Decisions

The Chief Officer, Learning Inclusion approved an educational placement at Henshaws College at a cost of £244,685.25

This cost is for the lifespan of the placement.

Placement at this young person’s current setting and other specialist settings have been considered and due to the environmental requirements and specialist staffing required to meet this young person’s special educational needs (SEN), they require a specialist placement. The authority has a statutory duty to make provision for this child who has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

It is considered in the public interest that information contained in the business case is exempt from publication as it relates to a vulnerable child or young person within the City and the actions taken are to enable that person to receive their statutory entitlement to a minimum of 25 hours of education.

The Director of Children and Families Services approved the award of a grant agreement to Adopt London North for a value of up to £250k for The Black Adoption Project to improve matching of black children from 1st April 2024 for a period of 18 months 30th September 2025.

The Director of Children and Families approved the extension and variation of the cooperation agreement with Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust (LCHT) for the delivery of a multi-disciplinary model of assessment and support across West Yorkshire for children with a plan for adoption and adoptive families. This 12-month extension will run from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 at a value of £187,980. The extension is permissible under the original contract terms. The variation will reflect changes in staffing stated in the service specification and insert a new price schedule.

The Director of Children & Families:

Granted approval to incur costs of £8.9m associated with the expansion works at Leeds City Academy from capital scheme number 33471/LCA/000.

Noted the programme dates identified at point 12 of this report require a decision at the earliest opportunity to enable the contractor to commence on site on 29 April 2024.

Noted that the officer responsible for implementation is the Head of Learning Systems in Children’s and Families Directorate.

The approval constitutes a ‘Significant Operational Decision’ and therefore is not subject to call in. The key decision associated with the project was the approval of the permanent expansion by Executive Board on 27 July 2022.

The Director Strategy and Resources gave approval to enter a contract with KPMG LLP to deliver a proof of concept to redesign a service using Microsoft Dynamics CRM that will model a user centric, automated transformed service and verify if this technology will support the customer contact strategy.
KPMG will use Microsoft Online Service Advisor credits to fund this work - the value of these credits is £270,000. There is Zero cost to Leeds City Council for the award of this contract.
The contract will commence on the 8th April 2024, with the intention of it ending in September 2024.

The Director of Strategy and Resources has given approval to enter a contract with KPMG LLP, as a direct award of under Lot 3 (Cloud Support) of the G-Cloud Framework, for the provision of specialist transformation resources to support delivery of the customer services change initiatives. The cost of the contract is £230,000. The contract will commence on the 8th April 2024 until the 31st October 2024.

The Head of Learning Systems accepted the tender supplied by Kingfisher UPVC Windows & Doors Ltd in the sum of £342,811.14 to carry out External Envelope - Windows and Door Replacement Works at Clapgate Primary School.

The Head of Transport Planning has:

1. Approved sites which will be implemented between March and June 2024.

2. Approved the commencing of the TRO process for these sites which will happen in parallel with implementation.

The Chief Officer Civic Enterprise Leeds approved the recommendation to
extend the current contract for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in
line with available contract provision for an additional 24 months for the
period 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2026 with Blink Charging UK Limited to the estimated value of £55,000 per annum. (Total for 2-year extension
estimated at £110,000)

a) The Director of Strategy & Resources has approved the award of new contracts for the supply and delivery of PPE and Workwear/Uniforms. The award of contracts are to the following suppliers:
• Arden Winch & Company Ltd
• Arco Ltd
• SMI Int Group Ltd
• Protective Wear Supplies Ltd
b) The length of the contracts will be for 3 years with an option to extend for a further 12-months period.
c) The estimated value of these contracts over a 4-year period is £3.84 million pounds.
d) New contracts will commence on the 10th April 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

This is a significant operational decision as a direct result of a key decision taken on 19/09/2023 (Approval to Procure)

The Head of Regeneration has agreed that Leeds City Council enters into a grant agreement with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority for £107,864 to support preliminary works on the reprovision of Sports Pitches to enable the disposal of the former Copperfields College site for the delivery of an affordable housing scheme.

The Chief Officer of Asset Management and Regeneration has taken the decision to:
a) Note the scope and programme of the commission as summarised below and detailed in the Exempt Appendices of the report.
b) Direct award a contract under Contract Procedure Rule (CPR) 9.5 to appoint Ove Arup & Partners (Arup) using the Leeds City Council Highways and Transportation Services Major Schemes Framework(DN429683) for regeneration services for the Leeds Transformational Regeneration Sheepscar, Mabgate and Eastside commission.
c)To note the contract start date will be 28th March 2024 and the work will be instructed using an agreed scope of services, details of which are in the Exempt Appendices, with a fixed fee agreed of up to £150,000, to be funded through the Leeds Transformational Regeneration.

