Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and notification of substitutes attending.

Apologies for absence had been received from Cllrs Joss Bigmore, Graham Eyre and George Potter (all GBC).

Cllr John Rigg and Cllr Keith Whitham attended as substitutes.

To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2022 were agreed.

To receive from Members declarations of interests in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting in accordance with the respective Guildford and Waverley Codes of Conduct for Councillors.

There were no disclosures of interests in relation to items on the agenda.

The Committee noted that the report responded to the review of the Inter-Authority Agreement at the meeting on 9 December 2022, and

RESOLVED to recommend to Guildford and Waverley Councils that clause 21.1 of the Inter-Authority Agreement be amended to read:

“21      TERMINATION FOR CLAUSE

            21.1  Without affecting any other right or remedy available to it, any Party may terminate this Agreement with immediate effect by giving written notice to a minimum of three months’ notice in writing to the other Party.”

The Joint Executive Head of Organisational Development, Robin Taylor, introduced the report and collaboration risk register, which had been updated to reflect the discussion at the 9 December 2022 meeting, updated assessment of scores and updates to mitigations, and proposed target risk scores as at January 2027.

The Committee asked that in future a separate table is provided to show which risks have been changed since the previous report, including by how much and the reason(s) for the change.

The Committee also asked that a timeframe be provided for further planned actions, and a commentary on how planned actions are expected to reduce the risk score to residual score.

The Committee noted that the Head of Finance considered that the financial thresholds for risk impact were appropriate in terms of budgets and reserves of the councils.

During their consideration of the Risk Register, the Committee requested a number of presentational changes to the Risk Register, including:

·         Column headings to be repeated on each page.

·         More care on use of colour to ensure that the risk register is accessible for all.

·         A column to be added to show related risks.

Capacity/Resources & Culture

The Committee discussed the risks relating to the capacity of JMT to manage across both councils (#8), and the impact of low staff morale on turnover with potential loss of knowledge and expertise (#10).

Noted that the Head of Service team was bigger than had previously been in place at Guildford and Waverley, so Heads of Service now had a smaller area of responsibility remit but across two councils. Some of what Heads of Service worked on was common to both councils, whilst some activity would be specific to one or the other council. It would take time to get used to working across two councils and finding a sustainable way of working, but a collaborative environment was not necessarily more stressful than an individual council, depending on the circumstances.

The restructure of the Business Support Team, comprising the Executive and Personal Assistants, to the JMT was almost finalised. The costs of this review had been included in the JMT savings already reported.

Joint working across the councils at the next managerial level down, or at the operational level, would be considered on a case-by-case basis after the elections, once the direction of travel of the collaboration had been confirmed. It was not intended that joint working would automatically cascade down, and there were considerable challenges to this approach as the councils had different ways of working.

Staff turnover varied by profession, and was impacted by other factors besides the collaboration. The collaboration presented a range of threats and opportunities for staff at all levels and these were recognised and being actively managed.

A joint staff survey had been commissioned via the Health & Safety Executive and the outcomes of that were awaited. Joint Governance Committee at September 2023 meeting to consider outcomes of the HSE Staff Survey.

Agreed that the Residual likelihood and impact of #22 (risk that employees  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Friday 22 September 2023, 10.00am, at Guildford Borough Council Offices, Millmead, Guildford

Noted that the next scheduled meeting would take place on Friday 22 September 2023 at 10.00am, at Guildford Borough Council Offices, Millmead.