Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 29^th January 2009 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Operational Director – Financial Services, which gave details of the Council’s overall Revenue and Capital spending position as at 31^st December 2008.

 

Members were advised of the spending against the revenue budget for each Department, up to the 31^st December 2008 and it was noted that, in overall terms, revenue expenditure was below the budget profile. Areas of concern were outlined in detail within the report.

 

Members were advised of capital spending to the 30^th December 2008, which totalled £25.3m, and which was 70% of the planned spending of £36.1m at this stage. However, this represented only 52% of the total capital programme of £48.3m, although the Department for Transport had approved the carry forward of £1.6m in respect of the Local Transport Plan expenditure.

 

It was noted that although, historically, capital expenditure was significantly higher in the latter part of the financial year, it was important that project managers maintained pressure to keep projects and spending on schedule and in particular to ensure that all external funding was maximised.

 

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community, which sought authority to increase and extend the contracts of ARCH Initiatives and Addaction until 31^st March 2010. 

 

It was noted in May 2008, the Strategic Director, Health and Community was authorised to proceed with the open tendering and procurement of a community based Drug Service. The planned start date for this service was April 2009. As a consequence current service providers were issued with notices of termination of contracts. The notice was to expire on 31^st March 2009.

 

It was further noted that following discussions in November 2008 with the Chief Executive, Strategic Director Health and Community, Deputy Director of Public Health and Operational Director for Partnership Commissioning (Halton and St. Helens Primary Care Trust (PCT)) the decision was taken to halt this tender process.

 

During this process, Halton and St. Helens PCT indicated that significant additional resources would be made available for the provision of alcohol treatment from April 2009. In the interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, the Council and the PCT were now discussing how the alcohol and drugs resources could be combined with a view to tendering for a combined substance misuse service, commencing April 2010. Therefore to prevent any gaps in service it was necessary to withdraw termination notices and extend contracts for a further year with both ARCH Initiatives and Addaction.

 

Members were advised that ARCH Initiatives currently provided the screening and assessment functions for the single point of access at Ashley House. They also provided time-limited support to individuals that used stimulant drugs. The contract value to provide these services in 2009/10 would be £144,000. However, it was the intention of the Drug Action Team to invest a further £80,000 to also provide an improved service for Carers and increase referrals from local hospitals. The total contract value for 2009/10 would therefore be £224,000.

 

Members were further advised that Addaction currently provided the Outreach Service and Drug Intervention Programme targeted at drug using offenders. The contract for 2009/10 would be £304,000. However, in order to provide additional capacity to support the Prolific Offender team and establish an increased presence at the police custody suite at Manor Park, the Drug Action Team intended to invest a further £36,000. Therefore the total contract value for 2009/10 would be £340,000.

 

RESOLVED: That for the purposes of Standing Order 1.6b, authority be delegated to the Operational Director, Culture and Leisure Services in consultation with the Executive Board Member for Health and Social Care to extend the contracts of ARCH initiatives and Addaction until 31^st March 2010 without competitive tendering and at the additional cost of £80,000 and £36,000 respectively.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Strategic Director – Health and Community which requested the waiving of Procurement Standing Orders 3.1 – 3.7 which placed a requirement on the Council to tender for contracts set up with external providers of services.

 

Members were advised that long-term demographic changes meant that the current systems of delivering social care needed to be fundamentally changed and modernised if they were to respond to pressures of increased expectations and substantial culture change. Any changes would have to recognise the need to explore options for the long-term funding of the care and support system.

 

It was noted that the Government’s approach to personalisation could be summarised as “the way in which services were tailored to the needs and preferences of citizens. The overall vision that the state should empower citizens to shape their own lives and the services they received.”

 

It was further noted that the Government was clear that everybody received social care support in any setting, regardless of their level of need, would have choice and control over how this support was delivered. The intention was that people would be able to live their own lives, as they wished, confident that services were of high quality, were safe and promoted their own individual requirements for independence, well-being and dignity.

 

Members were advised that at the core of self-directed services was a change in process that intended to give those people involved new initiatives and power to shape services and get better value for money and, as such, there were many associated workforce issues that would need to be addressed via an appropriate Workforce and Training Programme.

 

Members were further advised that the proposed provider, Helen Sanderson Associates were market experts in providing training, workforce development and associated support, advice and guidance on Personalisation and Person Centred Planning and, as such, had worked with a number of local authorities, as outlined in the report. The Operational Director for Health and Partnerships was satisfied that the cost of £129,100, for 116 training days to a wide variety of employees, Service users, Carters and Contracted Providers, was a fair price was value for money.

