Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Overview and Scrutiny Ethical Procurement and Contract Management Sub Group - Thursday, 29th November, 2018 2.00 pm

Venue: Council Ante Chamber, Level 2, Town Hall Extension

Contact: Mike Williamson 

Items
No. Item

5.

MInutes pdf icon PDF 130 KB

To receive the minutes of the Ethical Procurement Subgroup on 13 September 2018.

Minutes:

Decision

 

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13 September 2018.

6.

Developing and embedding Social Value within Highways Service - update pdf icon PDF 181 KB

Report of the Director of Operations (Highways)

 

This report provides an update on progress in developing and embedding social value as a business as usual aspect within the Highways Service. The report outlines the actions taken since the previous Ethical Procurement sub-group meetings on 7 June 2018 and December 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Group considered a report of the Director of Operation (Highways) which provided an update on developing and embedding social value within the Highways Service. The report outlined the actions taken since the previous Ethical Procurement sub-group meetings on 7 June 2018 and December 2017 and the improvements made since the appointment of the Social Value Project Manager within the service. It also highlighted further planned activity for social value and next steps for the service to continue with this area of development.

 

The Executive Member for Highways, Planning and Transport referred to the main points and themes within the report, which included:-

 

·                The Social Value Project Manager joined the Highways service in July 2018 and had made significant improvements to raise awareness of social value and its importance as well as embed a culture across the service so that it becomes the norm;

·                Relationships with suppliers had significantly improved and as a result Highways were achieving greater outcomes for Manchester from a delivery and social value perspective;

·                The Social Value Project Manager had undertaken a review of contracts within Highways and met with 19 suppliers to date to raise contractors’ knowledge and understanding surrounding social value;

·                Tender documents had been reviewed to ensure that social value questions are tailored to the specific contract or framework in mind;

·                Four social value workshops in conjunction with Executive Members and the Procurement Team had taken place to raise awareness and aid staff’s understanding of social value;

·                There was now an understanding of the need to collaborate across frameworks with regards to developing and bringing together best practice around social value;

·                It was intended to hold Supplier Days to bring the supply chain together into a regular forum to discuss and emphasise the importance of social value across the supply chain;

·                It was planned to embed social value into governance processes and procedures as part of the implementation of the new PMO within the service

·                Highways would work collaboratively with the support of the Integrated Commissioning Team to upskill and inform contract and commissioning managers about the importance of monitoring social value and identify the correct method to report on this; and

·                The Service would continue to look into ways of developing social value KPIs for the service and now include the highest percentage for social value (currently 20%) in all future tenders

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were:-

 

·                The progress that had been made in embedding and delivering Social Value within the Service was very welcoming;

·                How were the monitoring and evaluation processes going to be developed;

·                Were there still some suppliers resistant to embracing Social Value;

·                Clarification was sought as to what the TC971 contract framework was;

·                Having undertaken the work to date, was it felt that this would result in improved relationships with suppliers in the future;

·                Was it possible to have details on the number of in-house apprentices that had been taken on;

·                Was there any information available on the delivery of Social  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Use of Social Value Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in contracts. pdf icon PDF 234 KB

Report of the City Treasurer

 

This report provides details on the key performance indicators for the delivery of Social Value and includes who decides what the KPIs should be for social value in any given contract, how was the Council ensuring consistency across the organisation and is there a central resource that co-ordinates this or do individual departments have responsibility.

 

Minutes:

The Group considered a report of the City Treasurer which provided information on the key performance indicators for the delivery of social value, which included who decided what the KPIs should be for social value in any given contract, how was the Council ensuring consistency across the organisation and whether there was there central resource that co-ordinated this.

 

The Head of Integrated Commissioning referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:-

 

·                Central to the Council’s approach was ensuring that social value and its monitoring was explicitly covered at all stages of procurement, including the commissioning and pre-tender stages, tender, contract implementation, and contract monitoring;

·                The Integrated Commissioning team had taken stock of the use of Social Value KPIs in new and existing (including old) contracts, with particular focus on identifying good practice;

·                It was commissioners / contract managers who proposed what the KPIs should be for social value in any given contract, and the relevant Strategic Director (or delegated authority) who approved it;

·                The Council promoted consistency through governance and guidance in the shape of toolkits, templates and sharing best practice;

·                Individual departments were responsible for ensuring that there were robust KPIs in contracts;

·                Where contracts predated the introduction of social value there was mixed picture of suitable KPIs being in place; and

·                Currently there was no benchmarking across the Council as there was no common position on what appropriate level of social value should be based on contract value as each contract was done on a case by case basis, tailored to circumstance.

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Group’s discussion were:-

 

·                Had there been any work to develop informal best practice sharing across directorates;

·                How did the Council monitor contractors to ensure that they were adhering to the social value requirements of the contract;

·                Did the Council monitor how many of “Our Children” achieved employment opportunities across all Council contracts;

·                How was the Council monitoring the underlying structural change that the Council was looking to achieve from the delivery of social value;

·                Had any consideration been given to linking social value in kind received from small value contracts into the Council’s Neighbourhood Investment Fund or Community and Voluntary Sector; and

·                Why were there no KPI’s for the Housing and Residential Growth contract relating to Grove Village.

 

 

The Head of Integrated Commissioning advised that work was being undertaken around developing the understanding and experience of deriving social value amongst teams and services. There were also proposals to set up a practitioner network to allow individuals to share information and collaborate on ideas.  The Executive Member for Finance and Human Resources added that best practice that was being shared across departments was also challenged by senior officers that sat on the SMT Social Value Group, as this provided a better understanding of what worked and also provided for learning opportunities for where improvements could be made.  It was also reported that Officers were looking at how suppliers who were looking for a social  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 234 KB

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

 

To consider a proposed work programme for the remainder of Sub Group meetings for 2018/19.  In doing so the Sub Group is asked to consider the request from Neighbourhoods and Environment Scrutiny Committee to review the Council’s contract with Biffa Waste Services.

Minutes:

The Subgroup were invited to consider and agree the work programme. The Chair proposed that the next meeting took place on Thursday 21 February 2019 at 10:00am

 

Decision

 

The Subgroup:-

 

(1)       agree the Work Programme, subject to any amendments agreed by the Chair following discussions with officers; and

(2)       agrees that the next meeting takes place on Thursday 21 February 2019 at 10:00am