Agenda item

The Leader informed members that after a long process the formation of a Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) had been agreed.  He would be meeting the new chair and David Owen from Gloucestershire First to discuss the partnership.

Regarding the future of the council’s Economic Development service, he was keen to continue their work in supporting economic development in the town despite the recent loss of staff.  This was important in the tough economic climate and he hoped that some funding might be available to support this work from the new homes fund and underspends from the LABGI funds. One option being considered was a fund which people could bid for if they were planning an event which would support the economy of the town, possibly with a quarterly bidding process. In response to a suggestion from a member he confirmed that an event around the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in 2012 could be considered as an option. If event funding  was to be a recommendation it would form part of the outturn report coming to Council in June but he would welcome any feedback from members in the meantime on this issue.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services updated members on the GO Programme, a partnership of four councils and Cheltenham Borough Homes working together to develop a shared service for Finance, Procurement, Human Resources and Payroll. The programme was due to deliver savings and improvements in service delivery. For Cheltenham Borough Council the original business case estimated that the programme was due to deliver a net saving of £0.9 million over 10 years. Copies of a presentation were circulated at the meeting.

The Cabinet Member reminded members that it had been agreed that the ICT Support centre of excellence would be hosted by Cheltenham Borough Council. Similarly the Chief Executives had decided by mutual agreement that Cotswold District Council would host the GO shared service. This was currently going through a due diligence process.   He anticipated that in two years time this could be established as a separate company, subject to a sound business case. He reported that the whole programme was on time and budget though there had been one-month slippage due to delay in decisions being taken in some councils following the elections.

The Cabinet Member explained that key decisions on the programme would be taken in July by Cabinet and Council and prior to that, the report would be coming to this committee on the 18^th of July.  This was an opportunity for members to raise any questions or request any additional information they would like at the July meeting.

In response members made the following points:

• Was it likely that more investment would be needed in business change to support the programme?
  • The Cabinet Member responded that an additional £26,000 had been put into the business change budget to prepare staff for the major changes they would be going through. This had been supplied from the capacity building fund agreed by Council.
• Was there a danger that requirements would be watered down in order to satisfy all partners?
  • The Cabinet Member said that there was a high degree of trust between the partners so some aspects did not need to be detailed out at this stage. Generally all staff working on the programme had a very good rapport.
• The report in July needed to be clear on the outcomes of the programme and how success would be measured in five years time.
  • The Cabinet Member noted this request and said that the report would also cover the additional opportunities for joint savings in such areas as procurement. The Chief Executives were keen to accelerate the program to drive out these savings.
• How would members scrutinise the delivery of services for CBC from the shared service?
  • The Cabinet Member reassured members that information relating to this council could still be reported and there would still be a Cheltenham Borough Council Cabinet member responsible for it. However he acknowledged that the scrutiny arrangements may need to change to accommodate overview and scrutiny in a commissioning council in the most effective way. This was the subject of a review of the scrutiny which had just been initiated. 

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for the update and asked the points made by members to be taken into account when reporting back in July.