Issue - meetings

Report of the Strategic Director, Place (SPL/16/2) on the procurement process for awarding a contract for the future delivery of the Youth Service, attached. 

(Councillors Biederman, Connett and Hannan attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Strategic Director, Place (SPL/16/2) on the background to, process for and evaluation of offers for procuring and/or awarding a contract for the future delivery of the Youth Service in Devon. In accordance with the Council’s previous decisions, invitations to tender had been sought in June 2016 year for an employee-led public service mutual or other social enterprise from organisations able to demonstrate their objective was the pursuit of a public service mission linked to the delivery of the service; that profits would be reinvested and/or distributed on participatory considerations and that ownership of the organisation was based on employee ownership/participatory principles or required the active participation of employees, service users or stakeholders.  The Report summarised the responses to the invitation to tender and the process of their evaluation leading to a formal recommendation for the award of a contract. 

Members noted that the Council would retain responsibility for the Youth Service while commissioning the new organisation to deliver it on the Council’s behalf.  Young people had been consulted upon the proposed changes and the options for its future through a variety of means, fora and representative groupings.  The Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee had also been afforded an opportunity to comment on the draft specification and the mandatory questions for tenderers.

The Head of Service’s Report also incorporated an Impact Assessment relating to the possible impacts of the proposal - and, in particular, of divesting the youth service for Devon to an employee-led public service mutual or other social enterprise - which had been circulated previously for the attention of Members at this meeting in order that as part of its determination of the next steps in the process the Cabinet might have full regard to the responsibilities placed upon it to exercise its Public Sector Equality Duty, under s149 of the Equality Act 2010, where relevant.  The Assessment highlighted the potential for any such divestment to increase social value as the provider of the youth service would be well placed to develop new, innovative partnerships - thereby increasing the social value it delivered.  In addition, opportunities for staff to engage with community and voluntary organisations would increase levels of volunteering across Devon, the sense of community ownership of the youth service for Devon would increase and all these elements would lead to a growth in social capital. The Assessment therefore recognised the positive impact of the Strategy and that  no unmanageable impacts had been identified.

It was then MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor Hughes and

RESOLVED that the press and public be now excluded from the meeting during subsequent discussion on this matter under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act namely, the financial or business  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79