Cabinet agreed:

1.    The Cabinet response to the Scrutiny recommendations:

2.    To delegate authority to renew contracts with Delt for 10 years to the Council’s Section 151 Officer;

3.    To note there are three contracts being renewed; ICT, printing and document handling, and payroll provision.

Cabinet agreed:

1.     To delegate authority to renew contracts with Delt for 10 years to the Council’s Section 151 Officer;

2.     To note there are three contracts being renewed; ICT, printing and document handling, and payroll provision.

Councillor Chris Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) added the following regarding Delt’s corporate social responsibility:

a)     DELT had been a real living wage employer since 2015;

b)    They were well recognised for high staff engagement and were certified as a best place to work by best companies and received a ninth place in the top 100 most loved places to work by Newsweek Magazine;

c)     Commitment to recruitment of students and apprentices, as well as upskilling existing employees through their apprenticeship programme;

d)    Strong engagement in schools, colleagues and universities and were involved in mentoring, internships and career workshops;

                         i.         They had worked in depth with 23 students over the past nine years, 11 of which had returned on permanent contracts, three of which had progressed to Team Leader;

e)     They had been an Armed Forces Defence recognition scheme award winner for five years, currently silver, and on track to get gold by 2025;

                         i.         40% of their work force were ex-armed forces;

f)      They were signatories to the Care Leavers Covenant, providing employment opportunities, career mentoring and sponsorship, and one care leaver had been hired as an apprentice;

g)     They had recognition through the workplace wellbeing charter;

h)    There was an ongoing programme within the company to fundraise for local charities;

i)      They had a partnership with the Council’s LGBTQ+ Staff Network;

j)      Their print and document service was carbon negative.