Decisions

The Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory approved the use of Regulation 72 (5) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 to vary the scope of the current Electoral Services printing contract with Print Image Network Limited to include the printing of an election booklet at a contract value of £150,000 under the same terms and conditions and rates.

The Director of Adults and Health approved the award onto the Discharge to Assess Framework Agreement 2 service of all the providers identified by Commissioning Officers at Appendix 2 of the associated report for a period of approximately 4 months with effect from 7th December 2020 to 31st March 2021, with the option to extend for up to a further 6 months in any combination subject to confirmation of a funding source.

This decision is a direct consequence of a previous decision to go out to market with the intention of procuring a second framework agreement for discharge to assess (D2A) beds for the city of Leeds. This exercise was undertaken to increase the bed capacity within care homes across the city in support of the discharge from hospital process. This supports the swift placement of medically fit patients from acute hospital settings to care homes where they are able to recuperate and have a full assessment of their needs.

A procurement exercise was commenced 25th November 2020 after obtaining the authority to undertake a procurement as a Key Decision via the Special Urgency Provisions (reference D5250). The invitation to tender closed 2nd December 2020 and following evaluation has resulted in 31 additional beds across 6 care homes being identified.

All ensuing costs generated by calling off from the framework will be fully funded from the discharge to assess funding from the NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group.

Brief details of any alternative options considered and rejected by the decision maker at the time of making the decision
The precedent for the decision set out here was created during the first period of the pandemic and the subsequent procurement of an intial D2A framework agreement for the city which was established from the 1st November 2020, whereby spare capacity within care homes was sought to minimise the impact of COVID-19 on the health and social care system. This decision is looking to build upon that existing solution.

The Chief Officer Civic Enterprise Leeds noteD the contents of this report and approveD the use of a 24 month extension provision for Churches Fire Security Ltd to continue to provide Service, Inspection & replacement of Fire Fighting Equipment and Emergency Evacuation Chairs Servicing for Leeds City Council from 1st January 2021 – 31st December 2022 at a value of up to £260,000.00.

The Director of Adults and Health has approved -

To agree to carry out consultation, including with Trade Union colleagues and staff, in relation to the review of the service and structure and any potential staffing reductions arising. This paper builds on numerous conversations with internal partners in the Council and with NHS partners via the Partnership Executive Group to ensure the the Health Partnerships Team remained responsive to the needs of the health and care system and the move to more integrated approaches. There are a number of challenges for the system in Leeds and there is a need for clearer definition of the delivery of this service both strategically and operationally within both Leeds City Council and the wider health system. A series of conversations with senior staff have taken place over the last six months and it is proposed that the new draft structure be fully in place by the 1st June 2021 or earlier if we can find alternative options for affected staff.

Health Partnerships is a relatively new service in the Directorate and council and has been in place in its current form since 2017 (previous iterations of the team have been in place since 2012). The service has grown and developed during that last 4 years and we are now in a position to review our many achievements but also to consider our challenges, particularly during this very difficult time across West Yorkshire and the UK.

We now need to move to a structure and delivery model that is reflective of the developing and future demands being placed on this team. The proposed new structure will mean a reshaping and reduction of the level and focus of resouces. We acknowledge this will put some of our staff at risk of redundancy however we aim to do everything we can as a service to support the staff affected and we are committed to avoid compulsory redundancies where possible, when all reasonable alternatives have been explored.


The need to review the service stemmed from conversations taken at the Partnership Executive Group (PEG) in February 2020 about partnership working in Leeds and feedback from partners including NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group. For a period of time now the Partnership Executive Group has outlined a number of challenges for the health and care system and the need for a clearer delineation between the strategic and delivery arms of the Health Partnerships Team and of the wider health and care system. These challenges and the direction provided in terms of our key partners has been taken into consideration as part of a review of our delivery model and provided services. Furthermore, these were placed in the financial context outlined in the financial challenge sessions (August-Oct 2020) and the requirement initially to cut 10-20% of the overall budget and additional challenges related to NHS partner budgets, for example the £50m deficit in the Clinical Commissioning Group budget for 2020/21. The paper presented to the Executive Board 18.11.20 outlined the budget ask with the accompanying Service Review Form providing the detail.

The paper proposes deleting three x PO4 Project Leader posts. The postholders for 2 of these roles have been on secondment elsewhere in the organisation for 12-18 months. These posts were not backfilled when the staff were seconded. Upon review of the overall structure and the required outputs of the team now and into the future it has become apparent that there is a reduced need for system support and roles at this level both for the Leeds Plan and more generally across the system. It has been hard to clearly define the Project Leader role and their place between Project Officers and Programme Managers. Senior leaders and partners have advised that delayering of the team and removing these posts would provide a more focused approach better able to deliver.

