To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2023.

Decision: 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2023 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement.

This report provides an update on the new procurement regulations and advises the committee of the implications for future Council procurement activity.

The committee considered a report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement which provided an update on new procurement regulations and advised the committee of the implications for the Council’s future procurement activity.

Key points and themes within the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background to the Procurement Bill 2022;

·         Details of changes to procurement processes; supplier exclusion; resolving disputes over tenders; and social value;

·         The likely impact of these changes;

·         Opportunities for contracting authorities under the new regulations; 

·         New regulations on transparency and publication of data relating to procurement, including the implementation of a Transparency Platform;

·         The establishment of the Procurement Review Unit and its purposes; 

·         Regulations for the Provider Selection Regime, which would come into effect on 1 January 2024; and

·         Training on the new regulations.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

·         Whether the new regulations would make the procurement process more difficult; 

·         If the Procurement team were working with IT to ensure the correct systems were in place;

·         Whether there would be any delay to the Council implementing the new regulations as a result of the establishment of central government’s new Procurement Review Unit; 

·         If the new regulations would help to enable the Council to use local suppliers;

·         The solution for the Council, given the national delay in implementing the National Procurement Policy Statement due to technical legal issues; 

·         The impact on resources arising from the new requirement to publish notices throughout the procurement lifecycle;

·         Whether suppliers could be excluded at shortlisting stage; 

·         How value-for-money would be considered in the procurement process as a result of the new regulations; 

·         What kind of contracts would be subject to the ‘light-touch approach’ and why the government did not want to retain this; 

·         The grounds on which a supplier could legitimately challenge a contract award; and

·         What information had been provided by the Cabinet Office on sharing best practice. 

In introducing the item, the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement emphasised the opportunities for the Council that arose from the new procurement regulations, such as taking a more commercial approach and increased transparency. He informed the committee that the new regulations would come into effect in 11 months and that communication and training would be undertaken during this period. He also advised that the Procurement service was fully staffed following recent recruitment. 

The committee was advised that the Council had previously engaged with local suppliers to the greatest possible extent and that the new regulations did not reference dividing contracts into lots. The new regulations would allow the Council to take local priorities into greater account when awarding contracts, although the detail on this remained unclear. The Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement also advised that the Local Government Act 198,8 which stipulated that local authorities could not take non-commercial matters into consideration when awarding contracts, would be reworded to allow greater freedom. 

In response to a query from the Chair, the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement stated that the previous regulations  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

Report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement.

This report provides an update on the social value delivered through the contracts that the Council has with its suppliers.

The committee considered a report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement which provided an update on the social value delivery of the Council and its wider partnerships. 

Key points and themes within the report included:

·         The work of the Social Value Governance Board; 

·         The introduction of a Social Value Co-ordinator role on a 2-year fixed-term contract;

·         Updates on social value within contracts, including major contracts;

·         Measurement of social value;

·         Training and guidance; 

·         A refresh of procurement documentation, including Invitation to Tender documents; 

·         The Social Value Fund and projects which have benefited from this; 

·         Case studies from suppliers; and

·         The work of the National Social Value Task Force.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

·         Welcoming the comprehensive appendices;

·         How local members could work with their Neighbourhood teams to suggest projects that may benefit from social value; 

·         What the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and monitoring process would be for the social value road map at appendix 4;

·         If there was a link between the new procurement regulations and social value; 

·         Who was responsible for monitoring social value; 

·         How the success of social value delivery was communicated with residents, with particular reference to the Our Town Hall project;

·         How members could get more social value embedded within their wards; 

The Deputy Executive Member for Finance and Resources introduced the item and thanked the committee for their continued interest in the Council’s social value work. She stated that the Council was continuing to lead on and deliver a wide range of social value and Manchester had the highest social value and zero carbon weightings in procurement than any other local authority in the country. 

