Agenda and minutes

Councillor Sally Longford – on leave

None

Last meeting held on 14 June 2022 (for confirmation)

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 14 June 2022 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of Corporate Director of Resident Services

Shane Staley, Fleet Manager, presented the report and stated the following:

·  Fleet Services currently use the ESPO framework, which is a ‘direct award’ process for the provision of diesel and other lubricants. This contract is due to expire 30 August 2022 and the report seeks approval for the Council to go out to ‘mini competition’ by using the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) framework agreement and award a contract to one supplier to purchase fuels.

·  There is significant volatility in the fuel market at the moment and the proposed arrangement would allow greater flexibility and will secure more competitive prices for fuels.

·  Despite the ongoing electrification of Nottingham City Council’s fleet, diesel is still essential for running 49% of the fleet including refuse collection vehicles, sweepers and minibuses.

In response to questions it was confirmed that an option to use fuel cards would be held in reserve to be used if required but this would mean paying forecourt prices for fuel and presented issues with larger vehicles such as refuse trucks accessing the pumps.

Resolved to

(1)  approve going out to 'Mini Competition' and award a contract to one provider via the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) framework agreement. The contract will be awarded for an initial 2-year period with an option to extend it by 1+1 years

(2)  approve spend of £9,600,000 for fuel and lubricant supply for the NCC vehicle and plant fleet

(3)  delegate authority to the Director of Neighbourhood Services to award the necessary contract(s) to the chosen supplier under the new framework.

Reasons for recommendations

(1)  To ensure the provision of the services which are compliant with UK Procurement legislation and the Council’s procurement rules.

(2)  To enable the Council to access market competitive prices throughout the purchasing period through the aggregated purchasing power of the awarding Framework.

(3)  To ensure commercial and financial risks to the Council are mitigated by the Framework Terms and Conditions.

(4)  The framework lists approved suppliers chosen through a qualitative and pricing competition which Nottingham City Council is permitted to access as a Contracting Authority.

(5)  Continued use of frameworks means that the investigation into the most competitive suppliers and price of fuel is undertaken on behalf of Nottingham Council.

Other options considered

(1)  The Council could choose to undertake a full competitive tendering process for the provision of automotive fuel and oil. This has been discounted for the following reasons: - A full competitive tender will take around 9 months to complete meaning any new arrangements are unlikely to be in place before August 2022 when the current contract ends. Furthermore, the relatively low volumes of fuel and oil purchased by the Council, when compared to the terms of the framework agreement, means that any tendered prices may not reflect best value because similar economies of scale may not be achieved. A full competitive tender would increase the procurement costs without, as noted above, providing best value for the Council.

(2)  CCS has an open framework for the provision of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Report of Corporate Director of Resident Services

Following an introduction from Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Thomas Ali, Food Development Officer, presented the report and stated the following:

·  The Council has 73 sites split between schools, catering outlets and care homes which all require frozen food, grocery products and/ or fresh meat. The previous contracts expire in November 2022 for groceries and frozen food and January 2023 for fresh meat.

·  The proposal is to enter into a new contract for two years with two potential one year extensions. This will allow for further competitive processes if required after two years as the market is currently volatile and a four year contract would not offer the same flexibility.

·  The meat contract is seeking local suppliers who meet certain standards of accreditation and aims to encourage local competition.

Resolved to:

(1)  approve the undertaking of a full tender to procure a contract for the supply of frozen food and groceries for up to a 4-year period (2+1+1 years), with a maximum cost of £5,000,000

(2)  approve the undertaking of a full tender to procure a contract for the supply of fresh meat for up to 4 years (2+1+1 years), with maximum cost of £1,000,000

(3)  delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Resident Services to award the contracts to the successful bidders.

Reasons for recommendations

(1)  The current contract for the supply of frozen food and groceries expires on 01/11/2022 and fresh meat expires January 2023. New contracts need to be put in place and therefore a competitive tender process will ensure that both quality of product and value for money for all sites is obtained.

(2)  The contract is subject to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 which requires the City Council to undertake a competitive tender process to award the contract.

(3)  The rationale for the decision is that all this expenditure will be covered by the charges for school meals, which is either through paid meals for the Free School Meals budget or income from the Council operated catering outlets.

Other options considered

(1)  Do nothing – this would leave Nottingham City Council at risk of no longer receiving products required to produce school meals. This option has been rejected as Nottingham City Council needs a supplier to provide food to schools, catering outlets and care homes to ensure that services continue to be provided to citizens.

Joint report of Corporate Director for People and Director of Public Health

Following an introduction from Councillor Linda Woodings, Helen Johnston, Consultant in Public Health, presented the report stating the following:

·  Nottingham’s alcohol and drug treatment and recovery system includes an integrated treatment and recovery service for adults, a criminal justice pathway, and services for children and young people and families impacted by substance misuse. The substance misuse treatment and recovery services in Nottingham city need to be re-commissioned, with new contracts to be let from 1 July 2023.

·  The Supplemental Grant has been allocated to Nottingham City to support improvements in the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment 2022/23 to 2024/25. Along with other ring-fenced grant funding and partner funding, this marks a step change in investment in substance misuse services, for consideration alongside the commissioning review to ensure Nottingham has sufficient high-quality service provision.

·  The report seeks approval for the re-commissioning of substance misuse treatment and recovery services in Nottingham from July 2023, and the receipt/spend of Supplemental grant. The proposal is to approve spend for commissioned services under five year contracts with two options to extend for further two year periods against a nine year budget.

In response to questions, it was confirmed that a two percent uplift had been applied to the Public Health grant funded elements due to anticipated Agenda for Change increments on staffing costs. This applies across the life of the contract. A more substantial risk arises post March 2025 as there is no guarantee of ringfenced grant funding beyond that point. This risk is being mitigated through contractual arrangements.

Resolved to:

(1)  approve the receipt of up to £2,899,440 from the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner as a partner contribution to substance misuse

(2)  approve the receipt of the full allocation for Nottingham of the Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery Grant (including the Inpatient Detoxification grant line) from the Office of Health Improvement & Disparities to 31 March 2025 (total indicative value of £7,064,863), paying attention to grant conditions

(3)  approve the spend of £1,829,466 on substance misuse services and activity to 30 June 2023 as set out in Appendix A to the report

(4)  approve the spend of £291,177 of the Inpatient Detoxification Grant through a consortium procurement of additional inpatient detox beds within the Midlands to 31 March 2025

(5)  delegate responsibility to Director of Public Health to agree the service model for the commissioning of substance misuse services against the entire budget available, through applying the insight and commissioning recommendations developed within the strategic commissioning review and in consultation with the Portfolio Holder

(6)  approve undertaking a procurement process for the following services as outlined in Appendix B to the report:

·  Integrated drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services for adults

·  Drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services for people in the criminal justice system

·  Integrated drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services for children and young people

·  Family support service for those impacted by substance misuse

·  Harm reduction service including specialist needle exchange & sexual health

·  Shared Care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.