme and thanked officers for their contribution.

RESOLVED: That the Shared Services Joint Committee:

(1) Approved the disaggregation of Shared Lives by 31January 2023

(2) Granted delegated authority to the Monitoring Officers for North and West Northamptonshire Councils to put into place a deed of variation to the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) for the service to exit the IAA schedules 2A3 and 2A7.

(3) Approved that both WNC and NNC will act in accordance with Service Plans and Collaborative Working Agreements to ensure a seamless and smooth hand over, in particular, to agree that NNC will reimburse WNC for the payments that are made to the NNC shared lives placements, to support the smooth transition and ensure that carers continued to be paid as per the shared lives contracts, will be agreed by both WNC and NNC service leads and approved by Monitoring Officers until such time as a formal Deed of Variation has been completed.

At the Chair’s invitation, the Head of Learning and Development summarised the report and explained there were two items from learning and development on the agenda. The change request was in relation to the Apprenticeship Training Provider function and Apprenticeship Employer Digital Account service, as detailed in the report. The Head of Learning highlighted the main risks associated with disaggregating the service as in section 4.3 of the report and the options available to the committee. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) regulatory body did not actively support less than 50 apprenticeships and combined there were 53 apprenticeships made up of 30 from NNC and 23 from WNC. If NNC were unable to meet the minimum requirement, then it would be investigated to see if this provision could be delivered in-house, but this was a risk as the Council would not be able to deliver in the short to medium term. The impact of not being able to deliver the service would result in compulsory redundancies for the delivery team and would affect T-Levels and courses already underway with a risk of learners not being able to complete these. There would also be a financial implication with redundancy and other costs that would need to be shared between the two authorities and a reputational risk.

The Head of Learning and Development explained the report was requesting approval for NNC to continue to host the service, with the risks outlined and recommended a continuation of a joined up service for a further 12 months from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. This approach would provide sufficient time for new initiatives such as T-Levels to be launched and an in-house mechanism for WNC to deliver the service.

Members discussed the report and felt that it was essential the report was approved to allow learning and development which included apprenticeships, traineeships, T-Levels to thrive which was vital for both councils. Members asked what measures could be taken to ensure the councils were prepared for disaggregation. The Head of Learning and Development responded that participation levels would need to be ramped up for both councils, creating a niche and differentiating their offers. She continued that the application process would consider prospective providers, so this would also help. The Assistant Director Human Resources added that the service would need to investigate the viability for delivering in-house rather than using training providers and a thorough investigation would take place to see whether this was the right option.

The Chair thanked officers and endorsed the report as it was vital for the youth of the county and aid their employment.

RESOLVED: That the Shared Services Joint Committee:

(1)  Approved the recommendation to retain the functions listed below in a hosted arrangement for an additional year from April 2023 – March 2024, delivered by North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) to West Northamptonshire Council (WNC)

• The Apprenticeship Training Provider function.

• Apprenticeship Employer Digital Account Service (DAS).

The Head of Learning and Development continued to present the second report and summarised that the IAA variation recommended the disaggregation of the business support and learning management system. A full impact assessment had been undertaken and this concluded that the area could be managed to provide safe and legal disaggregation with minimum disruption to service, and the assessment included financial considerations. The Head of Learning and Development assured the committee that both NNC and WNC were able to meet funding requirements.

RESOLVED: That the Shared Services Joint Committee:

(1)  Approved the disaggregation of the L&D functions listed below, by 31 March 2023:

• Business Support.

• Learning Management System.

(2)  Granted delegated authority to the Monitoring Officers for North and West Northamptonshire Councils to put into place a deed of variation to the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) for the service to exit the IAA.

(3)  Approved that both WNC and NNC will act in accordance with Service Plans, Exit Plans, and any Collaborative Working Agreements agreed by both WNC and NNC service leads and approved by Monitoring Officers until such time as a formal Deed of variation has been completed.

At the Chair’s invitation, the Assistant Director Commissioning and Partnerships presented the report and explained the service supported families and the existing SEND provision was provided by NNC as per the blueprint and disaggregation was expected to take place by the end of September, but this was delayed for various reasons as detailed int her report. The service area had agreed a way forward to allow disaggregation by 31 March 2023 and the report sought approval for variation on the agreement.

RESOLVED: That the Shared Services Joint Committee:

(1)  Approved the decision to disaggregate the SEND IASS as Option 1 below. All work to be completed by no later than 31March 2023.

(2)  Granted delegated authority to the Monitoring Officers for NNC and WNC to put into place a deed of variation to the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA), Schedule 2B2.

(3)  Approved that both WNC and NNC will act in accordance with Service Plans, Exit Plans and any Collaborative Working Agreements agreed by both WNC and NNC service leads and approved by Monitoring Officers until such time as a formal Deed of Variation has been completed.

Appendix A - Public Health - Adult Learning Service Plan Schedule 3

At the Chair’s invitation, the Adult Learning Service Manager presented the report and summarised that the report required formal sign off for IAA as there was delay with the understanding of how to deal with the financial recharging between NNC and WNC moving forward as it was agreed that the North would host the service. Issues related to ESFA and legal requirements, but the report sets out the recharging methodology and financial colleagues from both authorities had assisted with this. The Adult Learning Service Manager concluded that the Adult Learning Service would remain hosted by NNC, and the IAA would account for the expenditure in full to protect both councils from a legal perspective, with annual accounting and recharging to take place between the two authorities which would not interfere with the ESFA account.

RESOLVED: That the Shared Services Joint Committee approved the proposed Service Plan for Public Health – Adult Learning.

At the Chair’s invitation, the Assistant Director Commissioning and Performance presented the report and summarised the report was seeking agreement to disaggregate by 31 March 2023. The Personal Budget Support Service (PBSS) was a managed service for eligible residents and funded through individual budgets and offered support with payroll and personal budgets. At present this service was hosted in NNC and disaggregation had been delayed from September. The Assistant Director Commissioning and Performance highlighted that the decision to disaggregate required additional investment from both authorities and a considerable amount of work was still to take place to split the current data set held by WNC and work was to be done to mitigate the risk and increase the business as usual capacity.

Members discussed the report and expressed they were pleased the work was coming forward as it was a complex piece with data and other financial support needed to make the service work for residents. They were pleased that the report highlighted the section on mitigating risks which allowed the councils to be as safe as possible with the disaggregation.

RESOLVED: That the Shared Services Joint Committee

(1)   Approved the disaggregation of the Adults Services Personal Budget Support Service in its current form and on an equal basis by 31 March 2023, noting the budget, staffing, contracts and cost implications as set out within Option 2 (section 5) of the report.

(2)  Granted delegated authority to the Monitoring Officers for North and West Northamptonshire Councils, in consultation with the Section 151 officers, to take any further decisions and actions necessary to implement recommendation a) above and conclude the requirements of the exit plan for IAA schedule 2A9.

(3)  Approved that both WNC and NNC will act in accordance with Service Plans and any Collaborative Working Agreements agreed by both WNC and NNC Executive Directors and approved by Monitoring Officers.

The Chair to advise whether they have agreed to any items of urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

There were no items of urgent business.