The Chair relayed a written representation from Councillor Reid to the committee, which commended the social value work undertaken by Morgan Sindall which was contracted for the development of Gorton Hub and Hammerstone Road. Councillor Reid stated that Morgan Sindall recruited local people to apprentices and placed great emphasis on mental health support for their employees. Local community groups had also been assisted in their projects by volunteers from Morgan Sindall. 

In response to queries, the Commissioning Lead noted that further work was needed to identify local members’ roles in identifying areas for social value work and this could be undertaken by the Social Value Governance Board. He explained that the brokerage workstream of the Social Value Governance Board Task and Finish Group tried to identify how the Council could connect opportunities with local need. This would be progressed with the Social Value Governance Board and the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement advised that there had been discussion on how to link this with Neighbourhood Investment Funds. 

The Commissioning Lead acknowledged that measurement of social value was a challenge for many authorities and partners and the Council was currently part of a Co-operative Councils’ network which looked at social value measurement. This was a challenge because there were several measurement frameworks available, such as Themes, Outcomes, Measures (TOMS) although it was noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer.

This report sets out the priorities for the services in the remit of this committee and details the initial revenue budget changes proposed by officers.

The committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer which outlined the priorities for the services in the remit of this committee and detailed the initial revenue budget changes proposed by officers.

Key points and themes within the report included:

·         An estimated budget shortfall of £46m was expected in 2024/25, £86m in 2025/26, and £105m by 2026/27;

·         This gap would reduce to £1.6m in 2024/25, £30m in 2025/26 and £49m by 2026/27 after the application of approved and planned savings and the use of c£17m smoothing reserves in each of the three years; 

·         Changes to the Medium-Term Financial Plan; 

·         The resources available to the Council and those required; 

·         Additional directorate pressures; 

·         The planned public consultation on proposed council tax levels and savings and cuts measures;

·         Next steps for the budget process;

·         An overview of the service area and priorities of the Corporate Core directorate, including the base budgets for each service area for 2023/24;

·         The savings plan for 2024-27 and further options for saving; 

·         Workforce implications, including a review of vacant posts, particularly those vacant for longer than 12 months, to determine which should be deleted with the least impact on service delivery;

·         Additional funding of £1m had been allocated to offset the lower rental income that can be realised due to the Christmas Markets using a smaller footprint as a result of the temporary closure of Albert Square. This funding will then be used to meet some of the increased operating costs of running the civic estate once the Town Hall is reopened;

·         Government grants and the income they provide; 

·         Future opportunities and risks;

·         The indicative medium-term budgets by service area; and

·         The indicative medium-term budgets by type of spend/income. 

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included:

·         Recommending residents read the Leader’s letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer prior to completing the Council’s budget consultation; 

·         Noting that high inflation was costing the Council £21m per year, which was not recognised by the government;

·         Expressing frustration at the lateness with which the Local Government Finance Settlement was provided;

·         How many grants the Council was currently in receipt of, and how this compared to previous years;

·         Why the costs for IT to move to a hybrid cloud solution were revenue and not capital spend;

·         Why the year-on-year spend for cloud-based services increased and if there were any potential savings as a result of moving to a hybrid cloud solution; 

·         What work was underway to reduce the need for agency staff within the IT service;

·         How eligible families were identified for the Household Support Fund 4 (HSF4) and how the Council could continue to provide such support if the government cut this funding in the future; 

·         How the Finance Settlement might affect the Greater Manchester Business Rates Retention pilot scheme;

·         The staff pay award;

·         Whether the government may offer inflationary assistance in order for the Council to maintain service delivery;

·         Suggesting that the public consultation on the budget should reference where the Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit.

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report also includes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree.

The committee received a report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit which provided details of key decisions that fell within the Committee’s remit and items for information previously requested by the Committee. The report also included the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee was asked to amend as appropriate and agree. 

A member noted the responses to recommendations made at the previous meeting and wished to place on record her thanks to officers in HROD for this. 

Decision: 

That the report be noted and the work programme agreed.