This report provided recommendations following a challenge session on contract specification and management in the council (using as a case study the contract with Veolia for environmental services).  The main points of the discussion on this report are outlined below.

• The Committee indicated that they felt that the world had moved on since the original specification had been agreed on this Challenge Session and given the current issues indicated that they would wish to explore those with the officers present.
• The Committee heard that Veolia performance was considered to be very good based upon the available evidence.  However, the Committee indicated that they felt that these figures did not represent the true picture especially with regard to “missed collections”
• The Committee heard that Veolia do report missed collections and that they are open with the way that they are managing the work.
• The Committee heard that the way data is collected is based upon a consistent approach used across London.
• The Committee heard the on a monthly basis there are 250-300 missed bins and that there is no evidence to show that there is a large scale failure to deliver the service.
• The Committee heard that Veolia are surveying residents on the contamination of re-cycling bins and heard that Veolia’s Outreach Team run educational programmes and crews give feedback on contaminated bins.  The Committee heard that there is a large churn of residents moving in and out of LBTH and the message needs to re-run on a regular basis.
• The Committee heard that there were issues with how waste from social housing is managed and that there is an on-going dialogue through the Public Realm Sub Group and the Housing Providers.  In addition, the Social Housing Providers are in a dialogue with LBTH on the provision of a more holistic service e.g. possible delivery of such services via a social enterprise.
• The Committee heard that if somebody calls to report a missed collection this is logged separately from complaints and is treated as a Service Request.  Therefore, the Committee asked that the figures for Service Requests and the Complaints are provided together in any future report to the Committee.
• The Committee heard that if there is a repetition of missed collections then it is recorded as a complaint.  Also if a missed collection is not rectified within 24 hours or there is a repetition this will be escalated and a fine would be levied against Veolia.
• The Committee heard that it is in the interest of Veolia to provide a good service as they want to receive good references from LBTH when they made application to run contracts in other public service areas.
• The Committee stated that it wanted all collections treated as complaints and that those making the complaint are advised of the progress.
• The Committee heard of instances where crews had dropped waste and wanted to know why this was not being rectified.
• The Committee heard that Public Realm were happy to look at the instances of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7