Decisions

The County Council’s West Sussex Plan sets out its ambition to minimise the burden of local taxation, delivering the best outcomes for residents with the money it spends, whilst living within its means.  In 2018 the County Council agreed to adopt an Asset Management Policy and Strategy.  An objective of the strategy is to acquire, manage, maintain and dispose of property effectively, efficiently and sustainably, together with optimising financial and commercial opportunities.

To accord with Standing Orders, this report advises on the outcome of the marketing of vacant semi-detached houses no 1, 19 and 20, Littlegreen Gardens, Compton and adjoining land and seeks the approval of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Property to dispose of the County Council’s freehold estate in the property.    Offers have been received and approval is sought to sell to the preferred and highest bidder. 

The Cabinet Member has endorsed:

(1)          That the County Council disposes of its freehold estate in surplus houses 1, 19 and 20, Littlegreen Gardens, Compton, Chichester, West Sussex P018 9NW and adjoining land as set out in Appendix A of this report; and that

(2)          Authority is delegated to the Director of Property and Assets in conjunction with the Director of Law and Assurance to conclude the terms of the sale with the purchaser. 

The Adur and Worthing Growth Programme (2017) identified a

Worthing Public Realm Improvements programme in Worthing town centre to support the revival of the local economy by improving the quality and accessibility of public areas connecting Worthing station, the town centre and the seafront.

Leader key decision (LDR01 18/19) confirmed WSCC commitment of £5m of growth funding to deliver the initial phases of a £12m programme of up to eight public realm schemes between the station and the seafront. Worthing Borough Council identified developer contributions, including the Community Infrastructure Levy to fund the later phases of the public realm improvement programme.  Approval was delegated to the Executive Director of Place Services, in consultation with key partners and Cabinet Member(s) to progress the delivery of the project.  A key decision report in May 2020 ( OKD10 20/21) confirmed design options were being explored for Railway Approach, along with delivery of Portland Road, identified as priority projects within the programme.

The Executive Director Place Services will now be asked to confirm progression to the detailed design stage of the Railway Approach project and to endorse funding arrangements. 

A further key decision will be published, in due course to allow contractor procurement to begin and delegate authority to the Director of Highways, Transport and Planning to appoint a construction contractor to start work on site in 2022 for completion in 2023.

The Executive Director Place Services has

(1)          Agreed a Detailed Design Process is undertaken for Railway Approach as a priority within the WPRI programme; and

(2)          approved funding requirements to support Detailed Design processes of £0.296m as set out at paragraph 5 in the report.

The County Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for all children who need a place.

Slinfold Primary School, close to Horsham, is a 140 place Primary School incorporating 5 classrooms and a pre-school on site. Two of the five classrooms are in 30 year old modular classrooms which have significant suitability and condition issues due to the age of the buildings. These modular classrooms provide capacity for 60 pupils and projections indicate that there is continuing need for these places in future years to ensure continued capacity at the school for children of primary age in the village and the wider locality.

Approval is required for the allocation of funding from the Capital Programme to replace the two modular classrooms at Slinfold CE Primary School which are nearing the end of their life, with the new accommodation expected to be available from Autumn 2022. In addition the budget will fund all associated fees, ICT and furniture and equipment.

The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills has approved:

(1) The allocation of £1.158m to fund the replacement accommodation and associated external works as set out in paragraph 2.1 to enable the ongoing retention of 60 places at Slinfold CE Primary School;

(2) The authorisation to commence a procurement process for a construction contractor to deliver the scheme;

(3)The submission of a planning application for full planning permission and statutory consents if required; and

(4)That subject to receipt of planning permission and statutory consents, the delegation of the authority to enter into a construction contract with the successful provider to the Director of Property and Assets.

West Sussex County Council plans and procures passenger transport services for service users to and from various establishments within and outside of West Sussex, including schools, colleges and day centres.