The Chief Officer, Highways and Transportation:

a) gave approval to enter into a Deed of Variation (DoV), to amend the existing funding agreement with WYCA, and instructed the City Solicitor to negotiate and agree this DoV.

he Chief Officer Asset Management & Regeneration has approved the funding of £75,000 from the LCP budget and the subsequent injection of this funding into the Armley Town Street budget which forms part of the Active Travel Fund Tranche 4 Programme for the implementation of the scheme.

The Head of Asset Management has
a) given approval to the freehold disposal of St Matthew’s CofE (Aided) Primary School (excluding the playing fields) to the Diocese of Leeds at nil consideration in line with the Acts and Regulations on the terms outlined in this report.
b) And given approval to the leasehold disposal of the playing fields at the school site to the Leeds Diocesan Learning Trust (LDLT) enabling it to run the school as an academy school on a 125 year lease at nil consideration in line with legislation and on the terms outlined within this report.
c) And given approval to enter into a Licence agreement with the Diocese granting access for Leeds City Council to reach retained land.
d) And given approval to enter into a User Agreement with LDLT to regularise its shared use of playing fields at Stainbeck Lane.

The Head of Engineering and Infrastructure has taken the decision to:

a) Note the scope and programme of the commission as summarised below and detailed in the Exempt Appendices of the report.

b) Waiver of CPR rule 9.1 and 9.2 and award a contract using the Leeds City Council Highways and Transportation Services Major Schemes Framework (DN429683) to appoint Ove Arup & Partners for highways and transportation services for the Highways Study for the provision of the outputs specified within the ‘Scope of Services’ for this commission (Exempt Appendix 1).

c) To note the contract start date will be the 28th March 2024, and the work will be instructed using an agreed scope of services, details of which are in the Exempt Appendices, with a fixed fee agreed of up to £100,000 from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.

Further to the key decision taken by Executive Board in November 2018.
The Chief Officer Asset Management & Regeneration has given approval to enter into a grant funding agreement with West Yorkshire Combined Authority to support the delivery of the new council housing development on the Amberton estate, Gipton and Brooklands Avenue, Seacroft.

The Chief Officer Climate Energy and Greenspace has approved a 12-month extension of the existing contact for the supply and occasional installation of fixed play equipment covering the period between 1st April 2024 until the 31st March 2025 with Kompan LTD as our preferred supplier.

The Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory has approved the revocation of Air Quality Management Area Status from the five areas, Ebor Gardens (AQMA1/2017), Caspar Apartments (AQMA 2/2017), The Normans (AQMA 3/2017), The Tilburys (AQMA 4/2017) and Chapel Hill (AQMA 6/2017).

The Director of Communities, Housing & Environment approved the creation of 6 temporary part time CCTV Operators based in and managed by LeedsWatch to undertake a 12 month pilot of CCTV monitoring across 26 high rise blocks. To support the proposed reduction in the Concierge Service from 7 to 3 sites.

Approval to direct award a new contract to Fiscal Technologies Ltd. under Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations (PCR) 2015 - Use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication for the provision of the Council’s Accounts Payable Audit Solution.

a) The Director of City Development has agreed to select ‘Stack’ as the preferred bidder to develop the container park on the outdoor market based on their proposal for the site and rental income offer.

b) A further delegated report will be provided in due course which will seek approval for the terms of the agreement with ‘Stack’.

The Director of Children and Families:

a) Approved the issue of Direct Awards in order to continue offering a range of targeted short breaks and fun activities to C&YP with SEND in line with Contracts Procedure Rules 9.4 and 27.1, relevant and current law. The period covered by the Direct Award will end on 30th September 2024.
b) Approved the expenditure of up to £158,750 for the six months period with no option to extend after the 30th September 2024. This is 50% of the annual Grants value that was previously allocated to the commissioned providers.
c) Approved payment in advance to the Direct Award recipients. Payment in advance is crucial to small, third sector organisations so that they can effectively manage budgets and cash flow to deliver the service. This has been the payment method used over the last nine or so years for services commissioned via the competitive grants process. Payments will be made for the full six months in April 2024. Providers will be subject to a financial checking process using the CreditSafe facility.

