Decision details

The report is presented to Cabinet to recommend that the Council gives notice to terminate the agreement with NPS Peterborough Limited. 

With the approval of the Chair of the Growth, Resources, and Communities Scrutiny Committee, the urgency procedures have been invoked to suspend the requirement to publish the decision on the forward plan for 28 days. The consideration and call-in period remain in place. This procedure has been invoked to enable the 12 months’ notice to start at the earliest opportunity, with delay to September Cabinet considered detrimental to future service provision. 

Cabinet considered the report and RESOLVED to:

1.    Agrees to terminate the Council’s agreement with NPS Peterborough Ltd in relation toproperty and estate management services by giving twelve months notice. 

2.    Notes that alternative arrangements for delivery of property and estate management services will be put in place within the twelve month period. 

3.    Delegates to the Director of Law and Governance in consultation with the Director of Resources the authority to issue notices and take all other steps necessary to give effect to recommendation 1 above. 

The joint venture arrangement with NPS was established in 2016 as a way to provide a more focused property service following previously outsourcing of some of the property functions.  The arrangement has left the Council with a gap in terms of its strategic property and asset management planning, and has not reduced the fragmentation of delivery.  Some of the services provided by NPS have been added in because at the time there was nowhere else to put them, but as a whole this has resulted in fragmentation and a lack of coherence in particular on the facilities management side.   

The CIPFA review considered the alternative options as below: 

Option 1: Do nothing  - this option was considered in the CIPFA review and not recommended as there are fundamental issues relating to the structure of the contract that mean the Council should not continue on the current basis. 

Option 2: Improve the existing arrangements - this option has been considered in the CVIPFA review and is not recommended due to the significant level of change required and the need in any case for the Council to re-establish its own internal strategic property function. 

Option 3: Serve notice to end the NPS Joint Venture and make alternative arrangements for the services currently provided by NPS - this option s recommended in the CIPFA review and in this report.  This option will allow the Council to establish an appropriate internal structure to manage its property portfolio more effectively and will allow the Council to decide in coming months which services could continue to be provide by external arrangements.  This option allows for a  potentially new relationship with external providers potentially including NPS.  

None.

Cabinet  March 2016  

8. Future Delivery of Property Services.pdf (peterborough.gov.uk)