Agenda and minutes

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held 2 October 2023.

Agreed:- That the minutes of the meeting of the Emergency Planning Shared Services Joint Committee held on 2 October 2023 be approved as a true record of proceedings.

The Chair asked a question in relation to apprenticeships but it was confirmed that this would be picked up under the Staffing and Structure Update.

There was no urgent business to consider.

Prior to the start of the meeting it was confirmed that discussions of items 4, 5 and 6 on the agenda would contain exempt information and as such, the meeting would not be open to members of the public or press for those items.

Agreed:- That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for agenda items 4, 5 and 6 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (information relating to financial matters).

The Emergency Resilience and Safety Manager provided a verbal update on the staffing and structure of the shared service. A written report had been presented at the previous meeting in October 2023. It was confirmed that the TUPE transfer of posts from the Sheffield establishment to the Rotherham establishment had been completed and came into effect from 1 March 2024. The ERS Manager explained that this had to have been completed prior to the launch of the wider restructure proposals. 

The Emergency Resilience and Safety Manager confirmed that work on the restructure had now commenced following the TUPE transfer. This would include an uplift in permanent resource (from 4.2 FTE to 5 FTE.) It was also confirmed that the introduction of an on-call expectation would be an essential requirement of the Emergency Resilience and Safety Manager, Senior Resilience Officer and Resilience Officer roles.

Work was ongoing with recruitment but agency support had been utilised in order to ensure all necessary work was completed. The aim was to appoint to generic roles where all officers would have a competent understanding of the basics but for those officers to then specialise and have specific responsibilities.

The Chair had asked about single points of failure. The Emergency Resilience and Safety Manager explained that the generic nature of the roles should reduce the risk of single points of failure. The job offer was attractive and included a good salary along with the other benefits of working in local government such as the annual leave entitlement and pension benefits.

The matter of recruiting apprentices had been raised under the matters arising from the previous minutes item but discussion had been differed to this item. The ERS Manager confirmed that, if recruitment was unsuccessful, the service would look at appointing apprentices. The reason why this was not the chosen method of recruitment in the first instance was that experience and being able to hit the ground running was desirable.

It was also confirmed that the Resilience and Emergency Planning Degree Apprenticeship was being launched by the Government and the first national intake were expected to start their course in September 2024.

Agreed:-  That the verbal report be received and the contents noted.

The Emergency Resilience and Safety Manager provided a verbal update on the Finance and Budget Forecast. At the time of reporting, there was a £3489 underspend against the agreed budget. The year-end checks had indicated that there would be a £1000 overspend in Sheffield but this would be offset. The cumulative underspend totalled £390,000. However, it was expected that this reserve fund would deplete over the years due to the restructure.

It was agreed that a report be brought to the next meeting for a formal decision to be taken on spending the reserve fund.

It was also agreed that the Emergency Resilience and Safety Manager would circulate the financial figures to the Committee.

Agreed:-  That the verbal report be received and the contents noted.

It was agreed that the Terms of Reference would be included on the agenda for the next meeting.

The date and time of the next meeting was to be confirmed.