The scope of services include but are not limited to –

• Mainstream school transport
• Special Education Needs or Disability (SEND) transport
• Children and Adult Services transport
• Secure vehicles and medical transfer

A procurement exercise will be undertaken for a Dynamic Purchasing System to operate for an initial period of 5 years.

Upon the conclusion of the procurement exercise, the Director for Highways, Transport and Planning will be asked to establish a Dynamic Purchasing System and award individual contracts to local transport companies to undertake transport services on behalf of the County Council and its service users.

The Director of Highways, Transport and Planning, in consultation with the Director of Education and Skills, has approved the implementation of a new Dynamic Purchasing System for passenger transport services, from date June 2022, in order to:

a.    Source and select competent transport suppliers who pass the exclusion and selection criteria; and

b.    Award contracts for individual routes/requirements following a competitive tender process and in line with the Council’s Standing Orders on Procurement and Contracts.

West Sussex County Council is a designated Highways Authority under the Highways Act 1980 and has a duty to maintain highways maintainable at public expense.

In January 2019, the Cabinet Member for Highways and Infrastructure approved the commencement of a procurement process for a new Highways Maintenance Term Contract or set of contracts and delegated authority to the Director of Highways and Transport to finalise the terms of and award the Highway Maintenance Term Contract, or set of contracts at the conclusion of the procurement process.

In November 2019, the Director of Highways, Transport and Planning appointed contractors to a four-year Framework Agreement to commence 1 April 2020 for capital works for highways.

Lots 4, 5 and 6 (carriageways, footways and infrastructure works) are procured annually and a formal procurement process will be undertaken in the autumn for the delivery of highway works in 2022-23.

At the conclusion of the procurement process, the Director of Highways, Transport and Planning will be asked to award the highway improvement contracts - phase 1.

The Director of Highways, Transport and Planning has approved the award of contracts (total value is £9,537,953.12) to contractors to deliver works programmes for Lot 4, 5 and 6 (Phase 1) for highways works during 2022-23, as set out in section 2.4 of the report.

West Sussex County Council has purchased IT hardware (laptops, servers, processors etc) through the Capita Information Technology Outsource contract which expired on 30 September 2021.

The Director Finance and Support Services has endorsed the award of a contract for the supply of computing hardware to Dell Corporation Limited for the period between 10 January 2022 to 08 August 2023 with the aggregate value capped at £1.120m.

The current Community Advice contract provides a generalist advice service across West Sussex and will cease on 31^st March 2022. The service model has been developed over many years to meet the specific needs of West Sussex and is funded via a long-standing partnership arrangement between the County Council and District and Borough Councils that dates back to 2010. The current 2019-22 contract provides the majority of the core funding (£1m p.a.) for the service provided by Citizens Advice across West Sussex. The remainder of the funding for the service is raised by Citizens Advice through fundraising and income generated from additional contracts.

In summer 2021 representatives from the Funding Partnership met to discuss the contract including future funding arrangements and contract development within the context of the pandemic and the evident increase in service demand. The Funding Partnership proposed that the County Council, working in partnership with the District and Borough councils, commissions a 3+3+1year contract to continue the service provision for 2022-29.

The proposal is for the contract to run for a period of up to seven years (3+3+1 years). The total value of these contracts is approximately £1.1 million per annum.

The Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing is asked to agree to the commencement of a procurement process starting in November 2021 to secure a contract relating to the provision of Community Advice & Support services from April 2022 for a period of 3+3+1 years and to delegate the awarding of the contract and decisions about future extension of these contracts to the Director of Public Health.

The Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing has approved;

(1)   the procurement of a Community Advice & Support service via an open tender process, from 1^st April 2022 for a period of 3+3+1 years;

(2)   that the County Council leads the tendering process on behalf of our funding partners, the West Sussex District and Borough Councils; and

(3)   that authority is delegated to the Director of Public Health to award the contract to the successful bidder.

