Decisions

Following Cabinet’s approval to convert the Council’s street lights to LED in October 2018, Officers have carried out the necessary work to agree the legal and commercial aspects of the Change Agreement and are now ready to proceed to the execution of the Deed of Variation to the PFI Contract.

It was AGREED that:

1.    To approve the final negotiated position with Surrey Lighting Services and authorise them to proceed with the change protocol with their subcontractor, Skanska, and the Principal Lender.

2.    Subject to no material amendments as a result of the above process, the execution of the Deed of Variation and associated documents to enact the Street Lighting LED Conversion Programme.

The purpose of this report is to inform a decision to progress a procurement process to select a 3rd party data archiving solution to store historic data that is currently held in the council’s corporate system, SAP. This is the system that the council uses to manage its business critical finance, procurement and HR & payroll processes.

The requirement to progress this procurement, including the indicative costs, was included within the Digital Business & Insights Full Business Case Cabinet report, which was approved at Cabinet in July 2020. The Cabinet report included a recommendation that this delegated officer decision will be required to progress this procurement by the Executive Director of Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Corporate Support and Cabinet Member for Resources.

A solution is required to archive historic data that needs to be retained by the council, but that will not be migrated to the recently procured Unit 4 corporate system, as part of the Digital Business & Insights programme. The Unit 4 system is currently in the process of being implemented with a target go-live date of December 2021.

The current SAP system contains approximately 16 years of historic data and a significant portion of this historic data needs to be retained and accessed for statutory and / or valid business reasons. However, the historic data is not required for the day-to-day running of the future organisation and it would be sub-optimal to migrate it to the new Unit 4 system, due to the impact on future storage costs and system performance. There is also a statutory requirement to ensure that data with privacy implications is deleted over time in line with retention policies for GDPR compliance.

A range of costs were gathered from potential suppliers via a Request for Information procurement process. The worst-case cost estimate, including council-side costs, of £285k for year one has been used to inform the decision to progress a formal procurement process. The business case financials will be updated based on firm costs received from the successful bidder at the completion of the procurement process prior to awarding the contract and starting the project.

The next step will be to complete the procurement process before delivering a project to implement the data archiving solution to go-live in 4^th Quarter 2021/22. This go-live timing will follow the Unit ERP system go-live in December 2021 and will enable the council to decommission the existing SAP system.

Decision made:

It was AGREED to:

1.           Approve the business case to progress a procurement process to select a 3^rd party data archiving solution.

2.           Award the contract to the preferred bidder and implement the chosen data archiving solution following completion of the procurement process.

3.           Note that a report will be brought back for a further delegated officer decision following completion of the procurement process, if the confirmed costs of the selected solution are 5% greater or less than the estimate included in this report.

RESOLVED:

1. That the use of SEND Capital Funding against the projects identified through the Expression of Interest (EOI) process with Surrey Schools for Phase 2 of the SEND Capital Programme to create 213 additional Specialist Planned Places in Surrey for academic year 2021-2022 be approved.

2. That the use of additional SEND Capital Funding of £6.4m required to complete the Freemantle’s expansion, in addition to Phase 1 be approved.

3. That the transfer of £36m of Capital Budget to the SEND Capital Phase 1 and 2 Programmes be approved.

Reason for Decision:

Under Part 3 Section 21 of the Children & Families Act, 2014 the Local Authority and its partners have a statutory duty to keep special educational provision under review, including planning, commissioning and monitoring. In carrying out the duties in the Children & Families Act 2014, local authorities and others with responsibilities under that Act, are also covered by the Equality Act, 2010. 

Developing and maintaining high quality specialist provision in Surrey is vital to ensure appropriate placements for the county’s most vulnerable children and young people who have complex SEND and require specialist educational provision.

The proposed schemes (SeeAnnex 1) ensure enough special school places are provided for secondary and Post 16 age children and young people who have Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs, Communication & Interaction needs and Cognition & Learning needs. These are the 3 need-types where long-term deficits in planned places have already been identified.

Increasing local specialist provision assures high quality teaching (through robust monitoring protocols) in Surrey’s Good and Outstanding provision as graded by Ofsted, value for money at a more equitable cost per learner, the development of social value opportunities as well as employment in local communities. 

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children’s, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1. That the key findings from the community co-design work be noted.

2. That the proposed updates to the process, criteria and framework for delivery of the Fund be approved.
   
   
3. The recruitment of the officer roles to manage the CPF process be noted.
   
   
4. The communications and engagement approach for the launch and delivery of the Fund be noted and the suggested timescales for the launch of the Fund and the opening of the first funding window be approved.

