THREE RIVERS DISTRICT COUNCIL

At a meeting of the Public Services and Health Policy and Scrutiny Committee held in the Penn Chamber, Three Rivers House, Rickmansworth, on Thursday 5 February 2009 from 7.30pm to 8.55pm.

Present:Councillors Barbara Green (Vice-Chairman in the Chair) Kemal Butt, Joy Mann, Russell Smith and Brian White.

Officers in attendance:-

Karl Murdoch-Head of Environmental Protection

Ted Massey-Chief Environmental Health Officer

Jennie Moore-Environmental Projects Officer

Sarah Haythorpe-Principal Committee Manager.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Phil Redshaw and Kate Turner.

Also in attendance: Councillor Phil Brading.

PH.PP56/08MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Public Services and Health Policy and Scrutiny Committee held on 4 December 2008 were confirmed as a correct record and were signed by the Chairman.

Matters Arising

It was requested that the request for a Post Box in Ovaltine Drive and performance statistics for delivery of post be agenda items at the next meeting.

PH.PP57/08NOTICE OF OTHER BUSINESS

None.

PH.PP58/08DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None.

PH.PP59/08VEHICLE MAINTENANCE CONTRACT

This report recommended re-tendering the vehicle maintenance contract.

In response to a question on the average life of the vehicles, it was advised that expected useful life was 7 years and so currently the contract did not allow for maintenance of a vehicle older than 7 years. In order to commence the rolling replacement programme the retention of some vehicles older than 7 years was necessary. The contractor had provided estimates for these 7 year plus vehicles but certain assumptions had to be made concerning agreement on replacing certain major components beyond the 7 year limit.

There was no extension clause in the current contract, although this would not preclude an extension being negotiated provided that both parties agreed to do so. Since the current contractor had indicated that they did not wish to negotiate an extension, the contract needed to be re tendered so that a new contract could be let with effect from the end date of the current contract on 1 July 2009.

Officers were proposing that the contract run for 7 years, to 30 June 2016 with a possible extension to 31 March 2018 to make it coterminous with the waste management contract, although the extension clause could be removed.

The Committee raised the following concerns on the proposal

  • the length of time the contract would run, which proposed 7 years with a possible extension of a further 2 years to make the contract coterminous with the waste management contract;
  • that a cost benefit analysis for extending the contract for 21 months had not been provided;
  • no alternative proposals had been provided by Officers for the Committee to consider;
  • there was no indication in the report that the contractor would stop providing their service in June;
  • no figures had been provided for the Committee to compare against over the next 18months.

Members noted the following points in response to their concerns:

  • In relation to the length of the contract, this was the length of the current contract, it reflected the planned life of individual vehicles, and it was designed to synchronise with future waste management arrangements.
  • With regard to cost benefit of contract extension and lack of 18 months’ figures for comparison, this was not possible to provide, since the current contractor was unwilling to negotiate an extension on the current agreed rates.
  • With regard to no indication that the contractor would stop providing the service in June, officers stated that there would be a risk of breaching the EU procurement directive, because the increase in costs would result in a sum which exceeds 50 percent of the original contract value, but a short extension of 2 to 3 months would be possible without causing this problem. Officers could experience difficulties in negotiating an extension to the contract to ensure it would provide value in accordance with the Council’s need to provide value for money. In addition, the contractor had indicated that they would be unwilling to re-negotiate on the current contract rates.
  • With regard to a lack of costs, officers stated that the original intention of the Rolling Replacement Programme was to flatten-out the maintenance costs over the length of the contract, as opposed to rising from years 1 to 7; the original proposal had outlined budget savings at the time as a result of this; and the intention of the tender exercise was to safeguard these savings and avoid unknown cost increases.

With regard to the lease of the site currently used by the contractor for vehicle maintenance this would not be offered as part of the contract. The lease of the land was a separate issue outside of the contract.

