Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources, Councillor Simon Hall

Officer: Executive Director Resources, Jacqueline Harris Baker

Key decision: no

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To approve the award of contract variation for Managed Service for Temporary Agency Resources contract in accordance with the recommendations set out in the report at agenda item 10a, as set out in section 4.1.1 of the report.

RESOLVED: To note

1.    The contracts between £500,000 and £5,000,000 anticipated to be awarded by the nominated Cabinet Member, in consultation with the nominated Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources or, where the nominated Cabinet Member is the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, in consultation with the Leader, as set out in section 4.2.1 of the report.

2.    The list of delegated award decisions made by the Director of Commissioning and Procurement, between 18/08/2020 – 24/09/2020, as set out in section 4.2.2 of the report.

The Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources informed Cabinet that pre-procurement for the Temporary Agency Staff contract had been due to start, however the pandemic had delayed this. By extending the contract, officers would have the opportunity to properly re-procure this contract and get best value for money. It was noted that this course of action was not the decision the Cabinet Member wanted to present to Cabinet, however it was recognised that it was essential that the council had access to temporary agency staff. The Cabinet Member further drew Members attention to paragraph 3.4 of the report which stated that the trajectory for the usage of agency staffing was going down.

The trajectory of spend on the contract was highlighted by the Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources, as it was stated that when the contract was originally let it was for £80million over four years, however this figure had been exceeded with expenditure peeking at £44million a year. It was noted that at a time when the council was having to make redundancies and cuts that spending £25million per year on agency staff would send a negative message to permanent staff.

In response the Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources stated that agency staff were often specialists and were temporary, however there were numerous reasons for the use of temporary staff. It was stated by the Cabinet Member that it was important that the council continued on the trajectory of utilising temporary staff less to support the development of a stable workforce. By extending the contract it would enable the council to undertake the necessary work to ensure a stable workforce going forward.

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Homes & Gateway Services stated that she had concerns that the council was in breach of public contract regulations. Queries were raised as to how contract end dates had been missed as it would have been necessary to assess service needs, best value for money and consult with service users ahead of the end date of a contract to ensure an appropriate new contract was in place in time. Furthermore concerns were raised in relation to the council’s oversight of the finances of the authority given the number of extensions being recommended.

In response, the Cabinet Member stated that public administration had always been challenging for all bodies, however the council was experiencing particularly difficulties with the impact of COVID-19 and the financial situation of the council. It had been recognised that there had been insufficient oversight but that work was under way to fix those issues to ensure contracts were properly procured to get best value for money. The Cabinet Member assured Members that officers did seek to achieve best value for money when procuring contracts.

The concerns of residents in relation to Purley pool were raised by the Shadow Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure & Sport and the Cabinet Member was asked to ensure that the necessary funds were allocated to support the investment in the pool. In response the Cabinet Member stated that it was important that the council balanced all of its resources. Statutory services must be delivered and then all other services would be reviewed. It was necessary for tough decisions to be made to ensure there was a sustainable plan going forward.

The Statutory Deputy Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To approve the award of contract variation for Managed Service for Temporary Agency Resources contract in accordance with the recommendations set out in the report at agenda item 10a, as set out in section 4.1.1 of the report.

RESOLVED: To note

1.     The contracts between £500,000 and £5,000,000 anticipated to be awarded by the nominated Cabinet Member, in consultation with the nominated Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources or, where the nominated Cabinet Member is the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, in consultation with the Leader, as set out in section 4.2.1 of the report.

2.     The list of delegated award decisions made by the Director of Commissioning and Procurement, between 18/08/2020 – 24/09/2020, as set out in section 4.2.2 of the report.