Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Resources Sub-committee held on 16 January 2009 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Faith Boardman (Chair)
• Reshard Auladin
• Valerie Brasse
• Deborah Regal
• Graham Speed

MPA officers

• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• Julie Norgrove (Deputy Director of Internal Audit)
• Peter Tickner (Director of Internal Audit)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Anthony Doyle (Director of Procurement)
• Simon Hart (Acting Director of Finance Services)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources)
• David Rothwell and David Woosey (:Procurement Services)

1. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

An apology for lateness was submitted on behalf of Reshard Auladin.

2. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were made.

3. Introductions

(Agenda item 3)

The Chairman welcomed everybody to the first meeting of the Sub Committee. In reply to a question it was confirmed that the agenda was sent to all members of the Finance and Resources Committee and that all members were able to attend meetings.

4. Draft terms of reference

(Agenda item 4)

The Sub-committee considered the Terms of Reference. Members suggested some drafting changes, and after discussion it was

Resolved that

The Sub-committee agreed to recommend to the Finance and Resources Committee (changes shown in bold)

1. that an amendment be made as follows to item 1, specifically that the financial limit under which it will take decisions on procurement activity be set at £30M, as follows…”In relation to procurement exercises, to consider and make recommendations to the Finance and Resources Committee on business cases and the subsequent award of contract following tendering when the total value is greater than £30M, below this figure the sub Committee will have delegated authority to take decisions”.
   The Sub Committee agreed that there will need to be exceptions to the general application of this delegation – contracts that raise questions of principle or financial policy, possess unusual features or involve particular risks or might arouse particular public interest or publicity – these cases would need consideration by the Finance and Resources Committee; and
2. That an amendment as follows be made to item 4: “To provide strategic oversight of the MPS compliance and governance frameworks for procurement activity throughout the service.”

5. Work programme of the sub-committee

(Agenda item 5)

The Sub-committee considered the work programme.

The Chair referred to the presentation on procurement which had been made to members before the meeting and said that it would be useful for the Sub-committee to receive regular presentations in respect of procurement, ISIT and estate matters so that members could assess performance.

Reshard Auladin reported that at the Business Management Group meeting held earlier in the day it had been agreed that all sub-committees should be asked to consider appointing a Vice-Chair. It was agreed that the Sub-Committee would formally consider this request at its next meeting. He also said that when considering the work programme it was important that it was possible to scrutinise the work of departments such as DoI as well as the IS/IT Strategy.

It was noted that the work it was intended the Sub-committee would undertake in connection with the scrutiny of the budget submission for 2010/11 would be quite detailed and was intended to replace the previous “Star Chamber” budget scrutiny meetings.

Resolved - That the work programme be noted.

6. Update on procurement strategy

(Agenda item 6)

The Authority approved the joint MPA/MPS procurement strategy in December 2003, which was subsequently revised and updated in 2007. Following on from the review of Standing Orders, including the Contract Regulations, which took place last year it was agreed that the current strategy should be reviewed. This report updated members on the review and seek their views on key elements of the strategy.

In reply to a question from a member the Sub-Committee was advised that further work was being undertaken to develop responsible procurement within the proposed strategy.

Resolved - the process and timetable for reviewing the current procurement strategy be noted.

7. Pure/Strategic resource leverage

(Agenda item 7)

The Sub-committee received a report which had previously been considered by the Corporate Governance Committee which provides members with a summary of the key issues raised by the Audit Commission and HMIC in recent reports. This follows inspection activity which looked at how the MPA / MPS plan and make use of resources. This report also set out the MPA/MPS response to the issues raised in the form of an action plan.

The Director of Resources said that strictly speaking, the upcoming PURE inspection was of the Authority, with the role of the MPS being that of a client of the Authority. She felt that there needed to be careful and detailed consideration of how the inspection would be handled - including anticipating issues which might arise and also consideration of the self-assessment aspect which had started.

Resolved - That the report be noted and the above comments be submitted to the Productivity and Performance Sub-Committee and a piece of work be carried out to identify possible areas of overlap between the two Sub-Committees.

8. Dates of future meetings

(Agenda item 8)

To be agreed at the next meeting to be held on 16 March 2009.

The meeting finished at 11.48 a.m.

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