Decisions

Surrey County Council (SCC) has a statutory duty to support disabled children, young people and their families. Personal Support is part of the short breaks offer but is a specialist service and is only available following assessment. 

Personal Support is home-based care, primarily used by SCC’s Children with Disabilities team to provide families with respite care (short break), in accordance with their assessed needs. Personal support may also be used to provide other types of support such as emergency or crisis support and support outside the home for children and young people to access and be included in social and leisure actives in their local communities.

The services provided through the new contract will be available to all of the Children’s Services teams and the procurement value reflects this scope.

The new DPS for Personal Support Services will commence on 1^st April 2024 and it will be in place for 3 years, up to 31^st March 2027. There is also an available extension of 2 years taking this to 31^st March 2029.

It was AGREED that:

1. Surrey County Council will make placements for Translation and Interpreting Services calling off from a framework led byEast Sussex County Council
2. All Placements made will be approved by the Lead Commissioner for Children’s resources

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet note the convening and facilitating role Surrey County Council has played in developing co-ordinated and aligned Surrey-wide collaborative leadership.

2. That Cabinet endorse the establishment of the Surrey Forum and its place in a wider framework of county-wide strategic partnership boards.

3. That Cabinet agree that the multi-agency Surrey Forum partnership lead an inclusive, comprehensive refresh of the Community Vision 2030 to 2050

Reasons for Decisions:

Building on the strong partnerships already in existence across the county, the response to the Covid-19 pandemic across the county has highlighted the benefits and need for improved alignment, coordination and collaboration between communities and the public, private and voluntary, community and faith sectors, to collectively deliver for residents. The Surrey Forum will play a key role in overseeing progress towards delivering a single shared vision for the county and ensuring alignment of partners’ strategic priorities, decisions and resources.

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

RESOLVED:

See Minute 242/21

Reasons for Decisions:

See Minute 242/21

(This item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet approves the recommended programme of activity (see paragraph 15) to deliver a reduced office estate footprint alongside essential transformational investment to deliver workspaces across the county that support the Council's agile organisation objectives. Further details are set out in the Part 2 report.

2.    That Cabinet agrees a total capital budget envelop of up to £21.8m to fit out the remaining core facilities and priority localised workspaces, to the Council’s Agile workspace standards.

3.    That Cabinet approves immediate allocation (from the £21.8m envelop) of £4.7m to drive forwards the programme activity (noting that further work will be undertaken to test the scope and available options for provision of core workspace in the North West quadrant – an additional paper will then be brought back to Cabinet in Q2 2022 with a recommended option and draw down from the remaining £17m capital funding).

4.    That Cabinet approves the use of the Budget Equalisation Reserve to finance the £7.2m of one-off revenue costs of change to enable delivery of the estate transformation programme from 2021-2025 and deliver revenue efficiencies of approximately £2.2m per annum from 2024/25 onwards.

5.    That Cabinet approves the arrangements by which a variation of up to 10% and maximum of £500k of total capital value may be agreed by the Director of Land & Property in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Property, the Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources, and the Executive Director of Resources. If the variance exceeds £500k, a further Cabinet report will be submitted to seek approval for additional capital funds.

6.    That Cabinet delegates the procurement of appropriate supply chain partners to enable delivery of all services associated with the above recommendation, in accordance with the Council’s Procurement and Contract Standing Orders, to the Executive Director of Resources and the Director of Land and Property.

Reasons for Decisions:

January 2021: Cabinet approved the outline Agile Office Estate Strategy which made the broad case for change, setting out key drivers and key targets. Specifically, the current corporate office estate was deemed to be:

• Of generally low quality, that does not efficiently support the adoption of Agile modern working practices.
• Expensive compared to industry benchmarks and expensive to maintain.
• High in its carbon output with poor energy efficiency.
• Relatively poorly located and under-utilised.

The strategy set out the components of a new office estate for Surrey County Council based on the evidence from a review of the existing estate and of the opportunities for new ways of working. Whilst the outline strategy was approved, it concluded that further analysis was required before the volume and location of space could be finalised(refer to Table 1 below).

