Agenda item

As part of the HESP(Haringey Efficiency Savings Programme) a review of the procurement functions(including transaction processing) across the Council has been undertaken in order to arrive at a revised procurement structure.  Following  consultation the Committee will consider proposals for future delivery of this service function.(Report to follow)

Members were informed that as part of the Haringey Efficiency and savings Programme(HESP) a review of the Procurement function (including transaction processing across the Council had been undertaken in order to arrive at a revised Procurement structure and new model of delivery of the Procurement function .

The Head of Procurement provided Members with the context behind the proposals being made which was essentially to centralise the Procurement structure. The Council had currently 960 live contracts, therefore this was a high spend and high risk area where good management was crucial.  The department had been set the savings target of £416k which was to be achieved over the next two years with £312k allocated for delivery in this financial year. The proposed model for the Procurement function would include transactional processing, procurement of supplies and services, construction, property, commercial contract management, category management and energy management.  The  consultation period with staff had been completed on the 08^th April and there was appended to the report  a  log of the changes to job titles and descriptions made in response to feedback. The service offer was set out on page 100 of the agenda pack  and this had not changed since  consideration by the Committee on March 22 2011. The equalities impact assessment had been updated to further reflect feedback from the consultation.

The Employee side spoke to the Committee about their concerns on the application of ringfences which they felt had been indifferently applied. They felt that the exercise had favoured procurement staff already working in central procurement and therefore there were seen to be little opportunities for directorate staff to be successful in obtaining a procurement post. They compared the Procurement review to the Finance service function review which had used  more open ringfences and contributed to  staff feeling that  the process was fairer with an equal  prospect of a job. They highlighted the lack of information provided on the recruitment procedure , with only the standard  information provided to staff in the review which did not  indicate the methods to be used  in the recruitment procedure i.e. interviews or  tests, limiting staff preparation. There was also substantial responses received from officers involved in the review in the consultation period  which suggested that the manner of the process followed was not favoured. In response to these issues raised, The Head of Procurement advised that the function review of Procurement had followed the same  process as the  Finance review. The difference being that officers which had 20% of procurement duties involved in their posts were part of the review. In the  Finance review officers with 50% of finance duties were included in this. The Procurement service had followed Finance and Human Resources advice at  every aspect of the review .

 Due to the nature of the concerns raised by the Employee side, the Committee  wanted to ensure that employees felt that they were treated fairly in the recruitment process and it was important that all posts were recruited to without  leaving any vacancies. The Assistant Chief Executive offered to review the ringfence proposals contained  in the review in detail and  update the Committee on these outcomes at their meeting on May 19^th. The Committee agreed  in principle to the recommendations of the report subject to receiving this update.

The Committee were informed that  the revisions to contract standing orders which would reflect the changes to financial thresholds, would  be for agreement by Full Council, following consideration by the Constitution Review Working Group.

RESOLVED

1. That the proposed new centralised Procurement structure be approved  subject to a  further report back  to Committee on the 19^th May  from the Assistant Chief Executive on the review of employment ringfences to be applied in the recruitment process to posts in the new structure.

2. That the timetable for implementation of the review be noted.