The Secretariat is managed through five functional areas, the heads of which form the Corporate Management Team.
Legal and Member Services
Finance
Internal Audit
Policy and Performance
HR and Business Support
Management Board
Management Board
The organisation is governed by a Management Board which consists of representatives of the South Yorkshire Districts and Joint Authorities.
The Secretariat is a department of Barnsley MBC, under an agreement entered into by the four District Councils in 1985. The budgets and establishment of the Secretariat are discussed with the leading members of the Joint Authorities and the South Yorkshire Leaders in a Management Board.
Principles of governance include:
- The organisation is subject to Barnsley MBC’s conditions of service and employment policies.
- The business of each Joint Authority is dealt with by reference to that Authority’s Standing Orders and Financial Regulations.
- For Joint Secretariat business, the organisation follows Barnsley MBC’s Standing Order and Financial Regulations
The SYJS Management Board was established in June 2007. It is a governing body for the Secretariat to which the Clerk and Treasurer reports, as well as consulting the Joint Authorities and District Councils on issues such as performance, future development, and structures.
The members of the Board are:
South Yorkshire Police Authority - Charles Perryman (Chair)
South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority - Cllr Jim Andrews (Chair)
South Yorkshire Pensions Authority - Cllr Richard Wraith (Vice Chair)
South Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority - Cllr Mick Jameson (Chair)
District Councils - Cllr Roger Stone (Leader, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council) and Cllr Julie Dore (Leader, Sheffield City Council).
The Board is chaired by Charles Perryman.
The Board is attended by members of the Secretariat Management Team and the District Auditor.
Each team is headed by a member of the Corporate Management Team. The Chief Officer is the Clerk & Treasurer.
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Bill Wilkinson - Clerk & Treasurer
Responsibilities Bill Wilkinson, the Clerk to the Secretariat, is the Chief Officer of the Joint Secretariat. In this role he is also the Clerk and Treasurer to each of the four Joint Authorities, as well as being the Clerk to the Lord Lieutenancy.
His main responsibilities are to lead the work of the Secretariat, and to be the principal adviser to each of the Authorities. In this respect, he undertakes many of the responsibilities of a Chief Executive of a Local Authority.
On behalf of the Authorities, Bill undertakes various roles at national level. In particular, he is a financial adviser to the Association of Police Authorities and Local Government Association, and leads for the Associations on the National Expenditure Forecasting Groups for Police and Fire Services.
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Legal and Member Services
The Legal & Member Services Team, led by the Deputy Clerk & Solicitor and Monitoring officer, Maureen Oades, is organised into two Units.
The Member Services Unit is responsible for organising the main business meetings of the Joint Authorities. Additional responsibilities include providing support to members, policy development, promoting the use of effective communications and open government, and maintaining records of Joint Authority meetings.
The Legal Services Unit is responsible for providing legal advice to the Joint Authorities on their roles and responsibilities and for providing guidance to members on the codes of conduct adopted by the Joint Authorities. Additional responsibilities include the provision of insurance, debt recovery, litigation services, and legal advice to member panels when performing quasi-judicial functions. The Unit also supports the work of the Standards Committees appointed by the Joint Authorities.
The work of the two Units contributes to the effective administration of the affairs of the Joint Authorities and to ensuring that the principles of good corporate governance are integrated into their working practice and part of their culture.
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Maureen Oades - Deputy Clerk & Solicitor & Monitoring Officer
Maureen Oades is Deputy Clerk, head of the Legal and Democratic Services Team and a member of the Joint Secretariat's Senior Management Team.
Maureen is the Solicitor and Monitoring Officer for each of the Joint Authorities. Her principal responsibilities are to advise the Authorities on governance issues, to lead the Legal and Democratic Services Team and to advise the Authorities’ Standards Committees.
Maureen’s work for the Joint Authorities has involved some notable judicial review cases e.g. Supertram and Hillsborough Stadium Disaster.
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Finance
The Finance team, led by the Deputy Treasurer, Margaret Jaworski, administers the Joint Authorities' financial affairs and provides financial advice and support to the Joint Authorities as part of the Clerk and Treasurer's statutory duties as the Responsible Financial Officer.
The main focus is to ensure that members are aware of the full financial implications of issues under consideration, enabling them to make well-informed decisions and set effective financial policies and strategies, and to demonstrate financial stewardship and accountability.
The team is divided into the Financial Accountancy Unit and the Technical / Treasury Management Unit, the latter also having particular responsibility for Passenger Transport Authority issues.
Key Objectives
- Ensure that financial information provided to members enables informed decision making and scrutiny
- Provide high quality advice on financial matters to enable the Authorities to develop effective financial strategies and policies that meet the Authorities' objectives, including strategic financial plans and annual budgets
- Manage the Authorities' statutory financial processes and demonstrate financial stewardship and accountability, including compliance with financial legislation and accounting codes of practice, the preparation of the Statement of Accounts, Council tax setting and statutory returns
- Support for the statutory role of the Treasurer, including ensuring effective financial and risk management arrangements
- Ensure that there are effective arrangements for prudential borrowing and treasury management
- Support to the Clerk and Treasurer's external advisorships
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Margaret Jaworski - Deputy Treasurer
Margaret Jaworski is the Deputy Treasurer and Head of the Finance Team and a member of the Joint Secretariat's Senior Management Team.
