Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Convener proposed that the Committee consider item 11.1 (Workplans and Business Cases – Exempt Appendices) with the press and public excluded.

The Committee resolved:-

in terms of Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of item 11.1 on the agenda so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the class described in paragraph 8 of Schedule 7(A) of the Act.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 15 April 2021 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       with reference to article 3 (iii), to note that the COSLA minute requested at the last meeting had been circulated to Members outwith the meeting, and that no further responses had been received in relation to the letters sent to the leaders of the political parties in the Scottish Government; and

(ii)       to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it the committee business planner as prepared by the Chief Officer – Governance.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the business planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services which presented the status of key performance measures relating to the Commercial and Procurement cluster.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the report and provide comments and observations on the performance information contained in the report appendix.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Head of Commercial and Procurement which set out the Annual Procurement report containing an overview of procurement activity for the year.

The report recommended:-

that Committee approve the content and publication of the Annual Procurement Report 2020-2021 (attached as Appendix A to the report).

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in relation to the chart on page 34 of the report displaying annual expenditure by Category area, to note that the Head of Commercial and Procurement would circulate a breakdown of the expenditure listed under ‘Other goods and services’ to Members outwith the meeting;

(ii)       in relation to the table on page 36 of the report detailing the annual spend of £540m, to note that the Head of Commercial and Procurement would confirm whether the spend was from the General Fund or the Housing Revenue Account and advise Members outwith the meeting;

(iii)      to approve the content and publication of the Annual Procurement Report 2020-2021; and

(iv)      to thank officers for their work in the production of the report and the underpinning work in relation to procurement.

With reference to article 3 of the minute of the Council Budget meeting of 3 March 2020, the Committee had before it a report by the Head of Commercial and Procurement which provided an update on the introduction of a climate

friendly weighting for contracts the Council procured.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)      note the work undertaken within financial year 2020-2021 on the review of options for a climate friendly weighting to be included within procurement activity;

(b)      note the positive outcomes achieved through procurement activity as outlined within Appendix 1 - Climate Change Report 2019-20 (Appendix 1 - Section 5b Procurement); and

(c)      note the projects identified within the future procurement pipeline (first half of financial year 2021-2022) which would include climate friendly criteria as detailed within Appendix 2.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which (1) presented procurement workplans where revenue expenditure was included for the Commissioning, Customer, Operations and Resources functions to Committee for review; and (2) sought approval of each of the procurement business cases listed below, including the total estimated revenue expenditure for each proposed contract, as contained at item 11.1 of the agenda.

The list of procurement business cases was as follows:-

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      reviews the workplans as detailed in the Appendices;

(b)      approves the estimated annual expenditure for framework agreements within financial year 20-21 as detailed within the appendices;

(c)      approves the procurement business cases, including the total estimated expenditure for the proposed contracts;

(d)      approves the direct awards of contract where there are special circumstances outlined in the respective procurement business cases which justify not issuing a tender or calling off from a framework agreement; and

(e)      notes the content of Appendix 3 – Summary of 4.1.3 Forms (Technical

Exemption).

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

In accordance with the decision taken under article 1 above, the following item was considered with the press and public excluded.

The Committee had before it exempt appendices relating to the Workplans and Business Cases Revenue report on the agenda (article 8 of this minute refers).

The Committee resolved:-

to note the exempt appendices.

-      COUNCILLOR JOHN WHEELER, Convener