Minutes - draft

These minutes are draft and are to be agreed.

Minutes of the Resources and Productivity Sub-committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 12 September 2011 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Faith Boardman (Chair)
• John Biggs
• Valerie Brasse
• Amanda Sater
• Graham Speed (Vice Chair)

MPA officers

• Annabel Adams (Deputy Treasurer)
• Julie Norgrove (Director of Audit, Risk and Assurance)
• John Crompton (Treasury Team)

MPS officers

• Jane Bond (Director of Property Services)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources)
• Nick Rogers (Director of Finance Services)
• Lee Tribe (Director of Procurement Services)
• Peter Watson (Deputy Director DoI)
•  Chris Nason (Head of Contract and Supplier Management)
• Peter Wakely (Programme Manager DoI) attended for consideration of agenda item 14

Also attended: Mark Pickering from Arlingclose attended for consideration of agenda item 4.

1. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

2. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations were made.

3. Minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2011

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved – That the minutes of the Resources and Productivity Sub-committee held on 13 June 2011 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

4. Treasury Management quarter review

(Agenda item 4)

This report invited members to review the Treasury Management activity for the period 1 April 2011 to 30 June 2011.

Mark Pickering from Arlingclose attended for consideration of this item.

Members noted that the information covered by the reported related to the period before the disturbances in August. The Director of Finance advised that there would be pressures on the cash flow in the second quarter attributable to the cost of policing the disturbances and as the financial consequences of those events and the subsequent investigations become apparent. For example, it was expected that there will be an increase in the overtime payments at the end of October and compensation awards under the Riot Damages Act will begin to be paid shortly. He confirmed that the Finance and Resources Committee would be advised of the effects of these pressures through the monthly budget monitoring report and will also be advised of the position regarding the recovery of costs from the Home Office.

It was noted that the report was due to be considered by the Finance and Resources Committee on 22 September.

Resolved – That the Finance and Resources Committee be advised that the recommendation should be supported.

5. Update on the implementation of early payment initiatives to small and medium enterprises

(Agenda item 5)

This report updated members on the status of the actions in support of the Mayor’s initiative for early payment to Small and Medium Enterprises and the current payment profile for such suppliers

In reply to a question the Director of Finance confirmed that the ambition remains to increase the percentage of SME invoices paid within 10 days to 85%, This percentage was felt to be realistic given the volume of invoices and the need to have adequate controls in place. He anticipated that this would be achieved by the end of the current financial year.

Resolved – That

1. The actions taken to date to improve the time to make payment on undisputed invoices to SMEs with the ultimate aim being payment within 10 working days of the receipt of a valid invoice and the current payment profile for SMEs be noted.
2. The actions taken to resolve the problems encountered in January 2011 and the improved performance of invoices paid on time for February and March 2011 be noted.

6. Overtime costs

(Agenda item 6)

This report provided an analysis of the overtime paid to police officers, police staff and Police Community Support Officers during the quarter from 1 April to 30 June March 2011.

The Sub-committee noted that the current forecast overspend is mainly due to a number of increased demands, such as the Royal Wedding, the visit to the UK by the US President and costs relating to increased protection of foreign embassies. As the Royal Wedding took place on a bank holiday, officers were entitled to claim double time and it is estimated to have cost an additional £2.7m in Police Officer overtime. Discussions are underway with the Home Office around additional funding to cover the Royal Wedding costs and there was an expectation that this would be successful.

Members expressed an interest in learning more about how the changes in shift patterns in Territorial Policing have impacted on the payment of overtime. It was agreed that this be explored further in reports submitted to future meetings. In the context of changing shift patterns, members drew attention to the comments concerning overtime within the Central Communications Command (CCC). Overtime payments within CCC did not appear to be reducing and members felt it would be useful to have a better understating of the possible reasons for this.

The Director of Resources agreed to see whether a TP representative who could answer questions concerning operational points such as CCC could attend the Sub-committee when the next quarterly monitoring report was considered.

Resolved – That the quarter 4 position for the overtime costs of police officers, police staff and Police Community Support Officers be noted.

7. Capital programme quarterly monitoring report - quarter 4

(Agenda item 7)

This report provided members with a review of the capital programme as at the of quarter 1 (June 2011),

Members indicated that there should be further consideration of the format of the information given as this did not appear to be as useful as that provided in previous iterations of the monitoring report. The Deputy Treasurer was asked to liaise with the Director of Finance to discuss the options for changing the format The Chair requested that the information which relates to the Directorate of Information aspects of the programme be submitted to the next meeting of the MPA ISIT Panel so that it could be explored in more detail.

Resolved – That the quarter 4 outurn position of the Capital Expenditure Programme 2011/12 be noted.

8. Requests for contract action - management information

(Agenda item 8)

This report sets out the summary of requests for contract action received in Procurement Services within the last quarter with a particular focus on the requests that fall under the remit of Single Tender Actions (STA) and submitted via the associated form 1049. It also provided information on the number of requests for STAs against each of the legal exemption types and provided a summary of the number and value of those approved and declined.

Resolved – That

1. the summary contained within this report and attached appendices A and B (Exempt) of competed tenders received in the fourth quarter of 2010/11 and the control of single tender exemptions through Procurement Services and the MPA be noted; and
2. it be noted that further updates will continue to be provided to the Resources and Productivity Sub-committee on a quarterly basis.

9. Procurement strategy - action plan

(Agenda item 9)

The quarterly monitoring report on the MPA/MPS procurement strategy action plan was submitted.

The Director of Resources advised that work was being carried out on those contracts with a value of less than £50,000 to assess the scope for bundling into larger contracts.

Resolved – That

1. the update on progress as provided in Appendices 1 and 2 be noted; and
2. it be noted that further quarterly updates will be provided to the Sub-committee.

10. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 13)

Resolved – That under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved disclosure of exempt information as detailed in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

11. Exempt appendix to requests for contract action – management information

(Agenda item 11)

Information noted.

12. Exempt appendices to procurement strategy action plan

(Agenda item 12)

Information noted.

13. Quarterly update on variations to the Capgemini contract

(Agenda item 13)

Information relating to the projected contract value was noted.

14. Data Centre Consolidation and Server Virtualisation – tranche 1

(Agenda item 14)

Approval given to proceed with tranche 1 of the programme.

15. Exempt minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2011

(Agenda item 15)

Confirmed and signed.

16. Amendments to framework agreement for the provision of forensic analysis of digital and electronic devices

(Supplementary agenda item 16)

Recommendation relating to an amendment to the framework agreement was agreed.

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