Agenda item

To receive and note the minutes of the Ridgeway Shared Services Partnership Operations Board meetings held on 28 April and 16 June 2008. 

The Strategic Board received and noted the minutes of the Operations Board meetings held on 28 April and 16 June 2008.  Members commented and raised various questions as follows:

• Council Tax write-offs would now be included in the Vale’s performance statistics.  A concise method of reporting had been established and would be shared with Councillor Patterson and distributed in due course.  It was noted that only a very small percentage required writing off
• The performance of Capita on Council Tax and Business Rates collection was praised
• There was a need to rectify a problem with Council Tax payment slips at South Oxfordshire.  The bar codes printed on the slips had not been tested prior to being sent out to taxpayers.  Capita was working to correct the problem and would bear the difference in cost
• There were no bar codes on the bills at the Vale but this would be introduced at a later date
• South Oxfordshire’s benefits’ performance as measured by Best Value Performance Indicators was better than last year
• Problems were being overcome in charging for the brown bins service.  The backlog of Direct Debit mandates at South Oxfordshire was reducing and staff had caught up on the backlog in invoicing at the Vale.  The procedure had recently been automated and the problems experienced should not reoccur
• Members asked the Joint Head of Finance to investigate the differing costs of brown bin collection between the two authorities
• The possibility of an event to celebrate the second anniversary of the Capita contract was discussed.  It was concluded that in September the Leaders of the two Councils could jointly issue a media release to mark the anniversary.  Capita would carry out its own event as part of its annual review with staff
• The Vale’s assisted travel scheme service would continue to be administered by Capita following the evaluation of quotations
• IT facilities for the shared service team were discussed.  This largely involved integrating the systems of the two Councils.  The Joint Head of Finance was piloting changes.  It was hoped that differences between the systems would be resolved shortly
• With regard to the potential performance notice no.4, South Oxfordshire had been fined £700 for a late payment to the Revenues and Customs office.  Investigations were being made into the responsibility for the error
• Problems with the implementation of the Agresso bank reconciliation module had been due to a lack of process mapping at an early stage.  This would be carried out by the end of August
• Responsibility for bank reconciliation at South Oxfordshire was under discussion between the Joint Head of Finance and Capita.  The two parties had interpreted the contract differently but it was hoped that agreement could soon be reached
• The Housing Benefit interface with Academy software had been completed
• There were differences between the cash receipting systems at the two Councils.  Investigations were being made to harmonise these

RESOLVED

that the minutes of the Operations Board be noted and the actions arising, as referred to above, be agreed.