Officer Decisions

Date of Decision:

25 November 2021

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Paul Woodcock. Strategic Director, Regeneration & Environment

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Non-specific

Brief Description of Decision:

That a direct contract award be made to AHR Architects Ltd for a multi-disciplinary consultant in relation to the development and delivery of the regeneration and housing programme.

Reasons for the Decision:

Following an investigation of the procurement options available to the Council, the most advantageous and compliant route to market was a direct award on rotation via the YORConsult2 Framework.

Details of alternative options considered and rejected:

Alternative options regarding the potential procurement options, and their reasons for rejection were detailed in the procurement business case report.

Conflicts of interest declared by any Executive Member consulted by the decision maker which relates to the decision:

N/A

Dispensations Granted:

(If any)

N/A

Reports or parts of reports considered

Procurement Business Case - 21-122 Capital Delivery Multi-Disciplinary Support

Date Of Decision:

18 November 2021

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Judith Badger

Section 151 Officer

Strategic Director Finance & Customer Services

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Appendix 9 of the Constitution (Responsibility for Functions) – Delegation to the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Services to determine requests for early release and flexible retirement, in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member

Brief Description of Decision:

A request ERP0206 to issue notice for the compulsory redundancy of employees in the Adult Care, Housing and Public Health Directorate was not approved

Reasons for the Decision:

The service had restructured resulting in the closure of an establishment. However, there were suitable alternative jobs within the Directorate for all staff to be redeployed.

Details of Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

NA

Where the decision is made under specific delegation from a decision-making body, the names of any member of the relevant body who has declared a conflict of interest in relation to the decision and name of the body granting the specific delegation and the date when it did so:

None

Background Papers:

None

Date of Decision:

30 November 2021

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Anne Marie Lubanski

Strategic Director, Adult Care, Housing and Public Health

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Non-specific

Brief Description of Decision:

To allocate 70% (£82,000) of the Vaccination Fund in accordance with the mandatory grant conditions, and to distribute the 30% (£35,000) discretionary element as set out below.

The discretionary amount will be added to the IPC Round V element of the grant and be used offer a range of organisations the opportunity to bid for grant monies to be spent on either IPC or vaccination measures, as allowed by the grant conditions.

These organisations are:

·       Day opportunity services (including micro-enterprises) and other providers who are not eligible to access the mandatory element of the grant.

·       Care homes and supported living services for people who are under 65.

·       Any other CQC registered service who are operating in Rotherham.

This element will be allocated based on the applications which are received, and if the criteria for the grant will be met.

The applications from non-CQC registered services will be considered as a higher priority. The CQC registered providers will be expected to have forecast to have spent their allocation of the mandatory grant.

The providers will be asked to certify the expenditure at the end of the reporting period and any unspent allocations returned to the Council.

Any unspent grant funding will be returned to Government.

Reasons for the Decision:

On 21 October 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced what they are calling Infection Control and Testing Fund, round 3. (In administrative terms this added a new vaccination element which is being referred to as the Vaccination Fund in this document). The Fund covers the period 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 and will provide an additional £388 million to support Adult Social Care.

The Council has been allocated £117,469 from the Vaccination Fund element.

The two grants do have some distinctions in how the monies are to be distributed. Both parts of the Fund are time limited, and need to be spent by 31 March 2022, and have clear eligibility criteria.

The Council has facilitated the distribution of the specified 70% of the Infection Control Fund in accordance with the grant conditions. If a provider refuses its allocation the funding will be added to the 30% discretionary element, in accordance with the grant conditions. This is recorded via the Record of Officer Executive Decision from the Strategic Director of Adults, Housing and Public Health.  

Details of alternative options considered and rejected:

None considered.

Conflicts of interest declared by any Executive Member consulted by the decision maker which relates to the decision:

No conflicts of interest declared.

Dispensations Granted:

(If any)

N/A

Reports or parts of reports considered

None considered.

Date of Decision:

30 November 2021

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Anne Marie Lubanski

Strategic Director, Adult Care, Housing and Public Health

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Non-specific

Brief Description of Decision:

To allocate 70% (£800,000) of the Infection Control Fund Round V in accordance with the mandatory grant conditions, and to distribute the 30% (£184,000) discretionary element as set out below.

