Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from the Interim Chief Executive and Executive Director of Education, Care and Health (Ade Adetosoye, OBE). Apologies were also received from the Head of Performance and Projects, Commissioning and Procurement (Emma Pearce).

The Chairman noted that the former Director of Commissioning had now left the Council. He said that he was saddened by her departure, and praised the excellent work that she had previously undertaken.

The Chairman was disappointed that the Interim Chief Executive was not able to attend and he asked that a formal invitation be sent out to him, inviting him to attend the next meeting. 

There were no declarations of interest.

It was resolved that the Part 1 minutes of the meeting held on 11^th December 2018, be agreed and signed as a correct record.

The Chairman stated that he wanted the Chairmen of PDS Committees to report back to the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee--highlighting which contracts they had examined as part of Annual Monitoring requirements. He suggested that the Chairman of the ER&C PDS Committee send out a memo to this effect. The Assistant Director for Governance and Contracts (Laurence Downes) commented that the Annual Monitoring requirement could, in many cases, be incorporated into existing planned reports (e.g. Gateway reports).

A Member said that she would not wish to create more work. She would be happy if a large spreadsheet could be provided for the key contracts to highlight key stages in the contract process. The Assistant Director replied that the Commissioning Work Plan could be adapted to reflect this.

A Member stated that he did not support the proposal as it would be creating extra work for officers and the ER&C PDS Committee. He was opposed to the idea of PDS Chairs being scrutinised.

It was decided that it would not be unreasonable to ask the ER&C PDS Chairman to consider the proposal and then he could decide for himself whether or not he would like to take the matter any further.

RESOLVED that the minutes be agreed and signed as a correct record and that the suggestion be made to the Chairman of the ER&C PDS Committee, that he considers the proposal relating to the Chairmen of PDS Committees reporting back to the ER&C PDS Committee concerning which contract monitoring reports they had examined

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to the Chairman of this Sub-Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5.00pm on 9^th January 2019.  

No questions had been received.

CSD 19016

A Member was concerned to note that no toilet facilities were being provided at the Central Library. He asked if the provision of toilet facilities had been incorporated into the new library contract with GLL. The Director of Regeneration, (Colin Brand) stated that it was not a requirement of the GLL contract to provide toilet facilities to the general public. This service was only provided to service users that hired rooms on the third floor. It was not a failure in the contract. However, the new libraries at Biggin Hill and Orpington did provide toilet facilities for the public. Several Members expressed disappointment that no public toilet provision existed at the central library. 

It was noted that the central library did provide a list of community toilets. A Member suggested that any further discussion regarding libraries/toilets should be undertaken by the Environment PDS Committee.

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising report is noted.  

The Assistant Director of Public Protection (Joanne Stowell) updated Members on all matters relating to the Mortuary Contract in the Part 2 section of the meeting as some of the issues discussed were deemed to be commercially sensitive. 

The Interim Chief Executive and the Executive Director of Education, Care and Health (Mr Adetosoye) was not able to attend the meeting to provide an update concerning the Transformation Board and the Transformation Programme.

Mr Adetosoye had provided written responses to questions that had been asked by the Chairman. The questions and responses were tabled to the Committee at the meeting. The Chairman inferred from one of the responses that the Commissioning Board would resume meeting at some point. It was noted that the ‘Transformation Board’ had been referred to as an ‘officer group’ and the Chairman wondered if there would be any Member involvement in the Board in the future. He looked forward to the Interim Chief Executive and the Executive Director of Education, Care and Health providing clarification regarding this at the April meeting. 

The Committee had been provided with the following documents:

1.  Transformation Programme—2018/19—2022/23

2.  Transformation Programme Project Initiation Document and Terms of Reference—Draft V1.8

3.  Reporting Schedule of the Transformation Board Delivery Groups

The Committee was informed that the Commissioning Board had ceased to operate from 29^th October 2018. The Chairman had been informed that the Transformation Board had already started meeting and he wondered when this had commenced. The Chairman was concerned that reports and service redesigns may not have been looked at during the period when the Commissioning Board was not meeting.

The Assistant Director assured that Contract Procedure Rules were still being applied and monitored. Reports concerning contract actions that would have normally gone to the Commissioning Board were still being reviewed through the Assistant Director. Reports regarding service re-design were expected to be managed through the Transformation Board in the future.

Some Members felt that it was too early at this point for the Contracts and Commissioning Sub Committee to be attempting to assess and scrutinise the progress made by the Transformation Board. The Chairman stated that he was anxious that Members should retain the ability for engagement, and to have a say in which services were delivered going forward. A Member said that the role of the Contracts and Commissioning Sub Committee would come in later, after the Transformation Project work had been commenced. The Chairman pondered over the matter of when it would be appropriate for the Contracts and Commissioning Sub Committee to become involved.

The Chairman asked one of the Members if he thought the Transformation Programme was aggressive enough. The Member responded that it did look like it was aggressive enough, but ultimately it would depend on what was delivered. The six Board Delivery Group reports would involve much work. He hoped that the respective work plans would be aggressive.

On examination of the six Board Delivery Group reports, a Member stated that in his view, the report on Statutory Services should be drafted first. The Assistant Director suggested that the timescale of Housing Services reflected that a Project Board was already in place and in progress. 

The Vice Chairman asserted that in his view the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

Members noted the Work Programme report.

RESOLVED that the Work Programme report is noted.

The date of the next meeting is Tuesday, April 2^nd 2019.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as April 2^nd 2019.

The update on negotiations regarding the mortuary contract were noted in the Part 2 minutes.

The update on this is provided in the Part 2 section of the minutes.

The Part 2 minutes were agreed and signed as a correct record.