Agenda item

10.1

The Executive Director, People Services submitted a report seeking approval for procuring a new school catering contract from 1st August 2020 for 5 years (“New School Catering Contract”).  The Council will enter into the New Catering Contract on behalf of the participating schools.

10.2

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:-

(a)

acknowledges that the Council has procured a school catering contract on behalf of schools since 2001; and the existing school catering contract has commenced since August 2011 with 107 schools participating (“Existing School Catering Contract”); 

(b)

acknowledges that the Existing School Catering Contract is due to expire after its extension period by the end of July 2020; and agrees that the Council will continue procuring a school catering contract on behalf of participating schools who have elected to join the school catering service from August 2020 (“Participating Schools”);

(c)

approves that the Council will re-tender the school catering service from 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2025 (“New School Catering Contract”) with an option to extend for a period of 24 months if agreed between the Council and the Contractor and that each period will be at the sole discretion of the Council following consultation with the applicable Schools; and

(d)

delegates authority to the Executive Director, People Services,  in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, the Director of Finance and Commercial Services and the Director of Legal and Governance:-

(i)

to approve the procurement strategy of re-tendering the new School Catering Contract from 1st August 2020 to 31st July 2025 in line with this report unless paragraph 5.3 in Schedule 2 of the Leader’s Scheme of Delegation applies;

(ii)

to negotiate terms and conditions with the contractor and to award the contract in line with this report unless paragraph 5.3 in Schedule 2 of the Leader’s Scheme of Delegation applies;

(iii)

to approve of a risk sharing approach that sees both contractor and the Council (acting on behalf of schools) managing the service jointly and which minimises risks for individual schools;

(iv)

to take all other necessary steps not covered by existing delegations to achieve the outcomes outlined in the report; and

(v)

to advise all Participating Schools under the terms and conditions as he sees fit after consulting with the Director of Legal Services and the Director of Finance and Commercial Services such agreement shall: 

• allow any Participating Schools to withdraw from their commitment to the new School Catering Contract at the end of year 3 of the contract period; and

•           acknowledge a single contract arrangement:

- where schools elect to join and agree to pool their respective resources,

- where schools receive the service that they need when they need it,

- that is legally binding on all participating schools

- that is not a series of separate, individual service level agreements

10.3

Reasons for Decision

10.3.1

The majority of schools wish the Council to procure a catering contract on their behalf. Schools pay for the services of a contractor, a client team and all procurement costs from their individual budgets. There is no specific council funding in the delivery of the contract.

10.3.2

The Council benefits by having public health initiatives built into the specification.

10.3.3

All risks associated with large scale catering both food and finance related are contained and managed by the contractor and the client team, using expertise from within the Council’s Resources teams i.e. legal, commercial and financial.

10.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

10.4.1

There are two alternative options but neither is advantageous to the Council and schools and carries significant risks:

Insource the service – for the Council to be able to manage the service directly there would need to be changes to the structure within the portfolio. This change will need to be agreed with the schools. Statutory responsibility for delivering school meals rests with the governing bodies and they may choose to put alternative arrangements in place. The service has been delivered via private sector education catering specialists for 18 years and the level of training and expertise to manage a city wide service would need to be acquired. As this is a school’s contract and not all schools join it, it would be hard to see what benefits there would be to the Council for funding such a change. All the costs of the service are funded by the schools that elect to join it – the Council does not fund any aspect of the service to schools.  This option is therefore not recommended.

10.4.2

Not offer a service to schools – this would effectively mean that schools would have to manage the provision of a catering service directly or procure their own contracts. Both options may detract from their core purpose of teaching and learning. There may be increased costs for schools with this option due to them having to buy in expertise on due diligence checks for food safety, food labelling (e.g. 14 statutory allergens), traceability as well as managing catering teams, and procurement activities. Smaller primary and special schools would be disproportionately disadvantaged as they do not have the capacity in their administrative teams.   This option is therefore not recommended

10.5

Any Interest Declared or Dispensation Granted

None

10.6

Reason for Exemption if Public/Press Excluded During Consideration

None

10.7

Respective Director Responsible for Implementation

John Macilwraith, Executive Director, People Services

10.8

Relevant Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee If Decision Called In

Children, Young People and Family Support

10.1

The Executive Director, People Services, submitted a report seeking approval for procuring a new school catering contract from 1st August 2020 for 5 years (“New School Catering Contract”).  The Council will enter into the New School Catering Contract on behalf of the participating schools.

