Agenda item

(Report of the Interim Director)

During discussion of Item 7 above, the Chairman will be asked to consider Item 12 on the agenda which will involve the likely exclusion of the public.

The Management Committee considered a report of the Interim Director, the purpose of which was to provide an update to members on developments since the Committee last met on 25 June 2012. A copy of the report, marked ‘E’, is filed with these minutes. [Further details informing the Progress Report of the interim Director, of a commercially sensitive nature, were considered under exempt business in Minute 145 below]

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr John Doherty, the new Director of ESPO.  Mr Doherty explained that since his arrival he had been spending time getting to know the business, had met with employees, customers, suppliers and with regional and national representatives including of the Government Procurement Service (GPS), Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) and the Pro5 Group.  Throughout these discussions it had been clear that ESPO was very highly regarded.

Over the coming months Mr Doherty indicated that he would be focussing on the following:

-        Continuing to meet individually with Consortium Members;

-        Holding further discussions with nationally and regionally operating organisations such as GPS, YPO and the Pro5 Group; in order to maintain those positive relationships;

-        Running the business in the most effective manner by building upon work already undertaken by the Interim Director to:-

§         Improve customer experiences

§         Respond to shifting demands

§         Complete implementation of new ways of working such as the Indigo warehouse system and pCard processing system which would be implemented in early 2013

§         Embed new members of the senior management team

§         Respond to business risk, such as supply chain management issues as they arose

Mr Doherty thanked the outgoing Interim Director for the considerable work which he had undertaken to develop ESPO.

Arising from discussion the following points were noted:

(i)                 That good progress was being made with producing the key areas of the Partnership Agreement and Constitution, led by Warwickshire County Council.  As a result of the significant work required by representatives of all Consortium Authorities in drafting the documents, it was noted that they would now be submitted to the Management Committee for approval in March 2013;

(ii)               ESPO’s Senior Management Team carefully monitored cash flow in order to manage the significant fluctuations in demand at different times of year.  Members commented that it would be useful for the Finance and Audit Subcommittee to receive further information on this;

(iii)             ESPO’s commitment to ensure the implementation of the Indigo warehouse and pCard solution was welcomed.  It was important that the introduction of the Indigo system did not adversely impact on customer service, therefore the system would be implemented at a suitable time of lower demand;

(iv)              It was suggested that benchmarking was not relevant to all sectors as it was not always possible to compare products on a like for like basis, or in some cases the existence of only a few suppliers made benchmarking inappropriate;

(v)                The resultant increase in costs of operating nightshifts were offset by efficiencies being recouped by replenishing stock during the night.  This was a more productive process which resulted in a unit cost saving;

(vi)              The introduction of more efficient electronic means for customers to place orders was hampered by the fact that a significant number of customers continued to pay by check;

(vii)            ESPO was continuing the implementation of new policies, including for the management of sickness absence;

(viii)          Consideration would be given to self insuring in areas of the business, in addition to that of the car scheme insurance fund, in which it was considered good value for money to do so.

RESOLVED:

That the final progress report of the Interim Director be noted.