It is also proposed to remove a senior manager at Director 60, the Head of the Leeds Plan. Feedback from partners described how reviews of CCG and wider NHS capacity coupled with the desire for a programme management approach focused on delivery, has significantly reduced the need for this post. The governance structure has been reviewed after key partners described the need for a more agile, less bureaucratic and more responsive structure. This led to the removal of the Leeds Plan Delivery Group and subgroups.

Options for current staff: staff have had informal ‘heads up’ conversations and the Chief Officer has had an informal information meeting with the unions. We will then move to full and formal consultation and additional conversations with unions.

We aim to work closely with HR and our union colleagues so that we can both support the employees concerned and hopefully find additional roles without the need for compulsory redundancy. Options include exploring opportunities for redployment in the talent pool at pre-notice, ELI and severance. Through meaningful consultation we will consider all alternatives presented by the unions and staff as per the MSR policy. The MSR process is to be determined.

Savings are in the DDN attached (full year impact – it is envisaged, after all consultation timelines under the MSR policy that the new structure will be in place from 1.6.2020 or earlier if other options are found for affected staff).


Brief details of any alternative options considered and rejected by the decision maker at the time of making the decision -

As decribed above this proposal seeks to meet the need of both the future demands and partners involved in this delivery area and it is not financially or strategically viable to maintain the existing structure.

This funding was originally funded by the WY&H LWAB to fund a West Yorkshire and Harrogate public health workforce development post (started Feb 2019 and left the post Feb 2020) and a separate WY&H collaborative workforce development project to work across the WY&H ICS footprint (funded for 12-18 months from Sept 2019). As the project has had to pause due to the post holder leaving and as a result of COVID-19, both the underspend from the post becoming vacant and the project not being led by Leeds City Council there is a need to return the remaining funding to WY&H ICS.

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health approved the extension of twelve months with effect from 1st April 2021 to the following contracts:
BHA for Equality, to the value of £114,770.00 per annum.
Yorkshire Mesmac, to the value of £161,600.00 per annum

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health approved the contract variation under Contracts Procedure Rules 21.7 to Leeds Mind for the Mindful Employer service. This will commence 1st April 2021 and end on 31st March 2022 at a cost of £37,500 for the period of 12 months.

Granted the authority to enter into a competitive tender process to procure a new Mindful Employer service from 1st April 2022 for a period of 3 years (with an option to extend for a period of up to 24 months in any combination) with a maximum budget of £37,500 pa (£187,500 for the overall contract period).

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health approved grant funding to the following organisations to deliver Asset Based Community Development in Leeds: LS14 Trust, OIder Peoples Action in Localities (Opal), HFT, Community First Yorkshire, and Better Action for Families. The one year awards of £25,000 per organisation are subject to successful grant applications. The grants shall start on varying dates commencing from the 1st March 2021 with the last grant expiring on the 31st May 2022. The total cost is £125,000.

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health approved the request to invoke CPR 9.5 to enter into a direct award with the third sector provider HENRY from 1st April 2021.

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health approved the award of the contract to HENRY in the sum of £148,380 for the overall contract period (£24,730 per annum). The contract shall commence on the 1st April 2021 and expire on the 31st March 2024 with the option to extend for a period of up to 36 months.

(i) The Deputy Director of Adults and Health approved the contract variation under Contracts Procedure Rules 21.7 to Health for All for the Breastfeeding Peer Support Service for additional funding of £12,635 for 6 months and to Women's Health Matters for the (YUMS) Can't Wait Strategy - Breastfeeding Service for additional funding of £6,770 for 6 months. This is at a cost of £19,405 for the period of 6 months to commence from 1st April 2021.
(ii) Authority was given to enter in to a competitive tender process to procure a new ‘Breast Feeding Peer Support’ service for a period of 2.5 years (with an option to extend for a period of up to 36 months in any combination) with a maximum budget of £38,810 pa (£213,455 for the overall contract period).
(iii) Note that a further report to approve the contract award will be submitted for approval at the end of the procurement process.

The Deputy Director of Adults and Health approved the award of a contract to Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, for an initial period of 2 years at a total value of £465,000, to deliver general nursing and physiotherapy services.

The Director of Public Health has approved and agreed to enter into contract variations to enhance the capacity of existing services who work with vulnerable and marginalised groups to prevent the spread and manage local outbreaks in line with the Leeds Covid-19 Outbreak Plan. The contract variations are in accordance with Council’s Contract Procedure Rule 21.7.

