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At its meeting on 7 July 2020 the Executive received a report of the Director of Finance (Executive Document “BT”) which provided Members with an overview of the forecast financial position of the Council for 2020-21. It examined the latest spend against revenue and capital budgets and forecasted the financial position at the year end. It stated the Council’s current balances and reserves and forecasted school balances for the year.
Executive resolved - |
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(1) That the contents of Document “BT” and the actions taken to manage the forecast overspend be noted.
(2) That the new initiatives required to respond to Covid-19 as outlined in paragraphs 4.13 to 4.32 of Document “BT” be approved. Funding for the schemes of up to £5.978m to derive from Council reserves unless additional Government support or partner support is received, with a further £1m to derive from Public Health grant.
(3) That the following capital expenditure schemes be approved. · £0.9m for the purchase of two Children’s Residential Homes. They will be funded by a mixture of corporate borrowing and capital receipts. · £3m for IT Core Infrastructure projects of connectivity and network infrastructure, server investment and mobile enhancements. The scheme to be funded by using £3m of the previously agreed £3.7m budget in February 2020 from the previously approved Reserve schemes for IT Capital Projects. · £5.5m for the development of an Advance Fuel Centre and the replacement of vehicles with compressed gas variants. To be funded by fuel cost savings and additional income from sales. · Create a £2m reserve as a contingency against future overspends within the Capital Investment Plan. That it be noted the following have been approved under Section 1.7 of the Financial Regulations:
(4) That the continuation of the contract with Impower be approved as outlined in paragraph 12.15 and Appendix 3 to Document “BT”, to support the delivery of transformation, using the £1m investment which was approved as part of the 2020-21 Council budget. The objective being to continue to; · Improve outcomes in the services where significant changes to service delivery are being undertaken · Provide a Return on Investment on the work undertaken and a sustained improvement in performance and value for money · Increase the skills within the Council so that more capacity exists to re-modelling services in the future.
· That the continuation of the contract with Impower be approved to support the delivery of key transformation programmes within a reset Council Transformation Plan.
· That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director of Corporate Resources to enter into a contractual arrangement with Impower.
· That the Strategic Director Corporate Resources presents a revised Council Transformation Programme to a future Executive meeting.
ACTION: All Strategic Directors
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In accordance with Paragraph 8.6 (Part 3E, Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules) of the Council Constitution, the decision of the Executive in relation to resolution 4 above (see bold) has been called in by Councillor David Green
The reasons for Cllr David Green requesting the call-in are:
“ The reason for the request is that this is a commitment to a significant expenditure on a consultancy but there is no indication of what this consultancy has achieved thus far nor what the proposed work will be in the future. There is no indication of the savings to be realised by the saving and therefore no indication of whether this is a good use of the councils finances.
Part of our role as a committee is to look in detail at financial proposals and in this case I believe that we have a duty to look closely at this proposal to continue the consultancy to be able to reassure ourselves that there is value for our investment and to receive details of how the proposed savings will be realised against the investment and what external advice and support will be provided. We will need to see details of the savings against expenditure already realised under the contract”.
The Quarter 1 Finance Position statement which is the subject of the Call-In is already earmarked for consideration at this meeting (Please refer to Document “E” of the Agenda pack), however the Call-in will be considered as a stand alone item.
In accordance with Paragraph 8.6.9 of Part 3E of the Constitution Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee can, following consideration of the matter, resolve to:
(1) Release the decision for implementation.
(2) Refer all or part of the decision back to the Executive to reconsider it in the light of any representations the Committee may make. The decision may not be implemented until the Executive has met to reconsider its earlier decision.
(3) Refer the decision to full Council for consideration, in which case the decision may not be implemented until the Council has met to consider the matter.
If the Committee makes no resolution, in accordance with paragraph 8.6.9 of the Constitution, the decision may be implemented.
(Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee)
(Andrew Cross – 01274 436823)
Minutes:
This call-in concerned the decisions in relation to the contract with Impower, as contained in the Quarter 1 Finance Position statement.
The reason for the request of the call-in was that this is a commitment to a significant expenditure on a consultancy, but that there is no indication of what this consultancy has achieved so far, what the proposed work will be in the future. There was also no indication of the savings to be realised by the consultancy and therefore no indication of whether this is a good use of the councils finances.
The decision of the Executive was that the continuation of the contract with Impower be approved and to support the delivery of transformation, using the £1m investment which was approved as part of the 2020-21 Council budget.
Members questioned as to when the contract was originally let, whether the focus was on Health and Well Being, or more wider.
In response, officers indicated that in 2018, the focus of the contract was primarily on Health and Well Being. However the contract was later extended to other areas such as supporting the Council to identify future transformation projects.
Members questioned what the added value was of the Impower contract, how much longer Impower would be required for and whether Bradford Council could have not achieved these outcomes without the consultancy. As well as this, members were keen to understand how long the Council would be requiring the use of this consultancy.
Officers replied that with savings rounds, Impower provided challenge and critical oversight over the spend within teams and that Impower brought with the confidence and experience of working with other authorities and organisations.
Members of the Committee questioned that as the contract was published in February 2020, why five months later were the milestones being agreed and what had been proposed.
In response, officers highlighted that there had been a number of contract extensions in February 2020 and at various stages key performance targets had been put in pace, to ensure that the contract was delivering. The contract is a three month rolling contract.
Members also expressed their concerns, in relation to the lack of milestones relating to the contract and not knowing what the milestones actually are, along with having a clear understanding on what the money was being spent on.
Furthermore, members indicated that with the various contract extensions, the value of this contract had gone above £2m, therefore this should have been considered by the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee much earlier than this.
Officers responded that they were trying to be transparent through this process, savings needed to be made across key Council service areas and officers would have been on track had it not have been for the COVID19 pandemic.
In addition, Officers stated that this was not an extension to the existing contract, but a new contract and that the Council is able to re-structure a contract to deliver the outcomes it wants. There was not a procurement exercise as such, which was why there was no report presented to the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Members were unanimous in agreeing that they wanted to consider further the key outcomes from the work undertaken through the Impower Contract.
Resolved –
(1) The Committee releases the decision for implementation.
(2) This Committee requests that a further report be presented to in three months which specifically focuses on the key outcomes delivered from the Impower Contract.
(3) This Committee requests that the Children’s Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee considers aspects of the Impower Contract that relate specifically to Children’s Services.
(4) This Committee requests that the Health & Social Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee considers aspects of the Impower Contract that relate specifically to Health and Well Being.
ACTION: Director of Finance
