Agenda and draft minutes

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 9^th September, 2013.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 9^th September, 2013 be approved as a correct record.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Carole Haywood, Partnerships and Policy Manager, and supported by Claire Burton, Commissioning Officer, which detailed currently there was a number of existing organisations in Rotherham providing support for people in crisis for food; these were mainly faith based organisations, most which were reliant on goodwill and donations and were now struggling to meet the increasing demand for food. Some of these organisations have been providing this support over a number of years, but have over the last twelve months seen a rapid increase in people accessing their food in crisis support services.

This report focused on a proposal to work with some of these organisations and others who have formed a Community Food Member (CFM) partnership. The report, therefore, outlined a proposal (in partnership with FareShare Yorkshire for the development of a ‘Rotherham Centre’ for the centralised distribution of food to CFM organisations. This would enable a more regular and sustainable approach to the provision of food for people in food poverty. It was anticipated that through the collection and sharing of information, that a greater understanding of why people found themselves in food crisis could be gained to avoid recurrent crisis situations.

The proposal was for the Council to award the contract to FareShare Yorkshire (FSY) to supply food to organisations working with people in crisis in Rotherham through the development of a hub and spoke model.  FareShare Yorkshire were a charity, affiliated to the national FareShare organisation and currently operated across Yorkshire and have contracts with major supermarkets and food retailers for the redistribution of their surplus food. Given that FareShare Yorkshire have this arrangement, and have access to regular amounts of surplus food from a number of major food retailers, they were the obvious choice to deliver this service.  Currently, there were no other known organisations that could deliver the same level of service operating in the area, therefore, the proposal was that this service was not tendered and the contract be awarded to FareShare Yorkshire from 1^st October, 2013 until 31st October, 2014.

The Commissioning Team would draw up the contract between FareShare Yorkshire and the Council and ensure that monthly contract review meetings were undertaken  to ensure delivery in line with the contract requirements.  The contract, initially, for one year would provide surplus food to people in food crisis in Rotherham through a sustainable model. The collection of information would identify the reasons why people were in food crisis, determine any unmet needs and enable a more targeted approach in the future.

Discussion ensued on the timeframe for establishment of the centre, the adequacy of controls for the Community Food Members, referrers to the service, meeting requests for specialist items, the regular supply of cost effective surplus food and the distribution of food parcels to individuals in food crisis.

It was noted that whilst this proposal did not link in directly with the deprived communities agenda, the analysis of resultant data  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Simon Cooper, Human Resources Manager, gave an update on discussions around the Living Wage which took place at the RMBC/Trades Unions Joint Consultative Committee last week where the implications of such an investment would result in a pressure in excess of £1million on top of the budget savings that needed to be met.

The Council had aspirations to adopt the Living Wage, but this had to be taken in context of the pressures the Council was currently facing.

 A meeting was planned with Trades Unions next week to discuss the budget process and the difficulties.

Consideration was given to a request for attendance on the NAC Annual General Meeting and Conference as the Council’s representative at Belfast City Hall from the 22^nd to 24^th November, 2013.

Resolved:-  That Councillor Wyatt be authorised to attend, on behalf of the Council the NAC Annual General Meeting and Conference.

The following item is likely to be considered in the absence of the press and public as being exempt under Paragraph 3  of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended March 2006) (information relating to the financial or business affairs)

Resolved:-  That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act (as amended March, 2006 (information relates to finance and business affairs).

Consideration was given to a report as submitted, which detailed that to enable the Council to ensure ongoing use and reliability of the Civica Electronic Document Management and Workflow System functionality from 1st November, 2013 to 31st October, 2014, there was a need to have a Support and Maintenance agreement with the software supplier for two high volume scanners.

Maintaining the reliability of Civica was essential in maintaining an excellent customer service in the administration of benefits, ensuring efficient billing of Council Tax and Non Domestic Rates and ensuring that income collection was maximised.

Exemption from Standing Orders for procuring this scanner support and maintenance was sought as the provision of the document management and workflow software support could only be supplied by Civica.   

Resolved:-  That the contract for the purchase of a software licence key be exempted from the provisions of Standing Order 47.6.2 (requirement to invite at least two oral or written quotations for contracts with a value of £5k, but less than £20k) and the purchase be made from Northgate.

Resolved:-  That the next meeting take place on Monday, 11^th November, 2013 at 9.30 a.m.