Agenda and minutes

Councillor Jon Collins  - Council business

Councillor Nick McDonald   - Personal reasons

Councillor Jane Urquhart   - Work commitments 

None.

Subject to the following amendment the minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2017 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the chair.

Minute 11 Resolution 1 should read Early Help Service, not Early Health Service.

Nicki Hastie, Policy and Communications Manager at Nottingham CVS introduced an update report to the committee on the Voluntary Sector which is appended to these minutes.  She highlighted the following information:

(a)  The findings from the NCVS research conducted during Summer 2016 were published in April 2017. Headline statistics show an increase in demand for services in 71% of respondents. 48% have been able to increase their delivers and 22% have needed to reduce volume of services due to cuts in funding. 34% of respondents reported that their funding was stable which is down from 43% in the previous survey;

(b)  A Policy Forum on Food Poverty took place on 3 May. This will become a quarterly event focusing on reducing food poverty and food waste;

(c)  At a Bank of England roundtable on 26 June attendees reported that there was no evidence of economic upturn or recovery for service users who are presenting with increasingly complex needs;

(d)  Children and Young People’s Provider Network and Vulnerable Adult’s Provider Network membership continues to grow and work is spread evenly between the Local Authority and Clinical Commissioning Group. The funding for the networks for this financial year is yet to be resolved;

(e)  NCVS will be running a practice development unit (PDU) for Opportunity Nottingham with the aim to share good practice when working with people with complex needs;

(f)   Dave Robinson has now finished in post as acting Chief Executive, Louise Craig will be the new Chief Executive and starts in post on 17 July 2017;

Following questions and discussion the following information was highlighted:

(g)  It is hoped that the PDU will expand in function in the future and aims to provide online learning, workshops and action learning sets. The impact of the unit will be researched independently.

(h)  Nottingham City Council always goes out to competitive tender for services, however more work could be done to ensure that the voluntary sector service providers are more prepared to bid competitively;

RESOLVED to thank Nicki Hastie for her attendance and to note the content her report.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive and the Director of Commissioningand Procurement

This item was withdrawn from the agenda and deferred to the Commissioning and Procurement Sub-Committee meeting on 12 September 2017.

Report of the Corporate Director for Strategy and Resources and the Director of Commissioning and Procurement

Kaj Ghattora, Provider Performance and Development Manager, presented a report on the Section 256 Commissioning arrangements highlighting the following points:

(a)  Section 256 agreements allow local authorities to receive funds from the NHS for health, social service and housing related functions. This transfer of powers help to enable health and local authority partners to work together more effectively;

(b)  Funds currently held under this Section 256 agreement will be used to support initiatives that aim to:

·  improve lives and outcomes for Nottingham Citizens

·  improve service provision

·  focus on key objectives outlined in Nottingham City Council’s Nottingham 2020 Plan;

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Delegate authority to the Director of Procurement and Commissioning to approve the spend of monies transferred to Nottingham City Council from Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to commission a range of co-commissioned activities (as listed in appendix 1) and award appropriate contracts.

Reasons for decision

(1)  Resources will continue to be effectively allocated which supports a range of initiative shared with Nottingham City CCG and which aim to improve the health and wellbeing of Nottingham citizens. It also allows the Council to ensure that it is abiding by the authorities financial regulations.

Other options considered

Nottingham City Council could choose not to work Nottingham City CCG and not receive the Section 256 monies. This would lead to a range of services being decommissioned that would adversely impact on citizens. For this reason this option was rejected.

Report of the Corporate Director for Commercial and Operations

Steve Oakley, Head of Contracting and Procurement presented a report on the Contract for the supply and delivery of stationery and computer consumables highlighting the following points:

(a)  The current contract was establish some time ago and has since expired. It no longer represents best value for money for the Council;

(b)  Historically, individual teams have held their own budget for these items. Procurement colleagues are working hard with Finance colleagues to collate historic data and to establish centralised control of the budget; 

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Approve the decision to undertake the procurement for a new 4 year contract for the supply of stationery and computer consumables;

(2)  Delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Commercial Operations to award the contract

(3)  Hear a verbal update from the Provider Performance and Development Manager at the October meeting on progress, detailing previous years’ costs, current year costs and expected savings;

Reasons for decision

(1)  The current contract has expired and no longer represents best value for money. Undertaking procurement for a new contract and establishing centralised control will allow the Council to achieve better value for money and maintain day to day business.

Other options considered

The Council continues to require stationery and computer consumables in order to maintain day to day business, and so the option to do nothing was not considered viable.

Report of Corporate Director Strategy and Director of Procurement & Children’s Commissioning

Christine Oliver, Head of Commissioning, presented a report on the Contract Extension for Care Support and Enablement Services Contract highlighting the following points:

(a)  The current framework provides specialist community outreach and accommodation based support to vulnerable adults with a range of needs and will expire on 30^th September 2017;

(b)  There are a number of issues that need further exploration while a review of the service takes place. These include understanding the future needs of vulnerable adults and how to meet them in line with policy directives;

(c)  These issues require significant engagement with operational teams, providers, service users and business stakeholders. The ability to consider best practice from other local authorities and clinical commissioning groups will result in better care and better value;

(d)  The review has highlighted that there are an increasing number of packages being purchased from providers not within the current framework at a higher cost;

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Approve the dispensation of Contract procedure Rule 5.1.2 in accordance with Financial Regulations (3.29) operational issues to allow for a 6 months extension of the Care Support and Enablement framework and the Fairhaven contract from 1^st October 2017 until 31^st March 2018.

Reasons for decision

(1)  The current framework of providers is due to end on 30^th September 2017 as is the Fairhaven provision. The current review of the service model has highlighted a number of issues that require further time to develop and the extension of the existing framework will allow the Council to continue to provide services to vulnerable adults who require the complex and flexible support whilst issues raised are explored;

(2)  The extension provides the opportunity to look at more suitable options for the future commissioning of Care Support and Enablement. This will work towards reducing the Spot contracts which have a higher cost and will help to deliver better value for money;

Other options considered

The Council could consider undertaking a procurement exercise at the end of the existing contract.  However, there is not enough time to complete this work within the timeframe and the new Care Support and Enablement model is still being developed. Additional time is required to consider the finances, policy directives and social issues raised in consultation which will lead to better care and improved value for money. For this reason this option was not considered appropriate.

The other option considered is to do nothing. This option was dismissed as existing contracts have to continue in order to ensure continuity of service delivery to citizens. Allowing existing contracts to expire would not be a viable option.

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item(s) in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining items in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information as defined in paragraphs 5 of part 1, Schedule 12A of the Act.

Report of Corporate Director Strategy and Director of Procurement & Children’s Commissioning

RESOLVED to note the content of the exempt appendix to the report on Procurement of Care, Support and Enablement Services (Outreach and Accommodation based Services) for Vulnerable Adults.