Issue - meetings

14.1     The Chief Operating Officer introduced the report which provides an update on the implementation of the recommendations from the scrutiny review. The report includes details of any ongoing actions and a recommendation to extend the trial of the more qualitative approach to social value. The Head of Policy & Improvement, Orbis Procurement outlined that legislative changes contained in the Procurement Act have a higher focus on social value and improving innovation in the supply chain. Having an approach to social value more in line with the central Government’s model will be helpful.

14.2     Councillor Collier, who chaired the review board, thanked officers for the update report and the ongoing work that is taking place on social value. He commented that he was happy with how the recommendations were being implemented and supported the extension of the trial.

14.3     The Committee commented they were pleased with the success of the first stage of the trial and were happy to extend it. The committee noted that the Council now has a policy on carbon off-setting and asked how that is applied to the social value of contracts. The Head of Policy & Improvement, Orbis Procurement responded that social value in contracts is considered in conjunction with the Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy and in many contracts the off-setting policy will be applicable.

14.4     The Committee RESOLVED to:

1) To note the updates to the implementation of the recommendations and action plan set out in Appendix 1 of the report; and

2) Agree the recommendation to extend the trial of the Social Value Model as set out in Appendix 2 of the report.

Report by the Chief Operating Officer.

31.1     The Chief Operating Officer introduced the report followed by further comments from the Head of Policy & Improvement, Orbis Procurement. The report provides a progress update on the implementation of the recommendations from the scrutiny review as detailed in appendix 1 of the report. Good progress has been made against the recommendations although there has been some capacity and resource constraints in implementing the recommendations. The Head of Policy & Improvement commented that the Social Value trial was going really well and is pleased with the way in which the trial of the new model using a more qualitative approach to Social Value is progressing.

31.2     The Chief Operating Officer also outlined that there are some upcoming changes as the Procurement Act has received Royal Assent, although some of the provisions have not come into force yet, which may provide more flexibility in regard to Social Value. There is a change in the procurement process from looking at the ‘most economically advantageous’ tender to the ‘most advantageous’ tender which provides more flexibility in evaluating tenders and putting more emphasis on Social Value.

31.3     The Committee discussed the update report and the comments and questions raised by the Committee are summarised below.

31.4     The Chair of the Review Board commented that it was a very positive to see how the Team is moving forward in implementing the recommendations, and it will be interesting to see how the Council moves from the trial of a new approach to Social Value, through to broadening it out into other areas across the Council.

Recording of Social Value commitments

31.5     The Committee asked about the figure for recording Social Value commitments under recommendation 2 as 8.3% of projects in scope appeared to be quite low. It was clarified that this is a very new system (PM3) which only went live in October 2022 which explains the low starting point as it is only recording Social Value commitments at the point of new contract awards. The Head of Policy & Improvement added that the capacity constraints mean that it will be necessary to see what can be achieved with the existing system (PM3) before looking at what can be done through the Contract Management Advisory Service (CMAS) in East Sussex County Council (ESCC). The PM3 system can be used now for reporting a number of outputs from procurement and it will be possible to see how CMAS can report on contract delivery.

31.6     The Committee asked if it would be possible to provide an update on how the Council is doing in securing Social Value and receiving Social Value commitments. The Chief Operating Officer responded that it will be possible to ensure the delivery on commitments is reported back to the Committee.

Carbon emissions reporting

31.7     The Committee noted that under recommendation 8c, there is a trial of a reporting platform for carbon emissions from contracts (scope 3). The Committee asked if it would be possible to have a demonstration of the system. The Head of Policy & Improvement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31

Report by Assistant Chief Executive.

49.1     The Cabinet considered a report by the Assistant Chief Executive and a report by the Chief Operating Officer with observations on the Scrutiny Committee’s report.

49.2       It was RESOLVED to:

1)    Note and welcome the report of the Place Scrutiny Committee; and

2)    Recommend the County Council to welcome the report and to agree the response of the Chief Operating Officer to the recommendations and their implementation as set out in the action plan attached as appendix 1 to the Chief Operating Officer’s report.

Reason

49.3     The Scrutiny review has been welcomed as it provided an opportunity to review the procurement of social value and buying local. 

Report by the Chair of the Review Board.

29.1     The Chair of the Review Board, Councillor Chris Collier introduced the report of the Review Board on the Scrutiny Review of Procurement: Social Value and Buying Local. He thanked the other Board members who were Councillors Julia Hilton and Paul Redstone, and the officers and other witnesses who took part in the review. Councillor Julia Hilton and Councillor Paul Redstone also commented on the report.

29.2     The Chief Operating Officer outlined that the report was very well received by the Procurement Team and the department is happy to take forward the findings and recommendations from the review. The Head of Policy & Improvement, Orbis Procurement also welcomed the review and outlined that the Team is happy with the recommendations of the review and will be taking them forward. Councillor Bennett, Lead Member for Resources and Climate Change thanked everyone for the report and the work that they had done.

29.3     There were no questions on the report from the Committee.

29.4     The Committee RESOLVED to endorse the report of the Review Board, and make recommendations to Cabinet for comment, and County Council for approval.