Issue - meetings

Decision:

(1)    That the key findings in the report submitted to the Executive be noted.

(2)    That the options in section 6 of the report be implemented.

Reason:

To better control costs and provide a more robust governance approach to spend in this area.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

None.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None

The Executive considered a report outlining the extent, nature, and spend on consultants and agency workers within the Council over the past five years and set out some key findings. It was noted that over the past five years the Council had spent a combined total of £36.5 million on agency workers and consultants across both revenue and capital budgets. Of that spend, £24.5 million was on engaging consultants and £11.97 million employing agency workers. Expenditure on consultancy recruitment had increased twenty-four fold over the time period covered by the report and were generally employed to cover specialist placements on capital projects. Agency workers were usually employed to fill temporary gaps or shortages and recruitment had increased by over three-fold. Comensura had been the Council’s usual provider of agency staff, although use of other agencies had become more commonplace and less controlled than previously. Recruitment had occasionally been undertaken without a formal governance process being applied.

The report advocated that there should be a thorough assessment of in-house expertise including a mandate with a full business case set out for approval prior to recruiting external consultants. It was proposed that consultant recruitment should be subject to a rigorous procurement process that would include tendering. It was further proposed that a formal agreement with Comensura to include set costs, terms and conditions be relaunched for agency staff. Any exceptions to using Comensura staff would be put to the Corporate Procurement Board. There would be reported updates in six and twelve-months.

This report had previously been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 20 October 2020 and the matter would also be referred back for updating on progress.

An additional recommendation to implement all of the proposals set out in the report was included on the Supplementary Information Sheet.

Accordingly, the Executive

RESOLVED:

(1)    That the key findings in the report submitted to the Executive be noted.

(2)    That the options in section 6 of the report be implemented.

Reason:

To better control costs and provide a more robust governance approach to spend in this area.

The Chairman welcomed the Lead Councillor for Resources and the Senior Specialist Procurement. 

The Lead Councillor for Resources introduced the item, advising the meeting that the amount spent by the Council on consultants and agency workers over the last five years was £24.5 million on consultants and £11.97 million on agency workers.  He advised the meeting that consultants were generally engaged without a formal procurement or governance process.  In addition, he advised that half of agency workers were not obtained through the Council’s temporary staffing contract with Comensura, rather service managers were going off contract to obtain the workers they require.  The Lead Councillor for Resources confirmed that there was an agency worker spend of £3.6 million on Fleet and Waste Management over the previous five years.

The Lead Councillor for Resources praised the proposed introduction of the procurement strategy into the process of managing spend on consultants and agency workers. 

The Senior Specialist Procurement confirmed that the report was produced at the request of the Committee and she summarised its findings to the meeting.  She indicated that while consultants on the Council’s larger projects were engaged as part of a governance process involving a proposed business case, generally they were engaged on a more ad hoc basis for other areas of work across the organisation. 

The Senior Specialist Procurement advised that opportunities for consultants spend identified in the report included looking to deliver work in-house where possible and improve cost control and options evaluation through new governance arrangements.  In relation to opportunities to improve contracting agency workers, the Committee was advised of a relaunch of the Comensura contract and minimising off-contract spend by requiring a procurement exemption if another recruitment agency was to be engaged.  The Senior Specialist Procurement suggested a reliance on agency staff could be expected to decline as the Council’s Future Guildford transformation programme was completed.

In reply to a question from a Committee member, the meeting was advised that direct employee expenditure was £38.1 million [for 2019/20].  In addition, the Committee confirmed that the total spend on consultants and agency workers over the past five years was £36.5 million rather than £34.69 million.  Members of the Committee suggested that spending an average of approximately twenty per cent of the Council’s staffing budget on consultants and agency staff each year was excessive. 

Members of the Committee highlighted the Council’s apparent reliance on agency workers to provide frontline services such as waste management and suggested it would be preferable to employ workers directly.  The Director of Resources outlined the need for a bank of staff able to undertake waste management duties.  The Managing Director stated that the use of agency staff for fleet and waste management services was done in an appropriate and responsible way.  The Lead Councillor for Resources stated that such information within the report might usefully challenge long established practices.

The Lead Councillor for Community reminded a Committee member of the importance of refuse collection keyworkers.  In response, the Committee member concerned apologised and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30