Agenda item

Members of the Committee are requested to bring their copy of the agenda for the Executive meeting on 5 July 2023.

The Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee will be looking at the following items on the Executive Agenda:

(5) PROVISIONAL FINAL ACCOUNTS 2022/23

(6) CAPITAL PROGRAMME OUTTURN 2022/23

(7) APPOINTMENT OF ASCOT SERVICES TO RUN THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AT CHURCHILL COURT

(8) IT MANAGED SERVICE CONTRACT AWARD

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 1 agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 3 July 2023:

The report considered the 2022/23 provisional outturn at portfolio level and Council wide as well as the potential implications for the Council’s financial position in 2023/24. The purpose of the report was to give a broad overview of the financial outturn.

The 2022/23 provisional outturn provided for a zero increase in general fund balances, subject to the recommendations in this report being agreed.

More detailed reports would be submitted to individual PDS Committees. Details of the carry forward requests and a summary of the Council’s capital programme were also considered in the report.

In response to a question concerning earmarked reserves, the Director of Finance confirmed that there remained risks around the capital programme and until these risks had been considered it was prudent to retain the earmarked reserves.  The Committee noted that, in terms of the use of reserves, the Council was in a good position and was well placed to deal with the current financial climate, but challenges would continue, and careful thought would need to be given to the future use of reserves.

With respect to whether the Council would receive any increased income from interest on balances, the Director of Finance confirmed that whilst there had been gains from interest rates, inflation had also had an impact.

The Chairman proposed the following additional recommendation to the Executive:

That Directors ensure that all future growth/cost pressures, prior to being reported to members for consideration, include all mitigation options and savings relating to their respective service areas recognising that any such additional costs are currently unfunded given the Council’s budget position.

The motion was seconded by Councillor Onslow, put to the vote and CARRIED.

RESOLVED: That Executive be recommended to

1.   Note the provisional revenue and capital outturns for the 2022/23 financial year and the earmarked balances on the General Fund as at 31^st March 2023;

2.  Note the variations in 2022/23 impacting on the Council’s 2023/24 financial position;

3.   Note the comments from Chief Officers as detailed in Appendix 2 of the report;

4.   Approve the requests for carry forwards totalling £644k (net) as detailed in Appendix 6, subject to the funding being allocated to the Central Contingency in 2023/24 to be drawn down on the approval of the relevant Portfolio Holder;

5.  - Agree the changes to the central contingency sum as detailed in para. 3.5 of the report;

6.  Set aside a sum of £149k as a contribution to the Loneliness Strategy earmarked reserve as detailed in para. 3.8.1 of the report;

7.  Recommend Council set aside a sum of £2,000k as a contribution to the Building Infrastructure earmarked reserve as detailed in para. 3.8.2 of the report;

8.  Set aside a sum of £675k as a contribution to the Capital Fund earmarked reserve as detailed in para. 3.8.3 of the report;

9.  Set aside a sum of £400k as a contribution to the Arboricultural Backlog Fund earmarked reserve as detailed in para. 3.8.4 of the report;

10.  Note the utilisation of the Growth Fund as detailed in para 3.9 of the report; and

11.  Agree the redesignation of various earmarked reserves for utilisation for capital financing as detailed in para 3.6.3 of the report.

12.  Directors ensure that all future growth/cost pressures, prior to being reported to members for consideration, include all mitigation options and savings relating to their respective service areas recognising that any such additional costs are currently unfunded given the Council’s budget position.

The report set out the final outturn on capital expenditure and receipts for 2022/23. Capital expenditure in the year was £21.0m, compared to the final approved budget of £120.8m, resulting in a total net variation of Cr £99.8m. For funding purposes, £50.0m slippage was assumed in the quarter 3 capital monitoring report, so there was an overall variation of Cr £49.8m in the use of capital receipts and external and revenue contributions.

RESOLVED: That Executive be recommended to

1.  Note The capital outturn position for 2022/23; and

2.  Note that the revenue outturn report elsewhere on the agenda requests the redesignation of various earmarked reserves which have been assumed in the capital programme financing.

The report (and the accompanying Part 2 report) provided Members with a recommendation to make a direct award via exemption to competitive tendering to Ascot Services to run the Facilities Management at Churchill Court for an interim contract of up to two years.  The proposed direct award was to ensure necessary service provision was in place from the point of exchange and completion for Churchill Court, noting that a full and compliant procurement process for the longer-term service requirements would commence and be completed as soon as reasonably possible.

In response to a question, the Head of Facilities Management confirmed that whilst no specific market testing had been completed, a comparison of costs had been undertaken.  It was also noted that Direct Line had also carried out a competitive tender prior to appointing Ascot Services.

RESOLVED: That Executive be recommended to

1.  Note the report.

2.  Approve a direct award via exemption to competitive tendering to Ascot FM for the services detailed in this report for a period of up to two years from 28 July 2023 at an upper estimate of £1.562M per annum (whole life upper estimate of £3.125M).

3.  Delegate authority to the Director of Housing, Planning, Property and Regeneration to conclude negotiations with Ascot Services to determine the scope and estimated contract value for this interim contract award and, if needed, to vary the scope of the services as the Council relocates from the Civic Centre to Churchill Court over the period of the contract term – noting the capped FM cost at paragraph 2.2 of the report.

4.  Delegate authority to the Assistant Director of Legal Services to finalise and engross the contract as negotiated at paragraph 2.3 of the report.

5.  Note that, during the term of the interim contract, a full and compliant procurement process for the Facilities Management requirement will be undertaken as soon as reasonably possible for a new contract to commence within the interim period if possible (and no later than 28 July 2025).  This will be subject to formal Member decision on the procurement strategy in due course. 

This report accompanies a Part 2 report also being considered on this agenda which recommends that the Council awards a contract for the provision of IT Services.

Members also noted that this contract was one of a number of contracts in place relating to IT services for the Council.

The Committee requested that Members be provided with details of the KPIs for the contract following the meeting.  Members also requested that details of KPIs be included in any future contract award presented to Committees along with details for previous KPIs for context.

RESOLVED: That Executive be recommended to

1.  Award the IT Services Contract as detailed in the accompanying Part 2 report for a contract period of five years to begin on 16^th December 2023, with the option to extend for a further five years and including the optional service as noted in Part 2 of this report.

2.  Delegate to the Director of Corporate Services and Governance in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Resources, Commissioning and Contract Management, the authorisation to extend this contract for the period, and on the basis, of the recommendation at 2.1 in this report.

3.  Delegate authority to the Director of Corporate Services and Governance to take decisions necessary to enable the implementation of the contract with the recommended bidder and to conclude all necessary contractual documentation.

4.  Note that the procurement process and associated activities have been undertaken with due regard to and compliance with necessary regulation, rules and guidelines and with the participation of all required internal services and functions. A summary of the process and activities is provided in this report.