Reason for Decision:

The development of the Community Project Fund (CPF) represents a significant and exciting opportunity for Surrey County Council (SCC) to invest in a meaningful and lasting way in communities, and for communities to drive projects that will make a real difference to where they live. Crucially the Fund fills a unique gap in the market for investment in truly resident and community-led projects to have a positive impact on the places in which they live. 

The recommendations in this report will enable the Fund to be launched and to be delivered in a way that ensures the Fund is accessible to all, supports successful projects and that communities’ benefit.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

See Minute 136/20

Reason for Decision:

See Minute 136/20

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1. That subject to the signing of a flow down agreement with Runnymede Borough Council as detailed in recommendation 2, it be approved that Surrey County Council (SCC) confirms acceptance of the funding award of £41.8 million for the A320 North of Woking Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) Forward Funding scheme allocated by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), by agreeing to proceed to sign the relevant Homes England Grant Determination Agreement (GDA);

2. That either prior to or concurrently with signing the GDA agreement, it be approved that SCC enters into a side agreement / Flow Down contract with Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) regarding any GDA conditions which relate not to the delivery of the infrastructure but instead to those elements particularly associated with housing, alongside a cost sharing arrangement. The signing of the GDA be delegated to the Executive Director Environment, Transport and Infrastructure and the Executive Director of Resources in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member and the Leader.

3. That the scheme be moved from capital pipeline to capital budget immediately post-GDA signature but prior to the targeted receipt date for the HIF allocation of October 2020 in order to allow for the project to progress in line with the target timescale for completion be approved.

4.    That provision for a contingency of £2m from the Council’s capital programme to support any project cost overruns should they arise be approved.

5. That delegated authority be given to the Executive Director Environment, Transport and Infrastructure and the Executive Director of Resources in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member to approve any further decisions relating to the forward funding conditions.

6. That the necessary authority and permission be given to officers to proceed to facilitate land purchase through Compulsory Purchase be approved in the event that any initial attempts through direct negotiation prove to be unsuccessful, subject to the signing of the GDA by SCC.

Reason for Decision:

• SCC’s acceptance of the grant funding will facilitate the delivery of the road infrastructure to support the additional housing identified in RBC’s Local Plan. 

• The proposed flow-down/side agreement will ensure that SCC and RBC are held to account for those elements of the project and related outcomes for which they are responsible. 

• Moving the scheme funding from pipeline to capital budget will release funds for further scheme development and thereby enable SCC to commence work on the scheme as early as possible considering the limited time now available within which to deliver the full improvements. The cost of expenditure incurred pre-signature will be fully rechargeable to the Scheme once funding is released.

• The additional contingency provided by SCC will ensure that should any cost overruns are able to be met, and that these are met in a way that is shared with RBC in accordance with the methodology set out in this report.

• Delegation on decisions relating to the forward funding conditions is sought to enable timely decisions to be taken on the operational aspects of delivering the scheme.

• Beyond Cabinet’s previous resolution that authority be given to officers to commence early discussions with landowners with respect to acquisition by negotiation, Cabinet is also now asked to provide authority to commence land acquisition with through compulsory purchase where such negotiations are clearly failing. The provision of such authority will allow the CPO process to progress in a timely manner should the need arise particularly where the designed future alignment requires land that cannot be acquired by negotiation.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1.     That the procurement for Hyperconverged System Phase 2 be added to the 2020/21 Annual Procurement Forward Plan (APFP) in accordance with the Council’s Procurement and Contract Standing Orders be approved.

2.     That where the first ranked tender for this project is within the +/-5% budgetary tolerance level, the relevant Executive Director, Director or Head of Service (as appropriate) be delegated authority to award such contracts.

Reason for Decision:

• To comply with the Procurement and Contract Standing Orders agreed by the Council in May 2019.

• To provide Cabinet with strategic oversight of planned procurement projects for 2020/21.

• New hardware is required to address current issues with the data centres server infrastructure, including:

o   Increasing hardware faults, in particular hard disk failures, caused by the current infrastructure reaching end of life;

o   Capacity issues with the current infrastructure;

o   Ability to make critical systems (e.g. Children’s, Finance, ERP) highly available.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1. That the key themes emerging from the planning assumptions and evidence base that have informed the strategic reset be noted.
2. That the input of the Member Reference Group in informing the Strategic Reset paper be noted.
3. That the financial implications, impacts on the Transformation Programme, and the impacts on Directorate business plans be noted.
4. That the four emerging priority objectives (Tackling inequality and ensuring no one is left behind; Driving inclusive growth; Creating a greener future; and Enabling resilient and connected communities) that will form a new focus for the council and become the basis of a refreshed Organisation Strategy be approved.
5. The process being undertaken by Directorates to understand the implications for future years following the impact of Covid-19 on residents, communities and the council be noted.

