Agenda item

RECOMMENDATION:

It is recommended that the committee scrutinise and comment on the proposals within the attached draft cabinet report, ref CAB3463 which is to be considered by cabinet at its meeting on the 20 November 2024.

Councillor Chris Westwood Councillor, Cabinet Member for Housing introduced the report, ref CAB3463 which set out proposals for the Housing Procurement of HRA Repairs and Maintenance Term Contract, (available here).  The introduction included the following points.

1.             The current repairs and maintenance service carried out approximately 19,000 jobs to 5,500 homes and refurbished around 300 void properties annually, alongside day-to-day repairs.

2.             The council invested around £14 million annually into refurbishment and maintenance, renewing key building components and retrofitting various energy-efficient measures.

3.             The current contract with Cardo had run for around 13 years, necessitating a review to understand how best to meet current requirements.

4.             A recent survey showed that 80% of tenants were satisfied with the repairs and maintenance service, and 78% were happy with the timeliness of the service.

5.             The council aimed to improve the ease of doing business with the housing team.

6.             Consultations were conducted with tenants, staff, members, major service providers, and other local authorities to gather insights and best practices.

7.             Key outcomes included seeking a partner, to represent the council and its tenants, improve customer service and experience, and ensure continuous customer feedback.

8.             The focus was on delivering value for money, not just the lowest cost, and fostering continuous innovation to improve services.

9.             The council planned to expand services beyond repairs and maintenance to include planned upgrades, retrofit activities, decarbonisation of housing stock, voids refresh, and other potential services.

10.          A procurement process was to be conducted over the next 18 to 24 months, with the new contract expected to start on 1 August 2026.

11.          The evaluation model would reward the highest quality bid at the right price.

12.          In summary, the contract aimed to drive change, improve the standard of council-owned housing, enhance residents' lives, regenerate communities, and tackle climate change.

Councillor Danny Lee addressed the committee and highlighted the following points. Councillor Lee questioned the risks of consolidating multiple budgets into a single 10-year contract and the lack of nature and whole-life considerations in the recommendations. He stressed the need for balanced environmental key performance indicators (KPIs) and found the 10% minimum for environmental social value criteria too low. He also raised concerns about the accuracy of data for estimating repair costs and the difficulty of annual budgeting predictions.

Councillor Caroline Horrill addressed the committee and highlighted the following points. Councillor Horrill noted the consultation process and the proposed 60/40 split of quality and cost in the contract. She sought clarification on the flexibility of subcontracting, the setting and use of KPIs, and the definition of a term alliance contractor. She also raised concerns about the lack of detailed data on the number and types of repairs currently performed on the council's housing stock.

The committee was recommended to scrutinise and comment on the proposals within the attached draft cabinet report, ref CAB3463 which was to be considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 20 November 2024.

The committee proceeded to ask questions and debate the report. In summary, the following matters were raised.

1.             A question was asked about the accuracy of the 19,000 repairs figure, given that last year's total was 23,793, including planned work.

2.             Clarification was sought on the council's confidence in using a competitive dialogue procedure for procurement.

3.             Further clarification was requested on the rationale behind the 60/40 quality-to-price ratio in the evaluation criteria.

4.             A question was raised about the scope for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and local businesses to contribute within the process.

5.             It was asked whether the council had considered running with two contractors for a period before moving to a single contractor.

6.             A question was raised about how the council would identify and maintain high levels of quality in the contractor's work over the contract's duration.

7.             Clarification was sought on the existence of a break clause in the contract for terminating it if quality standards were not met and the performance management measures, specifically if there was a midpoint review.

8.             A question was raised about the specific environmental aspects included in the contract and how these would be enforced.

9.             It was asked whether the contract would come back to the committee for review after a year to assess its performance.

These points were responded to by Councillor Chris Westwood Councillor, Cabinet Member for Housing, Gilly Knight, Corporate Head of Housing, Liz Keys, Director (Finance), Simon Hendey, Strategic Director and Laura Taylor, Chief Executive accordingly.

RESOLVED:

1.             The committee scrutinised and commented upon the report.

2.             The committee requested that a breakdown (by number and type) of repairs currently undertaken on the council's housing stock be provided to committee members.