Agenda and minutes

The Mayor will open the meeting and welcome all present.

The Mayor’s Chaplain, Canon David Rogers, will lead the Council in prayer.

The Mayor opened the meeting and welcomed all present.

To receive any apologies for absence on behalf of Council members.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Fry, Gandy, Mould and Thomas.

To invite Councillors to declare any interests they may have in items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the recommendations of the meeting of the Shared Services Board held on 9th November 2009.

(In view of the fact it contains information relating to consultations or negotiations in connection with any labour relations matter this report is not for publication and has been circulated only to relevant Officers and Members of the Council.)

(Covering report to SSB, revised Appendix 4 and Minutes with recommendations attached)

The Council considered the recommendations of the meeting of the Shared Services Board held on 9th November 2009.

The recommendations detailed the steps that were required to achieve a single management team for Redditch Borough and Bromsgrove District Councils, a process which to date had involved consultation with Members, management and staff. It was suggested that the proposed model would result in a robust structure producing good services and significant year on year savings. The view was expressed that neither Council would otherwise be well-placed to survive in the post-2010 financial environment.

The recommendations from the Shared Services Board were the subject of a named vote in accordance with Standing Order 16, as follows

Members voting FOR the motion:

Councillors Anderson, Banks, Braley, Brunner, Chalk, A Clayton, B Clayton, Field, Hall, Hicks, Hopkins, MacMillan, Norton, Pearce, Quinney and Smith.

(16 votes)

Members voting AGAINST the motion:

Councillors Chance, Cookson, Hartnett, Hunt, R King, W King, Shurmer, Taylor.

 (8 votes)

Member abstaining from voting:

(No Members abstained.)

It was accordingly

RESOLVED that

1)         the Executive Director (Section 151 Officer) be retitled Executive Director (Finance and Resources).

2)         the title ‘Joint Chief Executive’ be amended to ‘Chief Executive’.

3)         the proposed structure set out at Appendix 4 to the report to the Shared Services Board be approved for implementation with effect from 19th November 2009;

4)         the proposal to open the initial ring fence for the Executive Director (Finance and Resources) to Heads of Service who possess the appropriate qualifications be approved;

5)         the proposed selection criteria for Voluntary Compulsory Redundancy / Early Retirement, as set out at Section 6.2 of the report to the Shared Services Board, be approved;

6)         the three applications received for Voluntary Compulsory Redundancy / Early Retirement as detailed at Appendix 5 to the report to the Shared Services Board be approved; and

7)         extension of the opportunity for Voluntary Compulsory Redundancy beyond the original 29th October 2009 deadline to the Officers whose posts are currently affected, in order to receive any further applications arising through the recruitment process be approved.

(In view of the fact that it contained information relating to the financial affairs of particular persons and employment terms and conditions currently under negotiation, part of this discussion took place after the exclusion of the press and public.  There is nothing exempt, however, in this record of the proceedings.)

It may be necessary, in the opinion of the Chief Executive, to consider excluding the public from the meeting in relation to the following items of business on the grounds that exempt information is likely to be divulged.

Item 4 - Shared Services Board  - Proposals for a Single Management Team

It may be necessary, therefore, to move the following resolution:

“that, under S.100 I of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following matter(s) on the rounds that it/they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs (to be specified) of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) of the said Act, as amended.”

RESOLVED that

under S.100 I of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following matter on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) of the said Act, as amended.

Shared Services Board – Proposals for a Single Management Team (as detailed at Minute 73 above).