Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Contact: Jodie Kloss/Alan Garside  Email: legalanddemocratic@watford.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Saffery.

 

There was a change of membership for this meeting: Councillor Grimston replaced Councillor Hofman.

 

2.

Disclosures of interest

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest.

 

3.

Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2018 to be submitted and signed.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2018 were submitted and signed.

 

4.

Contract management overview pdf icon PDF 101 KB

The Panel to receive presentations from the Procurement Manager and the Head of Community and Environmental Services.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The panel received presentations from the Corporate Procurement Manager and the Head of Community and Environmental Services.

 

The presentation from the Corporate Procurement Manager was included in the agenda and covered the following areas:

·        An overview of the council’s approach to procurement

·        Governance

·        Details of the procurement process

·        Monitoring performance and compliance

·        The emphasis on social value in the procurement process

 

Following questions about the Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE) when the parking service was delivered by a new provider; officers clarified that when staff moved from one external provider to another the council was not directly involved in the TUPE process. Further information about the consultation process in this instance would be provided to the panel.

 

Discussing prioritising contracts with local companies, officers explained that the council could not legally discriminate by the location of a business.  However, the council included social value as part of the tender process and this could have a positive impact on the scoring for local businesses.  In addition, the council would not want local businesses to miss out on work in other areas due to their location.

 

Officers explained that the contract register, which recorded all the council's contracts over £5000, was publicly available on the website.  In addition, the procurement pipeline contained details of forthcoming tenders which could be publicised to local businesses.  Outreach work was undertaken with local groups such as the Chamber of Commerce to raise awareness of the opportunities for working with the council. Officers were always happy to speak to local businesses.

 

Following a question about the equalities duties of external providers, it was confirmed that they had to comply with the Equality Act 2010 and an equalities questionnaire was completed with each tender.

 

The panel then received a presentation from the Head of Community and Environmental Services which briefed members on the following:

·        Details of the contract renewal dates and the contract managers

·        Governance arrangements for each of the major contracts overseen by Outsourced Services Scrutiny Panel (OSSP)

·        The partnership approach taken by the council working with the contractors

·        How OSSP can add value to the ongoing contract management

 

The presentation is appended to these minutes.

 

It was noted by the panel that the parking enforcement service was within their remit and was managed by officers in Place Shaping and Corporate Performance.  Members asked for further information about the nature of the agreement with CitiParks and how this could be scrutinised.

 

Considering the market, members asked about the vacancy levels and asked for further information about how many units were used for storage.

 

Officers provided examples of how the council was able to influence the contracts; for example the contract with Veolia stipulated that employees would be paid the London Living Wage. In addition, the council was informally involved in the selection of the new contract manager.

 

The panel then discussed the role of trade unions in relation to the contractors’ employees. Further details were agreed to be provided about information given to the staff.

 

Members expressed their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

End of year 2017/18: key performance indicator (KPI) report pdf icon PDF 1 MB

A report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications providing the Panel with performance indicators for the end of year 2017/18.

 

Minutes:

The panel received a report of the Head of Corporate Strategy and Communications.  The report provided the results for the key performance indicators identified for Watford Borough Council’s outsourced services for 2017/18.

 

In response to feedback, the format of the report had been amended to provide a dashboard style presentation.  This highlighted areas of underperformance and other key headlines.  It was noted that some indicators would plateau as they reached optimum performance. Reasons for any underperformance were set out in the report. The explanations for the indicators which were underperforming were provided to the panel. The panel provided feedback on the format of the report and the officer agreed to consider how to further refine the presentation of the data.

 

The panel noted that paragraph 4.3 of the report should read ‘2 were on target’.

 

The panel discussed indicator 10, levels of detritus, and information was provided about the tenders that were out to replace the fleet of mechanical sweepers.

 

Turning their attention to indicator 12, flyposting, members were interested to know how the increases in incidents in St Albans Road were being addressed.  These were reported by the streetcare crews. Officers agreed to clarify whether the council had any powers in relation to properties it did not own. The council had a zero-tolerance approach to fly-posting.

 

Staff satisfaction was slightly below target; the officers provided details of the programme of initiatives designed to promote staff motivation. The latest results would be available shortly.  It was noted that the level of staff sickness absence level had improved and the measures in place were outlined, including the First Care service.

 

Discussing the ICT service levels (indicator 35), the officers agreed to clarify whether the review would impact the target level.

 

A request was made that where any KPI target had been lowered for Q1 in 2018/19 that an explanation be provided.

 

RESOLVED –

 

1.      that the key performance indicator results for the end of year 2017/18 be noted.

 

2.      that the panel’s feedback on the report format be noted.

 

3.      that the actions requested be undertaken.

 

 

6.

Work programme pdf icon PDF 58 KB

A report of the Committee and Scrutiny Support Officer asking the Panel to consider the work programme for 2018/19 and agree topics for future meetings.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The panel received a report of the Committee and Scrutiny Support Officer introducing the draft work programme.

                                          

A number of gaps had been left to ensure that the panel could suggest ideas for meetings and to ensure there was capacity to deal with emerging issues throughout the year.

 

The panel was encouraged to focus on specific issues with key questions for scrutiny rather than contracts as a whole.  Annual reports from the contractors could be circulated by email to the panel.

 

Veolia was being asked to attend in September to discuss the issues with grounds maintenance this summer.

 

It was agreed that the possibility of the panel visiting the depot should be explored.

 

Members agreed that they were interested to explore the social value aspects of various contracts throughout the year. This would be added to the parks item in September. They were also interested in inviting Watford Community Housing to discuss the management of the hostels and temporary accommodation in November. SLM and HQ Theatres would be invited later in the municipal year to specifically discuss the community and social aspects of their contracts.

 

The new parking contract would be considered in March 2019.

 

RESOLVED –

 

1.      that the draft work programme be agreed.

 

2.      that the actions requested be undertaken.

 

 

7.

Conclusions and recommendations

Minutes:

 

This had been covered in the previous items.

 

 

rating button