Margaret's main function is to provide financial advice and support to the Joint Authorities as part of Bill Wilkinson’s statutory role as Treasurer. The main focus is to ensure that members are aware of the full financial implications of issues under consideration, enabling them to make well informed decisions, set effective financial policies and strategies to demonstrate financial stewardship and accountability.
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Internal Audit
The Internal Audit Team provides independent, objective assurance and advisory services to assist the maintenance of effective internal control systems for the four Joint Authorities.
Each Joint Authority must maintain an adequate and effective system of internal audit of its accounting records and system of internal control, which has been delegated to the Clerk and Treasurer in support of his statutory responsibilities. In fulfilling its role and responsibilities, which are specified in the Joint Authorities' Financial Regulations, the Team works independently and contributes to the Joint Secretariat's strategic objectives.
The focus of the Team's work is to assess the strength of the control arrangements in place to support effective governance of the Joint Authorities and their Services . The work is designed to ensure that transactions comply with standing orders and financial regulations. Based on the evidence obtained, recommendations are made and advice given to officers and members on any changes to policies and procedures that will improve the internal control system.
The Team has an enhanced role in reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of the Joint Authorities' Codes of Corporate Governance with particular emphasis on the Joint Authorities' risk management arrangements, which are the areas for the Team's future development.
As a result of the Team's work Joint Authority members are provided with an independent level of assurance on the internal control arrangements, enabling them to make informed judgements on any necessary changes to policies and strategies.
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Rob Winter - Head of Internal Audit
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Policy and Performance
The Policy & Performance Team, led by two Heads of Policy & Performance, provides a wide range of support to the four Joint Authorities and their members.
The Team's key role is to ensure that the Joint Authorities are well supported and informed, and thus enabled to carry out their strategic leadership role. In order to deliver this, it is organised into three Units.
Two Units focus on two Joint Authorities each, and provide a wide range of support to those Authorities and their members. This includes providing well-informed and evidence-based advice, briefings and analysis of policies and performance. Staff assist in the preparation of Authority policies, and advise members in their scrutiny of the service organisations.
A third Unit focuses on consultation and diversity issues, building on the extensive experience of consultation on policing issues and extending this to the business of all the Joint Authorities. The emphasis is on purposeful consultation, which shapes the plans, policies and practices of the Joint Authorities and their services. Staff not only carry out some of the consultation, but also analyse and assess results, and work closely with both of the Authority focused Units to ensure that full and proper use is made of results.
The Team is also responsible for many aspects of communications with the public and members, including the content of the website, publications and public relations for the Joint Authorities.
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Erika Redfearn - Head of Policy & Performance (Police & Pensions Authorities)
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Martin McCarthy - Head of Policy & Performance (Fire & Rescue and Integrated Transport Authorities)
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HR and Business Support
The Human Resources & Business Support Team is led by the Head of HR & Business Support, Steph Barker. Its role is to ensure that the workforce is competent, motivated and valued, whilst providing administrative resources on a day-to-day basis, contributing to the overall performance of the Secretariat.
The Team is split into four Units: HR and Training; Business Support; Management Services and Information Management.
The strategic role of the Team is the HR function. The HR and Training Unit provides advice and support to Members enabling them to make informed decisions on HR matters affecting both the Authorities and the Services. A Training and Development Needs Strategy for Members has been introduced to assist them in carrying out their duties and responsibilities.
The HR & Training Unit also assists and advises the Services and the Authorities on all Chief Officer appointments.
The HR & Training Unit offers a full range of personnel services to staff at the Secretariat and ensures training and development takes place. The HR team also provides a personnel service to the management and staff of the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority by way of a Service Level Agreement.
One of the main duties of the Business Support Unit is the reproduction and dispatch of Agendas and Authority papers as well providing a range of other support services to the teams of the Secretariat – typing, copying, post, invoice registration and data protection registrations and requests.
The Information Management Unit deals with the management of the wealth of information that is held by each of the Authorities, which includes developing records management policies and systems, advice and training on records management issues and dealing with all issues pertaining to Freedom of Information on behalf of the Secretariat and the four Joint Authorities.
The Management Services Unit provides a range of secretarial and administration support services to the Clerk & Treasurer and the rest of the Senior Management Team.
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Stephanie Barker - Head of HR & Business Support
Stephanie Barker is the Head of Human Resources & Business Support and a member of the Joint Secretariat's Senior Management Team.
Steph's principal responsibilities are to carry out, on the Clerk’s behalf, the statutory duties in relation to Chief Officer appointments for the four Joint Authorities and to provide HR advice and guidance to Members, particularly on employment matters.
Another key aspect to Steph’s role is Member Development for the four Joint Authorities and the development of strategies and polices to assist Members in fulfilling their roles on the relevant Authority.
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