Annmarie O’Donnell, Chief Executive (City of Glasgow Council); Eddie Fraser, Chief Executive (North Ayrshire Council) and Cleland Sneddon, Chief Executive (South Lanarkshire Council).

There were no conflicts of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.

There were submitted the Minutes of the meetings of the Chief Executive Officers Management Group (CEOMG) held on 17 August and 24 October 2022.

DECIDED: That the Minutes be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel providing an update on key developments within Scotland Excel since the meeting of the CEOMG held on 17 August 2022.

The report provided detailed updates on Scotland Excel’s framework portfolio; the contract delivery plan; supply chain disruption; the National Care Service (NCS) Bill consultation; Scotland Excel’s 5 year strategy; savings opportunities; the Scotland Excel Academy; projects being undertaken with member councils and associate members; community wealth building; climate change; new associate members and the Scottish GO Awards 2022.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

S Brannagan, Head of Customer and Business Services, Scotland Excel gave a presentation on the draft revenue estimates for 2023/24 to 2025/26.

A proposed budget for 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 was presented which projected an increase in income through the methods highlighted: council requisitions increase of 3%, associate membership income, income from projects and rebates.

It was agreed that Scotland Excel continue to grow and demonstrate value, look at efficiencies, monitor and improve income generation, present the draft budget to the Executive Sub-committee meeting in November 2022 and Joint Committee meeting in December 2022.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the presentation be noted;

(b) That the increase in requisitions, by 3% in 2024/25 and 2025/26, be noted; and

(c) That the draft budget be presented to the Executive Sub-committee in November 2022 and Joint Committee in December 2022.

E Hay, Strategic Procurement Manager, gave a presentation in relation to the National Care Service Bill (NCS) which provided information on various subjects which included: the timeline, Scotland Excel portfolio versus NCS proposed timeline and activity and engagement.

Information was provided on stakeholder engagement sessions and service design; adult social care working groups; Scottish Government Procurement Directorate and Scottish Parliamentary Committee.

The Strategic Procurement Manager advised that the redesign team were working to ascertain a more efficient way to identify interim beds and that the findings would be firstly presented to CoSLA and then to councils. 

DECIDED: That the presentation be noted

S Christie, Commercial Programme Manager and M Mitchell, Strategic Procurement Manager gave a presentation in relation savings projects which provided information
on strategic sourcing opportunities which provided information on changes made to demonstrate more visibility, commitment to changes and increase awareness of available opportunities in relation to savings.

It was identified that there were a number of saving projects in the pipeline, providing potential opportunities which perhaps councils were not taking advantage of.  It was agreed that a health check be put together to validate whether all benefits available were being utilised by all 32 councils 

Members were provided with examples where savings available had not been utilised: rebate when purchasing cards were used, selecting non-brand products, bulk buying where possible to achieve discounts available and reduced delivery costs were examples of where more savings could be achieved.

Scotland Excel had launched projects to identify initial saving opportunities and could analyse councils spending and provide a platform for discussion.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the presentation be noted; and

(b) That Council Chief Executives and Directors of Finance be provided with more visibility and understanding around the matters raised during the presentation in order to commit to change and be aware of the available opportunities in relation to savings.

There was submitted a report by the Clerk relative to meetings of the group in 2023. 

DECIDED: 

(a) That meetings of the group be held at 10.00 am on 22 February; 24 May; 9 August; and 8 November 2023; and

(b) That it be agreed that group continue to meet remotely using the Microsoft Teams platform and that this continue to be reviewed.