The Director of Children & Families approved the decision to extend the contract with the current provider of Universal short breaks service, SCOPE. The extension period is from 01/04/2024 to 30/09/2024. This is 6 months extension out of the 1st of the 2 x 12 month extension and there will be further 1 x 6-months and 1 x 12-month extension periods remaining from 01/10/2024 to 31/03/2026. The value of the contract for the 6 months period is £112,050. Should all extensions be utilised the overall contract value will be £921,300 as the original contract value was £249,000 for the first year (01/04/22-31/03/2023), then reduced by £24,900 from 01/04/2023 (reduced annual value £224,100).

The Director of City Development has:
• Granted approval to purchase the properties detailed in Confidential Appendix A, at market value as determined by Land & Property, and authorise their return to council housing stock.
• Authorised the required expenditure to enable the programme to progress the property acquisitions detailed in Confidential Appendix A. These property acquisitions will be funded from the Council Housing Growth Programme budget, via a combination of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing and Right to Buy receipts.
• Noted that Executive Board granted Authority to Spend for the programme on 24th July 2019.
• Noted that written approval to bring the properties back into council housing stock was provided by the Chief Officer (Housing) of Communities, Housing & Environment on 12th March 2024.

The Director of City Development has:
• Granted approval to purchase the properties detailed in Confidential Appendix A, at market value as determined by Land & Property, and authorised their return to council housing stock.
• Authorised the required expenditure to enable the programme to progress the property acquisitions detailed in Confidential Appendix A. These property acquisitions will be funded from the Council Housing Growth Programme budget, via a combination of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing and Right to Buy receipts.
• Noted that Executive Board granted Authority to Spend for the programme on 24th July 2019.
• Noted that written approval to bring the properties back into council housing stock was provided by the Chief Officer (Housing) of Communities, Housing & Environment on 12th March 2024.

The Chief Officer, Highways and Transportation, was asked to:

a) Note the contents of this report

b) Approve the injection of £48,000 from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) Active Travel Fund 4 allocation (ATF4) into Leeds City Council’s (LCC) Capital Programme

c) The injection of these funds will enable the delivery of two additional School Streets in Leeds

d) Give approval to spend the additional ATF4 funding allocation of £48,000

e) Approve the proposed locations of additional School Streets

f) Give authority for the Head of Transport Planning to make a delegated decision to determine which two sites out of the three proposed progress to implementation

g) Give authority to advertise, seal and implement an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) for Phase 4 School Streets providing there are no objections

The Chief Officer (Highways and Transportation) was requested to:

a) Consider and over-rule the objection to Leeds City Council (Speed Limit) (No.15) Order 2023 – Pudsey Town 20mph Zone.

b) Request the City Solicitor to make, seal and implement the above order as advertised.

c) Request the City Solicitor to write to the objectors informing them of the decision taken by the Chief Officer (Highways and Transportation).

The Chief Officer Asset Management & Regeneration has approved terms for the sale of land at Lisbon Square / Skinner Street.

The Chief Officer Resources & Strategy approved an educational placement at Meadowcroft School at a cost of approximately £251,100. This is for the lifespan of the placement.

Placement at this young person’s current setting and other specialist settings have been considered and due to the environmental requirements and specialist staffing required to meet this young person’s special educational needs (SEN), they require a specialist placement. The authority has a statutory duty to make provision for this child who has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

It is considered in the public interest that information contained in the business case is exempt from publication as it relates to a vulnerable child or young person within the City and the actions taken are to enable that person to receive their statutory entitlement to a minimum of 25 hours of education.

The Chief Officer, Resources & Strategy approved an educational placement at Cambian Spring Hill School at a cost of £447,884.66
This cost is for the lifespan of the placement.

Placement at this young person’s current setting and other specialist settings have been considered and due to the environmental requirements and specialist staffing required to meet this young person’s special educational needs (SEN), they require a specialist placement. The authority has a statutory duty to make provision for this child who has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

It is considered in the public interest that information contained in the business case is exempt from publication as it relates to a vulnerable child or young person within the City and the actions taken are to enable that person to receive their statutory entitlement to a minimum of 25 hours of education.

The Chief Officer, Resources & Strategy approved an educational placement at Ivy Lane School at a cost of £150,546.10

This cost is for the lifespan of the placement.

