Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Mrs Blatchford.

The Panel noted the resignation of Councillor’s Denness and Gravatt and the appointment of Councillor’s Shields and Bunday respectfully in place thereof in accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 4.3.

To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 2^nd June 2025and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

RESOLVED: that the minutes for the Committee meeting on 2^nd June be approved and signed as a correct record.

Matters Arising

It was noted that Councillor McCreanor was in present for the meeting but had been omitted from the list of those in attendance.

Report of the Devolution Programme Manager providing an update on Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation.

The Committee received and noted the report of the Devolution Programme Manager detailing an update on progress on the development of Hampshire and the Solent Mayoral Combined County Authority (MCCA) and Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

In relation to Devolution the Committee noted that proposals had met the statutory test and was progressing as expected. The Combined Mayoral Boundary had been confirmed as Hampshire and Isle of Wight and set as part of the Statutory Instrument.  Councillor Rayment reported that she had attended an unrelated meeting earlier in the day and had been informed the Police and Crime Commissioner would continue until the shadow year in 2027 to provide stability until the Combined Mayor took over. 

Regarding Local Government Reorganisation the timetable was shaping up and would see Elections for the Combined Mayor in May 2026 alongside normal Council Elections.  May 2027 would see the new Unitary Authority Elections and the implementation of a shadow year until May 2028 when the new Authority would come into being.  Details of how this would work alongside conflicts of interest etc were yet to be discussed but would likely see the new Authority move to a 4yearly Election Cycle.

It was note that there were 3 options on the table and the 12 Authorities involved would be required to support 1 of the 3 and submit the preferred option by 26^th September. Government would look to do a consultation at the end of the year albeit it was unknown at this stage what that would look like with a decision in Spring.

Given the concerns raised at the previous Governance meeting and the information presented in the update report, Members of the Committee whilst appreciating all parties were working to the wire, still had concerns regarding timescales, sharing of information with Members and when there would be opportunity to discuss in full the 3 options and share a preferred option prior to the final proposal being submitted to 23^rd September Cabinet and 24^th September Council for decisions. 

Given the Committee’s concerns still, it was recommended that there needed to be an All-Member Briefing, Governance Committee scheduled for 1^st September should be moved to allow for full consideration and debate of the options and requested officers go away and look at a timetable that would meet the final submission deadline of 26^th September.

RECOMMENDED that officers be requested to look at a timetable that would meet the final submission deadline of 26^th September and provide for an All Member Briefing, re-scheduled Governance Committee to provide for informed discussions at 23^rd September Cabinet and 24^th September Council.

The Committee received and noted the report of the Director People and Organisational Culture detailing the Human Resources Governance Quarter 1 2025/26 and provided an overview of the People and Culture service highlighting key areas for note, including the additional data resulting from feedback from the previous meeting.

The Committee particularly noted the Leadership and Development Programmes that were being launched with 21% take up on the “Brilliant Management Essentials Programme” which launched in July.  It was a 16-week programme covering Finance, Procurement, Communication and Team Awareness, the programme was not compulsory at this stage as the organisation wanted to see how “self-selection” onto the programme went with a proactive approach being taken through the PDR and objectives setting process. It was further noted that another cohort was in the process of signing up and as Managers within the organisation there was a dashboard in place of where and who they were and when the programme was signed up to/completed.  The Committee requested information be provided within the next Quarter update of how successful self-selection had been with practical detail of numbers and Directorates.

The Committee considered the report of the Director of People and Organisational Culture providing an overview of the comprehensive review and engagement regarding the co-design of HR policies conducted by the People and Organisational Culture team at Southampton City Council. The focus was on the three contractual HR Policies - Disciplinary, Resolution/Grievance, and Sickness Absence.

The Committee noted that there was a Communication and Training Plan in place to support the delivery of the new modernised and simplified Polices and Procedures which were also linked into the Leadership Development Programme.  The Committee further noted that the Trade Unions had been involved and there was a scheduled review in 6 months which would be fed back to the Committee in due course.