Agenda and minutes

To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings held on 15^th July, 2021 and to deal with any matters arising.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2021 be approved and signed as a correct record.

It was noted that following receipt of the temporary resignations of Councillors Cooper, Renyard, Vaughan and Chaloner from the Committee the Service Director – Legal and Business Operations, acting under delegated powers, had appointed Councillor Windle to replace Councillor Cooper, Councillor Mitchell to replace Councillor Renyard and Councillor J Payne to replace Councillor Vaughan for the purposes of this meeting.  The Committee also noted the apologies of Appointed Member Rob Sanders. 

In addition, following discussion with Group Leaders it was agreed to amend the proportionality on sets by increasing the number of seats by two, one for each group on Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee.  The appointment of Councillors Chaloner and Stead were duly approved at full Council meeting on 21^st July, 2021. 

The Committee considered the report of the Service Director – Legal and Business Operations which detailed the issues requested for discussion from the current Forward Plan.

The Chair had requested a discussion regarding the forthcoming Cabinet Decision Energy Procurement Contract Renewal which was within the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Environment.

The Committee noted that the Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor S Galton, was not in attendance due to reasons which related to the incidence or transmission of coronavirus and that Cabinet Member Councillor Harwood had attended instead.

Cabinet Member, Councillor Harwood; Green City Lead Officer, Steve Guppy; and Procurement Business Partnering Officer, Jane Habgood; were present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the Committee.

In discussions with the Cabinet Member and officers, the Committee noted the following:

·  A new procurement strategy had been required when the option to contract with Citizen Energy ended

·  The LASER prices contract would expire on 31 August 2021 and these prices that had been negotiated two years ago and were lower than current energy prices.

·  Many local authorities were members of the LASER consortium which had a public sector proprietary board

·  Consideration should be given to how the LASER contract compared with alternative frameworks

·  The value of investing in REGO’s needed to be explored further

·  A longer-term contract would provide financial certainty as energy prices would be fixed for the duration of the contract

·  A shorter-term contract would provide flexibility to invest in the emerging renewable energy market which was a commitment of the Green City Charter.

RESOLVED:

(i)  on consideration of the briefing paper relating to the forthcoming Cabinet Decision Energy Procurement Contract Renewal the Committee recommended that the Cabinet Member for Environment:

  i.  Provided an explanation of the variations in the annual REGO cost distribution between Corporate and Housing, in particular the discrepancy in percentage of total costs identified in Table 1 of the briefing paper, would be circulated to the Committee.

  ii.  Provided in the Energy Contact Procurement Renewal decision report additional information on the perceived advantages of the LASER framework compared to alternative frameworks.

  iii.  indicated when the Administration would be in a position to outline their approach to the Green City Charter at a meeting of the Committee.

The Committee considered the report of the Service Director – Legal and Business Operations enabling the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee to monitor and track progression recommendations made to the Executive at previous meetings.

The Committee noted that the response provided to the question about the opportunity cost of the Destination Management Plan did not answer the question.

RESOLVED that further detail on the question about the opportunity cost of the Destination Management Plan would be required.