10.2

Members requested that the contract should also include a requirement that there were no deliveries to schools between 8:30am and 9:00am.

10.3

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:-

(a)

acknowledges that the Council has procured a school catering contract on behalf of schools since 2001; and the existing school catering contract has commenced since August 2011 with 107 schools participating (“Existing School Catering Contract”); 

(b)

acknowledges that the Existing School Catering Contract is due to expire after its extension period by the end of July 2020; and agrees that the Council will continue procuring a school catering contract on behalf of participating schools who have elected to join the school catering service from August 2020 (“Participating Schools”);

(c)

approves that the Council will re-tender the school catering service from 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2025 (“New School Catering Contract”) with an option to extend for a period of 24 months if agreed between the Council and the Contractor and that each period will be at the sole discretion of the Council following consultation with the applicable Schools; and

(d)

delegates authority to the Executive Director, People Services,  in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, the Director of Finance and Commercial Services and the Director of Legal and Governance:-

(i)

to approve the procurement strategy of re-tendering the New School Catering Contract from 1st August 2020 to 31st July 2025 in line with this report unless paragraph 5.3 in Schedule 2 of the Leader’s Scheme of Delegation applies;

(ii)

to negotiate terms and conditions with the contractor and to award the contract in line with this report unless paragraph 5.3 in Schedule 2 of the Leader’s Scheme of Delegation applies;

(iii)

to approve of a risk sharing approach that sees both contractor and the Council (acting on behalf of schools) managing the service jointly and which minimises risks for individual schools;

(iv)

to take all other necessary steps not covered by existing delegations to achieve the outcomes outlined in the report; and

(v)

to advise all Participating Schools under the terms and conditions as he sees fit after consulting with the Director of Legal Services and the Director of Finance and Commercial Services; such agreement shall: 

• allow any Participating Schools to withdraw from their commitment to the New School Catering Contract at the end of year 3 of the contract period; and

•           acknowledge a single contract arrangement:

- where schools elect to join and agree to pool their respective resources,

- where schools receive the service that they need when they need it,

- that is legally binding on all participating schools

- that is not a series of separate, individual service level agreements

10.3

Reasons for Decision

10.3.1

The majority of schools wish the Council to procure a catering contract on their behalf. Schools pay for the services of a contractor, a client team and all procurement costs from their individual budgets. There is no specific Council funding in the delivery of the contract.

10.3.2

The Council benefits by having public health initiatives built into the specification.

10.3.3

All risks associated with large scale catering, both food and finance related, are contained and managed by the contractor and the client team, using expertise from within the Council’s Resources teams i.e. legal, commercial and financial.

10.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

10.4.1

There are two alternative options but neither is advantageous to the Council and schools and carries significant risks:

Insource the service – for the Council to be able to manage the service directly there would need to be changes to the structure within the portfolio. This change will need to be agreed with the schools. Statutory responsibility for delivering school meals rests with the governing bodies and they may choose to put alternative arrangements in place. The service has been delivered via private sector education catering specialists for 18 years and the level of training and expertise to manage a city wide service would need to be acquired. As this is a school’s contract and not all schools join it, it would be hard to see what benefits there would be to the Council for funding such a change. All the costs of the service are funded by the schools that elect to join it – the Council does not fund any aspect of the service to schools.  This option is therefore not recommended.

10.4.2

Not offer a service to schools – this would effectively mean that schools would have to manage the provision of a catering service directly or procure their own contracts. Both options may detract from their core purpose of teaching and learning. There may be increased costs for schools with this option due to them having to buy in expertise on due diligence checks for food safety, food labelling (e.g. 14 statutory allergens), traceability, as well as managing catering teams, and procurement activities. Smaller primary and special schools would be disproportionately disadvantaged as they do not have the capacity in their administrative teams.   This option is therefore not recommended.