Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Ur-Rehman.

There were no items of urgent business received.

There were no public questions received.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Shareholder Committee held on 22^nd October 2018 are attached for approval.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Shareholder Committee held on 22^nd October 2018 be approved.

The Shareholder Committee gave consideration to a report of the Deputy Chief Executive, Corporate and Commercial Services which provided Members with a six monthly update on the progress of the Unity Partnership Ltd, following the acquisition of Keir’s shares in the company by the Council on 2^nd July 2018.

It was reported the financial position was robust and in line with the Council’s expectations for both this financial year and 2019/20. This was despite a very poor handover of financial data and transactional management for Kier, which Unity were attempting to resolve and would result on the late filing of accounts with Companies House. A budget proposal to deliver savings of £1.4m would be achieved as required in the current fianical year.

The report provided details of the work being undertaken to develop a culture of effectiveness and efficiencies at transactional processing as well as offering a consultancy service in a number of different specialisms such as property, business change, highway and ICT.

Unity’s rectification work on HR and Payroll services had resulted in stabilisation of the function however it was clear that the business systems needed to be replaced and plans were being developed to rectify this.

A review of policies had been undertaken to ensure alignment with those of the Council and this had now been implemented.

It was further reported that every three years the Council was required to re-enrol staff into a relevant pension scheme and staff then had the option to opt out. The next enrolment would commence in Match 2019 and run through to August 2019. The report at Item 8 of the agenda provided further information for Members.

A new set of performance indicators had been developed which would be reported fully at the next Shareholder Committee and would form the basis of future reports.

Options/Alternatives considered

The report was for noting.

RESOLVED – That:

1.    The progress of the Unity Partnership Ltd since its status as wholly owned company be noted.

2.    The work to consolidate payroll systems be noted.

3.    The commencement of the restaging of the Pensions Tri-Annual auto enrolment statutory process be noted.

That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they contain exempt information under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the reports.

RESOLVED that, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they contain exempt information under paragraphs 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the reports.

Consideration was given to a report of the Deputy Chief Executive, Corporate and Commercial Services which sought the recommendation of the Shareholder Committee to the Cabinet of a number of recommendations as detailed within the report.

Members were provided with an update on the current position of the auto-enrolment of pensions and analysis of the information.

Option 1 – Recommend the report to Cabinet

Option 2 – Do not recommend the report to Cabinet

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND: That the Cabinet approve the recommendations as set out in the commercially sensitive report.