Agenda and minutes

Venue: Chappell Room. View directions

Contact: Jane Ansell  Members' Services

Items
No. Item

15.

Apologies for Absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Blair, Truscott, Ainley, Andrews and Powell.

15a

Scrutiny Work Programme Report 2013/14

16.

To approve, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 5 August 2013. pdf icon PDF 32 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

That the minutes of the above meeting, having been circulated, be approved as a correct record.

 

17.

Declaration of Interests.

Minutes:

None.

18.

Scrutiny Work Programme 2013/14 pdf icon PDF 35 KB

Report of Elections and Members’ Services Team Leader

 

Including questions to the Leader of the Council on the following elements of his Portfolio:

 

  • The Council’s procurement strategy
  • Co-location arrangements with partners

 

 

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Mark Kimberley, Corporate Director, who, in the absence of Councillor J Clarke, responded to questions from Members on the following elements of the Leader’s Portfolio:

 

·         The Council’s procurement strategy

 

·         Co - location arrangements with partners

 

Questions from Members and responses received:

 

  1. How successfully are we contracting with local suppliers?

 

Members were informed that whilst the Council is not empowered through its Standing Orders to target local suppliers, it does have a duty to achieve best value. The benefit to local suppliers is assured through on-going performance monitoring, which gives specific weighting to the payment of local suppliers within 10 days of receipt of invoice.

 

Details of performance monitoring data circulated to Members demonstrated that around 42% of the Council’s suppliers are local and a 10 day payment rate of 96.21% is achieved. A survey recently undertaken using the creditors system indicated a 99.1% satisfaction rate.

 

The Corporate Director explained that larger contracts are likely to be with national/multi-national organisations.

 

2.    Are we still sharing a procurement officer post with Rushcliffe, and does the role bring savings to the Council?

 

The Corporate Director confirmed that the shared service arrangement is still in place and that the role is predominantly concerned with ensuring our compliance with Standing Orders and EU regulations and completion of returns to National Government. Additionally the officer has an advisory role on cost saving framework agreements, such as the national mobile phone agreement.

 

The Corporate director further explained that any targeting of local suppliers would depend on the thresholds reached by the contract as set out in the Council’s Standing Orders – for contracts under 10k, it had been custom and practice to obtain 3 local quotes, whereas for contracts over 50k the Council is required to advertise nationally. For contracts of over 130k full compliance with EU regulations would be required.   

 

3.    Would we target a local supplier in cases where an area of work is likely to attract a local supplier?

 

Members were informed that EU regulations differentiate between works contracts of 3/4m in value and service contracts of 130k in value. The Council’s Contract Standing Orders do not specify, which in practice means that building contract works are taken through quite a complex route. Members were informed that whilst there are no current plans to re-examine this situation, there is potential scope to do so in future.    

 

  1. How are co - location arrangements progressing?
  2. What are the future plans for co-location?
  3. What benefits are being demonstrated, and what future benefits do we hope to achieve?

 

The Corporate Director gave an overview of current and imminent co-location plans, which included arrangements with:

 

·         Nottinghamshire County Council

·         Gedling Homes

·         Citizens Advice Bureau

·         Department of Work and Pensions

·         The ‘Ridewise’ Charity

·         Central College

·         Individual staff from other organisations

 

Members were informed that we have recently entered into more integrated plans with the Nottingham North East Clinical Commissioning Group and are moving towards combined frontline service arrangements with the Department for Work and Pensions.

 

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

19.

Scrutiny work programme 2012/13 pdf icon PDF 28 KB

Report of the Elections and Members’ Services Team Leader

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Responses of Portfolio Holders to Scrutiny recommendations

 

The Chair informed Members of the receipt of the following 5 responses from Portfolio Holders to Scrutiny recommendations:

 

1.    Hackney Carriages 

2.    Inclusion and Equality

3.    The Council’s Engagement with the Voluntary Sector

4.    Covert Surveillance (follow up)

5.    Response of the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Development to the recommendations made by Policy Scrutiny Committee on 6th December 2012 as part of the formal consultation on the Aligned Core Strategy.

 

Where appropriate, working group chairs commented on the responses received.

 

Outstanding report and recommendations: Localism, Planning and Housing Review

 

Members were informed that the working group for the above review has now completed its programme.

 

The Chair proposed that the draft final report be circulated to all Scrutiny committee members as well as members of the original Policy Scrutiny Committee working group for comments, and that the final report and recommendations be tabled at Cabinet on 14th November.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1. To note the responses of Portfolio Holders to the recommendations of the following Scrutiny reviews:   

 

1.    Hackney Carriages 

2.    Inclusion and Equality

3.    The Council’s Engagement with the Voluntary Sector

4.    Covert Surveillance (follow up)

5.    Response of the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Development to the recommendations made by Policy Scrutiny Committee on 6th December 2012 as part of the formal consultation on the Aligned Core Strategy

 

2. That the final report of the Localism, Planning and Housing Scrutiny working group be circulated to Scrutiny Committee and Working Group Members and submitted to Cabinet on 14th November.

20.

Reports and Notices received by the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee as required under the Constitution or Law pdf icon PDF 26 KB

Item for Information

Minutes:

Members considered a list of items referred to the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee as required under the Constitution or Law.

 

These included:

 

1.     Items referred to the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee under Contract Standing orders and Standing orders for dealing with Land

 

Notifications received where it has not been possible to obtain 3 quotations for a contract estimated to be between £10,000 and £50,000.

 

-       Contract for the provision of seasonal lighting 2013

 

-       Procurement of specialist provision for young families

 

-       Extension of contract for professional fees in relation to obtaining planning permission, design and supervision of construction of Gedling Country Park

 

2.    Items referred to Scrutiny under the Budget and Policy Framework

 

-       Gedling Borough Council’s Local Planning Document and the associated Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report. The consultation period on this item will commence on 21st October and ends on 16th December. Scrutiny Members to be included as part of the formal consultation.

 

RESOLVED:

 

To note the items referred to the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee under the constitution or Law.

21.

Any other item which the Chair considers urgent.

Minutes:

None.