Agenda and minutes

To be notified of the appointment of any Substitute Members.

There were no substitute members appointed.

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation in relation to any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

Councillor M Thirlaway declared a non-registerable personal interest in Item 5, Construction Project, as his father works for North Tyneside Council repairs and maintenance service.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 23 September 2019.

It was agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 23 September 2019 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

To receive a presentation which details the objectives achieved, lessons learned and the benefits realised since transferring the repairs and maintenance service back to the Authority.

The Sub-committee received a presentation which provided Members with an update on the delivery of the Construction Project.  The presentation explained what had been delivered as part of the project; how the first 6 months had gone; some high-level performance indicators; benefits realised as part of the project; and demonstrations of the repairs booking system.  A report considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 25^th November 2019 titled ‘Construction Project – Delivery and Benefits Realised’ had been circulated prior to the meeting as background information.

At its meeting on 27 September 2017, Cabinet agreed not to extend the agreement with Kier and brought delivery arrangements back into direct management of the Authority from 1 April 2019.  A project team had been created to develop the correct arrangements to deliver the construction needs of the Authority.   The project consisted of 8 workstreams: People, Technology, Logistics, Supply Chain, Accommodation, Design for Non-Housing Construction, Finance and Culture.

The sub-committee was informed that the Authority had successfully TUPE transferred approximately 360 staff to North Tyneside Council from Kier North Tyneside.  In addition to this, around 30 existing North Tyneside Council staff migrated into the new service area from the client team to establish a structure to reflect business need, including comprehensive consultations and briefing sessions.  An operating structure was developed with full consultation and involvement of trade unions.  Transferring staff were successfully auto-enrolled on to the Local Government Pension Scheme and successfully paid on the first pay day following the transfer.  A survey of all repairs staff had been undertaken in order to assess feedback on the new working arrangements and culture of the service.

It was explained that technology was the biggest risk and challenge to delivering the project.  Following a procurement exercise, a new ICT system solution, AccuServ, was procured and implemented to manage the repairs and maintenance and construction business.  The system allowed the logging of jobs and repairs which were sent directly to the operatives’ tablet.  The system also sent messages to tenants confirming repair appointments, reminders and alerts on the day when the operative was on the way.  Work was ongoing to review and develop the system to best meet the needs of the repairs service.

In relation to logistics, it was noted that a fleet of around 130 vehicles was established with a further 10 electric vehicles being piloted.  New tools and kit were also purchased, rather than operating a hiring model.  A new supply chain had also been sourced and prepared, ready to deliver business requirements through sub-contracting frameworks.  Soft market testing had been undertaken to raise awareness of procurement activity.   It was highlighted that there was an emphasis on providing opportunities for smaller, local businesses to deliver work on behalf of the Authority.  The sub-committee was informed that contractual review mechanisms had been established in order to monitor supply chain performance.

Members heard that for the first 6 months following the transfer, work continued to progress across all of the 8 workstreams, with project  ...  view the full minutes text for item HO14/19