PROGRESS is being made in separating services of the former Cumbria County Council between two new unitary authorities.

Members of Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness councils' joint executive committee were given an update at a meeting at the Civic Centre in Carlisle on Tuesday (July 30).

During the debate on the update on the Disaggregation Programme Delivery councillor Lisa Brown (Currock, Labour) proposed that they approve a number of recommendations and the rest of the committee agreed.

The recommendations included:

approve the proposal to move to long-term hosting for records management by Cumberland Council for five years (commencing from date of decision made) with an annual review of the arrangement;

approve the proposal to move to long-term hosting for the Children’s Emergency Duty Team by Westmorland & Furness Council, with an annual review of the arrangement;

approve the proposal to disaggregate the Family Group Conferencing Service on October 31, 2024.

In addition, it was agreed that the proposal to change dates of disaggregation for financial systems was agreed to:

bring forward the date of disaggregation of Banking and Control to December 31, 2024;

retain the date of disaggregation of the Purchase to Pay and Accounts Receivable Team as the agreed date of March 31, 2025;

extend the date of disaggregation of the Financial Systems Team that provides support to the E5 system to 31 March 31, 2026 at the latest, in line with the separation of the systems;

note the update from the Joint Officer Board on the progress of disaggregation for the Family Information Service (disaggregation July 31 2024), Apprenticeships (disaggregation September 30, 2024) and Adults Urgent Care Team (disaggregation September 30, 2024).

The council report states: "The joint executive committee [is] responsible for the oversight and management of the hosted services including the development and implementation of disaggregation plans.

"Any changes to disaggregation dates must be approved by the joint executive committee following consideration by the Joint Officer Board."