ACTIONS AGREED:-

That a report be presented to the Committee at their next meeting with consideration given to the following points:

  • Having a new contract with a shorter time period but coterminous with the waste contract.
  • Explore having the feasibility of a contract running for 5 years with an extension of 2 years plus a further 2 years or a contract for 5 years plus an extension of 4 years.
  • Explore the options of shortening the contract or staggering the contract.
  • Cost implications of extending the contract.
  • Negotiating a new contract with the existing contractor and how long it would run for.

PH.PP60/08HERTS WASTE PARTNERSHIP – INTER AUTHORITY AGREEMENT

The Committee received a report seeking delegation of authority to enable the Director of Community and Environmental Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Public Services and Health, to sign on behalf of the Council certain Herts Waste Partnership documents.

ACTION AGREED:-

that the Director of Community & Environmental Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Public Services & Health, be given delegated authority to carry out the formal sign-off of the Interim Inter Authority Agreement on behalf of the Council.

PH.PP61/08COLLECTION CALENDARS

The Committee received an update on the delivery of collection calendars.

Members commended the Environmental Protection Team on the service they had provided during the recent severe weather conditions.

Members acknowledged that there had been problems in the delivery of the collection calendars, but noted that overall the Christmas collection arrangements had worked well, and supported the recommendation of continuing with these collection arrangements.

In Croxley Green, it was noted that the collection calendars were not delivered until the middle of January which was some two months after they should have been delivered.

The Committee noted that no extra costs had been incurred by the Council due to the delivery problems but the reputation of the service had been damaged especially in Croxley Green and other areas in the District.

ACTION AGREED:-

That the Committee recommend to the Executive Committee that:

(1)In future years, the collection calendars are delivered by the refuse collection crews and are left hanging on the bins;

(2)Those households with a Friday refuse collection have stickers placed on their bin on the collection before Good Friday to notify them that their next collection will be on Easter Saturday; and

(3)In future years the collection arrangements for Christmas / New Year be scheduled as for 2008/09.

PH.PP62/08FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY AUDIT – PROGRESS AGAINST THE ACTION PLAN

Members received a report on progress against the Action Plan of improvements agreed with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in respect of the food service.

The Committee was asked to make comments on the draft new Food Enforcement Policy and to recommend the amended draft to the Executive Committee and Council for adoption.

ACTIONS AGREED:-

(1)that the Committee note the progress that had been made against the Action Plan agreed with the Food Standards Agency; and

(2)that the Committee recommend the (amended) draft new Food Enforcement Policy (Appendix 2 of the report) to the Executive Committee and to Council for adoption.

PH.PP63/08FEES AND CHARGES

Members considered the fees and charges for services under the control of the Committee. Members were referred to the Strategic, Service and Financial Planning reports submitted to the Executive Committee on 26 January 2009.

ACTIONS AGREED:-

that the report be noted.

PH.PP64/08PROGRESS ON IMPLEMENTING THE SCORES ON THE DOORS SCHEME FOR FOOD PREMISES

The Committee received a report on the success of implementing the Scores on the Doors (SOTD) ranking food premises in the district.

Members requested that the table in 2.7 of the report should in future show the number of premises achieving each of the star ratings as a percentage.

Members noted it was a legal requirement for a food business to register their business with their local authority.

The Chief Environmental Health Officer advised that the Foods Standards Agency were investigating the introduction of a compulsory scheme to operate nationwide. The agency had also recently approved the schemed used by the Council as the national scheme when implemented.

ACTION AGREED:-

that the Committee note this report on the introduction of the Scores on the Doors scheme and the conclusions that had been drawn concerning the general position on compliance by food businesses within the district.

PH.PP65/08WORK PROGRAMME

The Committee considered its work programme and requested the following amendments:

  • that a further report be presented at the March meeting on the Vehicle Maintenance Contract;
  • that a report on the Community Toilet Scheme be presented at the June meeting;
  • that a report on the Scores on the Doors scheme be presented in February 2010;
  • that a report on fees and charges be presented in October 2009.

ACTION AGREED:-

thatthe work programme be agreed subject to the amendments above.

CHAIRMAN

\\Trdclgfs01\Group Share\Committee & DMU\psc_public services & health\PS 2009\2009 mins\09 02 05 PS mins.doc

- 1 -