Agenda item

The Chairman invited Cllr Neil Prior (Deputy chair) and Susan Attard, Head of Productivity, to introduce the report.

Susan said that the LGA was working closely with MHCLG and the Cabinet Office over supply chain issues in three specific areas:

·       Identifying and raising issues on behalf of the sector

·       Helping to develop Government Procurement Policy Notes and identifying any gaps

·       Identifying and sharing areas of best practice with councils.

Susan then asked Tina Holland, Programme Manager Productivity, to update members on issues that had arisen since the report was written.

Tina said that procurement of PPE remained the biggest issue for councils. She said that in the absence of a coherent response from central Government, the LGA had established a sub-group of the National Advisory Group to share information on supply chains across the regions to avoid each council having to do their own thing.

Tina reported that the LGA had been working closely with Government on producing three new Procurement Policy Notes and that a new one was due out the following week. These were designed to make procurement simpler for councils.

On adult social care, Tina said that they were working closely with the LGA’s Care and Health Improvement Partnership team to exchange information and intelligence about providers and were also looking at recovery planning in the providers market.

On children’s services, Tina reported that the commissioning and procurement group of around 40 councils had been a great sounding board to understand key issues arising from the sector and that these were being fed directly into meetings with central government.

Tina reported that one of the main children’s social care providers, Cambian, had this week written to councils asking for a five to ten per cent uplift in fees to cover additional costs arising from Covid-19. The LGA had brought councils together this week to form a more strategic response to this issue and their request was now on hold.

On construction, Tina said that most firms were now returning to work and that whilst suppliers were starting to reopen, there were some bottlenecks in the supply of materials. She added that the LGA was developing specific construction related training on this.

Following the introduction, members raised the following points:

·       The COVID-19 pandemic had exacerbated the national affordable housing shortage – what was the LGA doing to help get building going again? Tina said they were continuing to talk to building firms about procurement and she wasn’t anticipating any major issues as the lockdown eased.

·       It was stated that some councils were providing PPE free of charge, including to privately run care homes. It was felt that councils were doing more than they needed to in this regard and that there was a danger of them becoming scapegoats in the event that things went wrong.

·       Was the LGA doing any thinking around the effect on supply chains of the ‘new normal’ post-COVID-19? It was suggested for example that the markets for offices and short-term lets could collapse. Tina replied that the National Advisory Group steering group was meeting at the beginning of June to talk about the recovery phase and what markets might look like longer term.

·       It was suggested that a consortium could be set up to purchase PPE in the longer term.

·       Concern was expressed about the capacity of some councils to carry out strategic long-term thinking as the immediate crisis abated and the country moved into a recovery phase. The innovative practice that took place during the crisis phase should not be stifled.

·       It was reported that the Climate Change Working Group has begun to look at bigger picture issues such as a ‘green recovery’ and SWOT analysis was being carried out. Grace Abel, Productivity Adviser, added that it was vital that the climate emergency didn’t take a back seat in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the SWOT analysis needed to translate into tangible actions for local government.

Decision

Members of the Improvement and Innovation Board noted the issues raised by councils and the support put in place by the LGA.