To receive and if so determined, to approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 May 2018.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 May 2018, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To note the Membership including Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the STAR Joint Committee for the 2018/19 municipal year.

Members were advised of the ongoing arrangement of rotating the Chairmanship and Vice-Chairmanship annually amongst the member Authorities. The 2018/19 municipal year would see the Trafford Council Member as Chairman of the Joint Committee, with the Rochdale Council Member as the Vice-Chairman.

RESOLVED: That the Membership of the STAR Joint Committee for the 2018/19 Municipal Year be noted and the Chairmanship arrangements agreed:

Councillors Mike Cordingley (Chairman), Liam O’Rourke (Vice Chairman), and Elise Wilson.

To receive a verbal update of the Principal Solicitor (Corporate and Commercial) Trafford Council.

The Joint Committee received a verbal update of the Solicitor (Corporate and Commercial), Trafford Council. It was noted that all four authorities (Stockport, Trafford, Rochdale and Tameside) had agreed to Tameside becoming a fourth member of STAR. Tameside were in the process of adopting STAR’s Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs), and the new Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) was currently being drafted. The IAA would need to be agreed by all four Authorities, and once agreed and signed by all parties the formation of the new Joint Committee would be instantaneous. It was noted that Tameside would be contributing financially to STAR as of 1 September 2018.

            RESOLVED: That the update be noted.

To note the Joint Committee’s Terms of Reference.

RESOLVED: That the Joint Committee’s Terms of Reference be noted.

Members to give notice of any interest and the nature of that interest relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the adopted Code(s) of Conduct.

No declarations of interests were made by Members.

To receive a verbal update of the Director of STAR Procurement.

The Joint Committee received a presentation of the Director of STAR Procurement providing new Members with an overview of STAR’s work. It was agreed that the presentation would be circulated to Members following the meeting, as well as links to the various strategies listed on the third slide.

The Director of STAR Procurement welcomed the decision to add Tameside Borough Council as a fourth member of STAR. The mobilisation phase was underway, and the commencement of the implementation plan was set to begin on 3 September 2018, with a focus on ensuring that current standards were maintained whilst aligning with the new fourth partner.

The presentation outlined STAR’s ‘building blocks’ and the move away from ‘shared services’ to ‘collaborative transformation’. The presentation also highlighted current procurement trends and STAR’s successes to date. Members were advised that STAR would give consideration to adopting the GMCA policy on social value (SV), which may require tenders to meet a 20% threshold for SV. Any decision relating to this would be brought to the Joint Committee for consideration.

STAR was also exploring new business in local markets and innovation, as well as collaboration with the NHS. To date, £20.2m worth of procurement savings had been delivered over 4 years, and 43% of procurement activity across the Greater Manchester authorities was undertaken by STAR, demonstrating how STAR were considered the procurer of choice.

Members discussed lines of communication between the STAR member Authorities and STAR Procurement regarding Council motions. Councils regularly adopted motions, agreed at full Council meetings, some of which could directly impact STAR’s procurement strategy. A recent example of this was Trafford Council’s adoption of a motion on the Charter Against Modern Slavery. It was agreed that Member Authorities should be mindful of STAR when drafting motions in future, and suggested that a formal line of communication with STAR Officers be opened to advise of any motions which could affect procurement procedures. The Joint Committee acknowledged the difficulty with consulting with STAR on motions in a timely manner, as these were usually submitted only days before full Council meetings.

Further to the discussion on motions, it was noted that an appropriate balance would need to be struck when adopting motions which may affect STAR’s Procurement Strategy. Councils would need to ensure local firms, who could find some of the requirements difficult to undertake, were not frozen out of the process. The Joint Committee was reminded that the Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) allowed for local conditions where local frameworks could apply. The CPRs provided commonality, with the local conditions allowing Authorities to apply some local frameworks without falling foul of the CPRs.

Members discussed whether the local regulations would disappear following Brexit. It was expected that these would be replaced by something similar to the current regulations, and the Joint Committee were reminded that the UK was the main author of the European legislation, meaning it would be unlikely that these would change significantly.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the update be noted.

2)    That consideration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider a report of the Head of Strategic Procurement (People).

The Joint Committee received a report of the Head of Strategic Procurement (People), detailing STAR Procurement’s performance against its KPIs at the end of financial year 2017/18. The report also sought the Joint Committee’s approval for the 5-STAR KPI measures proposed for STAR Procurement for 2018/19. The Vice-Chairman requested that future reports contain less jargon.

Members were advised of the performance against the 5-STAR performance measures during 2017/18. It was noted that the target for contracts capturing Social Value (SV) had not been achieved for the year. However, the intention was to raise this target from 50% to 60% for 2018/19. The target for the average SV weighting for contracts would also increase from 10% to 15%. Section 3 of the report detailed the proposed 5-STAR measures for 2018/19. It was proposed that these be split into KPIs and Management Indicators as set out in sections 3.1 and 3.2 of the report respectively.

The Chief Finance Officer, Trafford Council, asked whether a target would be considered for exemptions and modifications. The Director of STAR Procurement felt that an increase in exemptions and modifications could be seen as positive as this could be identifying non-compliance, which could then be addressed. Work was ongoing to determine whether the process could be simplified, and once the process had been agreed, targets could then be set. When exemptions and modifications were reported to the Joint Committee at future meetings, they would be categorised to illustrate the reasons behind these.

Members discussed the online activity undertaken by STAR. Some Members felt that Facebook should be utilised, as a significant number of small businesses had a presence on this platform. The Director of STAR Procurement agreed to explore this with STAR’s Senior Management Team at their next meeting. Members also felt that LinkedIn should be better utilised.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the proposed 5-STAR KPI measures for 2018/19 be approved.

To receive a verbal update of the Director of STAR Procurement.

The Joint Committee received a verbal update of the Director of STAR Procurement providing an update on growth. The recent focus on Tameside becoming a STAR member had been positive, and work would continue to explore appropriate opportunities for STAR to expand further. STAR was currently working closely with a number of Health & Social Care partnerships and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

The Director of STAR Procurement sought clarity from Members on how STAR’s relationship with the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) should be progressed. STAR currently led on a considerable amount of AGMA related procurement activity (43%). A report would be brought to the Joint Committee meeting in November 2018 providing further detail, and Members were asked to consider how STAR should develop its relationship with AGMA.

            RESOLVED: That the update be noted.

To confirm the arrangements for the next meeting, scheduled for 2:00pm on Tuesday 6 of November 2018 at Rochdale Council.

It was confirmed that the next meeting of the STAR Joint Committee would be held at Rochdale Council at 2:00pm on Tuesday 6 November 2018.

            RESOLVED: That the meeting arrangements be noted.