Placement at this young person’s current setting and other specialist settings have been considered and due to the environmental requirements and specialist staffing required to meet this young person’s special educational needs (SEN), they require a specialist placement. The authority has a statutory duty to make provision for this child who has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

It is considered in the public interest that information contained in the business case is exempt from publication as it relates to a vulnerable child or young person within the City and the actions taken are to enable that person to receive their statutory entitlement to a minimum of 25 hours of education.

The Chief Officer, Resources & Strategy approved an educational placement at Pivot Academy at a cost of £376, 744
This cost is for the lifespan of the placement.

Placement at this young person’s current setting and other specialist settings have been considered and due to the environmental requirements and specialist staffing required to meet this young person’s special educational needs (SEN), they require a specialist placement. The authority has a statutory duty to make provision for this child who has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

It is considered in the public interest that information contained in the business case is exempt from publication as it relates to a vulnerable child or young person within the City and the actions taken are to enable that person to receive their statutory entitlement to a minimum of 25 hours of education.

The Chief Officer Climate, Energy and Green Spaces has approved the decision to award licences in connection with scheme 82546 (ice cream / refreshment concessions) to Lakebeech T/A Royds Ices, Ian Super Whippy Ltd T/A Mr Whippy Leeds, Chai and Coco and Nimrah Trading Co Ltd T/A Park Ices.The licence award will commence on 1st April 2024 and end on 31st March 2025 with options to extend 3 x 12 months. The total annual value of the new licence awards is £235,910. Should all extensions be taken for each of the licences awarded, the total value would be £986,959. The detailed breakdown in the attached confidential appendix A.

a) This report sought approval from the Chief Officer (Highways & Transportation) to extend the Yorkshire Highway Alliance Supply of Winter Road Surface Treatments & Sundries contract for a further 12 months to 2025.This is in accordance with Contract Procedure Rule 21.

b) The incumbent contractors have been given the opportunity to revise their costs for the services offered; this is in line with the Consumer Price Index which equates to a maximum increase of 4%.

c) The estimated spend on the contract is £100,000.00 per year.

The Chief Officer Resources and Strategy:
• Approved entering into Deed of Variation (DoV) between Leeds City Council and QED (Leeds) Limited (ProjectCo) which varies the PFI Project Agreement (between the same parties) relating to the new modular building delivered to facilitate the creation of an SEN Resource Provision at Horsforth St Margaret’s C of E PS
• Approved fees of £110,000 to cover all legal and other external costs of ProjectCo, its FM Sub-Contractor and Lenders time that have been incurred and will be funded from the project budget.
• Noted the annual increase of £19,677 (Indexed) per annum to the Unitary Charge (UC) for the additional Services provided at the new building.

The City Solicitor, in her role as Monitoring Officer, has approved amendments to the Constitution as set out at Appendix A attached.

The Director of Children & Families agreed to:

• Note the negotiations held with Solicitors acting on behalf of The Owlcotes
Multi Academy Trust;

• Give authority for the following agreements to be executed and completed to enable the Academy to open on 1st May 2024 or such later date advised by the DfE (subject to the PFI funders/banks approval):
o Schools Agreement between Leeds City Council and The Owlcotes Multi
Academy Trust;
o Principal Agreement between Leeds City Council, The Secretary of State for Education and The Owlcotes Multi Academy Trust; and
o Commercial Transfer Agreement between Leeds City Council, the Governing Body of Spring Bank Primary School, and The Owlcotes Multi Academy Trust,
together with any other documentation required to complete the transfer.

• note that a Local Government (Contracts Act) certificate was signed by the Director of Resources (as approved by the City Solicitor) in relation to the Deed of Variation dated 1st September 2013 which varied the terms of the PFI project agreement for Leeds Seven Schools PFI programme to accommodate (amongst other things) this conversation.

• Note that decisions relating to the transfer of land and/or the granting of any leases or licences are not included for approval in this report. These will be undertaken under separate delegated powers by the Director of City Development.

• Give authority for any other necessary action to be taken to effect the transfer.

The Chief Officer Resources and Strategy approved the proposed increase in the Funding for Inclusion rates of £12 from £732 to £744 per unit with effect from April 2024 and to increase the set top up rate by 0.5% for those settings in receipt of set top ups.

Consequential amendments to the Members’ Allowances Scheme have been agreed as set out at Appendix 1.

The Director of Children and Families approved the extension and variation to DN469526 at estimated cost of £204,864 as detailed in paragraph 5 of the attached report. The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) service currently delivered by Barca-Leeds. The extension is permitted under CPR 21.2, and the variation is permitted under PCR 2015 reg 72 (1) (b) (ii).