The Chief Officer Asset Management & Regeneration has approved the repurchase of a property on the terms detailed in the confidential appendix for Resources and Housing to return to council housing stock.

Leeds City Council recently received £10.4m, from the Government, to support the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding is a one-off contribution, for the 2020-21 financial year, and is non-recurrent. The funding is to support proactive and preventative evidence based measures, in the fight against the pandemic, which are informed by the Leeds outbreak plan. As part of this allocation, a budget has been identified for measures that support rough sleepers, it is necessary that this activity is implemented immediately as part of the Public Health response to COVID-19:-

In partnership with members of the Street Support Improvement Board, including Public Health, Safer Leeds and Housing Options, a meeting was held to discuss how best to allocate these funds. A wide range of options were put forward around accommodation, staffing, and essential urgent and emergency provision (e.g. food) for this cohort. It was decided that Bevan Healthcare, who are commissioned, by Leeds CCG, to provide primary care services to those who are homeless/ rough sleeping, would receive £110,000 of this funding, to support the work it does with rough sleepers, in Leeds. This work, which is being done alongside, and in collaboration with, commissioned and non-commissioned services, has been critical to the city’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. Leeds CCG are supportive of this urgent funding allocation, as outlined below.
The allocation will specifically fund:
• One dedicated street health ‘Bevan bus’ for Leeds - £60,000
• One Covid-specific outreach worker/ navigator - £20,000
• A successful isolation and personalisation budget - £30,000

The Chief Officer Economy and Culture:
• Awarded a Call off Contract to Telefonica of circa £111k for iPads and associated data, data management software licences and protective screens.
• The procurement was for 150 iPads following Employment and Skills successful award of contract from DWP to purchase and loan them to disadvantaged Leeds residents.

The Director of Resources and Housing:
1. Authorised the required expenditure to enable the programme to progress the property acquisitions detailed in Confidential Appendix A. These acquisitions to be funded from the Council Housing Growth Programme budget, via a combination of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing and Right to Buy receipts.
2. Noted that Executive Board granted Authority to Spend for the programme on 24th July 2019.
3. Noted that a report is being submitted in parallel to the Director of City Development to request approval to acquire the properties for Housing & Resources so that they can be returned to Council Housing Stock.

• Authorisation to proceed with acceptance of the tender submitted by Leeds D&B One Ltd. in the sum of £692,000 for the bulge works. Leeds D&B One Ltd. will then enter into contract with Walter West Ltd for £577,000. The contract sum of £692,000 also includes LEP fees of £31,735.
• In line with Leeds City Council’s Contract Procedure Rule 3.1.5, the requirements are subject to existing exclusive contract arrangements with Leeds D&B One Ltd.
• Note that the officer responsible for implementation is the Head of Service, Learning Systems and the Head of Projects and Programmes, City Development, and authorise them as a signatory of all other contract related documentation that is required to deliver this project.

The Director of Childrens & Families agreed to:
a) Set the overall project budget for the development of the East Leeds Free School at £30m and provide ‘approval to spend’ on £22.63m, noting that £7.37m has been previously approved under the ‘early works’ programme. Draw down of the budget will be subject to future design cost reports and approvals at the appropriate juncture.

b) Note, the full scheme budget figure of £30m is inclusive of all aspects of the project with the exception of the required off-site Highways works and land purchase. It includes; the construction contract figure, client held contingency, furniture and equipment, service connections etc.

c) Note, provisional ‘approval to spend’ was granted at the September 2019 Executive Board and identified a budget between £25m and £30m, which was subject to development of the scheme.

d) Note the programme dates identified in section 3.2 of this report, in relation to the implementation of this decision, represents the critical path for project success and must be adhered to where possible.

e) Note that the officer responsible for implementation is the Head of Service Learning Systems.

The Director of Resources and Housing has provided authority to accept the HNIP grant offer of £2.438m and to enter into the grant agreement with The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The Deputy Director, Access & Care Delivery approved the contents of a report regarding a care plan in respect of a person with complex care needs, the individual cost of which is £135,643.56 per annum.
It is considered in the public interest that information contained in the report is exempt from publication as it relates to a vulnerable citizen of the City and the actions being taken to enable that person to live independently in a safe environment.

The Deputy Director, Access & Care Delivery approved the contents of a report regarding a care plan in respect of a person with complex care needs, the individual cost of which is £113,308.00 per annum.
It is considered in the public interest that information contained in the report is exempt from publication as it relates to a vulnerable citizen of the City and the actions being taken to enable that person to live independently in a safe environment.

