Agenda item

The Leader welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited the Opposition to address Cabinet.  Councillor Cowan noted that the Council had not engaged consultants to develop the proposals but was concerned at the lack of independent advice sought either from a senior academic or central government.  He was of the view that the Council had not followed best practice models used in private or public sector organisations while developing the programme.

He queried the benefit of sharing a Joint Chief Executive with Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as well as the Council employing a Managing Director and Head of Paid Service.  He was not convinced that the Council required a super Director of Children’s Services, Head of Planning and Director of Resident’s Services. He further queried the resource allocation policy and the possibility of resource shunting between boroughs.  He raised concerns at the possibility of the Council raising fees to levels charged by other boroughs without a corresponding rise  in the quality of services received by residents. 

In response, the Leader expressed his delight that all the work to develop the tri-borough proposals to date had been undertaken in house without costly external capacity support.  The development and implementation of the proposals were owned by the three Boroughs’ management teams.  Finding £33m of savings including the reduction of the management overhead cost is a challenging plan for any management team to develop.  He disagreed that there was no need to appoint a joint Director of Children’s Services across the three Boroughs as it was critical to the implementation plan to have a single point of contact.

He noted that the three Boroughs were developing models to control and cut cuts.  The Council had looked at best practice across the country.  The Adult Social Care model was based on the Torbay model which was commended in research undertaken by the Kings Fund.  Finally, he reiterated that through integration, the three boroughs were working towards saving over £33m, drastically reducing borough overhead costs; over 35% around management overheads for Adult Social Care, Children’s Services and Environment Services.  This will protect frontline services from cuts and improve service delivery to residents.

1.        That the recommendations set out below be approved.

1.1       Children’s Services

• To agree the business case as a basis for moving forward.

• To set up a joint steering group of two Members of each participating Borough to supervise further refinement and implementation of the proposals.

• To endorse the financial implications in the Business Case and to include these in the financial planning for each Borough.

• To note that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and City of Westminster will appoint Andrew Christie as Designate Director of Children’s Services, subject to a final Member interview before 31st December 2011.

• To proceed to formal exchange of documentation between the three boroughs by the end March 2012.

• To refer the proposals for further comment by scrutiny committees and for further formal consultation with the trade unions.

1.2       Adult Social Care

·        To agree to appoint across the three boroughs a joint Director of Adult Social Care. 

·        To set up a joint steering group of two Members of each participating Borough to supervise further refinement and implementation of the proposals.

·        To agree to continue Local Authority control of budget management ensuring budgetary control remains with the Councils.

·        To agree proposals for the establishment of a joint Adult Social Care Commissioning Department including support functions.

·        To agree to negotiations with Central London Community Healthcare to establish integrated health and social care services both for assessment and long term support. These services are to be borough specific where appropriate and tailored to local needs and include gate keeping mechanisms to ensure effective financial and quality control.

·        To agree the development of a legal agreement with Central London Community Healthcare ensuring service standards and accountability are clear.

·        To agree to the establishment of a single Operational Assistant Director across three boroughs reporting to the Chief Executive of Central London Community Healthcare and the Director of Adults Social Services.

·        To refer the proposals for further comment by scrutiny committees and for further formal consultation with the trade unions.

1.3       Libraries Service

·        To note and agree the business case and thereby agree to create an integrated library service across the three boroughs.

·        To set up a joint steering group of two Members of each participating Borough to supervise further refinement and implementation of the proposals.

·        To note the financial projections in the business case and to incorporate these, as amended and refined at lower levels of detail into the budget planning process for 2012/13.

·        To establish and implement a procedure for appointment to the senior management structures to be effective from November 2011.

·        To refer the proposals for further comment by scrutiny committees and to authorise formal consultation with trade unions and communication with staff.

1.4       Environment Services

·        That each Council’s Cabinet should agree these plans as the basis for forward planning and agree to refine them further and begin implementation.

·        That the Cabinets agree to set up a joint Member Steering Group with delegated authority to supervise the further refinement and implementation of these plans.

·        That subject further to consideration of the timing of staff departures the savings should be incorporated into projected budget plans.

·        That processes begin to appoint to the proposed revised Chief Officer positions.

·        To proceed to a formal exchange of documentation between the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham by the end of March 2012.

·        To refer the plans for further comment by scrutiny committees and for further formal consultation with trade unions.

2.         That the proposed appointment of a joint Chief Executive with Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as set out in section 4 of the report be agreed and noted.

3.         That this report be referred to Council for debate.