Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 January, 2024

(b)  Any matters arising

The Minutes of the meeting held on 18 January, 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record.

There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities considered a report of the Director of Law and Governance which indicated that the Council’s Constitution sets out how the Council carries out its business and makes decisions. It is a living document and is reviewed and updated from time to time to ensure that it meets changing legislative requirements and reflects changes in practise within the Council.

The Constitutional Advisory Panel at its meeting on 26 February, 2024 considered proposed changes to the Constitution. These were:-

a)  Amendments to the Contract Procedure Rules as set out in Part 3G of the Constitution

b)  Amendments to the Financial Procedure Rules as set out in Part 3F of the Constitution

In relation to the Contract Procedure Rules, the report indicated that the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 (“PSR”) is a new  set of rules which govern the arrangement of healthcare services in England, introduced by regulations made under the Health and Care Bill, and which came in to force as of 01 January 2024. The PSR must be followed for all applicable procurement activity by Integrated Care  Boards (ICBs), the NHS and Local Authorities. Relevant authorities must follow one of seven (7) processes when procuring health care services. In addition, there is no threshold to the PSR, meaning that all applicable activity, regardless of value, must follow the new Regulations.

The proposed amendments to the Contract Procedure Rules (“CPRs”) are the second of three changes being considered by Council following the inclusive procurement changes in December 2023 and anticipated changes with the introduction the new Procurement Act coming in summer 2024.

The proposed amendments reflect new governance arrangements specific to

 procurement activity captured by the PSR and can be summarised as follows:

•  Reference to and background of the Provider Selection Regime (reflected in Section 1).

•  Bespoke governance process for Health Care services (reflected in Section 2 and throughout relevant sections). Unlike the PCR2015 and other associated public procurement regulations, there are no thresholds associated with the Provider Selection Regime (PSR), meaning all contracts of all values are captured within the PSR. As such, in order to maintain oversight of decision-making processes to ensure compliance with the transparency requirements of the PSR, all procurement activity relating to healthcare services caught under the PSR are to be brought to Procurement Panel / Board.

•  Removal of permitted exceptions to the Contract Procedure Rules for Health Care services. There are no thresholds relating to the Provider Selection Regime, and as such, all contracts entered in to relating to Health Care services are required to comply with the legislation.

•  Establishing a default position of utilising the Competitive Process under the PSR to drive value for money. Utilisation of any of the other permitted procurement processes and deviation away from the default position will need to be justified through the appropriate governance documentation brought to Procurement Panel or Procurement Board.

The Constitutional Advisory Panel agreed that all of the proposed amendments, as detailed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

To consider any other items of business which the Cabinet Member decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of urgent public business.