Cabinet Member: Councillor Mandy Williams-Davies
To consider the report of the Corporate Procurement Manager (attached).
10.40am – 11.40am
Minutes:
Everyone introduced themselves, and at the
Chairman's request, the Corporate Procurement Manager gave a short description
of the meaning of the term category management and how it worked on a practical
level.
The Cabinet
Member for Economy set the context by emphasising the importance of keeping the
momentum and ensuring that everyone was aware of the new arrangements.
Submitted – the Corporate Procurement
Manager's report updating the committee on the progress of the new Procurement
Strategy by responding to the Preparatory Meeting's questions in relation to:-
·
Achievement
in terms of embedding Category Management in the Care field together with
progress against the work programme and the timetable.
·
The
lessons learned from applying Category Management in the Care field, which were
important to keep in mind for the other two Category Management fields.
·
The
work programme for embedding Category Management in the other two fields.
·
How
the procedure in the Care field encouraged operating differently from the old
procedure and what had improved in terms of the new procedure.
·
The
Managers' readiness to buy into the Category Management procedure in the care
field and across the Council and any difficulties that were encountered.
·
The
impact of the arrangements on the Council's efficiency and effectiveness.
·
The
intentions in terms of securing opportunities for local providers in the Care
field and across the Council.
·
The
background work completed in terms of identifying needs and identifying the
market in the Care field and across the Council.
·
The
latest about the performance on spending with 'local' companies in Gwynedd and
on a North Wales and Wales level.
·
The
steps taken to promote liaising with local companies and selling locally.
·
Methods
of ensuring wider benefits to the county via the social clauses.
·
The
percentage of invoices that were paid within 30 days.
·
The
role of the Economy and Community Department in terms of the Keeping the
Benefits Local Project and what had been achieved to date.
The Cabinet Member and officers expanded on
the written responses in the report, and also responded to further questions /
observations from the members in relation to:-
·
How
the new system would raise awareness of procurement across the Council and
ensure that it happened in a unified and strategic way.
·
The
options in terms of helping people to establish new businesses.
·
The
limitations of European procurement legislation and rules.
·
The
importance of the Economy and Community Department's input in terms of keeping
the benefits local and the contact with local contractors.
·
The
challenge, in moving to a central procedure, of trying to persuade small local
companies to apply for contracts, (and that) without certainty of any work at
the end of the process.
·
The
flexibility of the procurement process and its ability to change and adapt
constantly in order to identify the local market's needs.
·
The
challenge of identifying and creating opportunities for social enterprises.
·
The
need to be aware of the impact of introducing the living wage and the Council's
ability to acquire contracts.
·
Changes
in processes.
·
The
impact of any cuts to the Economy and Community Department and the procurement
field as it was dependent upon the business support it received from the
department.
·
Monitoring
and managing contract standards.
·
The
definition of a "local" company.
·
Imposing
a language condition.
·
The
practical arrangements in terms of the teams who would be responsible for
purchasing in the entire field.
·
The
desire to see an example of good practice in order to get a better
understanding of the work, together with a progress report in 6 months' time.
The Senior
Business Manager gave an outline of her experience to date of using the
category management procedure in the Care field, noting that she saw this as a
very positive and inclusive development that sat comfortably with the
principles of Ffordd Gwynedd. She
explained that it was too early to share experiences of entire categories with
the members, but she referred to examples of using the new procedure in the
learning disability and home care fields where efficiency savings were
successfully secured by looking from the perspective of providers and working
with the providers to try to construct the service for the future. She also
referred to difficult situations now that would not have existed had category
management been in force at the time.
The Senior Business Manager responded to
questions / comments from the members in relation to:-
·
The
emphasis on the needs of the individual rather than the price of the work
alone.
·
The
method of monitoring home care packages.
The Chairman summarised the main messages of the discussion as follows:-
·
Spreading
the message across the Council, so that everyone knew about and understood
clearly what the new procedure was.
·
There
was no evidence to date whether the category management arrangements worked better
than the previous procedure. Progress on the procurement strategy should be
monitored by this committee in 6 months' time, and regularly thereafter.
·
Noting
concern regarding the impact of any possible cuts on departments' ability,
especially the Economy and Community Department, to drive the local element and
the impact of that on the county's economic success more generally.
·
Rooting
the strategy in Ffordd Gwynedd by consistently listening to the messages that
come back from the local sector and adapting the strategy accordingly.
·
That
there was a need for the Economy and Community Department to be more proactive
in promoting and creating opportunities for local businesses, social
enterprises, etc., to develop businesses by identifying the gaps in the market,
including encouraging individuals to establish new businesses.
The Senior Business Manager further noted
that the stakeholder group intended to look at the field of day care for older
people, following the category management through from start to finish, and
that members of this committee were welcome to be a part of the work in order
to see how the methodology worked in practice.
The Cabinet Member and the officers were
thanked for all their work and for the discussion.
Supporting documents: