Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Bromley Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Steve Wood  0208313 4316

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Graham Mackenzie from Bromley CCG.

 

Apologies were received from Councillor Christopher Marlow and Councillor Simon Fawthrop acted as alternate.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

Councillor Simon Fawthrop declared an interest as he was an employee of BT.

 

Councillor Fawthrop and Councillor Neil Reddin declared interests as deferred members of the Bromley Pension Scheme.

 

Councillor Russell Mellor declared an interest as a current Bromley pensioner.    

3.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CONTRACTS SUB-COMMITTEE HELD ON 29th MARCH 2018 pdf icon PDF 74 KB

Minutes:

Members noted the draft minutes of the meeting that was held on 29th March.

 

It was mentioned in the minutes that Councillor Tickner had apologised for lateness. The Chairman expressed the view that this was incorrect and that it was Councillor Carr who had apologised for lateness. The minutes of the special meeting that had been held on 25th June had been sent out via email. The Chairman decided that as Members had only recently received the email, the agreement of the minutes for 25th June would be formalised at the next meeting which was scheduled for September 4th. 

 

A Member pointed out that a report on change controls had been promised but had not been received. Members felt that it would be interesting to see a report that explained how change controls were utilised and operated within the Council. The Chairman suggested that a report relating to change controls should come to the September meeting. The Director of Commissioning (Lesley Moore) stated that it would be more appropriate if a report on change controls came to the December meeting instead.

 

The Director explained that there were different kinds of change control notices and that she would be providing training on change controls the same week. The Committee agreed that the report on change controls would be incorporated into the Work Programme and assigned to the December meeting. 

 

A Member mentioned that reports pertaining to change control notices had been looked at previously by the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee, and that it was important to avoid duplication. It was suggested that a demonstration of the CDB (Contracts Database) alerting system be given at a future Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee meeting, and that members of the Contracts and Commissioning Sub Committee be invited. 

 

It was agreed that at the September meeting, an information briefing would be provided concerning change controls, based around the modular training that would be provided by the Director of Commissioning—the report on change controls would be deferred to the December meeting.

 

The Chairman referenced EU procurement rules, and suggested that a future item on the Work Programme could be a consideration of what changes to procurement could be expected in the future when the UK left the EU. In response, the Head of Commissioning and Procurement (Dave Starling) explained that the rules had been adopted into UK law, and so it was unlikely that anything would change over the next two or three years.

 

Members were keen to see the letter that had been promised from Bromley Healthcare. The Chairman asked Mr Feven if he could provide sight of this. Mr Feven agreed to disseminate the letter via the Committee Clerk.

 

 

 

RESOLVED that: 

 

1) Subject to the requested amendment to change the name of the Councillor who had given apologies for lateness at the March meeting, the minutes of the meeting held on March 29th were agreed and signed as a correct record.

 

2) The minutes of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

QUESTIONS TO THE CONTRACTS AND COMMISSIONING SUB COMMITTEE FROM COUNCILLORS AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

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 Wednesday 11th July.

Minutes:

No questions had been received.

5.

JOINT COMMISSIONING UPDATE--BROMLEY COUNCIL AND BROMLEY CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUP pdf icon PDF 94 KB

Minutes:

A joint commissioning update report was presented to the Committee. The report had been written jointly by Paul Feven and Graham Mackenzie—Interim Joint Directors of Integrated Commissioning. Daniel Taegtmeyer (Interim CAMHS Commissioner) attended the meeting as an alternate for Mr Mackenzie.

 

The report provided an update on joint commissioning activity between LBB and Bromley CCG. It was noted that the report had been based around the work programme of the Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB); this Board was the integrated officer governance body for health and social care. The Committee noted that the aim of the ICB was to develop and strengthen the commissioning approach across the borough, to improve service delivery and to ensure value for money.

 

The Chairman commented that the report seemed to indicate that much contractual activity was taking place, and he asked how much of this was going before LBB’s Commissioning Board. Mr Feven responded that projects such as Bromley Well and the Dementia Hub (as jointly commissioned services) should have gone to the Commissioning Board.