The Deputy Director, Access & Care Delivery approved the contents of a report regarding a care plan in respect of a person with complex care needs, the individual cost of which is £111,539.10 per annum.
It is considered in the public interest that information contained in the report is exempt from publication as it relates to a vulnerable citizen of the City and the actions being taken to enable that person to live independently in a safe environment.

The Director of City Development has noted the contents of this report.and approved as the response to the Deputation.

The Director of Resources and Housing approved the Write off irrecoverable Former Tenants Arrears in the sum of £99,866.93 represented by 86 accounts in relation to the citywide accounts.

The Director of City Development has approved the details of the Discretionary Grant Fund (Scheme Two) as part of the Covid-19 Business Support Grants.

The Director of Resources and Housing:
1. Authorised the required expenditure to enable the programme to progress the property acquisitions detailed in Confidential Appendix A. These acquisitions to be funded from the Council Housing Growth Programme budget, via a combination of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing and Right to Buy receipts.
2. Noted that Executive Board granted Authority to Spend for the programme on 24th July 2019.
3. Noted that a report is being submitted in parallel to the Director of City Development to request approval to acquire the properties for Housing & Resources so that they can be returned to Council Housing Stock.

The Director of Resources and Housing:
a) Approved the award of a contract to Cenergist Limited to undertake the installation of ground source heat pumps for a contract sum of £1.610m to two high rise blocks – Westerly Croft and Westerly Rise; and
b) Noted that this follows a direct call off from the Procurement for Housing (PFH) framework, and that it is proposed that these works will be completed between December 2020 and March 2021, and
c) Approved expenditure for an additional £100k to enable delivery of the full project.

The Chief Officer (Highways and Transportation);
i) noted the contents of this report;
ii) Considered and over-ruled the objections to Traffic Regulation Order W1015 Amendment No.1 Order 2019
iii) requested the City Solicitor to make, seal and implement Traffic Regulation Order W1015 Amendment No.1 Order 2019
iv) Requested the City Solicitor to write to the objectors informing them of the Chief Officer’s (Highways and Transportation) decision.

The Director of Resources and Housing:
1. Approved the receipt of funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and subsequent injection of £97,500.00 grant funding into the Early Measures Capital Scheme.
2. Authorised the expenditure of the £97,500.00 ORCS external grant funding to cover the work streams itemised above.
3. Authorised expenditure of up to 7.5% of the total project cost (£9,750) from the Early Measures budget to cover capital costs. (There is an existing ring fenced budget for public charge point delivery within this scheme).
4. Approved the additional investment of £22,750 that will be provided by the charge point operator. This funding will be the operator’s contribution to the overall costs of the scheme and will not be received by the authority. This provides a total expenditure of £130,000 for the scheme, of which £107,250 is from the capital budget secured by SEAQ from external funding.
5. Approved the award of this work directly to EB Charging Ltd in line with the reasoning in 3.3 and 3.4 through the approved KCS framework contract.
6. Noted the consideration of the adoption of NetX technology at agreed EV charge-point sites. This technology is being developed by EB Charging Ltd as part of an Innovate UK funded trial project and has the potential to increase the charging capacity by 1:3, extending the charging infrastructure that can be delivered through this project and maximising the outputs possible from the OLEV award. This additional charge capacity will be added outside of the delivery of the ORCS project, so further approval will be sought if this additional scheme is to be delivered.

a) The Chief Digital and Information Officer approved the award of a contract to NYnet Ltd. in the sum of £48,000 (annually), £144,000 (over the three year term). The contract shall commence on 1st October 2020 and expire on 30th September 2023, at the end of the term the contract renews on a 12 month basis providing the YHPSN don’t cancel, we also have the option to renegotiate and extend for a further three years if required.
b) The recommendation is made on the grounds that the YHPSN collaboration work together to secure a favourable deal for the region by procuring the Govroam service on behalf of the partnership. NYCC as a partner of the YHPSN will now provide the service through their own IT service provider (NYnet Ltd.), replacing the current arrangements with JISC and Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS FT.

The Chief Officer Asset Management and Regeneration has approved that Otley Civic Centre be sold by auction.

The Chief Digital & Information Officer authorised an award of £500,000 each to:
a. Aware Technologies Limited
b. Homelync Limited

The Director of Resources and Housing:
1. Authorised the required expenditure to enable the programme to progress the property acquisitions detailed in Confidential Appendix A. These acquisitions to be funded from the Council Housing Growth Programme budget, via a combination of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing and Right to Buy receipts.
2. Noted that Executive Board granted Authority to Spend for the programme on 24th July 2019.
3. Noted that a report is being submitted in parallel to the Director of City Development to request approval to acquire the properties for Housing & Resources so that they can be returned to Council Housing Stock.