Agenda item

Members of the Committee are requested to bring their copy of the agenda for the Executive meeting on 10 July 2024.

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

·  Item 5 -  Capital Programme Outturn

·  Item 10 -  Proceeding to Tender for a Block Purchasing Contract for Children's Residential (Beds) Placements

(This item will be considered jointly with the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee who will be invited to the meeting)

·  Item 11 - Meeting the Needs of Children In Care: Market Development of Residential Provision

(This item will be considered jointly with the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee who will be invited to the meeting)

·  Item 16 - Contract Extension: Mechanical & Electrical Maintenance Contract

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 1 agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 10 July 2024:

Report FSD24050

The report set out the final outturn on capital expenditure and receipts for 2023/24. Capital expenditure in the year was £50.2m, compared to the final approved budget of £70.0m, resulting in a total net variation of Cr £19.8m. For funding purposes, £10.0m slippage was assumed in the quarter 3 capital monitoring report, so there was an overall variation of Cr £9.8m in the use of capital receipts and external and revenue contributions.

In response to a question, the Director of Finance confirmed that there were currently no delays in the timetable for the move to the new Civic Officers.  Full Council would meet in the new offices in October 2024 and staff would be moving over at this time.

RESOLVED: That the recommendations in the report be supported.

Report CEF23094

This item was considered jointly with the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee

The report sought Executive approval to carry out a full competitive tender to procure a single supplier to deliver a block contract of 5 residential children’s home placements (beds) for up to 2 years with an option to purchase additional capacity of up to 5 additional beds on a first right of refusal basis at the same rates for the primary contract.

This proposal set out the need for a block bed contract for residential placements for young people coming into care and what the benefits and implications would be for the London Borough of Bromley, particularly in the light of the Local Authority’s Sufficiency Duty as set out in S22 of the Children’s Act (1989).

A block contract contributed to the achievement of the medium-term financial savings by reducing the placement costs for children in care. This would lead to a reduction in residential spend. For example, a block contract with a weekly cost of £4,600 per bed x 5, would reduce the number of placements we commissioned costing between £5,000 - £8,000 per week. This was likely to result in cost avoidance in the range of £104,000 - £884,000 per year assuming full occupancy of the beds.

An informal test of the market had been conducted and had helped form the recommendations in the paper.

The Committee was generally supportive of the short to medium term solution proposed in the report, although Officers were encouraged to expedite the development of longer-term plans.  In response the Director for Children, Education and Families reported that the Department was working to develop plans for a Local Authority managed children’s home. A number of options were being investigated including looking at existing properties, buying land or buying an established home.

The Chairman of the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee highlighted the importance of progressing the proposals outlined in the report in order to make savings and reduce the cost pressures. The proposals that were being presented would result in bringing children closer to Bromley. It was highlighted that the performance of the contract would be closely scrutinised by the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee.

RESOLVED: That the recommendations in the report be supported.

Report CEF23095

This item was considered jointly with the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee

The rising demand and cost of quality specialist residential provision for Children in Care was leading to delays in meeting the needs of our most vulnerable young people.  Rising costs were contributing to budget growth pressures in the medium to long term financial forecast.  Alternative commissioning strategies were being explored to mitigate cost and growth pressures where possible. For residential provision for Children in Care, this included exploring alternative contract arrangements (such as block contracts), seeking innovative solutions through market engagement, potential partnership arrangements and potential capital investment (including the development of Council owned provision).

Informal market engagement had indicated the possibility of innovative solutions for market development through partnership arrangements with providers of specialist residential care.  In engaging with the market to explore solutions, the Council may seek to influence the location, nature and design of provision to meet Bromley’s particular needs and to enter into arrangements that secured the return of any required investment, manage risk to the Council with necessary securities in place and to ensure access to provision to help manage demand.  The nature and feasibility of any business case for any proposed solution would need to be developed through formal market testing.

The report sought Executive approval to proceed with formal market testing with the provider market, through a compliant procurement process, to explore and develop detailed proposals and business case for innovative solutions, including partnership arrangements and investment solutions, for specialist children’s residential care for consideration by Executive in due course.

In response to a question concerning whether an October start date for the contract was realistic, the Children, Education and Families Transformation Lead explained that the proposals within the report represented a first step and the level of interest in the contract was currently unclear.

RESOLVED: That the recommendations in the report be supported.

Report HPR 2024/031

In July 2023 the Portfolio Holder for Resources, Commissioning and Contract Management approved a one-year extension to the Contract with B&M McHugh for the Periodic Servicing and Inspection, Routine and Responsive Maintenance and Out of Hours Emergency Callouts (Reactive Repairs and Planned Maintenance) to Mechanical and Electrical Installations in Corporate Property and Similar Facilities.

The current Contract commenced on 1st October 2021 with an expiry date of 30^th September 2023. Within the Contract was a formal extension option of up to two years. The current one-year extension to the Contract expired on 30^th September 2024.

The report, together with the accompanying Part 2 report, sought approval to apply the second one-year formal extension option to the Contract with B&M McHugh for Reactive Repairs and Planned Maintenance to Mechanical and Electrical Installations in Corporate Property and Similar Facilities.

The Committee considered and discussed the proposals. It was noted that an action plan for completion of the M&E asset register would need to be agreed with the contractor  and the Committee requested that an update on this be presented to the Executive meeting on Wednesday 10^th July 2024.

RESOLVED: That the Executive be recommended to agree the contract extension subject to the development of an asset register recovery plan.