5
Under reference to paragraph 15 of the Minute of Moray Council dated 27 June 2019, a report by the Chief Executive asked the Council to consider the outcome of the workforce consultation on the proposed management restructure and determine how to proceed with the re-structure and transitional arrangements.
During discussion, concern was raised surrounding the proposed move of Children's Services to the Moray Integrated Joint Board (MIJB) in terms of democratic accountability as, currently, Council representation on the MIJB consists of 6 Elected Members, 3 of which are substitutes, made up of 4 members of the Administration and 2 Conservative members which is not an equal representation of all the groups in the Council. Whilst it was acknowledged that a further report was due to be considered by the Council in this regard it was asked that consideration be given to Council representation on the MIJB being made up equally from all Groups within the Council.
In response, the Chief Executive advised the Council that a meeting had taken place with himself, the Chief Executive of NHS Grampian and Senior Officers in the Council, IJB and NHS where it was recognised that there was a need to strengthen partnership relationships between all organisations with stakeholders being able to participate in the shared agenda. He further advised that models used by other local authorities to address this issue had been explored and that the most appropriate of these would presented for consideration by Council. In addition to the Chief Executive's advice, the Chief Officer (Health and Social Care Partnership) advised that Council representation on the MIJB was for the Council to decide and amend as necessary.
During further discussion surrounding the process of transferring Children's Services to the MIJB, it was recognised that this would be a complex process that would take a significant period of time and a plea was made that the Council be involved in overseeing each stage of the process.
In response, the Chief Executive assured the Council that the Chief Officer (Health and Social Care Partnership) had completed a timeline including significant gateways to be passed through before the transfer of Children's Services to the MIJB is complete. In addition, the Chief Officer (Health and Social Care Partnership) further advised that the final approval of the scheme, before progressing through the parliamentary process, would be presented for approval to the Council and NHS.
In order to alleviate some of the concerns of the Council in terms of overseeing the process of transferring Children's Services to the MIJB, Councillor Leadbitter suggested that it would be helpful if progress through the relevant gateways in relation to the transfer of Children’s Services to the MIJB is a standing item at CMT briefings and regularly reported to the Council. This was agreed.
Thereafter, the Council agreed:
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to note the outcome of the workforce consultation on the proposed management structure as set out in Appendix B of the report;
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to approve the revised management structure as set out in Appendix A for implementation with effect from 1 October 2019 subject to the corrections detailed in para 5.19.1 and 5.19.2 of the report;
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to instruct the Chief Executive to proceed with the next steps for implementation and to approve the extension of temporary management arrangements in relation to Children’s services for the transitional period;
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to request an early report on the oversight of Moray Integrated Joint Board in the revised structure; and
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that progress through the relevant gateways in relation to the transfer of Children’s Services to the Moray Integrated Joint Board be a standing item at CMT briefings and regularly reported to the Council.