Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from the Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of ECHS (Ade Adetosoye).

Councillor Fawthrop declared an interest with respect to his employment with BT.  

The Chairman requested three amendments to the minutes:

In page 4 of the minutes (paragraph 4), the word ‘Mar’ should have a ‘K’ added to it so that the word was changed to Mark.

In paragraph 6 of the same page, the word ‘approached’ should be changed to ‘approaches’. 

In paragraph 6 of the same page, the word ‘big’ should be changed to ‘considerable’.

A Member and the Chairman agreed that the minutes were very comprehensive.

The Chairman requested that the matter relating to the progress of health care issues be updated upon during a meeting in spring 2019.

The Chairman referred to paragraph one on page three of the minutes where a reference was made to the ‘base budget’. He asked if there was likely to be any growth in the base budget. The Director of Commissioning responded that she was not aware of any growth in the base budget.

RESOLVED that subject to the amendments noted above, the minutes be agreed and signed as a correct record.

Post meeting note: 

The amendments have been actioned and the amended version of the minutes has been published. 

Members noted the minutes of the meeting that had been held on 17^th July 2018.

No changes were required to the minutes. The Chairman commented that the minutes were detailed and splendid.

The Chairman referred to item six in the minutes which was the Commissioning Board Delivery Plan. He referred to Resolution 1 pertaining to this minute. The Resolution was an accurate recording of the meeting. However, in view of the response from the Chief Executive, the Resolution had been amended as reflected in the post meeting note.

RESOLVED that the minutes be agreed and signed as a correct record.   

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 13^th September 2018.

No questions had been received.

CSD 18127

Members noted the progress made on matters that had arisen from previous meetings.  

DRR 18/043

Members were presented with a report that provided them with an update on the provision of the Library Services contract with GLL over the first six months of operation. It was noted that the value of the contract over a ten year period was £40,739,536. The report indicated that the transfer of the library service had gone well, and that the contractor had been delivering the contract in accordance with service specifications and key performance indicators. The report had also been scrutinised at the Renewal, Recreation and Housing PDS Committee on 18^th September.

The Director of Regeneration (Colin Brand) and the Principal Client Officer for Libraries (Tim Woolgar) attended to present the report and to answer any questions.

The Committee was appraised that the contract was for a term of 10 years, with the option to extend by a further 5 years by mutual agreement. The contract had commenced on 1st November 2017. The transfer had been complex and had involved the TUPE transfer of over 130 staff, decommissioning and commissioning of major IT systems and hardware, as well as changes to the operational management of multiple satellite sites.  The process had been achieved with minimal effect on customers and with the maintenance of all essential services.

The Chairman noted that the Committee had been provided with the various KPIs and default indicators for the contract pre-meeting. The Chairman commented that the information provided with respect to the KPIs was detailed and extensive. He felt that the level of attainment with respect of the KPIs had been set to a reasonably high standard.

Mr Woolgar explained that 20 KPIs had been selected to represent the key elements of the service. These were KPIs that would be necessary to grow and maintain the service. During the initial six months of the contract, it had been agreed that no default penalties would be applied. It had been highlighted to the contractor during that period that there were certain areas where penalties would normally have been applied. The contractor had taken these factors on board as the contractor was keen to avoid financial penalties.

The Chairman was pleased to note that minimum disruption had been caused by the transfer and by industrial action. The Chairman referred to the percentage of children visiting the library, and said that wherever possible he would prefer to receive actual numbers rather than percentages.

The Chairman stated that he was always interested in innovation, and he was pleased to note that there had been a 33% increase in the download of E-Books. Mr Woolgar explained that the increase was probably due to ongoing marketing of the service by the Library, and because of the fact that an increased number of titles were now available. The Chairman praised the joint working with two other libraries which had increased the book supply.

The Chairman asked if all libraries were part of the Community Toilet Scheme. The response to this was no, as in most cases the cost  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

CEO 18003

The Committee was presented with the Part 1 report on the Corporate Contract Register and Contract Database update, and the accompanying print out of the corporate contracts register from the contracts database. Members were invited to consider the report and the contracts register.

The Chairman referenced contract ID 11, which was the Council Fleet Hire Contract, due to expire on 15^th May 2019. The contract had recently been looked at by the Commissioning Board, and would shortly be going to the Executive for approval.