 

A number of further options had been investigated, however these had been rejected due to a lack of expertise, skills and knowledge of the staff identified.

 

The Workforce and Training Programme was designed to create a truly personalised care system and would deliver those outcomes identified in Halton Borough Council’s Self-Directed Support Project Plan.

 

RESVOLED: That Procurement Standing Orders 3.1 – 3.7 be waived in accordance with Standing Order 1.6 and the Operational Director Health and Partnerships be authorised to award the contract for the Personalisation Workforce Development and Training Programme to Helen Sanderson Associates Limited, for the sum of £129,100 in light of the exceptional circumstances outlined within the report, due to there being only one possible contractor.

The Sub-Committee were presented with a report which proposed increases in fees and charges for Health and Community Care services.

 

Members’ attention was drawn to Appendix 1 which showed the current charges for social care services and the proposed charges for 2009/10. The recommended increased fees and charges for social care services listed for 2009/10 had been inflated by 3%.

 

Members were advised that fees and charges for Health and Community Care would be increased with effect from 6^th April 2009 to coincide with the annual increase in Welfare Benefit rates.

 

It was noted that current 08/09 Direct Payment rates were detailed within the report. It was proposed that these remained unchanged pending the outcome of consultation with key stakeholders about how resources should be calculated and allocated to Individual Budget holders. The results of the consultation and proposed outcomes would be reported to the Executive Board Sub-Committee for approval.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the proposed changes in fees and charges outlined in Appendix 1, be approved with effect from 6^th April 2009 which was the date on which Welfare Benefits were increased; and

 

(2)       that Direct Payment rates remain unchanged until the outcome of the impending consultation with key stakeholders on the new resource allocation system for Direct Payments/Individual Budgets was completed. Any new resource allocated proposals would be submitted to the Executive Board Sub-Committee for approval.

The Sub-Committee was presented with a report which detailed the acceptance of an extension of the current un-metered electricity supply contract for street lighting with Scottish and Southern Electricity, by the Operational Director – Highways, Transportation and Logistics.

 

The report also sought approval to the waiving of standing orders and to inform Members that the anticipated expenditure was likely to be over £1m per annum.

 

Members were advised that since October 2001 un-metered electricity had been procured through UPG (Utilities Procurement Group), with the first contract beginning in April 2002. Initially, the contract was awarded to Eon and then in April 2007 it was awarded to Scottish and Southern Electricity for a period of two years.

 

The current contracts which included an Option to Extend (OTE) expired in April 2009. UPG had been monitoring the situation and recommended that we take up the Option to Extend rather than re-tender due to the market being volatile.

 

Members were advised that the current contract had a rate of 8.090p per kwh and the annual cost was about £900,000. The revised contract rates were 9.160p/kwh, which equated to an annual cost of about £1,150,000 and the unit rate was fixed for two years. If any electrical equipment was installed or removed, then the total amount payable will be adjusted accordingly.

 

It was noted that the total amount payable was determined from an itemised listing of our equipment which was submitted to Scottish Power, who in turn issued a Certificate of Estimated Annual Consumption. This certificate was updated every month therefore any equipment removed or added was included within a relatively short period of time.

 

Members were advised that the Street Lighting Energy contract needed to be accepted within a very short timescale, sometimes within a day as happened on this occasion, due to the rapid changes in the prices charged for electricity, which could result in an offer being withdrawn at short notice. Hence the need to waive standing orders to enable the offer to be accepted.

 

It was noted that this was done after consultation with the Council’s Finance and Internal Audit Sections who supported our acceptance of the contract. The process had recently been reviewed by Internal Audit, who were satisfied that the system represented good value for money for the Council.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the extension to the existing supply contract for un-metered electricity be endorsed;

 

(2)             procurement Standing Orders 2.2 to 2.11 be waived for the purpose of un-metered electricity; and

 

(3)       it be recorded that the expenditure was anticipated to be in excess of £1m per annum.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Strategic Director – Environment, which reported the circumstances of the award of the HBC Bridge Maintenance Partnership Contract to Wrekin Construction Company Limited.

 

Members were advised that on the 4^th December 2008 the Strategic Director, Environment, in consultation with the Executive Board Member for Planning, Transportation Regeneration and Renewal, was given delegated authority to accept the most advantageous tender for the HBC Bridge Maintenance Partnership Contract.

