Agenda item

The Joint Committee considered the shared service hosting arrangements.

In the ensuing debate, the following principal points were raised:

·         As part of the discussions about the change of hosting arrangements, consideration needed to be given to the financial and other support the County Council had had to put into Hartlebury Project to prevent the arrangements with the Trust collapsing. The Trustees would be concerned about any change of host as they view it as a County Council scheme

·         There was no mention in this report of the pension and TUPE arrangements for staff transferring to the City Council

·         Any change to the hosting arrangements should not impact on the existence of this Joint Committee

·         The Museums Service was key to Worcester City Council's Strategic Vision and the change of hosting arrangements would provide significant advantages for officer working arrangements. It was now recognised that any transition would involve some additional costs. It was also important to understand other impacts to the service, not just recurring financial costs

·         The existing branding for the shared service and the joint management arrangements should be retained. The process for the change-over should be time-limited, preferably for completion by the end of the financial year

·         Hannah Needham commented that it was important to ascertain the costs/benefits of the change of hosting arrangements and look at the decision from a City and County Council perspective and see where a balance could be reached which satisfied both Councils. A report would then be brought back to the Joint Committee in early autumn. The Hartlebury Trustees needed to be updated on progress of the arrangements because of the potential impact on the Hartlebury Project

·         David Blake commented that the City Council was keen to grow the capacity of the joint service, to deliver efficiencies and improve service provision. It was important to undertake a due diligence check to avoid leaving the two councils open to unanticipated costs. There would need to be a service level agreement for Hartlebury Castle. It was not possible to change the hosting arrangements on a cost neutral basis and therefore the principles to guide the work needed reviewing.

·         David Blake queried the need to retain the Joint Committee arrangements or whether there were other approaches to the governance arrangements that should be considered. The governance arrangements should be considered as part of the hosting review as long as it did not become too complicated. In response, it was commented that the two councils should retain equal status under the governance arrangements and the County Council should not be seen as the guest authority

·         David Blake indicated that the Joint Committee should receive an update report at its September meeting with the final decision being made at its November meeting

·         Hannah Needham indicated that the interviews for the Interim Museums General Manager would be held on 6 July. In response it was requested that members of the Joint Committee be involved in interviews. The clerk undertook to determine whether the governance arrangements permitted the involvement of members in the interview process.

RESOLVED that:

a)    the proposal to reinstate the proposal to switch the hosting of the shared service be agreed subject to the deletion of the principle that the work would be achieved on a cost neutral basis; and

b)    the commencement of the process of internal secondment to the post of Museums General Manager from 1 August 2017 – 31 March 2018 be approved.