Following January’s paper, agile workforce analysis has enabled detailed option reviews to meet demand and the development of a detailed five year programme of rationalisation and modernisation which will deliver an office estate that is flexible enough to support Services as they change office-based working practises to adopt agile ways of working; provides modern, healthy, accessible space to meet the needs of Surrey County Council and its partners; financially sustainable; and more energy efficient. Specifically, the following benefits will then be realised:

              i.        Revenue savings of circa £2.2m per annum from 2025/26.

             ii.        Flexibility for future increase/decrease workspace without acquiring additional assets.

            iii.        Improved quality for healthy, accessible space for staff, partners, and residents.

           iv.        Increased value of estate, mitigation against spiralling maintenance costs, leasable unused space, generating revenue or supporting partners to deliver.

             v.        Balanced geographical coverage across Surrey (aligns to greener travel plan).

           vi.        Support Net Zero ambition by 2030, by improved median energy efficiency and efficient operation.

          vii.        A network of modernised touchdown/delivery facilities, developed via a place-based approach to meet Service needs, develop partnership opportunities, and deliver maximum benefit to local communities.

(This item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet resolve to authorise the making of a compulsory purchase order and a side roads order, line order and/or other similar roads order (together referred to as “the Order”) under the provisions of sections 6, 8, 14, 125, 239, 240, 246, 249, 250 and 260 of the Highways Act 1980 (and any associated provisions) and section 40 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (and any associated provisions) to acquire land for the construction of the A320 HIF Scheme (the Order Land); the Council being satisfied that there is a compelling case in the public interest for the making of the Order to facilitate the carrying out of the A320 HIF Scheme.

2.    That Cabinet resolve that recommendation 1 above shall be read in substitution for paragraph 1 of the recommendations set out in the July 2021 Cabinet Report.

Reasons for Decisions:

In September 2020 the Cabinet confirmed acceptance of the HIF funding award of £41.8 million (see Cabinet Paper at item 13). 

As at the Cabinet decision date of September 2020 the Scheme had not been fully designed, thus the final land take was not known, and a further authority to pursue a compulsory purchase order was sought from Cabinet in July 2021.

Following Public Consultation further design alterations were made and this paper seeks additional authority to make  a compulsory purchase order and a side roads order, line order and/or other similar roads order (together referred to as "the Order") under the provisions of sections 6, 8, 14, 125, 239, 240, 246, 249, 250 and 260 of the Highways Act 1980 (and any associated provisions) and section 40 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (and any associated provisions) and to seek confirmation by the Secretary of State.

The decision as recommended by this report will enable the Council, with funding for its Infrastructure Fund Forward Funding scheme from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to construct the necessary infrastructure improvements described above.

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

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet reviews the findings from the September 2021 Ofsted Monitoring Visit (focused on services for care leavers) and the updated improvement plan and priorities as set out by children’s services in response to feedback received.

2.    That Cabinet notes the progress made delivering the children’s services ‘Getting to Good’ plan, the improvement priorities resulting from the Ofsted Focused Visit in March 2021 and the services’ preparedness for a full Ofsted ILACS inspection.

3.    That Cabinet agrees to receive a further update on the progress made delivering the children’s services ‘Getting to Good’ plan and the overall inspection readiness in Spring 2022 (unless such an inspection has already taken place).  

Reasons for Decisions:

Children’s services improvement is a high priority for the Council. It is important that Cabinet is aware of the evidence of progress made to improve services so far, as determined by both internal and external scrutiny and of the ongoing, ambitious and innovative improvement plan which is driven by a focus on improving outcomes for children and families and goes well beyond resolving only the issues highlighted by Ofsted, the Department for Education (DfE) and the Commissioner.

The routine national inspection activity resumed in May 2021 and Ofsted are continuing to carry out the ‘Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services’ (ILACS) programme. Although the timetable for inspection is not notified in advance, we are anticipating a full re-inspection of Surrey's children's services between Spring and Summer 2022.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture Select Committee)

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet note the Council’s forecast revenue and capital budget positions.

