Agenda for Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, 1st May, 2019, 6.30 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield, EN1 3XA. View directions

Contact: Stacey Gilmour 

Items
No. Item

1113.

WELCOME & APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Councillor Levy welcomed all attendees to the meeting. 

It was noted that Councillor James Hockney was substituting for Councillor Lee David-Sanders for item 3 – ‘Call in of Decision: Enfield Norse Ltd – Provision of Cleaning Services.

 

Councillor Levy reminded everyone that discussion on the call-in to be looked at this evening, should be about the specific reasons for call-in given in the papers and responses to them.  The reasons given should be evidence based and not opinions or statements. Discussion needs to specify what is being asked to go back to the decision taker for reconsideration.

1114.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members of the Council are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to the items on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

1115.

CALL IN: ENFIELD NORSE LTD- PROVISION OF CLEANING SERVICES pdf icon PDF 142 KB

To receive and consider a report from the Director of Law and Governance outlining details of a call-in received on the OperationalDecision taken on Enfield Norse Ltd- Provision of Cleaning Services (Report No. 223).

 

The decision that has been called in was an OperationalDecision taken on 1 April 2019 and included on the Publication of Decision List No: 61/18-19 (List Ref: 1/61/18-19) issued on 2 April 2019.

 

It is proposed that consideration of the call-in be structured as follows:

· Brief outline of the reasons for the call-in by representative (s) of the members who   have called in the decision

· Response to the reasons provided for the Call-in by a Cabinet Member responsible for taking the decision

· Debate by Overview and Scrutiny Committee and agreement of action to be taken

 

Please also see the Part 2 agenda

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report from the Director of Law and Governance outlining details of a call-in received on the Operational decision taken on Enfield Norse Ltd – Provision of Cleaning Services (taken on 01/04/19).

 

NOTED that this report was considered in conjunction with the information in the part 2 agenda.

 

All discussion on this item took place in the part 2 section of the meeting.

1116.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD 3 APRIL 2019 pdf icon PDF 173 KB

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2019.

Minutes:

AGREED the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2019.

1117.

EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

To consider, if necessary, passing a resolution under Section 100A (4) of the

Local Government Act 1972 excluding the press and public from the meeting

for the item of business listed in Part 2 of the agenda on the grounds that it

will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in those

paragraphs of Part 1 Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended by the Local

Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006), as are listed on

the agenda (Members are asked to refer to the Part 2 agenda).

Minutes:

Resolved in accordance with the principles of Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of the Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

1118.

ENFIELD NORSE LTD- PROVISION OF CLEANING SERVICES

Attached for consideration as part of the Call-in on this item, is the Part 2

report.

 

The report should be read in conjunction with the report attached at Appendix

1 to the Call-In report on the Part 1 agenda.

 

(This document contains exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3

(information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular

person (including the authority holding that information) of Schedule 12A to

the Local Government Act 1972 as amended).

 

Please see the Part 1 agenda.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the information provided on the call-in report: Enfield Norse Ltd – Provision of Cleaning Services.

 

NOTED

 

1.    The information was considered in conjunction with the report on the part 1 agenda.

 

2.    Councillor David-Sanders set out the reasons for calling in the decision:

 

·         Concern that the report does not fully explain the reasons why the extension has been unavoidable and required to be approved retrospectively.

·         Again, this is another decision that has been made very close to or after procurement has lapsed

·         The report does not fully explain how the extension will improve the contract management process between the Council and Enfield Norse Ltd.

·         The report is potentially misleading with what appears to be contradictory information regarding timelines.

·         The decision puts an additional cost pressure on the Council for 2019/20 which could have been avoidable if this had been addressed sooner.

·         The report does not fully explain why there has been a failure in the corporate governance of the company as it is a Joint Venture with the Council.

 

3.    The response of Nicky Fiedler, Commercial Director. She highlighted the following:

 

·         She did not feel that the report was misleading. The Council did, as stated, have a number of meetings with ENL. She did however hear the concerns of Councillors and will be mindful going forward to ensure that all reports are clear and concise.

·         As set out in the Part 1 report, sections 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7 it was the Council’s intention to resolve this sooner had ENL been more responsive.

·         The Total FM solution was halted in May 2018 due to time restrains. It will take 9 months now to put in place a new service provision.

·         There are no additional costs pressures as a result of this decision. Part 1 3.10 highlights the existing cost pressure, which the council; sought to avoid by negotiations with ENL.

·         Part 1 4.2 and 4.3 sets out the alternative options, which would not have guaranteed to remove the cost pressures due to the TUPE undertaking of moving this contract to a 3rd Party.

 

4.    Other issues highlighted by officers in support of the decision included:

 

·         Up to 9 months contract extension will provide sufficient time for the most effective service delivery model in terms of cost/quality to be identified and implemented.

·         Officers have received assurances from ENL that they are willing to extend the contract under the existing terms. As the workforce and other resources are already in place there should be no delay or disruption in transitioning to and extending the agreement.

·         As set out in Part 1 section 5.3 of the report moving forward, all cleaning and budget management will transfer to the Property and Economy Department, thereby bringing all responsibility for financial and performance management within Property and Economy which is not currently in place.

·         Proposed changes to the Terms of Reference for the Shareholder Board had been discussed to ensure oversight of the companies the Council has an interest in.

 

5.    The summing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1118.