The Chairman welcomed Members to the first meeting of the Committee in its expanded role to deal with changes to the Constitution. In particular, he welcomed the new Members who had been appointed to the Committee for that purpose.

Arising on minute 85 (Internal Audit Progress 2011/12 (Amey Contract)) the Chairman welcomed the Assistant Director Placed Based Commissioningto the meeting who provided an update on the work being undertaken by officers in respect of the contract with Amey.  He advised that this contained a break point in 2013 and had provided the opportunity for negotiations to take place

The Chief Officer Finance and Commercial said that the Council’s Audit Section was looking at the Amey contract from the value for money aspect and the rationale behind the possible contract expansion.  The Audit Manager said that advice was being given to theHead of Highways & Community Services about the approach which should be taken.  He would submit a report to a future meeting of the Committee on the matter.

Members asked a number of questions about the issues which were arising and expressed their views about their dealings with Amey and made the following points:

·                    the role of the Committee was to look at process involved in the contract whereas that of Overview and Scrutiny was to look at how the contract was performing – the processes and performance were two separate issues;

·                    the need to ensure that there were adequate controls in place regarding the contract with Amey;

·                    the need to ensure that there was sufficient in-house expertise to examine the processes;

·                    there was merit in holding a similar event for Members to that held last year about procurement, to include the expanded role of the Committee;

·                    the public was noting the issues involved about the contract with Amey and preferred a process of competitive tendering;

·                    whether there would be a new contract in 2013 or a renegotiated one;

·                    members views should be taken note of because of their extensive local knowledge regarding the work undertaken and the service provided by Amey in their Wards; and

·                    problems which had been encountered by some members when taking up matters with Amey when a response had not been received – it was felt that communications from Amey staff to Members and parish councils needed to be improved.

The Chairman commented that there was a very mixed picture from Members & parish councils with some encountering delays & poor communications whilst others had received a very good response The Assistant Director Placed Based Commissioning noted the comments made by Members. He said that the Council still had an eighty- strong in-house property services department. It was likely that the department would be transferred over the coming year to a partner organisation.  Although there was a small client side dealing with highways comprising of seven to eight staff, the necessary controls were in place and they had very strong leadership from the Head of Highways & Community Services.

If Members were aware of issues or concerns they had or which were raised by the public, they should draw them to the attention of the Assistant Director Placed Based Commissioning who could then take them up with Amey.  He reassured Members that officers were acutely aware of the implications of the various aspects of the Amey contract and that sound advice was being given to them by the Audit Manager and his staff.