Agenda item

To update the Committee on procurement activity across the Council in line with the aims of the Council’s Procurement Strategy.

The Senior Policy and Governance Officer introduced the report and explained that the procurement strategy was adopted in 2019 with 3 main aims which had been set out in the report. An update was also provided on the following:

·       A new Contract Management Framework had been formed which set out a standardised approach to managing contracts, included within were the roles and responsibilities of officers and reporting guidelines.

·       The Spend Analysis. Last year out of a £29million spend, £12million of that was spent with local suppliers (those with a GL postcode). There was a slight decrease from the previous year due to the Housing Repairs contracts being brought in-house.

·       Audit and Risk Assurance (ARA) colleagues had carried out a procurement consultancy review which concluded with 5 recommendations each of which were put into an action plan. Those recommendations included ensuring induction training was taking place, amending the way contracts were managed and published on the Council website and the creation of a register for contracts which had been let or extended under the Covid guidelines.

·       New regulations would be coming into effect, following Brexit the Government has agreed to review public contract regulations. Once the new regulations were in place an information sheet would be published to advise the Committee of the main changes.

In response to questions from Councillor Davies the Senior Policy and Governance Officer explained there was a thorough training programme for procurement 5 years ago which was very successful and they had recently asked all managers what they felt training requirements now were. Councillor Davies asked for the full list of recommendations raised by ARA. The Strategic Director of Resources pointed out that the report they were looking at was an action plan of what they were going to do to improve the recommendations which were included in the report to Audit and Standards Committee. The Strategic Director of Resources confirmed he would be happy to share the report that went to Audit and Standards Committee with Members.

Councillor Brine asked if spend within the local area was growing year on year and what the council would be doing to support local spending. The Senior Policy and Governance Officer noted that the local spend fell this year compared to the previous years due to the Housing Repairs being brought in-house. She stated that one of the aims for 2022 was to increase local spending and to do  this they needed to understand who the local supplies were. In response to a further question from Councillor Brine she stated that she hoped that the revised regulations, which were due imminently, would make the process simpler for local suppliers to apply for council contracts.

Councillor Braun raised a question regarding the monitoring dashboard and whether it would be available for members to review on a quarterly basis. The Senior Policy and Governance Officer confirmed that local spend information could be made available in briefing notes to Councillors.

Councillor Pearcy raised two points, the first regarded maximising the opportunities of positive engagement with the supply chain in particular with local suppliers. The second point he raised was regarding responsibilities, he felt that the organisations and legal office responsibilities had been omitted. The Senior Policy and Governance Officer agreed to take these points on board.

Councillor Brine Proposed and Councillor Braun Seconded.

The Chair thanked the Senior Policy and Governance Officer for the report and stated that it was great to see so many local suppliers and was interested to see how we could increase this further. Councillor Braun welcomed section 2.5 of the report, the aims and objectives and stated she looked forward to the new positive ways of working being embedded.

On being put to the vote, the motion was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED      To note the report.