Agenda item

The report of the Section 151 Officer

Mr A Wilson presented the report to Members. He advised Members that by the end of the financial year the Partnership had underspent by £270,365 and that, once the carry forwards had been covered, there would be a saving of £197,697. He informed Members that it was proposed to place £100,000 in reserve to meet any costs for potential future development of the Partnership, which would leave £97,697 unallocated. He stated that it was proposed to use the remainder to reduce the Partnership contributions for the year.

Councillor T J Pendleton stated that it was prudent to have a healthy level of reserves and any of the £100,000 that was not spent could be put towards reducing the level of contribution from the partner authorities.

In response to a question from Councillor P King, Mr A Wilson advised Members that the money was in reserve to meet any costs that could be incurred when investigations were carried out into possible Single Employer status.

Mrs S O’Hanlon advised Members that the money  required to start the investigations would be around £5,000 per authority to see if it was a viable way forward and then external HR and Legal consultancy and ICT enhancements may be required if the decision is made to look at the matter further.

Councillor P King expressed concerns over the amount that was being reserved and that the amount could be halved with the rest of the money being returned to the partner authorities. He also felt that the decision as to whether the partnership went to a single employer would be down to the three authorities, as there would be corporate issues that would be required to be dealt with at a district level.

Ms B Jolly highlighted that there were two separate issues to be looked at. The first would be the work that was carried out by the Partnership, to see if moving to a single employer was viable, and then the second would be for each authority to look at the options and how it would effect their staff.

Mr A Wilson advised Members that the money was for the initial work to be carried out and then the findings would be reported back to the Committee to decide if the project should be carried forward.

Mr S Atkinson stated that he agreed that £50,000 could be enough; however, if more was required then Committee would need to agree the additional amount and it might be more sensible to retain the £100,000 and pay back the amount available, once the final position was confirmed

Councillor M Hall stated that the money would be in reserve and did not expect it all to be spent.

It was moved by Councillor T J Pendleton, seconded by Councillor M Hall and by a majority

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    The financial performance of the Partnership be noted,

2.    A reserve of £100,000 be set aside out of the savings achieved after carryforwards for future development of the Partnership and

3.    The remaining £97,697 be split between the partners to reduce the level of contributions required in 2016/17.