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

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of this Group held on 31 March 2025.

DECIDED: That the Minute 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 31 March 2025, and the key strategic activities and outputs delivered by each team within the corporate structure.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

Under reference to item 6 of the Minute of the meeting of this Group held on 31 March 2025, there was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel providing an update on planned standing agenda items following discussions at the meeting of the CEOMG held on 31 March 2025.

The report intimated that, following feedback from members of the CEOMG, Table 1 of the report detailed a revised list of agreed agenda items that would be included over the course of the year.

DECIDED: That the proposal, as outlined, be endorsed.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel which provided an overview of the potential range of procurement structural models available across the local government sector, produced in response to requests from Chief Executives, and more recently, discussions arising from the transformation work being undertaken by SOLACE and The Improvement Service. 

The report provided detail in relation to the main models which are either deployed or available to the sector and Scotland Excel. The report noted that whilst no quantifiable data was available across local government, an indication of prevalence, benefits and challenges had been provided with no comparison made between the models or recommendations by Scotland Excel.

Following discussion, it was agreed that feedback be sought from Councils which were operating the models referenced in the report and that the use of regional models in England and Wales be explored. It was also agreed that a paper be brought back to the August CEOMG exploring the various models in more detail and considering what more Scotland Excel could do to support local government. 

DECIDED:

(a) That feedback be sought from Councils which were operating the models referenced in the report;

(b) That the use of regional procurement models in England and Wales be explored; and

(c) That a paper be brought back to the August CEOMG exploring the various models in more detail and considering what more Scotland Excel could do to support local government. Engagement with SOLACE on this topic would also be discussed at this meeting.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel which highlighted the risk facing the current national collaborative approach to social care commissioning and seeking views on how Scotland Excel could continue to best support local government in future.

The report provided detail on the current social care landscape which was facing ‘unprecedented pressure and financial uncertainty’ and the impact that this was expected to have on service users and their families. Information was provided on Scotland Excel’s role in setting the fees for individual services and risks associated with the current approach, namely a loss of efficiency the impacts on both the markets and local service delivery. It was noted that an increase in fees was expected to lead to a reduction in uptake in national contracts and that a significant drop in participation may lead to affected contracts becoming unviable.

A number of options for the role of Scotland Excel in social care, which included both expansion and contraction within the market, were set out at section 6 of the report together with the proposed next steps at section 7.

Following discussion, the proposed next steps were agreed however it was noted that the projects would be working to provide a solution in the medium/long-term and that further work was required to address the issues faced in the current financial year. It was agreed that information would be provided through the next SOLACE update to promote use of the national frameworks and stress the importance of buy-in from local authorities and partnerships to minimise the risk of them becoming unviable.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the risk facing the future of collaboration in social care procurement and commissioning be noted;

(b) That the continued use of the existing national portfolio be supported and promoted through a SOLACE update to minimise the risk of this work becoming no longer viable; and 

(c) That the next steps, as detailed in section 7 of the report, be agreed.