Agenda item

3.00 p.m.

Report by Director of Law & Governance.

The purpose of this report is to update the Committee on the progress of the Procurement Hub since the recent transformation activities.  It seeks to confirm to the Committee that any outstanding actions which have been identified as requiring change or improvement since then, have happened, and provides more information on the structural changes which have happened in the procurement function since this point.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)          note the update and improvements made to the Procurement Hub in the last year since the restructure, and

(b)          endorse and confirm completion of the Action Plan as detailed in Annex 1.

The Committee considered a report of the Director for Law & Governance updating the Committee on the progress of the Procurement Hub since the recent transformation activities.

It was recommended that the Committee –

(a)  Note the update and improvements made to the Procurement Hub in the last year since the restructure; and

(b)  Endorse and confirm completion of the Action Plan as detailed in Annex 1. Team

Anita Bradley, Director for Law & Governance, and Melissa Sage, Head of Procurement Contract Management, presented the report.

In the subsequent discussion, the following points were raised.

(a)  The Chair referred to the following matters –

·       That she would like to see a copy of the Procurement Handbook (“the Handbook”), referred to in Paragraphs 7 & 8 of the report;

·       That the Handbook be referred to the Audit Working Group to review the recommendations of PWC when asked to design the Handbook and what had been omitted from the present version of the Handbook;

·       Publication of the Government’s procurement proposals [in response to Brexit].

Ms Sage stated that a government Green Paper[1] had been published last year on public procurement and that the consultation on the proposals set out in the Green Paper had now concluded, but that there would be no further developments before April 2023.

(b)  The Handbook was a live document that would evolve and be updated as necessary.

(c)   Governance, Delegations & Decision-Making, Including Key Decisions (Governance Review): involving sums of £1 million or more (Page 82) would be taken in consultation with Members.

Decisions regarding the delegation of authority to officers were included in the Constitutional Review which would be submitted to Council. The Chair asked that Members refer any comments they might have on this subject to the Constitutional Review Working Party.

(d)  Regarding challenges to the procurement process (Page 74, Paragraph 10), Ms Sage confirmed that, other than some letters of enquiry about processes and procedures, there had been no challenges.

(e)  Annex 1 Management Action Plan (Page 83), Row 5 “Briefing of Portfolio Holders (interface with Members): regarding the reference to “Portfolio Holder/Director briefing protocol to be agreed”, under the heading “Activity”, Ms Bradley stated that this was not a written protocol but rather a reflection of the provisions and expectations set out in the Council’s Constitution.

(f)    Ms Sage noted that the Procurement Handbook was an operational manual for Procurement officers and did not detail schemes of delegation which were set out elsewhere.

(g)  A report on the Social Value Policy (Paragraph 13) would be submitted to Cabinet in February and a report on the Council’s Procurement policy would be submitted to Council in the next few months. Accordingly, the Procurement Handbook and the Social Value Policy would be incorporated into that report.

Once a First Draft of the Procurement Policy report had been prepared, Members would be invited to comment on the draft report. Regarding the Social Value Policy, the relevant Portfolio Holder had been consulted on the content of this policy.

(h)  Regarding the use of the word “accountable” in relation to officers (Page 81), Ms Bradley stated that this referred to accountability of officers to Members, and to their Service Directorate, and not to a financial liability on the part of officers.

RESOLVED: to –

(a)  Note the update and improvements made to the Procurement Hub in the last year since the restructure; and

(b)  Endorse and confirm completion of the Action Plan as detailed in Annex 1.