Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director, Resources

The Board considered a report of the Executive Director, Resources which detailed performance information on the use of agency workers procured through the Master Vendor Contract for the quarter two period from 1^st July to 30th September, 2013. The report also compared expenditure for the first two quarters of 2013/14 and considered Interim Manager spends for the same periods. The report had previously been considered by the Cabinet Member (Strategic Finance and Resources) at his meeting on 2^nd December, 2013 (Minute 38/13 refers). It was submitted to the Board in light of recommendations about compliance with policies and governance; the increase in spend since the previous quarter; and the change of Master Vendor provider.

The Master Vendor contract covering the first two quarters required all agency workers to be ordered through Reed Recruitment. They supplied all suitable agency workers through their own agency or through a second tier arrangement with other agencies on behalf of the Council using rates of pay based on an agreed pay policy and a negotiated mark-up rate with Reed. The information supplied by Reed on the agency spends gave detailed information on agency worker usage and spends across the different Council Directorates. These details were set out in appendices attached to the report.

The Board were informed that this contract with the Master Vendor provider ended on 1^st December, 2013. The contract, which was a joint contract with Warwickshire and Solihull, transferred to Pertemps UK on 2^nd December, 2013. The new contract was for a hybrid Master Vendor arrangement and provided the Council with additional advantages to the previous contract.

Members of the Board questioned the officers and responses were provided. Matters raised included:

·  Details about the transition between Master Vendor providers

·  Specific issues in parts of the Place Directorate and Children’s Social Care identified in the report

·  The approaches being taken corporately and within services to put effective recruitment arrangements in place to address posts that had been vacant for a long time, rather than placing continual reliance on agency workers filling the gaps

·  Information about working hours of the bank staff used by the Council

·  The measures being taken to address the spend on replacing leavers and the arrangements in place for short and long term succession planning in order to reduce this

·  The lack of in depth analysis of sickness cover and how better information could be used to target reductions in spend

·  The suggestion that, in future, members be provided with the performance data information at an earlier stage

·  What was being done to improve the quality of diversity monitoring with the new contract provider

·  The position in relation to off contract spend and particularly the extent to which some of this was unauthorised

·  Areas of concern and the actions being taken to address the issues of compliance and governance that were the subject of recommendations to the Cabinet Member.

The Board also questioned how the decision to change the master vendor contract following a tendering process from Reed Recruitment to Pertemps had been authorised and it was agreed that this would be reported back at the next meeting.

RESOLVED that:

(i) The six month performance report be accepted.

(ii) A more comprehensive analysis of sickness absence and a more detailed analysis of off contract spend which identified the unauthorised spends to be included in future performance reports.