Meeting documents

At the start of the meeting Membersgave consideration to formally establishing the LHCas a Joint Committee pursuant to Section 101(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 as applied by Section 9EB of the Local Government Act 2000 and Part 4 of the Local Authorities (Arrangements for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulations 2012 with effect from 7 December 2012.

Members noted that Brent and Lambeth would be seeking Executive authority to join in January 2013 and would be admitted formally at the next Joint Committee meeting.

RESOLVED: That the LHC Joint Committee comprising the London Boroughs of Ealing, Hackney, Haringey, Hillingdon, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Buckinghamshire County Council be established pursuant to Section 101(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 as applied by Section 9EB of the Local Government Act 2000 and Part 4 of the Local Authorities (Arrangements for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulations 2012 with effect from 7 December 2012.

RESOLVED:that Councillor John Bevan of Haringey be appointed as Chairperson and Councillor Philip Corthorne of Hillingdon be appointed as Vice-Chairperson of the Joint Committee for the remainder of the Municipal year.

To give consideration to the proposed Constitution of the Joint Committee and recommend it’s adoption to Member authorities.

The Joint Committee considered the draft constitution which had been developed by the London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Haringey and noted that all the constituent authorities had delegated authority to an officer (generally the Chief Executive or the relevant Director) to approve it.

Members gave consideration to the membership of the Joint Committee and in particular how many Members each authority should appoint. It was agreed that each authority would be asked to appoint two Members, one executive and one non-executive.

Discussion also took place on the terminology in the Constitution, and particularly where reference was made to ‘Chairman’ and ‘Vice-Chairman’. It was agreed that reference throughout the Constitution to 'Chairman' or 'Chairman' be replaced with 'Chairperson' and ‘Vice-Chairperson’.

Members were informed that the updated draft Constitution would be circulated to all Member authorities to ensure that all were in agreement with the amendments made and for "sign off" from each nominated officer of the authority.

RESOLVED:  That approval be given to the amendments to the draft Constitution as outlined above and to officers circulating the draft Constitution to each authority for their final approval.

The Director of the LHC introduced a report which provided details to Members on the distribution of LHC surplus and the financing of LHC Deficit.

Reference was made to the annual income, expenditure and surplus forecasts which were included in the LHC Business Plan and which were presented by the LHC’s Treasurer for approval at the June meeting of the previous year.

Members were informed that the proposal at the June meeting of the Joint Committee would be for the status quo to be retained in relation to both surplus and deficit.

The report was noted.

Consideration was given to a report which provided details of the annual requirements for services to the LHC which the London Borough of Hillingdon provided as lead authority. Hillingdon was in the process of calculating the costs of providing these services to LHC and it was anticipated that the annual charge would reduce as LHC was becoming less reliant on the financial management services which Hillingdon had previously provided. Once the annual charge was known all the other constituent authorities would be informed.

The report was noted.

The Minutes of the LHC Members’ meeting held on 29 June 2012 were agreed as a true record.

In relation to Minute No. 3 – Report By The Director of LHC – Members asked that a report be submitted to the June meeting providing an update on the progress made in the provision of a consultancy service.

a.      Report by the Secretary (enclosed)

b.      Report by the Director (enclosed)

Consideration was given to the report of the Secretary of the LHC which provided Members with an overview of the work of the LHC. Reference was made to the strategy of the LHC staying close to its key customers and strengthening relationships with all others, whilst at the same time continuing the programme of modernisation and professionalism to achieve the aim of becoming a Centre of Excellence for public sector building procurement.

Members were informed that there had been an increase in LHC membership and a return to growth in framework usage. Details relating to progress made in Information Management, Internal Controls, Risk Management, membership of LHC, the old LHC premises and details on staffing within the organisation were reported.      

RESOLVED: That the information contained in the report be noted.

Consideration was given to a report by the Director of LHC which provided an overview of the organisation. Members were informed that both invoice and income values were as expected for LHC for the first half of the year to September 2012.

Reference was made to the drive to improve the business that LHC Members generated, although business levels were currently lower than last year, although there was a lot of potential in the future.

The business area where there was most growth was in energy efficiency and schools. LHC’s insulation framework was becoming popular and the new Whole House Refurbishment and Energy Efficiency framework was generating income for LHC.

Greater focus would now be given to working closely with the London Construction Programme to improve the awareness of LHC amongst all building commissioners in London.

The Head of Technical provided Members with an update on the procurement processes and the work which was taking place on the frameworks. The LHC was also made aware of the succession planning which was taking place to prepare for the retirement of two of the LHC technical experts.

Further information was provided to Members on the work programme, progress on establishing a robust method for establishing sustainability in framework arrangements, project facilitation, financial performance, IT development, the accommodation strategy, staffing updates and on customer feedback and complaints.

RESOLVED: That the information contained in the Director’s report be noted.

Terry Connolly from Exemplas provided the LHC with a presentation on Information Security within organisations.

The Risk Register was noted and that Risk 45 had now changed to green.

Members inspected and noted the registers which were available at the meeting.

The next meeting of the Joint Committee of the LHC would take place at 10.00am on Friday 28 June 2013 at the LHC offices in Uxbridge.

The meeting which began at 10.00am, closed at 12.30pm.