Agenda and minutes

Apologies received from Councillor Law (Canterbury).

TO RECEIVE any other apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Canterbury City Councillor Jean Law, Kent County Councillors Paul Carter and Alex King, Dover District Councillor Paul Watkins and Shepway District Councillor David Monk.

The Chairman to report any notifications received prior to this meeting regarding the attendance of substitutes for the named Members of this Committee. 

Councillor Peter Lee was present as a substitute for Councillor Jean Law.

Councillor Alan Marsh was present as a substitute for Councillor Paul Carter.

Councillor Ian Ward was present as a substitute for Councillor Paul Watkins.

Councillor Keren Belecourt was present as a substitute for Councillor David Monk.

To confirm as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the East Kent (Joint Arrangements) Committee held on 3 December 2008.

The minutes of the meeting of the East Kent (Joint Arrangements Committee) were agreed and signed as a correct record.

TO RECEIVE declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest made.

TO CONSIDER a report from the Director of Corporate Services, Canterbury City Council and Corporate Director, Organisational Performance, Shepway District Council 

Wendy Head summarised the report on the shared HR/payroll project.  She referred to the detailed business case attached to the report and made the following points: -.

i)                    The further work undertaken since the presentation of the outline business case had confirmed that the project was viable and that it would improve the resilience and quality of the service provided to each authority;

ii)                  The business plan indicated that savings in the order of £2.3m were achievable over 5 years.  It was pointed out that this had been reduced from the £2.9m referred to in the report as a result of further due diligence but was still in excess of the target of £0.5m;

iii)                Thanks should be expressed to all those who participated in the project groups; finance and legal officers and Kent County Council representatives involved in the payroll project;

iv)                She noted that the project had met the original timetable and provided a useful methodology for the future.

RESOLVED that –

(1)       That the East Kent Joint Arrangements Committee recommend to the Councils and the Executives of Canterbury City Council, Dover District Council, the District Council of Shepway and Thanet District Council that with effect from 1 June 2009

a)     That the Council and Executive of each of those Councils agrees to enter into the joint administrative arrangements described in the administrative collaboration agreement appended to this report with any amendments to ensure the effectiveness of the arrangements.

b)     That the Council of each of those councils agrees (in so far as the administrative collaboration agreement relates to functions which are the functions of the Council) that the functions set out in the Agreement shall be discharged by the East Kent Joint Arrangements Committee subject to the terms, conditions and limitations contained in the Agreement.

c)      That the Executive of each of those councils agrees (in so far as the collaboration agreement relates to functions which are the functions of the executive) that the functions set out in the Agreement shall be discharged by the East Kent Joint Arrangements Committee subject to the terms, conditions and limitations contained in the Agreement.

(2)               That on and from the day upon which the above takes effect that the Human Resource functions described in Administrative Collaboration Agreement be discharged by The Head of the Human Resources Shared Service in the employment of Dover District Council in accordance with the Service Level Agreement to be approved by the Head of Paid Service of each authority.

(3)     That on and from the day upon which the above takes effect that the Payroll functions described in Administrative Collaboration Agreement be discharged by the officer with responsibility for the delivery of Payroll in Employee Services at Kent County Council in accordance with the Service Level Agreement to be approved by the Head of Paid Service of each authority.

(4)     That immediately after the meeting of this committee the post of Head of HR Shared Services be advertised internally first, with external advertisement only if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.