 

The Sub-Committee was advised that six tenders had been received and had been evaluated based upon quality and price. The overall quality score contributed to a maximum of 60% of the points available and the overall price score contributed to a maximum 40% of the points available.

 

Following a rigorous evaluation and scoring process, the bids were ranked as follows:

 

1.            Wrekin Construction Company Limited

2.         Balvac Limited

3.         A. E. Yates Limited

4.         Nuttall BAM Limited

5.         AMCO Limited

6.            Interserve Project Services Limited

 

Members were advised that as a result, following Strategic Director and Board Member approval, Wrekin Construction had been awarded the HBC Bridge Maintenance Partnership Contract.

 

Following initial meetings to establish the structure of the partnership and its processes and procedures, Wrekin had also commenced formalisation of their supply chain.

 

Members were advised that it was anticipated that major maintenance work on the Silver Jubilee Bridge, in particular, would be underway before the end of the financial year.

 

RESOLVED: That the circumstances of the award of the HBC Bridge Maintenance Partnership contract be noted.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Strategic Director, Environment, which set out the proposed fees and charges to be applied by the Promotions and Tourism service for the financial year 2009/2010.

 

Members were advised that the fees and charges applied to the activities of the Promotions and Tourism service. This covered the charges for the exhibition unit, small marquees and items such as small public address systems and road cones.

 

The proposal was to increase the current fees and charges by 3% in 2009/10, which was consistent with guidance received from financial services. The proposed fees and charges were set out in Appendix 1 to the report. Members were advised that these were based on the same fees structures as 2008/09 which had previously been approved by the Sub-Committee.

 

It was noted that to ensure that fees and charges offered a degree of flexibility, to enable discounted and special offers to be made for bulk purchasing etc. it was proposed that the Promotions and Tourism Manager agreed any such offers in advance with the Operational Director for Regeneration and that a record be maintained for audit purposes.

 

RESOLVED: That the proposed fees and charges for 2009/10, as set out in Appendix 1 to the minutes be approved.

The Sub-committee received a report of the Strategic Director – Environment which set out the way in which a list was derived for the supply of Kiosks of the provision of tourist and other travel information at main transport interchanges within the Borough.

 

The Sub-committee was advised that the report had been brought under Section 3.2 of the Procurement Standing Orders; less than three quotations for goods or services should be reported through the Executive Board Sub-Committee for approval.

 

Members were advised that a proposal was approved in the 2008/09 Capital Programme to spend up to £50,000 for the provision of tourism kiosks at main transport interchanges. This figure was based upon the known facts at the time regarding costs and installation charges.

 

It was noted that the current provision of electronic tourism information was via a system provided through The Mersey Partnership. MERVIN (MERseyside Visitor Information Network) provided the information for web sites and database driven kiosks across the Merseyside region. To enable the kiosks in Halton to benefit from the information already captured within MERVIN the provider of the system was approached to identify companies already using the database as a direct source of information.

 

From the information provided, only two companies were able to supply kiosk solutions. These companies were asked to attend meetings to discuss the requirements of the Halton provision and invited to submit quotations. The results of the quotations supplied were outlined in Appendix 1 to the report.

 

Members were advised that it was proposed to use Contractor A to provide, install and maintain kiosks in this particular instance. The reasons for this was one of cost per kiosk, information provided within the kiosk for users and the maintenance prospectus provided by the company concerned.

 

In addition, it was noted that this company had a track record in the use of the MERVIN system for information provision. They also had in place licences for use of other information which would be provided on the kiosks at no further cost to Halton Borough Council. This included Journeyplanner, BBC Newsfeed, Local Area Maps in addition to features such as free e-postcards or video to e-mail services.

 

Members were advised that the proposed location of the kiosks was originally Runcorn Mainline Railway Station with the possible provision dependent upon costs in Widnes Railway Station. The agreement of Virgin Trains had been secured in the provision in Runcorn. However, Northern Rail, the operations of Widnes Railway Station, had suggested that due to passenger traffic, staff availability and opening times that Hough Green Station would be a better proposal.

 

RESOLVED: That the Operational Director – Economic Regeneration be authorised to award the contract for the supply, maintenance and installation to contractor A in the sum of less than £50,000 and that in light of the exceptional circumstances, namely the need to utilise data already contained in The Mersey Partnership Mervin Database and in accordance with Procurement Standing Order 1.6, Standing Orders 3.1 to 3.7 and 3.10 be waived on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

MINUTES ISSUED: 24 February 2009

CALL IN: 3 March 2009

Any matter decided by the Executive Board may be called in no later than 3^rd March 2009.