Agenda item

To consider a report by the Acting Strategic Procurement Manager (copy enclosed) which details progress on Internal Audit’s latest follow up work of Procurement of Construction Services.

A report by the Acting Strategic Procurement Manager (ASPM) had been circulated previously.

The ASPM introduced the report which provided details of progress on Internal Audit’s latest follow up work of Procurement of Construction Services following its initial report in October, 2013 and the Wales Audit Office’s (WAO) report of March, 2014.  This was the second follow up report, with the previous one having been submitted in September, 2014.

The Committee had requested that a further follow up report for Procurement of Construction Services be presented to provide assurance that improvements had been made since the December, 2014 report. 

Details of the findings of the Internal Audit report on Procurement of Construction Services in October, 2013, and the WAO report, which covered school building maintenance work, had been included in the report.  The follow up Action Plan, Appendix 1, incorporated all 21 actions from both the Internal Audit and WAO Action Plans.  Although some progress had been made since the follow up reports in September and December 2014, only eight actions had been fully implemented.  A further two had now been completed and the remaining actions were in progress.  In particular, there had been progress in developing a draft procurement strategy and there had been significant progress on the contract management functionality in the e-sourcing system following increased effort in gathering data.  The transfer of the Collaborative Procurement Service from Finance and Assets to Communications, Marketing and Leisure may impact slightly on some timescales. 

The ASPM provided a detailed summary of the Action Plan, Appendix 1, and explained that the majority of the delays experienced had related to staffing and RCF issues.  The WAO Representative acknowledged the progress made and referred to the matters which were still outstanding and suggested that a further progress report be presented to the Committee in May, 2015 when these action points had been addressed.

Mr P. Whitham highlighted the importance of ensuring that all members of staff directly involved in procurement were aware of the CPR’s and received the necessary training as soon as possible, and that evidence was available that the training had been delivered.  The ASPM explained that corporate induction packs for new starters now included details pertaining to the CPR’s, a review of training materials was currently being undertaking based on the training provided by Flintshire County Council and a schedule of training courses would be arranged for the 180 members of staff who roles included work with CPR’s, with each member of staff being required to provide written confirmation of receipt of the training. 

In response a question from Mr Whitham, the ASPM explained that the provision of training on CPR’s for members of staff based in schools would be arranged by the Education Planning and Resource Manager, and details could be provided during consideration of business item number 8 of the agenda.  The ASPM also confirmed that the CPR’s would be applied to the delivery of the Council’s Corporate Plan, particular reference being made to the role out of the twenty first century schools programme.

Councillor D.C. Duffy expressed his concern regarding the delays experienced in meeting the timescales as outlined in the Action Plan.

RESOLVED – that Corporate Governance Committee:-

(a)            receives the report and expresses its concerns regarding the delays experienced in meeting the timescales as outlined in the Action Plan, and

(b)            requests that a progress report be presented to the May, 2015 meeting of the Committee.

    (SA to Action)