Agenda item

Enclosure:

The Committee noted the report submitted by the Head of Procurement Lincolnshire which gave a brief update on the recommendations made by the Committee in its scrutiny review of the service. A Procurement Advisor from Procurement Lincolnshire attended the meeting to answer any questions. Issues arising from the recommendations made by the Committee would be considered at a meeting of the Procurement Advisory Board in November 2013.

Members were informed that a Procurement Lincolnshire working group had made recommendations (based on the Committee’s review) on revisions to the way in which savings were calculated. It was proposed that three different savings would be recorded: those achieved using the Chartered Institution of Purchasing Supply definition, savings related to process and cost avoidance, and non-monetary benefits (including apprenticeships and opportunities for the long-term unemployed). When calculating savings a confidence rating would be applied to each contract. This would form part of the methodology for calculating the baseline against which savings would be measured. Baselines and savings were signed-off on behalf of the Council by the Head of Finance.

Members were informed that targets going forward would be more challenging; the new target-setting arrangements were applied for calculating 2013/14 savings.

The Committee was advised that district council officers’ engagement and participation had improved since the scrutiny review was issued.

The recommendations made by the Committee in relation to Procurement Lincolnshire’s Governance arrangements would also be considered at the Procurement Advisory Board in November 2013.

Members discussed the update and recognised that Procurement Lincolnshire had accepted its recommendation in relation to target-setting. Councillors also referred to the time the Committee had had to wait for a response and that consideration of final recommendations would not be completed until November, which was two years after the review started.

Brief comments were made relating to the savings methodology. While members did not challenge Procurement Lincolnshire’s achievements, they felt strongly that altering the savings methodology from a cumulative model would help Procurement Lincolnshire accurately demonstrate their success. Reporting the information in a different way would remove any potential for giving a misleading impression of savings achieved by the service.

Members noted that baselines were calculated for each contract and were interested in receiving further information on the methodology.

Further concerns were expressed about Procurement Lincolnshire’s governance arrangements. The consensus of the committee was that the board which included elected members (Strategic Procurement Board) should have responsibility for signing-off decisions made by the officer-only Procurement Advisory Board. They particularly felt that the recommendations put forward by the Committee should have been considered by the group that contained elected members. There was also some criticism that the decisions on how savings would be calculated would be considered by the officer-only board without consultation with the Strategic Procurement Board. The Committee acknowledged the professionalism and specialist knowledge held by officers but felt that they were making decisions which would be more appropriately made by Councillors.

Committee members were informed that at meetings of the Strategic Procurement Board district council interests were represented by Councillor Rick Metcalfe from City of Lincoln Council. Councillors were aware that members should not make individual representations to Councillor Metcalf. Any representation from the Committee would be fed through the chairman of the Scrutiny Committee to the Procurement Lincolnshire Boards.

The chairman thanked the officer from Procurement Lincolnshire for attending the meeting. Members of the Committee looked forward to receiving a full response to their recommendations and hoped that their work would prove instrumental in influencing the positive development of Procurement Lincolnshire.