 

In any joint commissioning venture, proposed services for commissioning would be scrutinised by the relevant governance bodies for both the CCG and LBB, and so would come before the Commissioning Board as a matter of course. Strategies for future development would also be referred to the Commissioning Board. Mr Feven stated that he was not sure if Integrated Care Networks (ICNs) had gone to the Commissioning Board, but he could confirm that they had been looked at by the Executive. 

 

The Chairman expressed concern that scrutiny of joint projects may not be taking place adequately. He asked Mr Feven if joint projects had been scrutinised by the relevant LBB PDS Committees. It was confirmed that joint commissioning proposals had been brought before the Health and Wellbeing Board. The Chairman asked Mr Feven for some information concerning the composition of the ICB.

 

It was noted that the ICB was chaired jointly by LBB’s Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Education, Care and Health (Ade Adetosoye) and by the Managing Director of the CCG (Dr Angela Bhan). He explained that both Mr Adetosoye and Dr Bhan would draw on officer support from both LBB and the CCG as required. The work of the ICB was to manage a set of projects and a work programme.

 

The Chairman wondered where the ICB was answerable to with respect to LBB. The Director of Commissioning clarified that no reports should go anywhere until they had been looked at by the Commissioning Board. She cited the example of developing a Care Home Strategy. The strategy should be scrutinised by the Commissioning Board as the Board would have directors available who would have expertise in that area. Dave Starling sat on the Board. The Board would need to be presented with a Gateway report that would set out risk and cost implications. Only after scrutiny by the Commissioning Board could reports move on to be considered by the Portfolio Holder or by the Executive.

 

Mr Feven  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

COMMISSIONING DELIVERY PLAN REPORT pdf icon PDF 60 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee was presented with a report outlining the Commissioning Delivery Plan for the next four years. The report had been written by the Director of Commissioning and Members were requested to note the report.

 

The report highlighted the difficult  financial environment that the Council was now operating in and outlined the key points that commissioners had to consider when developing a commissioning strategy. It was noted that the information gathered by commissioners would be used to complete a business case that would inform a Gateway 1 report, and that this should therefore be linked to the four year financial forecast.

 

The Chairman was concerned to see that there were ten ECHS reports red flagged on the Commissioning Board Work Plan. He asked when the relevant reports would be in place as some issues had already gone beyond the deadlines. He was considering asking the relevant directors to attend the Sub Committee to explain why this was the case, and what they would do to rectify the situation. The Chairman expressed concern that the relevant strategic plans for the red-flagged reports were not in place, and indeed may still not be in place in any reasonable timescale.

 

The Director of Commissioning informed the Committee that she was working with the Deputy Chief Executive and Mr Feven with respect to revised timescales and it was hoped that most of the red-flagged reports would be presented to the Commissioning Board by 30th July.

 

It was confirmed that the Commissioning Directorate had provided all the relevant training to officers across the Council which should enable the ECHS Directorate to deliver the reports on time. It was noted that in the five years since the Commissioning Board had been established, significant savings in the region of £15m had been realised. However, it was fundamental that sufficient time be spent working through the commissioning cycle, starting from detailed service reviews, so that the commissioning process was undertaken in the most efficient way possible; this would produce the best outcomes for all concerned.

 

The Chairman stated that he would like to be kept informed as to whether or not the revised deadline of 30th July was met. The Chairman asked for an update report to be provided concerning this for the next meeting.

 

The Director of Commissioning said that this work was critical to confirm growth requirements over the next 4 years, and the deadline for finance that officers were working to was the 30th July. When these pressures were identified, then a financial envelope could be formulated to deal with any service re-design that may be required. The Chairman commented that when there were problems with getting behind on a schedule, it was often difficult to catch up, and this was concerning. The Vice Chairman asked if this matter was a one off glitch, or was it systemic. 

