Agenda item

This report has five appendices which contain information exempt within the meaning of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and are not for publication. The appendices have therefore been circulated to Cabinet Members only.

Any discussions on the contents of an exempt appendix will require Cabinet to pass the proposed resolution identified at the end of the agenda to exclude members of the public and the press from the proceedings for that discussion.

Councillor Homan stated that this report was one of a series of reports presented to Cabinet over the course of 2019 that collectively formed the Councils’ overall programme to invest in and improve resident homes. The report had been discussed at The Economy, Housing and the Arts Policy and Accountability Committee with significant residents’ involvement.

Councillor Rory Vaughan reported that they had called an extraordinary Economy, Housing and the Arts Policy and Accountability Committee on 1 October to give an opportunity to residents to comment on it. He urged Cabinet to note the recommendations given by the Committee.

The Leader asked Cabinet to agree to add a further recommendation to the report to note the comments made by The Economy, Housing and the Arts Policy and Accountability Committee, which the Cabinet agreed unanimously.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1          Approves the Procurement Strategy and Business Case for the Council’s long-term housing repairs and maintenance requirements as set out in Appendices 1 and 2.  The Council will undertake a competitive procedure with negotiation (CPN).

2          Delegates authority to the Strategic Director for The Economy, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to award all contracts procured in accordance with the Procurement Strategy and Business Case at Appendices 1 and 2, where these are procured either:

·         Through a full competitive process or, in extremis;

·         From third party framework agreements either through direct call-off or after mini-competition in accordance with the terms of the framework

3          Approves the budget allocation of up to £827,000 from the Transformation Reserve set out in paragraph 4.13 for the provision of specialist services, to include but not limited to procurement and commercial, IT systems, legal, programme management and Quantity Surveyors throughout the programme.

4          Delegates authority to the Strategic Director for The Economy, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to award contracts for the provision of services within the budget agreed for the Transformation Reserve.

5          Approves a waiver, in relation to the decision to appoint support services as set out in paragraph 2.3 of the usual requirements of Contract Standing Orders for the Cabinet to approve a Procurement Strategy on the grounds this is in the Council’s overall interests.

6          Delegates authority to the Strategic Director for The Economy, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to amend or make changes to the proposed packaging of services in Exempt Appendix 2 for operational reasons, where such amendments can be contained within the overall approved budget envelope and available resources.

7          Approves the extension of the interim model and associated contracts until the end of July 2020. The associated contracts to be extended are set out in Exempt Appendix 4.

8          Approves an additional one-off appropriation from the Housing Revenue Account General Reserve of up to £1.025m to fund the three-month extension of the interim model.

9.         Notes the following comments to Cabinet agreed by The Economy, Housing and the Arts Policy and Accountability Committee on an extraordinary meeting held on 1 October to consider this item:

·         The Committee welcomed the Interim Service Model which had been introduced, which they felt was an improvement on the previous MITIE arrangements. However, the Committee acknowledged it was still early days and they noted that some tenants and residents who had attended the meeting had been nervous about how the longer-term model would work given that the interim arrangements had only been in place for a short time. However, there was evidence service improvements had been made.

·         The Committee agreed the Interim Service Model had enabled good resident involvement to date through working parties, which the Committee expected would continue.

·         The Committee were encouraged that data on first time repairs showed this was on target. The Committee confirmed that, going forward, it would want to monitor the quality of works, as well as overall resident satisfaction levels.

·         The Committee hoped the Authority would continue to work with residents to provide a strong oversight of the repairs and maintenance service through resident working groups and future Policy and Accountability Committee (PAC) meetings.