The Director of Scotland Excel gave a presentation to members providing an overview of what Scotland Excel was delivering for member councils; an update on Scottish Government and other projects; and an update on income streams and the funding position.

DECIDED: That the presentation be noted.

There was submitted a joint report by the Treasurer and the Director of Scotland Excel relative to the revenue estimates for Scotland Excel including the requisition of the constituent authorities for financial year 2019/20 and indicative planning figures for 2020/21 and 2021/22.

An amended Appendix 1 had been issued to members which detailed the revenue estimates for 2019/20 and Appendix 2 to the report detailed the member authority requisition levels.   

The report provided information on the assumptions that the budget had been based on; a financial overview for Scotland Excel; the Scotland Excel funding model; and member authority requisitions for 2019/20.

It was proposed that the Director of Scotland Excel provide meet with Councillor Vettraino to discuss the budget assumption that there would be an increase in ICT costs due to the migration to a cloud-based environment, the introduction of virtual servers and the move to Microsoft Office 365.  This was agreed.   

DECIDED:

(a) That the revenue estimates of Scotland Excel for the financial year 2019/20, as detailed in the amended Appendix 1 issued to members, be agreed;

(b) That the requisitions from constituent authorities, as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report, be agreed;

(c) That the indicative estimates for 2020/21 and 2021/22 be noted; 

(d) That the update to the funding model outlined in section 6 of the report be noted; and

(e) That the Director of Scotland Excel meet with Councillor Vettraino to discuss the budget assumption that there would be an increase in ICT costs due to the migration to a cloud-based environment, the introduction of virtual servers and the move to Microsoft Office 365.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel relative to the progress against the 2018/19 contract delivery plan.  

The report intimated that the contract delivery plan comprised framework renewals, new developments, framework extensions and frameworks with ongoing contract management only and appendices 1 to 3 to the report provided further details.

The report highlighted that contract delivery remained active with 63 current frameworks in the Scotland Excel contract portfolio, six of which were to be renewed before 31 March 2019; a further three new frameworks would be added to the contract portfolio by 31 March 2019; and a further ten frameworks on the current portfolio had extension options that were likely to be exercised in 2018/19, eight of which had already been approved.  

Scotland Excel was exploring the benefits of further collaborative procurement across high spend, critical service areas of adult social care and construction; had finalised the procurement strategy for care and support services; would deliver a new sourcing strategy for care home services for older people; working in partnership with the Digital Office had released a prior information notice (PIN) for market engagement across a range of projects to drive digital transformation across Scotland; and had released a further prior information notice (PIN) to notify the market place regarding a replacement Social Work Case Care Management System.

It was noted that overall, efficiencies delivered to date were 4.4% which was above the 2% to 4% forecast savings range.

It was proposed that the Director of Scotland Excel provide information to members on the percentage uptake by councils in relation to the 63 contracts in the Scotland Excel portfolio.  This was agreed.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the progress made to date be noted; and

(b) That the Director of Scotland Excel provide information to members on the percentage uptake by councils in relation to the 63 contracts in the Scotland Excel portfolio.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel providing an update on the community benefits facilitated and delivered from the Scotland Excel framework portfolio for the period April to September 2018 together with an update on fair work practices.

The report intimated that Scotland Excel continually strived to be innovative in its approach to community benefits and recognised that community benefits had a considerable social, environmental and economic impact within local communities and continued to encourage and grow awareness in this regard.  The organisation’s approach to community benefit commitments at point of tender had been developed to further advance the undertakings made by suppliers and to facilitate a robust process for the collection of responses.  The newly-developed community benefit menu had been favoured by procurement specialists when embarking on new procurement exercises and offered a focused approach across the Scotland Excel procurement portfolio and aimed to encourage suppliers and providers to deliver community benefits within the awarding local authority area.

Table 1 to the report detailed a summary of the social value added across the Scotland Excel portfolio since 2013.  The appendix to the report detailed the community benefits by council for the period April to September 2018.

In relation to fair work practices, including the Living Wage, the report intimated that Scotland Excel commenced formal consideration within tenders in early 2015 and that since this time the respective position on bidders’ work practices had been outlined within contract approval reports submitted to the Executive Sub-committee. The report detailed the overall position across Scotland Excel’s portfolio.  It was noted that any reference to the Living Wage should be the Living Wage in Scotland.

The next community benefits data collection, analysis and review cycle would be completed in line with management information processes to cover the period to 31 March 2019.  The results would be reviewed with the supply base and where appropriate would be incorporated into supplier performance objectives.

It was proposed that the Director of Scotland Excel provide a briefing paper to Councillor Foulkes providing more detail on the community benefits delivered in her council area.  This was agreed.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the report be noted and the measures proposed to monitor delivery of community benefits for the 2018/19 financial year be supported: and

(b) That the Director of Scotland Excel issue a briefing paper to Councillor Foulkes providing more detail on the community benefits delivered in her council area.