Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received by Cllr Jonathon Seed, Cllr Peter Doyle, Cllr Christopher Newbury, Cllr Carole Soden and Cllr Pip Ridout as Lead member of the Budget Task Group.

Cllr Chuck Berry substituted for Cllr Jonathon Seed.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 18 October 2012 were approved and signed as a correct record.

To receive any declarations of pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

No declarations of interest were received.

There were no Chairman’s Announcements.

There was no public participation.

A report from the Interim Head of Procurement on the work of the new Procurement Board in implementing the Procurement Strategy is attached.  This follows an update report on procurement generally received at the previous meeting.  The Committee is asked to consider its content, comment as appropriate and decide on what future involvement is required by overview and scrutiny.  The responsible Cabinet member is Cllr John Noeken.

A report on the work of the new Procurement Board was circulated with the agenda.  The Interim Head of Procurement, Julian Ingram, and responsible Cabinet member, Cllr John Noeken, were in attendance to present the report and answer questions arising.

In presenting the report clarification was made that its content reflected the considerable work that had taken place to ensure the Corporate Procurement Unit (CPU) remained fit for purpose.  Although the Category Management approach to future procurement was agreed by the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) in October it was understood that support from all services would be required to ensure this approach remained effective. 

Ensuing discussions included recognition of the positive work already undertaken and the benefits of the Category Management.  However it was felt that further scrutiny as the transformation process was implemented would be beneficial, noting that in some other local authorities (such as Hull and Birmingham) Category Management had initially failed to deliver the benefits expected upon implementation. 

It was proposed that to aid the Committee further in its understanding of the risks, that the structure and implementation of the new approach undertaken by other local authorities should be investigated further, including those where Category Management had been implemented successfully, such as Leicester Council.  The Committee, also proposed that further reporting on how the benefits were being realised and risks overcome would be required.

The Director of Finance confirmed that discussions with several authorities had taken place prior to submitting the proposals for consideration and suggested that members would benefit more from visiting the CPU as the system was progressing.

The Cabinet member commented that this would need to be time specific to ensure effective scrutiny was undertaken noting that the approach was already being piloted.  This would ensure potential risks would be identified and remedied before full roll-out across the authority.

The Committee proposed that Procurement Strategy remain an item on the forward work programme, noting that local elections would be taking place during its implementation.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet member and officers for attending and the Committee resolved as follows:

Resolved:

1)    That Procurement Strategy would remain on the Forward Work Programme of the Committee to ensure regular scrutiny at time-specific dates to be identified by the Cabinet member;

2)    That a half-day session with the Procurement leads would be arranged in January 2013 to allow Committee members the opportunity to further their understanding of potential risks of the structure, to include details of other authorities where category management had been implemented; and

3)    The collective views expressed at the above session would be reported to CLT and at the next meeting of the Committee on 28 February.

The Committee at its previous meeting held on 18 October noted that a report on SAP, an area identified from the ICT Technology Plan would be presented for further scrutiny.

A report by the Service Director Business Services on progress made on SAP development since April 2011 is now attached for the Committees consideration.  The responsible Cabinet member is Cllr John Noeken.

A report on progress made on SAP development since April 2011 was circulated with the agenda.  The Service Director Business Services, Jacqui White, and responsible Cabinet member, Cllr John Noeken, were in attendance to present the report and to answer questions arising.

In presenting the report the Service Director confirmed that progress on the usage of SAP had been and continued to be made to ensure the system remained effective for the authority.

It was acknowledged that significant progress had been made, specifically within the last 12 months, although concern was raised in relation to legacy systems, such as Payroll.  Confirmation was made that all data from the system had been worked into a database accessible by the Payroll team and to be accessible for archive purposes.  The old pre-unitary systems had now been decommissioned and there was therefore no costs assigned for these systems within the financial year.

Upon receiving questions in relation to why only a small proportion of contracts were loaded onto the SAP system, clarification was made that the system was capable of receiving all contract information as long as it was configured correctly.  Work was being undertaken with the Interim Head of Procurement to ensure the system worked with the procurement structure and would fit the future business need.  Appropriate category coding was being rationalised to ensure compatibility for future loading of procurement contracts.

Clarification was provided that work concluded, as identified within the initial Project Initiation Document (PID) was highlighted within Appendices A-C and projects in progress highlighted within Appendix D.  The development projects currently being investigated were detailed within Appendix F and were being developed to ensure the software continued to meet the needs of future business use.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet member and officers for attending and the Committee resolved as follows:

Resolved:

To note the improvements and developments made to date and the work that is currently planned and under development by the Business Services team.

The Committee at its previous meeting held on 18 October noted that a report on Sharepoint, an area identified from the ICT Technology Plan, would be presented for further scrutiny.

An update report by the Transformation Director is now attached on the progress that has been made in the development of the Corporate Programme and Projects Portal solution built on the SharePoint 2010 platform for Wiltshire Council.

The Committee is asked to provide comment as appropriate. The responsible Cabinet member is Cllr John Noeken.

Written updates on O&S Management Committee Task Group activity are attached as follows:

Budget Task Group

Campus and Operational Delivery Programme Task Group

Traded Services Task Group

Member Support in the Locality Task Group

Updates on activity will be provided as follows:

Wiltshire Online Project Board – Cllr George Jeans

Constitution Focus Group – Cllr Jonathon Seed

Staffing Management Executive Board - Cllr Ricky Rogers has confirmation that no further update is available since that provided at the previous meeting in October.

The Committee at its previous meeting held on 18 October resolved to undertake a refresh of the Task Group Protocol in consultation with the Constitution Focus Group.

A revised version will be circulated to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Committee for comment prior to seeking the views of the Constitution Focus Group.  Although a date has yet to be agreed the Group is expected to meet in the near future. 

A copy of the ensuing revised Protocol will be submitted to the Committee for consideration and endorsement at its next meeting to be held on 21 February 2013.  It will then be available for use at the induction of new members following the election in May 2013.

i)             The Chairmen of Select Committees to be invited to provide updates on Committee activity.

ii)            The Committee is asked to consider the single work programme and give direction on future overview and scrutiny activity.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items considered.

28 February 2013.