To approve admitting Lincolnshire County Council as a 3% shareholder of Hoople Limited.

Hoople Limited (“Hoople”) has identified a commercial opportunity for the provision of a number of "back office" services including finance and payroll; HR administration, and customer service centre to Lincolnshire County Council through the Business World, providing resilience and increased knowledge.

Hoople is a company that benefits from the exemption under Regulation 12 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR). This exemption would facilitate a relatively straightforward contract enabling shareholders to trade directly with Hoople.  To allow Lincolnshire County Council to benefit from the services of Hoople, it is proposed that the existing shareholders pass a resolution granting authorisation to the Directors of Hoople for Lincolnshire County Council to be admitted as a new shareholder to the shareholding of Hoople. It is proposed that Lincolnshire County Council would have a 3% shareholding.

That:

a)    approval is given to admitting Lincolnshire County Council as a 3% shareholder of Hoople.

b)    The s151 Officer or the Solicitor to the Council are authorised to take all operational decisions with regard to admission of Lincolnshire County Council to the shareholding of Hoople.

1.             To not admit Lincolnshire County Council as a shareholder. The exemption contained in Regulation 12 of the PCR would then not apply leaving two options for Lincolnshire County Council either (i) a full PCR compliant procurement or (ii) a delegation function to the council, which leaves the council financially liable.