Councillor Altany Craik (Fife Council); Bailie Norman MacLeod (Glasgow City Council); Councillor Alister Mackinnon (Highland Council); Councillor Paul Di Mascio (North Lanarkshire Council); Councillor John Shaw (Renfrewshire Council); and Councillor Amanda Westlake (Shetland Islands Council).

Provost Bill Howatson (Aberdeenshire Council); and Provost Norman A Macdonald (Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar).

Councillor John Shaw, Convener, presided.

J Welsh, Director, H Carr, Head of Strategic Procurement, S Brannagan, Head of Customer & Business Services, M Robertson, Marketing and Communications Manager, and K Copland, Procurement Co-ordinator (all Scotland Excel); L Belshaw, Democratic Services Manager, E Currie, Senior Committee Services Officer, L Dickie, Finance Manager and K Crawford, Accountant (all Renfrewshire Council).

Provost Macdonald left the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business.

Councillor Angus Macmillan Douglas (Angus Council); Councillor Graham Hutchison (City of Edinburgh Council); Councillor Stephen Thompson (Dumfries and Galloway Council); Councillor Todd Ferguson (North Ayrshire Council); and Councillor Collette Stevenson (South Lanarkshire Council).

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

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Executive Sub-committee held on 27 April 2018.

The Convener referred to the discussion at the last meeting regarding having ‘Any Other Competent Business’ on future agendas.  He advised that Scotland Excel was a joint committee formed under Section 57 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and that also in terms of Section 57, the Joint Committee established the Executive Sub-committee.  Accordingly, the requirements of the Act in terms of access to meetings and documents of local authorities applied equally to Scotland Excel Joint Committee and the Executive Sub-committee as they applied to meetings of local authorities.  “Any Other Competent Business” did not comply with the terms of the Act and Scotland Excel’s Procedural Standing Orders.  If a member had an urgent item of business to raise, which was not detailed in the agenda, then he/she should raise this at the start of the meeting and the Convener would then rule whether or not this item of business was indeed urgent and whether or not it would be considered at all during the course of the meeting.  Any matter raised and not agreed by the Convener as urgent would not be recorded in the Minute of the meeting.  This was also the position with any matters which officers or members advised on at the close of the meeting.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the Minute be approved; and

(b) That the position in relation to “Any Other Competent Business” be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel relative to the award of a renewal framework agreement for salt for winter maintenance which would be effective from 1 July 2018 until 30 June 2022. 

The report intimated that the framework covered a full range of salt and de-icing equipment and accessories including bulk and bagged rock salt, marine salt and treated salt to allow councils to deliver various public services.  

The framework had been divided into seven lots as detailed in table 1 of the report and had been advertised at an estimated value of £65 million over the four-year period with the forecast annual spend for participating councils being £16.2 million per annum.  

It was noted that 30 Councils had confirmed their intention to participate in the framework.  In addition, Tayside Contracts, NHS Scotland and Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges had confirmed their intention to participate.

Tender responses had been received from nine suppliers and a summary of offers received was detailed in Appendix 2 to the report.

Based on the criteria and scoring methodology set out within the tender document, a full evaluation of the compliant offers had been completed and Appendix 3 to the report detailed the scoring achieved by each bidder.  

Based on the evaluation undertaken in line with the criteria and weightings set out in the report it was recommended that a multi-supplier framework agreement be awarded to nine suppliers across the seven lots as outlined in Appendix 3 to the report.  

DECIDED: That the award of the framework agreement for salt for winter maintenance, as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report, be approved.

The Convener advised that the Director of Scotland Excel had withdrawn this report.

DECIDED:  That it be noted that the report had been withdrawn.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel advising that Homes for Life Housing Partnership had submitted an application to become an associate member of Scotland Excel.

DECIDED: That the application by Homes for Life Housing Partnership to become an associate member of Scotland Excel, at an annual membership fee of £500, be approved subject to completion and signing of the agreement documentation.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel relative to the development of a new corporate strategy 2018/23 and operating plan 2017/18.

The report intimated that the Executive Sub-committee were being requested to review the proposed new corporate strategy and first-year operating plan prior to it being submitted to the meeting of the Joint Committee to be held on 29 June 2018 for approval.  

The new corporate strategy built on the progress made over the past three years and had been developed in close consultation with local authority stakeholders and Scotland Excel staff.  It aligned with the challenges facing local government and the wider public sector, responded to procurement and commercial requirements of members, and recognised Scotland Excel’s need to secure sustainable funding and growth.

The four business goals which informed Scotland Excel’s strategic direction had been updated to reflect the experience and influence gained and these were detailed in the report.  The strategy now covered a five-year period to support a longer-term view of the organisation’s future and would be reviewed at the end of year three and updated, if required.  This year’s operating plan set out an ambitious agenda which would lay the foundations for delivering the aims of the strategy over the next five years.

 

Progress reports would be produced quarterly and half-yearly and annual reports would be submitted to meetings of the Joint Committee with reports for the interim quarters submitted to the Executive Sub-committee.  Reports would also track performance against strategy outcomes using fourteen key performance indicators currently being finalised.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel providing an overview of potential future funding models for Scotland Excel.

 

The report intimated that the revenue estimates 2018/19 report presented to the Joint Committee at its meeting held on 8 December 2017 highlighted the challenging future financial landscape for local government and the impact on Scotland Excel. Throughout 2017/18 Scotland Excel had been reviewing opportunities and options to address the issue and to identify additional income.  A number of successes had been achieved with projects generating additional benefits to members but each on a ‘cost recovery’ model.  

In addition to the operational deficit there were other areas where ongoing funding gaps existed.  The main area of concern was within the Scotland Excel Care Portfolio and the report provided further information on the gaps within care and the options explored in order to try and diversify its funding base.

Scotland Excel had identified other potential funding opportunities, being consultancy services, new build housing, learning and development, rebates and associate membership expansion and the report detailed a short summary on the background, financial scale and opportunity for each project.

The report highlighted that in order to facilitate the expansion of the additional services outlined in section 3 of the report Scotland Excel required to review its existing office space.  Discussions were ongoing with Renfrewshire Council in relation to Scotland Excel expanding their office space within Renfrewshire House.  Scotland Excel were also investigating the possibility of relocating elsewhere.  

To ensure members had a full picture of the five-year forecast, indicative figures had been incorporated into the total funding gap.  A number of options had been identified to address the deficit faced by Scotland Excel over the coming fiscal periods and these were detailed in the report.

DECIDED: 

(a) That it be noted that the funding opportunity projects were being progressed by Scotland Excel;

(b) That it be noted that the Care Home for Older People project continued to seek direct funding from the participating councils for 2020/21 and beyond;

(c) That it be noted that Scotland Excel continued to work with colleagues in Renfrewshire Council to identify methods to address the short-term deficit; and

 

(d) That it be noted that a report would be submitted to the meeting of the Joint Committee to be held on 29 June 2018 detailing the proposal and documenting the proposed approach that would be taken in the coming months in order to present a balanced budget to the meeting of the Joint Committee to be held on 7 December 2018.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel providing an update on the risk register maintained to assess threats and risks that could impact on the delivery of Scotland Excel’s organisational objectives and to identify actions that had been taken to mitigate such risks.  A copy of the risk register was appended to the report

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Executive Sub-committee would be held at 9.45 am on 29 June 2018 in Glasgow City Chambers.