Reason for Decision:

Through the council’s response to Covid-19 a number of the council’s organisational priorities have come into sharper focus, including themes such as a strong and prosperous economy; happy, healthy, connected and resilient communities; a greener future; and being a leading council. There is consensus that the 2030 Vision remains the right focus, but how we get there might need to change without losing the strong foundations that have been established over the past two years.

It is recommended that as part of the strategic reset a focus on these emerging priority areas will help the council to better prioritise its resources, refocus its transformation programme and ensure a stable provision of services going forward.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1.    That the commissioning and procurement strategy developed by Strategic Network Resilience and Procurement teams so that a suitable contractor can be appointed to maintain and refurbish balancing ponds along the A31 and Blackwater Valley Relief Road (A331) be approved.

2.    That delegated authority be given to the Executive Director for Environment, Transport & Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport to approve the contract award decision.

Reason for Decision:

We are requesting Approval to Procure for the Balancing Pond Term Contract to enable the refurbishment of essential highway drainage assets to ensure that they are performing as designed.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Council’s forecast revenue and capital budget positions for the year be noted.

2.    That the transfer of the balance of the CV-19 funding (£1.9m) and amended revenue budget baseline as £1,019.7m be noted.

3.    That the addition of the 20/21 contingency (£20.4m) to the Budget Equalisation Reserve be approved.

Reason for Decision:

This report is to comply with the agreed policy of providing a monthly budget monitoring report to Cabinet for approval of any necessary actions.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1. That the highways service’s market research conducted to inform the procurement strategy be noted and the procurement strategy for highway services contracts be approved.

Reason for Decision:

The Highways Service has successfully engaged contractors to deliver elements of its services on its behalf for many years, bringing together the strengths of both the public and private sector. The exact scope of services needs to be balanced against the cost of delivering these services, the management of a wide variety of associated risks and the need to employ the required skills when needed.

Officers have undertaken extensive research into what other authorities are doing in this area, the market’s capabilities to deliver the required services and the industry’s desire to enter into such contracts.  This research has been overlaid with the Council’s objectives to not only continue to deliver highway maintenance activities, but also to transform delivery of highway and transport activities over the next 10 to 20 years.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

That the five decisions taken by officers since the last meeting be noted.

Reason for decision:

To inform the Cabinet of decisions taken by officers under delegated authority.

[This decision is subject to call-in by the relevant Select Committee Chairman dependent on the recommendation.]

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member update be noted.

It was agreed that non-exempt information may be made available to the press and public, where appropriate.

RESOLVED: That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information under the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

RESOLVED:

That the delegated decisions taken since the last meeting of the Cabinet be noted.

Reason for decision:

To inform the Cabinet of decisions taken by Cabinet Members, Strategic Investment Board and the Committee in Common subcommittee under delegated authority.

RESOLVED:

That the Strategic Reset Group report be noted and recommendations agreed.

There were none.

One petition with 6,089 signatures had been received. It requested that the Council ‘Reverse cuts to Surrey Fire and Rescue Service’. The response to the petition was published as part of the supplementary agenda and on the petition’s website. Ms Emma Kennedy presented the petition.

There were no public questions.

There were five Member questions. The questions and responses were published as a supplement to the agenda.

There were none.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 July were approved as a correct record.

Apologies were received from Mr Colin Kemp.

The Council currently uses Trimble’s Atrium system as its Property Asset Management System (PAMS). This system is used to hold asset management data on all council property and underpins the day to day operation of the estate. It also operates as a works order management system for the repair and maintenance of its estate and for major capital programmes. Trimble’s Atrium system has reached end of life and Trimble will be withdrawing support and development services, so a replacement system is required.

The new system will allow property information to be more transparent and provide better interaction with customers/property occupiers. It will provide a full and strategic picture of the council’s operations and detailed property information to services. This will allow place-based analysis of what buildings are required, in what locations and make efficient utilisation of those assets held by SCC. 

Following a procurement exercise using Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud Framework the Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) proposed by Planon Limited has been identified as the preferred solution and meets the Property department’s requirements. Further details about the procurement process are included in the attached Procurement Report.

The draft contract has been agreed with Planon and an Officer Decision is now required to approve the award of the contract.

Decision made:

It was AGREED that:

1.           The contract is awarded to Planon Limited for an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS).