Agenda item
Report Called In - Children, Schools and Families - Contract Awards
(Time allocated – 30 minutes)
Minutes:
The Chair, Councillor Ann Jackson, advised that as she had been one of the signatories to the call-in requisition, she would take no part in the decision making or voting on this item and would ask the Vice-Chair, Councillor Ahmed Adam Omer, to take the Chair during this time.
Further to his respective declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest, Councillor Oliur Rahman left the room during the Committee’s decision making and voting on this item.
Councillors Ohid Ahmed and Alibor Choudhury who had not been present for the previous agenda item also left the room during this time.
At the request of the Chair, David Galpin, Head of Legal Services (Community) advised those present on the Council’s call-in procedure.
Councillor Bill Turner on behalf of the Call-In Members referred to the reasons in their requisition and highlighted the main issues that they held with the Cabinet’s provisionally agreed decision that the Acting Corporate Director – Children, Schools, and Families, be authorised to award the contracts for services to both Bupa and Allied Healthcare on behalf of the Authority.
Councillor Turner advised that the further detail provided to him by Mrs Cattermole had been very helpful, but this should have been included in the Cabinet report.
Councillor Turner stated that the report ultimately talked about awarding a care contract concerning vulnerable people to the private sector on the basis that it would provide a significant saving to the Council, and he asked whether this saving could be fully justified?
He further stated that disabled Bengalis required culturally matching care which local providers were able to give, and which a private company might not, and asked what safeguards and performance monitoring would be put in place to ensure continuity of care?
Councillor Turner then responded to questions from the Committee concerning the alternative course of action being proposed and the impact of any delays in the process, the fact that no local providers had submitted tenders, the switch to direct payments and the need to provide value for money.
He advised that the call-in was not necessarily asking for the contract to be re-tendered, but sought more information regarding how staff would be recruited, the possibility of smaller local companies being supported in order to win contracts, and whether or not contracting out was right for the Council.
Councillor Turner stated that smaller local companies were good at providing a service, but did not have the tendering ability of much larger companies. Also his main concern was whether or not existing service users would still be able to have the same carer. Value for money was also important but only if the level of service being obtained was the same.
Councillor Oliur Rahman, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, supported by Mrs Isobel Cattermole, Acting Corporate Director – Children, Schools and Families, then addressed the Committee on behalf of the Cabinet in response to the Call-in.
Councillor Rahman stated that his fundamental aim was to work with the services users, and if they were satisfied and happy then there was no real issue. The Council had consulted the service users, some of whom had been involved in the tender evaluation process, and they believed that they were still getting the best service. The Council had made a commitment to assisting all families who wished to remain with their existing carer with accessing direct payments, and there would be no restrictions on this.
Councillor Rahman stated that it was unclear what the call-in Members wanted the Cabinet to do as there was no concrete proposal.
He advised that no local providers had submitted tenders despite the offer of workshop sessions to assist them in making joint bids, and if a company wasn’t even prepared to tender then he wasn’t prepared to offer them a contract.
Councillor Rahman stated that he understood the importance of supporting the London Living Wage and recruiting local people, and the Council would work with the providers to ensure this.
Also no local companies were qualified to provide a nursing care service which had previously been obtained using spot purchasing. This had not achieved value for money and users had not got the service they deserved.
Councillor Rahman stated that as long as the service users were happy then so was he.
Committee Members then put detailed questions to Councillor Rahman on a number of issues concerning continuity of care, monitoring of the contract, the need for culturally matching care, local recruitment and the tender timescales.
Councillor Rahman advised that if children and their families opted to keep their current carer they would be able to do so as this would form part of the contract agreement. The services provided would be subject to very robust and strict monitoring which would be undertaken by the child’s social worker.
The provision of culturally appropriate care would also form part of the contract agreement, and if anything went wrong then early termination of the agreement was very easy to do.
Councillor Rahman further advised that the two companies involved had indicated that they were willing to recruit locally to address issues of cultural matching.
The Committee was advised that the consultation process had commenced eighteen months ago and the tender process one year ago.
At this point the Chair asked Councillor Omer to Chair the remainder of the meeting as she was unable to take part in the discussion or vote.
Following the debate the Committee voted on whether to refer the item back to the Cabinet for further consideration and it was
RESOLVED:
1) That the alternative course of action proposed in the Call-in be not pursued and the decision of the cabinet be confirmed; and
2) That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee maintain a supporting role and include the item in the Annual Work Programme.
Supporting documents:
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Call-in cover report, item 6.1
PDF 70 KB
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9.1 Personal Care Cabinet 15-11-10 with Legal commentsNov10final 1911111304pmAF, item 6.1
PDF 107 KB
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9.1 Appendix Marisa consultation [Personal Care], item 6.1
PDF 147 KB