Orchard House children’s home in Cuckfield is part of the County Council’s Residential Service and caters for residential placements and short breaks for children with disabilities, with capacity for up to 16 children at one time. The home consists of;

•            The Main Building, separated into 2 wings,

•            Orchard Lodge, a stand-alone building on the premises, and

•            The home’s Contact Centre, where supervised contact takes place between children and families

As part of phase 2 of the improvement programme to deliver the Residential Service Strategy approved by the Cabinet Member decision in October 2019 (CYP03(19.20)), remodelling and refurbishment works are required to resolve critical issues with the home, modernise the home and improve the facilities for those children resident at the home and those who undertake short breaks there.

Capital funding totalling £4.183m has so far been allocated to deliver this project, through a Cabinet Member key decision in March 2021 (CYP04(20/21)). Subsequently, an additional £745k of work has been identified, the majority of which is to deliver additional work which will help this project better meet the aims of the Council’s Climate Change Strategy and the commitment to be a net carbon zero organisation by 2030.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People has approved;

(1) The allocation of a further £745k of capital funding to the refurbishment and remodelling of Orchard House in order to better support the aims of the Council’s climate change strategy and enable implementation of associated revisions to the original proposed design.

(2) The expansion of the scope of the two procurement processes to deliver the works at (a) the Main Building and Orchard Lodge and (b) the Contact Centre to include the additional work items listed in paragraph 2.1 of the report. 

(3) The delegation of authority to the Executive Director of Children, Young People and Learning, in consultation with the Director of Property and Assets, to award the contracts.

Delivery of Phase 1 of the A29 realignment scheme is dependent on land purchase and land being dedicated for highways use.  Discussions with the developers of the scheme  and Land Agent representatives are ongoing but there is always a possibility that agreement might not be reached, or only reached outside of the programme required by the County Council to meet its obligations under Local Enterprise Partnership funding and planning permission.

As a precaution, the County Council is undertaking preparation for initiating the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) process which would require the determination of land and rights to be acquired, land valuations, and negotiations direct with landowners. If objections are received to the CPO a Public Inquiry may be required.

It is necessary, therefore, to potentially allow the CPO process to begin, whilst WSCC continues to support and encourage a negotiated settlement route with the developers and landowners.

The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport will be asked to authorise the Director of Law and Assurance to proceed with the Compulsory Purchase Order process and any associated arrangements for the A29 Realignment Phase 1.

The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport has authorised the Director of Law and Assurance to publish the necessary Compulsory Purchase Order and take any necessary action to secure the land either by agreement or compulsion in order to secure the delivery of the proposed A29 Phase 1, as set out in section 2 of the report.

Due to the ongoing public health emergency the County Council has received a number of support packages from Central Government.  As funds are received the Council needs to determine arrangements to distribute, allocate or make other preparations for the appropriate use of funds received.

The government announced on 6 October 2021 that a new Household Support Fund (HSF) grant of £500m would be made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to support those most in need this winter.  The County Council’s share of the grant amounts to £4,870,362.11 which covers the period from 06 October 2021 until the 31 March 2022 inclusive.

At least fifty percent of the total funding must be spent on families with children. In terms of the type of support, the expectation is that the Household Support Fund should primarily be used to support households in the most need with food, energy and water bills. It can also be used to support households with essential costs related to those items and with wider essential costs. In exceptional cases of genuine emergency, it can additionally be used to support housing costs where existing housing support schemes do not meet this exceptional need. This report explains how the funds will be administered.

The Cabinet Member for Community Support, Fire and Rescue has approved;

(1)   the allocations from the Household Support Fund and arrangements for distribution and support  set out in Section 2 of the report to include a review at the end of December 2021;

(2)   that West Sussex County Council works in line with government guidance and applies the agreed criteria to support residents experiencing hardship in partnership with District and Boroughs;

(3)   that the council widens the range of organisations providing support via the Household Support Fund if significant sums remain available at the end of December 2021 due to low demand; and

(4)   the Director of Communities, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Support Services, is authorised to rebalance the allocation according to greatest need in the event that the funds allocated under school voucher schemes prove insufficient and otherwise to administer the allocations following the review in January 2022. 

