Agenda item - Future for the Provision of Kennelling Services

Report of Director, Street Scene and Regulation

The report explained findings of the Kennelling Service Review 2022 and recommended a proposal that will achieve a sustainable future for the Kennelling Service and facilitate the Council’s continued compliance of its statutory duties.

Under the proposed model:

· stray dogs will remain the direct responsibility of Sheffield City Council, with Council staff continuing to look after stray dogs on a day-to-day basis but in a facility provided by an external provider; and

· an external provider will be responsible for ‘social services animals’, including receiving and kennelling/boarding the animals, while providing the animals with adequate care.

The proposal will provide opportunities for:

· a better environment for our employees and animals in our care; and

· better value for money for taxpayers.

7.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee:-

1. Approves the commissioning of an external provider, as set out in this Report including Appendix 1, that will provide: a) a dog kennelling facility for stray dogs; and b) dog kennelling and animal boarding services for ‘social services animals’.

2. Where no current authority exists, delegates authority to the Executive Director, Operational Services, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Commercial Services, the Director of Legal and Governance and the Director of Human Resources and Customer Services to take such steps to achieve the aims and objectives as detailed and set out in this report.

7.3

Reasons for Decision

7.3.1

This recommendation follows an extensive review to determine the best way to achieve a sustainable, value for money future for the service. The recommended option provides significant benefits, including the opportunity to secure:

· a much-improved working environment for staff

· a significant annual revenue saving for the Council

· an enhanced capital receipt for the Council, whilst supporting the delivery of the goals set out the City Centre Strategy

· improved animal welfare, through improved kennelling facilities and access to grounds for walking and exercising dogs

7.3.2

The Council has the opportunity to move to an innovative new way of delivering the Council’s statutory duties in relation to the Kennelling Service. Detailed work has determined that this is the most attractive option available to the Council to pursue. It is for these reasons that this proposal is recommended to the Committee.

7.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

7.4.1

Several other options were considered during the course of developing this proposal and these are outlined in the table below, alongside the reasons why they are not being recommended.

Option title	Description	Reasons this option is not recommended to be pursued
Status Quo	Continue to deliver the service from the Spring Street site	Some annual revenue savings could be achieved if the service was redesigned and continued to be delivered from the existing site. However, it would not be possible to achieve similar annual revenue savings to the recommended option, due to the constraints associated with lone working at the current site. Additionally the significant capital investment required at Spring Street, means that this is not a sound option. For these reasons this is not a recommended option.
Outsource	Seek a provider to offer full kennelling and boarding services on behalf of the Council	This option would be unlikely to result in the same level of savings as the recommended option, as Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) would likely apply.
Move to a new site owned by an external provider	Seek a provider to offer a site with a kennels and cattery only - under this option SCC would continue to have full responsibility for the care of all animals	It would not be possible to achieve similar annual revenue savings to the recommended option, due to the constraints associated with lone working for this option. Additionally the soft market testing responses raised concerns about access to the service, due to the locations of the potential providers in the market. For these reasons this is not a recommended option.
Re-locate & re-build	Seek to retain inhouse delivery of the service but relocate and builds new kennels elsewhere in the City, either by refurbishing an existing building or building from new	This option was explored in the CAPITA report in 2018. At that time the Council’s Capital Delivery Service provided an estimate to rebuild the kennels in accordance with the following requirements: - 20 dog kennels, plus a minimum required external area and car parking - Minimum required new build land area of 1,200m². The capital costs were estimated to be between £1.4m and £2.3m (depending on refurbishment or new build). It is likely that if this exercise were to be repeated now these cost estimates would increase, given increasing land values and the recent spike in the cost of building materials. Additionally, this option would be unlikely to achieve similar annual revenue savings to the recommended option, due to the constraints associated with lone working for this option. The costs associated with this option are unaffordable and for this reason this is not recommended.

7.1

The Head of Environmental Regulation alongside the Service Manager for Projects and Improvement introduced the report which explained findings of the Kennelling Service Review 2022 and recommended a proposal that will achieve a sustainable future for the Kennelling Service and facilitate the Council’s continued compliance of its statutory duties.