Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jean Addision, Kirk Harrison and Ian Jelley.

No declarations were received.

RESOLVED that:  The Service Delivery, Performance and Customers Executive Advisory Panel agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 27^th September 2021 a true and accurate record of the meeting.

None.

Members of the panel received a report that sought feedback on the Food Safety and Food and Feed Standards Service Plans for 2021-23 to inform Executive decision making at its meeting of 18^th November 2021.

It was noted that local authorities were required under legislation to publish Food and Feed Service Plans, with powers relating to the Food Safety Act being an Executive function. The plans before members detailed how the service intended to deliver, monitor and improve food and feed services.

The meeting heard that there was currently a backlog of food premises inspections as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, which had had a significant adverse impact on the Council’s ability to carry out the food safety service throughout 2020-2021.The Food Standards Agency had acknowledged this and had recently agreed a Local Authority Recovery Roadmap which provided a framework on re-starting the regulatory delivery system.

The panel noted that it was recommended that authority be delegated to the Executive Member for Growth and Regeneration, Cllr David Brackenbury in consultation with the Director of Place and Economy to approve future changes to the plans. The panel considered this recommendation to be a prudent one.

Members of the panel asked questions in relation to resourcing of the department given the backlog of work it faced and noted that there were currently two vacancies within the team, including one full-time Environmental Health Officer.

Following discussion, the Panel recommended that the Food Safety and Food and Feed Standards Service Plans 2021-23 be adopted by the Executive and approved of the recommendation that any future changes to the plans be approved by the Executive Member for Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Director of Place and Economy.

The panel received a report, the purpose of which was to seek comments from members to assist in informing the decision of Executive in regard to the commencement of a procurement project for a contract for the haulage and treatment of dry recycling material (DRM) collected as part of the Council’s kerbside waste collection.

The meeting heard that the Council currently had a variety of contractual arrangements in place for the processing of DRM, all of which were due to terminate by early 2022. It was therefore proposed to adopt an arrangement to cover all the waste operational areas, and which met with the Council’s requirements for the ethical treatment and disposal of materials. It was proposed that the new contract would cover a three-year period with the option to extend for a maximum of two 12-month periods.

The panel heard that there was an expectation that the bids submitted by interested parties would not show a great deal of variance in prices offered, although this would provide the Council with opportunity to clearly specify its expectations regarding the quality of recyclates collected to allow for pricing to be weighted more heavily in considering bids.

The panel were supportive of the recommendation to procure a new contract for dry recycling material and asked questions in relation to the value, quality and type of recyclates collected, including their end destination once they had passed through the collection system. Questions were also asked regarding communication with residents to ensure that the correct recyclates were placed in the relevant bins. It was heard that the Council needed to ensure it was clear to residents what was expected from them, while noting that residents themselves had a part to play in the recycling process.

Members received a report which sought comments from the Panel to inform the Executive decision in relation to the approval of the North Northamptonshire Waste and Recycling Policy and the North Northamptonshire Street Cleansing Policy.

It was noted that the policies agreed by the Shadow Executive in February 2021 had been developed to create a set of harmonised standards for waste, recycling and street cleansing, however, following implementation, the policies had been reviewed and a number of minor amendments required Executive approval.

Service areas contained within the policy documents included:

·         Residual waste collection

·         Recycling

·         Food waste

·         Garden waste

·         WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) collections

·         Bulky waste collections

·         Commercial / trade waste

·         Clinical waste

·         Household Waste Recycling Centres

·         Street Cleansing

The panel were broadly supportive of the proposals before them and recommended to Executive that waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and food waste collections should be implemented across the rest of North Northamptonshire.

Members also asked a number of questions in relation to:

·      Food waste

·      Compostable bags

·      Dog waste disposal

·      Leaf clearance

·      Battery disposal

Following debate, the panel requested that additional communications be undertaken with the public specifically in relation to residents being able to dispose of dog waste in litter bins, and how to deal with hazardous waste such as batteries.

The Panel received a report that sought comment in relation to the proposed procurement of the catering services at Corby East Midlands International Pool in order to inform the Executive decision at its 18^th November meeting.

Members heard that the current catering provision at Corby East Midlands International Pool was managed in-house by the pool management team having previously had two failed concessionaires, with a further unsuccessful procurement process in undertaken in 2018.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the service had been closed during 2020 and had re-opened in May 2021 offering a reduced service and was currently operating at a financial loss while detracting from existing staff roles at the pool.

It was heard that the new contract for catering arrangements would be a concession contract, with the aspiration that the service could be offered by a third-party while being cost-neutral to the Council. Any income realised as a result of the contract would be considered a bonus.

The meeting noted that any proposal for procurement had to be submitted to the Purchasing Gateway Group (PGG), with a copy of the report presented to the group circulated to members. The PGG had recommended approval of the procurement of the catering services with the contract to start as soon as possible.

Following debate, it was recommended that proposed process for the Catering Contract at Corby East Midlands International Pool be commended to Executive for approval.

The panel received a report that provided the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s (LGSCO) findings in respect complaints made against the sovereign authorities of Corby Borough Council, East Northamptonshire District Council, Kettering Borough Council, Northamptonshire County Council and the Borough Council of Wellingborough between 1^st April 2020 and 31^st March 2021.

It was noted that the Ombudsman provided the final stage for complaints about councils and social care after the council’s own complaints procedure had been exhausted. Each year councils received from the LGSCO a summary of complaints received against them and the outcome of these complaints.

The meeting received details of the complaints made against the former sovereign authorities and noted that complaints made against the former county council were not divided between North and West. It was heard that the LGSCO report for 2021/22 would cover the North Northamptonshire area as a whole.

Members heard that only a very small proportion of complaints reached the LGSCO as the vast majority of issues had been resolved by the individual councils prior to escalation. The outcome of complaints handled and upheld by the Ombudsman were provided, with members noting the level of financial recompense awarded in certain cases based on the LGSCO scale of inconvenience. It was noted that the priority was for councils to learn from mistakes made and to instigate process changes and additional staff training where necessary.

The panel noted the findings of the LGSCO report.

The panel considered an exempt report, the purpose of which was to seek comments from members to inform the Executive decision in relation to extending the current contract for the processing and treatment of wood waste arising from the Household Waste Recycling Centres beyond March 2022.

It was noted that the contract had been awarded in 2009 by the former county council for an initial 10-year period. A two-year extension had been agreed in 2019, with a further one-year extension to 31^st March 2022 agreed. The contract could be extended by a further two years to 2024 at which point a new tendering process would need to be undertaken.

Members noted that it was beneficial both financially and environmentally to remove as much wood from general waste as possible and that as the current contract had no minimum tonnage provision, there was no obligation to use the contract if better or alternative arrangements became available.

Following discussion, the panel were supportive of the proposal to extend the current arrangements for a further two years to 2024 and recommended this to the Executive.

Members received the Executive Forward Plan and the work programme for the panel and noted upcoming items for both.

Items added to the EAP work programme were:

·         Residual Waste contract extension

·         Transformation Plan

·         Procurement of Catering – Gallery, Library and Museum

·         Budget 2022/23