Following consideration of the report, Cabinet resolved that:

1.   Appointments are no longer made by the County Council to the Outside Bodies listed in Appendix A and that they be deleted from the County Council’s Outside Bodies list.

2.   Appointments are made by individual Cabinet Members with the respective portfolio responsibility and that they appoint the relevant local councillors to the remaining roles, as set out in Appendix B and as follows:

Gatwick Greenspace Partnership – Cllr Burrett and Cllr Cornell

Manhood Peninsula Partnership – Cllr Montyn

Port of Shoreham Liaison Committee – Cllr McGregor

Goodwood Aerodrome Consultative Committee – Cllr Hunt

Goodwood Motor Circuit Consultative Committee – Cllr Hunt

3.   To defer the appointment to the Chichester Harbour Conservancy until 1 February 2022. 

4.   To defer the appointment of the Waves Ahead Strategic Partnership for decision by the Cabinet Member for Support Services and Economic Development at the appropriate time.

The Call-in deadline is 14 December 2021.

The Fire Authority (FRA) is required to provide annual assurance on financial, governance and operational matters and show how they have had due regard to the expectations set out in their Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) and as part of the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England.

This Statement reinforces the commitment to provide our communities with clear information about how we manage public funds and assure the effectiveness of our financial, governance and operational fire service arrangements.

All partners involved have been asked to formally endorse the Annual Statement of Assurance 2020-21. Cabinet will be asked to approve the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service Statement of Assurance for 2020-21.

Following consideration of the report, Cabinet resolved to approve the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service Annual Statement of Assurance 2020-21.

The call-in deadline is 14 December 2021.

The Performance and Resources Report (PRR) details the Council’s performance in relation to revenue and capital spending, savings, workforce projections, performance and risk by portfolio against the Cabinet’s key priorities.  The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Property will be recommended to approve the PRR and any items of financial and performance management within the PRR.

Following consideration of the report, Cabinet resolved to:

1.   Note the information contained in the Q2 Performance and Resources Report in Annex B,

2.   Note the update in the presentation of the report following scrutiny committee feedback from the Q1 report,

3.   Agree the allocation of £0.225m from the pay inflation contingency budget to the Fire and Rescue Service to fund the nationally agreed 1.5% pay award from July 2021.

The call-in deadline is 14 December 2021.

A School Information Management system (SIMS) provides the information necessary to manage a school effectively and provides an objective system for recording and aggregating information to support its operations. A school also has a Financial Management System (FMS) to manage its finances and budgeting.

The current versions of these systems have been in place for a considerable time and are consequently not as user-friendly or flexible as more modern systems, which also potentially offer improved functionality options that would support more efficient and effective working practices, which could benefit both schools and the County Council. 

The proposal is to replace the current system with a new solution hosted in The Cloud meaning that maintenance and upgrades are more straightforward. Schools opting in would pay for the systems through formal arrangements with the County Council.

The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills has approved:

(1) The commencement of a procurement to provide a replacement information and financial management system for all West Sussex maintained schools

(2) The delegation of authority to the Director of Education and Skills to award the contract and implement the solution following the procurement process and to settle a service level agreement through which schools would reimburse the County Council for the costs of the system.

West Sussex County Council entered into an Enterprise Licensing Agreement with Microsoft via a reseller in April 2019 for three years. This agreement provides access to a variety of Microsoft applications, tools and modules which are essential to supporting the Council’s business operations.  A new Enterprise Licencing Agreement will be required from 01 April 2022 for the next three years. The estimated total contract value is £4m.

The Director of Finance and Support Services will be asked to agree to enter into a new Microsoft licensing agreement for three years to meet the Council’s business and infrastructure licensing requirements.

The Director of Finance and Support Services has endorsed the procurement process and award of a contract for Microsoft licences to Computacenter UK Ltd (Company number 01584718) for services from 01 April 2022 to 31 March 2025 at an estimated total value of £4.2m.