Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Mr Steven Lambert.

Ms Ruth Vigor-Hedderly had replaced Mr David Schofield on the Committee.

To disclose any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Mr Bill Chapple declared an interest in item 7 as he was a Trustee of Green Park.

To agree the Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday 8 March 2016 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 8 March 2016 were agreed as a correct record.

Public Questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in the county to put a question to a Scrutiny Committee about any issue that has an impact on their local community or the county as a whole.

Members of public, who have given prior notice, will be invited to put their question in person.

The Cabinet Member and responsible officers will then be invited to respond. 

Further information and details on how to register can be found through the following link:-

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-council/scrutiny/get-involved/

There were no public questions.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

The Chairman reported that the recommendations which were accepted as part of the Budget Scrutiny process this year were currently being worked on and developed by the Service Areas.

To provide Members with a verbal update on the progress of the Organisational Development Shared Service with Harrow.

Attendees:

John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Frances Mills, Head of People and Organisational Development

[Mr Chris Adams joined the meeting at 10.25am]

The Chairman welcomed Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources and Ms Frances Mills, Head of People and Organisational Development.

The following main points were made during their presentation and the discussion:

• The OD Shared Service started in March 2015 and continued to deliver around £50k of savings.  Buckinghamshire County Council entered into an inter-authority agreement with Harrow Council to deliver Organisational Development services across the two authorities.
• As a result of restructuring their services, Harrow did not have an OD department so the shared service meant that both authorities could maintain personnel both in Buckinghamshire and in Harrow. The feedback from senior managers at Harrow had been very positive. 
• The OD team was reported as being a high performing team as demonstrated by its recent success in winning the contract to provide OD services to the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The Council’s Commercial team provided advice to the OD team in putting together the winning bid.
• Ms Mills described how the officers spent time at Harrow before the contract started to understand the needs of the authority and build relationships with the key stakeholders.  She felt that the team had gone the "extra mile" to establish their reputation and to demonstrate a "can do" approach from the outset.
• Both authorities had learnt from each other and a good platform for future shared services with Harrow had been established.
• A Member asked whether the savings made through the shared service represented value for money as £50k, whilst very welcomed savings, were not significant in terms of the larger financial challenges facing the Council.  The Cabinet Member responded by saying that the £50k did not include additional income (ie. the money being made through the new contract with Waltham Forest).  He went on to say that the savings in the MTP for the whole shared service project (OD, Legal and HR) were £1m.
• A Member asked for a report at a future meeting detailing the savings and the benefits around the shared service project.

ACTION: Cabinet Member for Resources

• The Cabinet Member confirmed that the Shared Legal Service and Shared HR Service would be commencing in June with each having its own separate inter-authority agreement.  A Deputy Monitoring Officer would be retained at Buckinghamshire County Council.
• A Member asked if the Business Cases for each Shared Service was available.  Ms Mills confirmed that the OD business case was available.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member and Ms Mills for their time and invited them to a future meeting with officers from the other Shared Services so that an in-depth review of all the projects could be undertaken.

SEE PAPERS AND WEBCAST FOR FULL CONTENT

For Members to receive a verbal update on the development plans for Green Park.

Attendees:

John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Nick Henstock, Head of Regeneration and Property Projects

John Huskinson, Finance Director

Joe Nethercoat, Head of Strategic Assets

This item was moved into the exempt session due to the commercially sensitive information which was circulated to Committee Members in advance of the meeting.

To consider and agree the Finance, Performance and Resources Select Committee Work Programme.

Members noted the work programme and two additional items which would be discussed at the June meeting – the Children’s Services budget savings monitoring and Education & Skills budget savings monitoring.

For Committee Members to discuss and agree the scope for the next Inquiry.

Committee Members discussed and agreed the Income Generation scope.  The Inquiry would commence in June with evidence sessions taking place throughout June and July.

[Mr C Adams left the meeting at 10.36am]

The next meeting is due to take place on Tuesday 28 June 2016 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall.

Tuesday 28 June 2016 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.

This item was moved into the exempt session due to the commercially sensitive information which was circulated to Committee Members in advance of the meeting.

[Mr B Chapple took no part in this item as he had declared an interest]

For Members to discuss and question the results of the Agricultural Estates review which concluded at the end of 2015.

Attendees:

John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Jo West, Estates Officer

Richard Drew, Rural Partner, Carter Jonas

Committee Members received the report from the Estates Officer and asked a number of questions about the recent review of the Council’s Agricultural Estates review.