Agenda item

The Committee received a report on the use of Consultants from the Head of Corporate Services.  The report was submitted to Audit Committee following the Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee review into Peterborough City Council’s use of consultants, the subsequent endorsement of their recommendations by Cabinet, and the agreement of Audit Committee to undertake an on-going monitoring role.

      The following key points within the reports included:

• The information included within the report was that specifically requested by Audit Committee at its meeting in March 2012;
• The Consultancy report objectives;
• Recommendations of the Consultancy Review Group and the adoption by Cabinet;
• Progress of the recommendations implemented;
• Comments of the Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee on the draft policy guiding the use of consultants and interims;
• Cabinets approval of the policy guiding the use of consultants and interims;
• Training on the Council’s Contract Regulations, which had included the policy guiding the use of consultants and interims;
• On-going monitoring of the use of consultants;
• Recent figures on the use of consultants;
• List of consultancy companies used in the last year; and
• Spend by department and example projects.

Comments and responses to questions were as follows:

• In a question raised by Members, the Head of Corporate Services advised that the list of consultant companies used by PCC were detailed within the report, however, it would not list individual consultants who were sourced by the Council as interims appointments;
• The Head of Corporate Services confirmed to Members that PCC held a framework contract for Amtec in the periods covered by the report; 
• Members sought clarification over a list which had detailed personnel as well as companies and whether it would be sensible to identify those personnel that were engaged as consultants.  The Head of Corporate Services advised Members that in some cases individuals were named due to the status of sole traders and that all services procured through them were for contracted services and not for staff;
• In a concern raised by Members over capturing National Insurance (NI) payments for interims, the Head of Corporate Services advised that where personnel were employed as members of staff and were fulfilling posts within the PCC structure on an interim basis, the details had been disclosed separately in order to capture any NI element of such payments;
• In a question raised by Members regarding the appointment arrangements of the current Executive Director of Adult Social Care, the Head of Corporate Services advised that the appointment was made through Veredus; 
• Members commented that it would be useful to include the list of companies used to provide interims within the list of the consultancy companies used by PCC; 
• Members commented that the Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee (SGSC) had developed the definition on use of consultants, which was intended to include the details of interims and consultancy companies to be reported together, however, the detail had not appeared in the report to Audit Committee.  The Head of Corporate Services advised that  PCC had followed the definition provided by SGSC in that it would not include companies such as Atkins, which were used for highways service arrangements;  
• Members commented that the definition on the use of consultants developed by SGSC was intended to identify personnel that ought to be employees rather than be consultants of the Council;  
• Members commented that they were pleased to see the numbers on the use of consultants was decreasing; 
• The Head of Corporate Services advised Members that the content in the use of consultants report was taken from the SGSC recommendation and through the recommendations of Audit Committee.  Although the report was intended to include those firms that fitted the definition of consultancy, information on the use of interims was available on the Council’s website;  
• In response to comments raised by Members over the use of consultants for projects, the Head of Corporate Services advised that the spend on projects was dependant on what Council had agreed to deliver for transformation of service delivery and the level of expertise required; 
• In a question raised by Members regarding the transition of public health the, Head of Corporate Services advised that it was intended to cover most transition activities to date within the Council’s existing resources, however, a project plan was in place to capture the additional resources required in order to cover the delivery.  In addition Members were advised that it was anticipated that a small grant was expected from Government, which would cover some of the remaining costs;

• Members commented that the Council had expected to receive skills transference through the appointment of consultants and interims;
• Following a question raised by Members over the interim appointment to the post of Head of Human Resources, the Cabinet Member for Resources advised Members that the employee had been appointed to work for the Council for two days a week and that it would not be financially viable to employ a permanent member of staff to the post; and
• Members were advised that the recruitment of a permanent Head of Business Transformation was underway.

AGREED ACTION:

The Committee:

1. Considered and noted the update report on the use of Consultants.

The Committee Further Agreed:

That the Head of Corporate Services would provide Members of the Audit Committee:

1. With a link to the public information on the Council’s website, which detailed the use of interims and their fee;
2. Future reports to Committee would include:
   • A information on consultants and interims that had been in post at PCC for over a year; and
   • Further information regarding what services each of the consultancy companies had provided.

In additions, the Cabinet Member for Resources would approach the Chief Executive to seek comments over whether it would be possible to employ a permanent post for the Head of Human Resources, utilising a Local Authority shared services scheme.