Agenda item

Overview and Scrutiny

Meeting of Council, Thursday 20th February 2014 7.30 pm (Item 102.)

(a) Report of the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee - attached;

(b) Reports of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (if any); and

(i) Reports of the Constitution and Member Services Scrutiny Panel attached regarding:

- Annual Review of Contract Standing Orders and Financial Regulations;

- Review of Officer Delegation; and

- Vice-Chairman of Council – Appointment Review.

Minutes:

(a) Report of the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Council received a written report from Councillor Morgan, the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Members were encouraged to attend the next meeting of the Committee to be held on 25 February 2014 at which a presentation would be made from officers from the Mental Health Services of the West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group.

(b) Reports of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Chairman announced that there were no reports to be considered under this item.

(i) Report of the Constitution and Member Services Scrutiny Panel – Annual Review of Contract Standing Orders and Financial Regulations.

Mover: Councillor Watts, Vice-Chairman of the Panel, in the absence of the Chairman

Councillor Watts presented a report of the Panel following the annual review of Contract Standing Orders and Financial Regulations which provided controls on contract procedures and financial governance.

Report as first moved ADOPTED

RESOLVED:

That the proposed changes to CSOs listed below be adopted and published in the Council’s Constitution:

(a) CSO 35 (Local Businesses)

That CSO 35 (Local Businesses) be re-positioned within CSOs to give it greater prominence and an index at the beginning of CSOs to aid navigation by officers be added to the published version;

(b) CSO 16 (Receipt, Custody and Opening of Quotations)

That CSO 16 (Opening of Tenders and Quotations – Contracts in Excess of £25,000) be amended as follows:

“Quotations and tenders received in accordance with these Standing Orders shall be opened at one time, as follows:

(i) in respect of contracts with an estimated value exceeding £25,000 but not exceeding £50,000, the relevant Chief Officer in the presence of or at least one of his principal or senior officers and a representative of the Director of Governance, shall open the quotations received; and shall maintain a record of all such quotations;

(ii) in respect of contracts with an estimated value in excess of £50,000 the Portfolio Holder concerned, in the presence of authorised representatives of the Director of Governance and the relevant Chief Officer, shall open the tenders which, in the normal course of events, will not be less than three working days after the closing date for receipt of those tenders; and

(iii) the Director of Governance or his/her authorised representative shall maintain and sign a record of all tenders opened, which record shall also be signed by the member of the Cabinet in attendance (in respect of contracts valued in excess of £50,000 only) and the representative of the Chief Officer concerned.”

That CSO 19 (Acceptance of Quotations – Contracts Exceeding £25,000 but Not Exceeding £50,000) be amended as shown below:

“(1) a Chief Officer may, subject to the provisions of Standing Order C4 (Contracts exceeding £25,000 but not exceeding £50,000) accept the lowest quotation received in respect of a contract not exceeding £50,000 in value or amount; a quotation other than the lowest received shall not be accepted until the relevant Portfolio Holder has considered a report from the appropriate Chief Officer or other person.

(3) Paragraph (1) above shall not apply where:

(i) the tender documentation prepared by the Chief Officer and submitted to prospective tenderers specifies that the acceptance of any tender will be not only based on consideration of price but also on an assessment of quality; and

(ii) where sub-paragraph (i) above applies, the methodology for assessing tenders on the basis of price and quality shall be documented and signed by the Chief Officer prior to the opening of tenders and retained as part of the contract documentation.

(iii) the relevant Chief Officer has obtained approval in advance of the terms under which quotations will be accepted from the Cabinet or the relevant Portfolio Holder and acceptance of a quotation is fully in compliance with that decision in which case the results of the evaluation process shall be reported back to the Cabinet or the Portfolio Holder as appropriate.

(iv) in cases where quotations received exceed the limit of £50,000, provided that the lowest quotation exceeds the pre-contract estimate by no more than 10%.”

(d) CSO 12 (Contract Extensions)

That a new CSO (to be numbered C12) be approved as follows:

“C12 Contract Extensions

(a) No contract in excess of £25,000 shall be extended (other than extensions provided for under CSO 11 (serial contracts) without prior approval by a Portfolio Holder or the Cabinet. Any such proposal shall explain the circumstances which leads the relevant Chief Officer to recommend that course of action and indicate the terms on which the contract is to be extended and a date on which the proposed extension will terminate.

(b) No more than two contract extensions shall be approved in respect of any one contract.”

(2) That any further alterations to CSOs and Financial Regulations to reflect any other changes arising from the recent Directorate restructuring be delegated to the Assistant to the Chief Executive for incorporation in final version before publication.

(ii) Report of the Constitution and Member Services Scrutiny Panel – Review of Officer Delegation

Mover: Councillor Watts, Vice-Chairman of the Panel, in the absence of the Chairman

Councillor Watts presented a report of the Panel following the annual review of Officer Delegation.

Members noted that the report dealt with those delegated authorities which needed to be approved by the Council (ie. non-Cabinet functions). Councillor Watts advised that the review had taken account of the new Directorate structure to come into effect on 1 April 2014.

By leave of the Council, Councillor Watts replaced the schedule of Planning Services delegations circulated with the agenda with a tabled schedule as the former had not account of changes approved by the Council on 5 November 2013.

Report as amended ADOPTED

RESOLVED:

(1) That the alterations (shown in black highlighting) to the attached schedules of officer delegation (Appendix 2 to these minutes) reflecting the new Directorate structure be approved with effect from 1 April 2014;

(2) That the revised schedule of Council functions be published in the Council’s Constitution; and

(3) That as the delegated authorities in respect of Deputy Monitoring Officer, Deputy Electoral Registration Officer and Deputy RIPA Officer cannot be finalised at present due to pending appointments required under the implementation of the new Directorate structure, once an appointment has been made, the decisions of the Director of Governance and the Chief Executive be added to the Schedule.

(iii) Report of the Constitution and Member Services Scrutiny Panel – Vice Chairman of Council – Review of Appointment Procedure

Mover: Councillor Watts, Vice Chairman of the Panel, in the absence of the Chairman

Councillor Watts presented a report of the Panel following a review of the process for the nomination to and appointment of the Vice-Chairman of Council.

By leave of the Council, Councillor Watts amended the recommendations of the Panel in order to resolve a duplication, by deleting the proposed paragraph (c) of Article 5.03 and replacing it with the proposed paragraph (h).

Amendment moved by Councillor Angold-Stephens and seconded by Councillor Mann

That the proposed paragraph (a) of Article 5.03 be amended by the addition of the words “from two or more groups or an independent member” after the words “District Councillors”.

Lost

Report as amended ADOPTED

RESOLVED:

That Paragraphs 5.02 and 5.03 of Article 5 in the Constitution (Chairman of Council) be amended as set out in Appendix 3 to these minutes so as to provide a new process for appointing a Vice-Chairman of Council.

(Recorded in accordance with paragraph 17.5 of the Council Procedure Rules, that Councillor Murray voted against the motion).

Supporting documents: