Agenda and draft minutes

None.

Councillor Hayes declared a pecuniary interest in agenda item 4, minute 91, Financial Vulnerability Funding, in so far as he was Chair of the Advice Nottingham consortium, recipients of the proposed funding if approved, and left the room prior to consideration of the item.

Last meeting held on 11 March 2025 (for confirmation)

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 11 March 2025 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of Corporate Director for Adult Social Care and Health

Councillor Hayes, having declared an interest in this item, left the room prior to discussion.

Bryany Cornish, Public Health Manager, and Helen Johnston, Public Health Registrar, presented the report and stated the following:

a)  approval was being sought to allocate 3-year grant funding (1 October 2025 to 30 September 2028) from the ringfenced Public Health Grant to the Advice Nottingham consortium of advice services for the provision of information, advice and assistance to people in Nottingham experiencing or at risk of financial difficulty;

b)  grant funding has enabled the current recipient, Advice Nottingham (a consortium of advice agencies based in Nottingham City and led by Nottingham and District Citizens Advice Bureau), to provide free and impartial advice on a range of issues including benefits, debt, employment and housing to clients at all levels of need, from self-help information to casework and representation. The current grant arrangement is due to end on 30 September 2025, but need and demand for advice services remains high;

c)  levels of deprivation in Nottingham are associated with poor health and wellbeing outcomes for much of the population. As a city, we have high rates of unemployment, benefit dependency and unmanageable debt;

d)  increasingly, people who have never accessed benefits or advice in the past are seeking support (6.3% of the population in Nottingham now claim out-of-work benefits, a 2% rise since pre-pandemic), with lower income households (which make up nearly 20% of the local population) impacted even greater by high inflation of energy and food costs;

e)  Advice Nottingham will be grant funded to deliver a service which will reduce the impact of financial crises on health and wellbeing outcomes by helping citizens to: 1) prevent financial difficulty from occurring, 2) reduce or resolve immediate financial problems and 3) avoid or better manage future financial difficulty;

f)  upon the grant being awarded, the authority will work with Advice Nottingham to guide their delivery plan based on the proposed outcomes of the grant award and how they are to be achieved.

Resolved to

(1)  approve spend of £406,000 per annum for 3 years from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2028 (total spend of £1,218,000) from the ringfenced Public Health Grant to fund provision of information, advice and guidance services to people in Nottingham experiencing or at risk of financial difficulty;

(2)  delegate authority to the Director of Public Health to approve the award and enter into a 3-year grant agreement with Nottingham and District Citizens Advice Bureau on behalf of the Advice Nottingham consortium.

Reasons for recommendations

a)  local data tells us that many people in Nottingham experience deprivation and poor health and wellbeing. Financial vulnerability is a particular risk factor for poor health outcomes: half of adults in problem debt also have a mental health problem and almost 30% of adults living in persistent poverty are in poor health. The health benefits of advice services are well evidenced, improving health through addressing financial issues and other wider determinants of health such as employment, housing,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

Report of Corporate Director for Finance and Resources

At this point, Councillor Hayes rejoined the meeting.

Alex Billing, IT Infrastructure Manager, presented the report and stated the following:

a)  Nottingham City Council purchases, on a contract basis, services from commercial providers of voice and data networks. These allow the Council to communicate by telephone and e-mail, and use online services in communication with citizens, colleagues in different locations, partners and stakeholders in other organisations, such as the Police, Health Service and Central Government;

b)  periodically, usually every 5 years, the contracts under which these services are provided require to be re-let and, as the current contracts expire at various points during 2025, this report seeks authorisation to do this.

Resolved that authority be delegated to the Head of Service (IT) to enter into contracts to purchase data network services, in place by no later than October 2025 for a period of up to 5 years (2025/26 to 29/30), using approved procurement methods for data network contracts and utilising a maximum of £4,000,000 from the IT Investment Fund.

Reasons for recommendation

a)  The current voice and data network contracts that enable Nottingham City Council to provide services expire at various points during 2025.

b)  The Council’s Financial Regulations require that contracted services are subject to competitive tender to ensure that value for money is achieved.

c)  Due to the size of the contracts and the complexity of the services to be purchased, a significant lead time should be allowed should the supplier of these services be changed through the competitive tendering exercise.

d)  The Council will seek competitive bids for the supply of voice and data network contracts using Crown Commercial Services (CCS). The contract award will be for a period of up to 5 years.

e)  Use of the CCS framework allows the Council to access pre-assessed providers of services which helps ensure the quality, including security capability, of bidders.

f)  The estimated value of contracts is £250,000 for Internet connectivity, £750,000 for Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) functionality and £3,000,000 for Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity.

Other options considered

a)  It is not considered feasible for the Council to revert to having no voice and data networks and so this is not recommended.

b)  It is not considered feasible for the Council to develop its own voice and data network infrastructure to replace those provided by commercial suppliers and so this is not recommended.

c)  It would be feasible for the Council to ‘roll-over’ the existing contracts with suppliers, to continue with what is in place on current, or marginally revised, terms and conditions. Such an approach would save the cost of procurement and the possible disruption of a change of supplier. This approach, though, would not enable the Council to demonstrate that it has sought to achieve value for money, nor would it enable the Council to access new voice and data networking technologies. However, this approach would not be compliant with the Public Procurement Regulations 2015 due the value of the contract being over  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.