2.    That Cabinet approve the introduction of a new Highways Section 171 fee of £143 to recover the administrative cost involved in issuing licences for customers to undertake private works where access is required from the highway as outlined in paragraph 14.

Reasons for Decisions:

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

(This item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

See Minute 243/21

Reasons for Decisions:

See Minute 243/21

(This item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet gives approval to Procure for the projects listed in Annex 1 – “Annual Procurement Forward Plan for 2022/23” in accordance with the Council’s Procurement and Contract Standing Orders.

2.    That Cabinet agrees that where the first ranked tender for any projects listed in Annex 1 is within the +/-5% budgetary tolerance level, the relevant Executive Director, Director or Head of Service (as appropriate) is authorised to award such contracts.

3.    That Cabinet agrees the procurement activity that will be returned to Cabinet prior to going out to market.

4.    That Cabinet notes projects that will be presented to Cabinet or the Strategic Investment Board for approval of the business case (highlighted in grey).

Reasons for Decisions:

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

·         To provide Cabinet with strategic oversight of planned procurement projects for 2022/23.

·         To ensure Cabinet oversight is focussed on the most significant procurements.

·         To avoid the need to submit multiple individual requests for Approval to Procure as well as individual contract award approvals for work taking place in 2022/23.

(This item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

See Minute 245/21

Reasons for Decisions:

See Minute 245/21

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture Select Committee)

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet approve the award of the Intelligent Traffic Systems contract to the successful bidder.

2.    That Cabinet delegate authority to finalise and enter into contract with the successful bidder to the Executive Director for Environment, Transport and Infrastructure in consultation with the Executive Director for Resources and the Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure.

Reasons for Decisions:

Surrey County Council has a general ‘Network Management Duty’ under the Traffic Management Act 2004, and the County’s Traffic System Assets play a key role in delivering this Duty.  The award of the Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS) contract will enable Surrey County Council to continue to inspect, maintain and improve traffic control systems on its highway network across the county.

Following approval of the Procurement Strategy in September 2020, officers from Highways and Transport supported by officers from across the Council including Procurement, Legal Finance and Strategic Commissioning have conducted an “Open Procedure” procurement exercise to identify the next Intelligent Traffic Systems contractor.

Following the recent completion of that procurement process, officers are now able to recommend the contract be awarded to the “most economically advantageous tenderer” as explained in the Part 2 report.

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

This decision record sets out the key information for publication on the decision by the Executive Director for Customer, Digital and Transformation to approve expenditure for a Your Fund Surrey project located in Tandridge. The agreed recommendations are set out below and details of the project are set out in a decision report attached as an annex to this record.

It was AGREED

Officer Recommendations in consultation with the Advisory Panel. It is recommended that:

1.   That £44,000 is award from Your Fund Surrey to CF110 Limpsfield Parish Council as a significant contribution toward the overall project cost, with the suggestion that the applicant undertake community fundraising to reach the final project total, as a demonstration of the wider community engagement and commitment to the project and its proposed benefits.

2.   That the funding is awarded in two tranche payments with an initial payment of £26,000 and a second tranche payment of £18,000, contingent on the applicant confirming that they had raised the outstanding balance of £4,343 prior to release of the second tranche payment.

3.   To request that the applicant as part of the evaluation plan considers mitigations for any possible negative environmental impacts arising from the project, include any opportunities for additional tree planting, with the support of the Greener Futures team.

4.    To approve an additional sum of £5,509 to be held by SCC as contingency funding, for release only upon an evidenced request.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet approve the £1.25m revenue and £1.91m capital funding required for the project extension to complete go-live of the new Unit4 ERP system in April 2022.

Reasons for Decisions:

The recommendation to approve the funding request will enable the programme to complete the implementation of the Unit4 ERP system and deliver its benefits. This includes addressing urgent technical drivers for change, while also enabling the council to achieve its ambitions to transform services, drive efficiencies, improve management decision making and to fully enable a flexible and mobile workforce.

(This item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

See Exempt Minute [E-21-21]

Reason for Decisions:

See Minute 246/21

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