Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Dereck Francis, Democratic Services  01902 555835 or Email: dereck.francis@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

No apologies for absence were received.

 

2.

Declarations of interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interests.

 

3.

Minutes of the previous meeting - 4 October 2016 pdf icon PDF 97 KB

[For approval]

Minutes:

Resolved:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 4 October 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

 

4.

Matters arising

[To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting]

Minutes:

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

5.

Chair's announcements

Minutes:

Cllr Andrew Johnson (the Chair) stated that reports on the following urgent items would be considered at the meeting:

·         Remodelling and Tender of mental Health Preventative Contracts (open item).

·         Wolverhampton Interchange Programme (exempt item)

6.

Wolverhampton Workbox pdf icon PDF 296 KB

[To consider the process and funds to develop a fully interactive online Wolverhampton Workbox to provide local people and businesses with improved access to information, careers advice and education, and training and employment opportunities]

Minutes:

Cllr John Reynolds presented the report on the process and funds to develop a fully interactive online Wolverhampton Workbox (working title) to provide local people and businesses with improved access to information, careers advice and education, and training and employment opportunities.

 

Resolved:

  1. That the approach to develop the ‘Wolverhampton Workbox’ which would provide residents with improved access to skills, training and employment be endorsed.

         

  1. That a maximum contribution of £219,000 from the Regeneration Reserve to support the development of a Wolverhampton Workbox be approved.

 

  1. That it be noted that £129,000 of the full project costs would be met from European Social Fund (ESF) funding that had already been secured by the Council.  There are a few elements that need further clarification in respect of eligibility for ESF and if all elements that have been identified are approved the amount required from the regeneration reserve would be a maximum of £219,000.

 

  1. That it be noted that the Workbox had been co-designed with a range of local skills and employment providers, under the auspices of the City’s Skills and Employment Board, chaired by David Danger, Managing Director, Managing Director, CORP - Engine & Environmental Control Systems.  HS Marston Aerospace Limited.

 

7.

Remodelling and Tender of Mental Health Preventative Contracts pdf icon PDF 91 KB

[To consider the outcomes of the consultation for a new service delivery model for mental health preventative service provision]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Further to the discussion at the previous meeting held on 4 October 2016, Cllr Andrew Johnson presented a report on the outcome of the formal consultation, based upon the proposed new service delivery model for Mental Health Preventative Service Provision, contained in the consultation report.

 

Resolved:

  1. That a new service delivery model in relation to low level mental health preventative services be approved.

 

  1. That a tendering exercise in relation to the proposed new service model with a view to implementation on 1 April 2017 be approved.

 

3.     That the outcome of the consultation contained in the Executive Summary of the consultation report be noted.

8.

Schedule of Individual Executive Decision Notices pdf icon PDF 67 KB

[To note the summary of decisions approved by the appropriate Cabinet Member in consultation with the relevant employee]

 

Minutes:

Resolved:

That the summary of open and exempt individual executive decisions, approved by appropriate Cabinet Members following consultation with the relevant employees be noted.

 

9.

Exclusion of press and public

[To pass the following resolution:

 

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information on the grounds shown below.]

Minutes:

Resolved:

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within the paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

Part 2 - exempt items, closed to press and public

10.

Disposal of Properties at Langley Road, Whitburn Close, Vicarage Road and Warstones Drive, Wolverhampton

[To consider declaring properties surplus to the Council’s requirements and to approve the demolition of buildings located on each site and to approve the disposal of the sites]

Minutes:

Cllr Peter Bilson presented a report on proposals for the disposal of properties that were surplus to service requirements.

 

Resolved:

  1. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Housing and City Assets in conjunction with the Strategic Director for Place to declare the following sites surplus to requirements; provide consent to demolish the buildings currently located on each of the sites; and to tender the works for such demolition:

·       Land and buildings at Whitburn Close Penderford

·       Land and buildings at Langley Road  Wolverhampton

·       Land and buildings at Warstones Drive Wolverhampton

·       Land and buildings at Vicarage Road Wolverhampton

 

  1. That the transfer of the freehold interest of the sites to WV Living for the development of market sale and council housing be approved, subject to the WV Living Board approval and Cabinet approval of the revised WV Living Business Plan.

 

  1. That should WV Living not be able to progress the development of housing, the disposal of the site through usual disposal programme methods be approved.

