Issue - decisions

That the Executive agreed that;

(i)            the six unitary authorities in Berkshire set up a shared Emergency Planning Service governed through the Berkshire Chief Executives’ Group.  It is proposed that West Berkshire act as Lead Authority. 

(ii)           the Shared Service will provide Emergency Planning, Business Continuity Planning and Out of Hours Coordination (where appropriate), to all six unitary authorities.

(iii)          a Joint Team of 5 FTE is established.  The Team Manager will be based in the Lead Authority.  2 teams of 2 FTE will be based in Berkshire West and Berkshire East.  It is proposed that no fixed base is established.  The Team Manager will be responsible for deciding on work locations in liaison with the six unitary authorities.

(iv)         the budget for the service is set in the first year at £371k and apportioned to each unitary authority as an annual payment as follows:

Bracknell Forest -       £45k
Reading -                    £65k
RBWM   -                    £71k
Slough -                       £48k
West Berkshire -         £82k
Wokingham -              £60k   

(v)          permanent staff would TUPE to the Lead Authority on their existing terms and conditions and will be slotted into the staffing structure set out in this report where appropriate.  Vacancies will be filled through internal/external recruitment where required. 

(vi)         the Borough Solicitor, in consultation with the Borough Treasurer and Director of Environment, Culture & Communities be authorised to agree the terms of an Inter Authority Agreement between the constituent authorities formalising the arrangement.

(vii)        subject to Executive approval in all six unitary authorities, the Service will commence on 1 October 2017.