A range of organisations will be offered the opportunity to bid for a grant from the discretionary fund.

These organisations are:

·       Day opportunity services (including micro-enterprises) and other providers who are not eligible to access the mandatory element of the grant.

·       Care homes and supported living services for people who are under 65.

·       Any other CQC registered service who are operating in Rotherham.

This element will be allocated based on the applications which are received, and if the criteria for the grant will be met.

The applications from non-CQC registered services will be considered as a higher priority. The CQC registered providers will be expected to have forecast to have spent their allocation of the mandatory grant.

The providers will be asked to certify the expenditure at the end of the reporting period and any unspent allocations returned to the Council.

Any unspent grant funding will be returned to Government.

Reasons for the Decision:

On 21 October 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced what they are calling Infection Control and Testing Fund, Round 3. (In administrative terms this is round V of the ICF funding element and is being referred to as such in this document).The Fund covers the period 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 and will provide an additional £388 million to support Adult Social Care.

The Council has been allocated £1,142,976 from the Infection Control Fund Round V.

The two grants do have some distinctions in how the monies are to be distributed. Both parts of the Fund are time limited, and need to be spent by 31^st March 2022, and have clear eligibility criteria.

The Council has facilitated the distribution of the specified 70% of the Infection Control Fund in accordance with the grant conditions. If a provider refuses its allocation the funding will be added to the 30% discretionary element, in accordance with the grant conditions. This is recorded via the Record of Officer Executive Decision from the Strategic Director of Adults, Housing and Public Health.  

Details of alternative options considered and rejected:

None considered.

Conflicts of interest declared by any Executive Member consulted by the decision maker which relates to the decision:

No conflicts of interest declared.

Dispensations Granted:

(If any)

N/A

Reports or parts of reports considered

None considered.

Date of Decision:

23 November 2021

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Anne Marie Lubanski

Strategic Director, Adult Care, Housing and Public Health

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Non-specific

Brief Description of Decision:

To allocate 70% (£437,000) of the Rapid Testing Fund Round IV in accordance with the mandatory grant conditions, and to distribute the 30% (£169,000) discretionary element as set out below.

Additional guidance has been issued indicating that £62,000 of the 30% discretionary element should be ringfenced for Community Care providers in respect of the associated costs of PCR testing.

It is proposed to offer a range of organisations the opportunity to bid for a grant from the discretionary fund.

These organisations are:

·       Any CQC registered provider of residential care to adults with a registered location in Rotherham.  This includes care homes for older people and under 65 provision, including smaller homes to implement lateral flow testing as they may face relatively higher costs compared to larger homes.

·       Supported Living Providers.

·       Extra Care Housing Providers.

The above is in line with the conditions of the 30% discretionary grant.

In terms of reviewing the applications, these will be considered in this order of priority:

·            Supported Living Providers – providers not able to access the 70% mandatory grant.

·            Extra Care Housing Providers – providers not able to access the 70% mandatory grant.

·            Smaller care homes – as they may face relatively higher costs compared to larger homes.

·            Any CQC registered provider of residential care to adults with a registered location in Rotherham.  This includes larger care homes for older people and under 65 provision.

For care homes, the provider will need to have spent (or forecast to have spent due to the timescales of the reporting) their mandatory allocation (70% element).

This element will be allocated based on an assessment of the emerging risks, and in line with the wider testing strategy.

The providers will be asked to certify actual expenditure at the end of the reporting period and any unspent allocations returned to the Council.

Any unspent grant funding is to be returned to Government.

Reasons for the Decision:

On the 21 October 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced what they are calling Infection Control and Testing Fund, round 3. (In administrative terms this is round IV of the Rapid Test Fund element and it is being referred to as such in this document). The Fund covers the period 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 and will provide an additional £388 million to support Adult Social Care.

The Council has been allocated £605,975 from the Rapid Testing Fund Round IV.

The two grants do have some distinctions in how the monies are to be distributed. Both parts of the Fund are time limited, and need to be spent by 31 March 2022, and have clear eligibility criteria.