 

4.     That virements from the capital allocation for disposals to establish capital budgets for the demolitions as per the table in paragraph 2.8 of the report be approved.

11.

Procurement - award of contracts for works, goods and services

[To consider various delegations of authority and award of contracts]

Minutes:

The Panel considered a report on proposals for the award of contracts for works, goods and services.

 

Resolved:

1.     That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Housing and Assets, in consultation with the Strategic Director for Place, to approve the award of a contract for the Supply of Bread and Dairy when the evaluation process is complete.

 

2.     That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Housing and Assets, in consultation with the Strategic Director for Place, to approve the award of a contract for Supply of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables when the evaluation process is complete.

 

3.     That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Housing and Assets, in consultation with the Strategic Director for Place, to approve the award of a contract for the Demolition of Care Homes when the evaluation process is complete.

 

4.     That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Environment, in consultation with the Strategic Director for Place, to approve the award of a contract for Environmental Enforcement when the evaluation process is complete.

 

5.     That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Governance, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Resources, Director of Governance and Director of Finance, to approve the award of a contract for Yoo Recruit Management Partner when the evaluation process is complete.

 

6.     That authority be delegated to the Director of Governance to execute contracts in respect of the above as required.

 

7.     That a report be submitted to Full Council recommending the option to opt-in to a sector led body either jointly with the seven WMCA councils or if a joint agreement cannot be reached then a sole appointment of external auditors for 2018/19 onwards for a maximum of five years and that authority is delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to award the contract when the appointment process is completed.

 

12.

Yoo Recruit Management Partner

[To approve the procurement of a management partner for Yoo Recruit]

Minutes:

Cllr Milkinder Jaspal presented a report on an appraisal of options to support YOO Recruit (YOO), the Council’s wholly owned recruitment agency, to change its business processes and invest in additional support resources and systems to ensure compliance with recent and proposed legislation that directly affect employment agencies, in particular Automatic Pension Enrolment (Pensions Act 2008) and Use of Personal Service Companies in Public Sector (Budget 2016). The option to procure a management partner for Yoo Recruit was recommended.

 

Cllr Andrew Johnson commented that further work would be required on the Yoo Recruit company structure to ensure that the management partner could be incentivised to grow the business without the need for entering into a joint venture agreement.

 

Resolved:

  1. That the procurement of a management partner for Yoo Recruit be approved.

 

  1. That the request for delegated authority included within the agenda item ‘Procurement - award of contract for works, goods and services’ (Minute No. 11 above refers).

 

  1. That further piece of work be undertaken to ensure the management partner can be incentivised to grow the Yoo Recruit business without the need for entering into a joint venture agreement.

 

13.

Wolverhampton Interchange Programme

[To consider an update on the Interchange Programme]

Minutes:

Cllr John Reynolds presented an update report on the Wolverhampton Interchange Programme and sought approval to accept a contribution of £10.7 million from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) towards the delivery of the scheme.

 

Cllr Johnson advised that following a discussion with the Deputy Section 151 Officer it would be necessary to refer to Full Council the recommendation to accept the contribution from the WMCA.  He therefore asked that recommendation 1 in the report be amended by the addition of the words ‘subject to Full Council approving recommendation 5 below’.

 

Resolved:

  1. That subject to Full Council approving recommendation 5 below, the contribution of £10.7 million from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) be accepted, the capital budget be increased to reflect the additional expenditure and associated funding, and completion of associated legal agreements be delegated to the Director of Governance,

 

  1. That it be noted that additional costs have been incurred on the Project and that sources of funding have been identified to address some or all of the additional funding required and that actions are underway to secure the appropriate levels of funding.

 

  1. That the developer’s decision to terminate the agreement with the current building contractor and appoint a new contractor to demolish and redevelop Wolverhampton Rail Station be noted.

 

  1. That the Council entering into a Deed of Variation dated 7 June 2016 with West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in relation to £.1.1 million of the Local Growth Fund/Black Country Local Transport Board be endorsed.

 

  1. That it be noted that a separate report would be presented to Council to seek approval to the Authority underwriting additional costs of up to £8.1 million for the programme and including this in the capital budget funded initially through prudential borrowing, recognising that it is the expectation that external funding would be secured in due course to fund the additional costs.