 

A Member asked for an update concerning the Mortuary Contract, and asked if bids had now been received. It was explained that the contract had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

RETENDER OF THE EXCHEQUER SERVICES CONTRACT pdf icon PDF 55 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

‘The Retender of the Exchequer Services Contract’ was a report that had been looked at by the Executive on 11th July 2018. The report summarised the outcome of the soft market testing exercise that had been undertaken by officers, and the procurement approach for the retendering of the contract. The Executive was recommended to note the outcome of the soft market testing exercise, and to approve the retendering of the contract. The Executive agreed to the recommendation.

 

The report had been scrutinised by the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS on 5th July. At this meeting it was proposed that in view of the size of the contract, the report should be scrutinised by the Contracts and Commissioning Sub Committee, and that the Executive’s decision should be subject to review by it.

 

It was noted that whilst officers were satisfied with the performance of the current contractor, no further extensions were permitted, and so the contract had to be re-tendered. The Chairman referred to the part of the contract dealing with business rates. He asked if any changes relating to business rates were made by central government, would there be enough flexibility in the revised contract to allow for this; the answer to this was affirmative.

 

The Chairman referred to ‘cash collections’ and asked if in this digital age, LBB still required a cash facility as part of the contract. Mr John Nightingale (Head of Revenues and Benefits) explained that cash collections were still required. Cash was still collected from some schools and the kiosk in the Stockwell Building; some people still came into the Council to pay their council tax using cash.

 

Members discussed the current scope of the contract, and the services that had been added into the contract since the original contract award. There was also a discussion about the potential to add in additional services at a later date. It was noted that the Web Recruitment module of the ResourceLink software was not fit for purpose and so this part of the contract would not be renewed.

 

The report had advised  that the new provider should undertake a health check after 12 months to see what improvements and savings could be made. The Vice-Chairman wondered how this would work out practically, and how LBB could be sure that the benefits of any efficiencies were accrued by LBB.

 

A discussion took place concerning Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators, and a Member asked when the KPIs would be available. Emma Pearce (Head of Performance, Governance and Contracts—Commissioning and Procurement) clarified that this information should be available by the beginning of September. The Chairman asked if a document of some sort could be presented to the September meeting that would outline the KPIs for the new contract.

 

A Member mentioned that Liberata had been good at attending committees every six months to provide updates and to answer any questions that Members had. She asked if this practice would be formalised in the new contract.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

CORPORATE CONTRACT REGISTER REPORT & CONTRACTS DATABASE UPDATE--PART 1 pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

CEO 1641

 

Members were presented with a report which provided an update on the Corporate Contracts Register and Contracts Database. The report presented July’s Corporate Contracts Register for consideration, and also provided an update concerning the Council’s Contract Database. 

 

RESOLVED that

 

1) The report is noted

 

2) Members note the progress made with respect to the Contracts Database

 

3) That the appended part 1 Contracts Register forms part of the Council’s commitment to data transparency, and that the part 2 version contains an additional commentary—some of which may be commercially sensitive. 

9.

WORK PROGRAMME 2018/2019 pdf icon PDF 65 KB

Minutes:

Members noted the Work Programme report.

 

The Chairman stated that some items had been discussed during the course of the evening and that he anticipated that these had been picked up by the Committee Clerk and would be subsequently added to a revised Work Programme.

10.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS AMENDED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) (VARIATION) ORDER 2006 AND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

The Chairman to move that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business listed below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

11.

EXEMPT MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CONTRACTS SUB-COMMITTEE HELD ON 29th MARCH 2018

Minutes:

Members noted the exempt information minutes for the meeting on 29th March 2018.

 

Members agreed the part 2 minutes and they were signed as a correct record.

 

RESOLVED that the part 2 minutes pertaining to the meeting on 29th March 2018 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

12.

CORPORATE CONTRACT REGISTER & CONTRACTS DATABASE UPDATE--PART 2

Minutes:

Members noted the part 2 version of the Corporate Contracts database update, together with the additional commentary.

 

13.

AOB

Minutes:

No other business was discussed.

14.

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

The Contracts Sub-Committee will meet next at 7.00pm on Tuesday September 4th.

Minutes:

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 4th September 2018.