Agenda and minutes

          The Minutes of the meeting held on 3^rd March 2011 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

(NB: Councillor Nelson declared a Personal Interest in the following item of business as he is a Council representative on Halton HousingTrust.)

          The Board considered a report by the Strategic Director Adults and Community which sought a suspension of relevant standing orders in order to extend existing Supporting People contracts to the dates outlined in the report.

          Members noted that due to the late notification of the financial settlement and the subsequent uncertainty about budget setting for individual service areas it was decided to minimise the risk to Halton Borough Council by not entering into tender processes for services which were due to expire on 31^st March 2011. It was requested Supporting People contracts be extended until the dates outlined subject to budget provision.

          An extension to existing contracts would enable the proposed efficiencies for 2011/2012 to be realised, and give the opportunity for further efficiencies to be identified and achieved in 2012/2013 as follows:

-                  following the remodelling of floating support services, it was proposed to tender for floating support services and homeless services in September 2011/2012 to be implemented in 2012/2013; and

-                  a strategic review of sheltered services would be undertaken in 2011/2012 with a view to re-tender those services in 2012/2013 with contracts to be awarded for 2013/14.

     RESOLVED: That

1.               in the exceptional circumstances set out below (namely to avoid long term funding commitment when external funding uncertain)  for the purpose of Procurement Standing Order 1.8.2, procurement standing orders 2.1 to 2.15 be waived on this occasion because compliance with these Standing Orders is not practicable for reasons of urgency which could not reasonably have been anticipated to permit the extension of the existing Supporting People contracts (listed at Appendix A) to the dates indicated, subject to variations with regard to contract price and contract capacity as agreed by the Operational Director (Prevention and Commissioning) at an estimated price of £3,797,200;

2.              subject to the expiry of full Supporting People contracts granted under a waiver due to the exceptional circumstances set out in section 3 and 4.1 of this report, Supporting People services will be procured through a competitive tendering process detailed in section 3.7 and 4.1 of this report; and

3.               the Strategic Director, Adults and Community, in conjunction with the Portfolio Holder for Health & Adults, be authorised to take such action as necessary to implement the above recommendation.

          The Sub-Committee received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which set out the proposed admission charges for the 2011/12 for the Council Libraries, The Kingsway Learning Centre, Leisure Centres, Parks and Playing Pitches, Halton Athletic Track, Community Centres, Bereavement Services, and The Brindley Arts Centre.

          It was noted that the charges levied against Bereavement Services had been reviewed and compared against adjacent Local Authorities to determine charges. The following changes were recommended:

a)    the lease period for burial plots is reduced from 99 years to 50;

b)    new charges are introduced for researching family history;

c)     the lease period on sanctum vaults is reduced from 99 years to give an option of ten or twenty years.

          RESOLVED: That

1.       the charges as proposed be approved; and

2.       the charges and lease periods levied for Bereavement Services be   approved.

The Board considered:

(1)      whether Members of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting of the Board during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be considered, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972; and

(2)      whether the disclosure of information was in the public interest, whether any relevant exemptions were applicable and whether, when applying the public interest test and exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information.

          RESOLVED: That as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business, exempt information will be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

          The Board considered a report by the Strategic Director Children and Young People which sought a suspension of relevant standing orders in order to enter into a contract with a value less than £100,000 without conducting a tender exercise or seeking three written quotations.

          A waiver to Standing Orders would allow the purchase of the software licence for the financial year 2011/12 and to allow time to conduct a full procurement exercise and if necessary transfer schools to a new Information Management System before April 2012.

          RESOLVED: That under Procurement SO 1.8.2 SOs 3.1 and 3.2 be waived in respect of the School Information Management System Licence (SIMs) with the intention to allow the licence to be procured from the existing supplier for financial year April 2011 to March 2012 in view of the exceptional circumstances namely that awarding the contract, on a market tested basis, would be likely to result in the contract starting after 1^st April 2011 which would mean that the schools would be without an Information Management System.

MINUTES ISSUED:  4^th March 2011

CALL IN:  11^th March 2011

Any matter decided by the Executive Board Sub Committee may be called in no later than 11^th March 2011