The Council has facilitated the distribution of the specified 70% of the Rapid Testing Fund in accordance with the mandatory grant conditions. If a provider refuses its allocation the funding will be added to the 30% discretionary element, in accordance with the grant conditions. This is recorded via the Record of Officer Executive Decision from the Strategic Director of Adults, Housing and Public Health.  

Details of alternative options considered and rejected:

As both parts of the Fund are time limited in regard to their usage, with the funding being required to be spent by 31 March 2022, as well as having clear eligibility criteria there were no alternative options available to consider.

Conflicts of interest declared by any Executive Member consulted by the decision maker which relates to the decision:

No conflicts of interest declared.

Dispensations Granted:

(If any)

N/A.

Reports or parts of reports considered

None considered.

Date Of Decision:

16 November 2021

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Simon Moss (Assistant Director, Planning, Regeneration & Transport)

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Nonspecific

Brief Description of Decision:

The decision is to award the contract for the refurbishment of the Herringthorpe stadium in line with the tender evaluation report.

The works are being funded and approved from the Regeneration and Environment Services (R&E) Capital Programme 2019-24 (approved at the Council meeting on the 26February 2020 which included the sum of £254,000  for Herringthorpe Stadium and in addition there is an allocation from the Operational Estates Maintenance Capital Budget (as approved V10 SOP) of £110,000 for refurbishment of the building at Herringthorpe Stadium with a further allocation of £68,217 (as approved in V13 SOP) identified to fund this project.

Reasons for the Decision:

This project was procured using the Rotherham Construction Partnership4 (RCP4) framework. The RCP4 Framework is OJEU compliant and was procured by the Council. The procurement of the RCP4 framework was approved by the Acting Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment on 04/12/2018. The decision to award the RCP Framework was approved by the Strategic Director on 3rd June 2019. In line with the procurement regulations, all the contractors within the relevant Lot are invited to submit a tender price.

The procedure was conducted in line with the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and the Council’s own Financial and Procurement Procedure Rules.

Details of Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

n/a

Where the decision is made under specific delegation from a decision making body, the names of any member of the relevant body who has declared a conflict of interest in relation to the decision and name of the body granting the specific delegation and the date when it did so:

n/a

Background Papers:

Tender evaluation report - exempt

Date of Decision:

11^th November 2021

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Paul Woodcock

Strategic Director Regeneration and Environment

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Non-specific

Brief Description of Decision:

1. That the fees for the Garden Waste Subscription Service for 2022/23 be set at £41 for one bin and £32 for an additional bin.
2. That a £4 reduction is given, per household, to customers who were signed up for the 2021/22 Garden Waste Service and renew their subscription for the 2022/23 service.
3. That the option to request a partial refund of £4 per household is given to residents who signed up from the 2021/22 Garden Waste Service but do not want to resubscribe for 2022/23.

Reasons for the Decision:

The charges for the garden waste service for 2022/23 need to be set by mid-November 2021 in order that the subscription service can go live on the Councils website in late November/early December.  This enables direct debit arrangements to be put in place for new customers and notices to be issued within the required period for those customers signed up to automatic renewal, in advance of the 2022/23 collection period.  The charges for 2022/23 are in line with assumptions within the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for fees & charges.

Due to the impact of Covid-19 on staffing levels, the Garden Waste service was suspended for a period of 4 weeks from 26th July 2021 to 22^nd August 2021.  The reduction for re-subscribers is offered as a goodwill gesture in recognition of the disruption customers may have experienced.  Applying this as a discount on 2022/23 subscriptions can be facilitated using the same digital process as implemented for 2021/22 making it operationally possible to do this in an efficient and effective way whereby the cost reduction can be automatically applied for customers already signed up to pay by Direct Debit.

Details of alternative options considered and rejected:

It was not considered appropriate to set the charges outside of the assumptions within the Councils approved Medium Term Financial Strategy.

There are no operationally feasibly mechanisms to offering a goodwill discount or refund other than in the way proposed.

Conflicts of interest declared by any Executive Member consulted by the decision maker which relates to the decision:

No conflicts of interest

Dispensations Granted:

(If any)

None

Reports or parts of reports considered

None