Agenda and minutes

·         Fire Procedures / Mobile Phones / Rest Rooms

·         “Members of the Public, committee members and officers are reminded that under the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014, the press and Public may film, audio record, photograph and use social media whilst the meeting is in progress, for Part A items only, and as long as no disruption is caused to the meeting. Anyone filming is asked to focus their attention on elected members rather than other visitors”. (To be read out if visitors present).

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions took place.

There were none.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members.

There were none.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Shared Revenues and Benefits Service Joint Committee held on 23 July 2018.

Resolved – That the minutes of a meeting of the Shared Revenues and Benefits Service Joint Committee, held on 23 July 2018, be noted and signed as a correct record.

The Director of Corporate Services (Preston) submitted a report on a proposed revision to the Joint Committee’s Procedure Rules.

The Joint Committee had approved its Procedure Rules on 1 November 2011 whereby it had adopted a number of the rules from Preston City Council’s ‘Council Procedure Rules’ to regulate proceedings during meetings.

The Director proposed to remove rules 10 and 15 from its standing orders, as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report.  She also circulated further proposed minor amendments to paragraphs 6.2 and 32.2 in Appendix 1 to the report, the proposed Shared Revenues and Benefits Service Joint Committee Procedure Rules, which sought to correct minor errors.

Resolved – That the Joint Committee approved:-

(i)         the removal of rules 10 and 15 from its standing orders for regulating its proceedings and meetings; and

(ii)        the Shared Revenues and Benefits Service Joint Committee Procedure Rules as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, as amended.

To be discussed.

The next meeting of the Joint Committee would be arranged at a later date.

Resolved - “That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there is likely to be disclosure of exempt information which is described in the paragraph(s) of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 which are specified against the heading to the item, and that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.”

The Deputy Director – Customer Services (Head of Revenues and Benefits Shared Service) submitted a report in line with the Shared Service Agreement between Lancaster City Council and Preston City Council, which required that the Joint Committee approve the annual revenue, capital and staff budgets in respect of the Revenues and Benefits functions. 

The Joint Committee would then inform the two Councils of the amounts of their proposed contributions to the Joint Committee’s budget.

Resolved – That the Joint Committee noted and approved: -

(i)         the latest budget monitoring for the Shared Service, as detailed in Appendix A to the report;

(ii)        the budget for 2019/20 for the Shared Service, as detailed in Appendix B to the report; and

       (iii) the delegation to the S151 Officers of each Council (by agreement), to determine the cost sharing ratio for contributions to and from the overall Shared Service budget.