The Chairman noted a problem in that there was growth within the contract with respect to the existing fleet of cars. The Director of Regeneration, Renewal and Recreation had been unable to access all of the data and information that was required to answer the Chairman fully on this matter as officers had been on leave.

The Director of Regeneration, Renewal and Recreation identified two issues:

1- The need to enter into a commercial framework agreement with Crown Commercial Suppliers.

2- The Council policy with respect to the provision of lease cars would need to be looked at, and this would involve discussions with the Chief Executive and the Head of Human Resources.

The Director of Regeneration, Renewal and Recreation stated that it was not critical for all of the relevant data to be available now, as any issues relating to the contract could still be looked at by the November meeting of the Executive.

The Chairman expressed concern as to how the anticipated growth could be mitigated. He was happy to delay further discussion of the matter so that the relevant data could be provided, and so that the substantive issue of Human Resources policy with respect to lease cars could be clarified.

The Director of Commissioning stated that the contract had been flagged on the database as a framework issue that was time sensitive. A separate report would be required concerning Council policy with respect to lease cars. The Chairman was happy to progress with discussions around the framework agreement and he asked if there was a back-up plan if the framework agreement failed.

The Head of Commissioning and Procurement advised that LBB could use alternate framework agreements if necessary. The Director of Regeneration, Renewal and Recreation stated that the Fleet Manager was engaging in the process, and that the timescale in relation to the framework agreement was not a significant risk. The Director of Commissioning stated that what was required was to understand the total contract cumulative value. The Chairman said that he could not see how the growth could be mitigated.

The Chief Executive commented that the issue that needed to be dealt with was the issue of recruitment and retention, which added to the complexities of the situation. It could be the case that it would be necessary to still have a lease car policy due to recruitment and retention issues. The extra costs would then have to be mitigated in another way.

The Chairman expressed concern regarding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Please refer to the minute for item 22.

The Director of Commissioning referred to the Change Control Notice flowchart.

The Director explained that the green section of the flow chart was the process undertaken when a standard CCN (Change Control Notice) to the provider was being drafted. The CCN would need to be clear on specification and budget. Once authority to proceed had been received, then the CCN would be signed off. The budget figure would then be revised on the CDB (Contracts Database).

Another strand on the flow chart showed a situation that related to variable budgets and one off projects. The project base budget would be retained. The flow chart showed the CCN procedure for when commissioning took place for one off project work. Again, clear written specifications would be required. LBB officers would complete the relevant paper work for the one off change control, which would be recorded and signed off. The information would then be input onto the CDB.

Another type of CCN was when a budget was required for a one off capital project. It was important to note the cumulative total of the contract, and not to confuse the revenue and capital budgets. The CCN would show on the CDB as a capital scheme. No one should be exposed with respect to the cumulative total.

Members noted the extensive work that had been introduced to improve the implementation and recording of change controls which had originated from previous criticisms from Internal Audit. The Director assured that the system was virtually fool proof as long as contract managers entered the correct data.

The Vice Chairman asked what the position was with respect to retrospective change controls. The Director responded that the situation had improved and now no changes would be authorised without her signature. The information relating to change controls was on the Managers’ Toolkit.

RESOLVED that a demonstration of the CDB take place at the meeting of the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS on 22^nd November. 

Members noted the Work Programme report for 2018/2019.

The Committee discussed and noted the Commissioning Board Delivery Plan.

Members noted the contracts mentioned in the Part 2 report, along with the additional comments from managers.

Agenda item 15 was the Print out of the part 2 Contracts Register with additional notes.

Some of the information pertaining to the Contracts Register had already been discussed in the Part 1 section of the agenda.

Any further confidential information relating to corporate contracts was noted in the part 2 minutes for agenda item 14 which was the part 2 report pertaining to the Corporate Contract Register and Contracts Database Update. 

Members did not discuss the KPI’s for the new Exchequer Services contract on the night as they had not received the information in enough time for an assessment to be made.

The exempt minutes of the meeting of the Contracts and Commissioning  Sub-Committee held on 17^th July were agreed and signed as a correct record.

No other business was discussed.

The next meeting of the Contracts Sub Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, 11^th December at 7.00pm.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 11^th December 2018