(a)

part of the Localism Act 2011 relating to the community right to challenge came into effect on 27 June 2012; at the same time, both the supporting regulations were enacted and draft guidance was published;

(b)

the community right to challenge required the council (as a relevant authority), to consider expressions of interest in carrying out a relevant service from relevant bodies; where the expression of interest was accepted, the council had to carry out a procurement exercise for the service;

(c)

the Act did not give an automatic right to the organisation expressing an interest to deliver the service, nor was it guaranteed that the organisation would be successful in any procurement exercise;

(d)

the relevant bodies that would be able to submit expressions of interest are –

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a voluntary or community body;

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a body of persons or a trust established for charitable purposes only;

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a parish council;

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two or more city council employees;

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any other person or body specified by the Secretary of State;

(e)

following the Cabinet decision on community right to challenge taken at the meeting held on 14 August 2012, it agreed that pre decision scrutiny would be undertaken on the development of the policy and process in four specific areas –

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the production of a comprehensive and workable timetable for submitting expressions of interest;

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the determination of what additional information would be required of those submitting expressions of interest; 

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the setting of a timetable for making a decision on expressions of interest;

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the setting of a timetable for a procurement exercise.

(f)

the timetable for the receipt of expressions of interest - there were a number of options for a timetable -

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have no timetable and take expressions for any service at any time:

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set specific dates for an expression of interest for any service;

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set specific dates for different services;

some authorities had a single period (generally a month) once a year; others had two opportunities a year;

(g)

the evaluation of expressions of interest –

it was good practice for the evaluation of tenders for example (as an administrative process) to be undertaken by officers; the evaluation of expressions of interests was a similar exercise but a political input would be helpful as a means of challenge;

(where the expression of interest had a particular impact on a specific ward, then the ward councillors should be consulted);

the Monitoring Officer would also seek advice from other officers including representatives from Finance, HR, Procurement, Property and others as appropriate to the particular expression of interest;

(h)

did the council want to request additional information to be included in an expression of interest –

it was open to the council to request additional information, although under the law, the person or body submitting an expression of interest was not obliged to respond to them;

one area for further questioning surrounded the promotion of the social, economic or environmental well-being and how an expression of interest would comply with the council’s corporate plan and vision for the city;

(i)

setting the maximum time for responding to an expression of interest –

in the absence of additional resources to respond to any expressions of interest, officers would need the maximum time to respond; the maximum allowed time was, 30 days from the closing of the period for submissions of expressions of interest;

(j)

what was the time period between accepting an expression of interest and the starting of the procurement exercise;

the time period before commencing a procurement exercise would depend on the type and complexity of the service involved, how it was packaged and what procurement regimes applied (eg do the EU rules apply).

(1)

the council receive expressions of interest for any service twice a year (in the months of February and August); 

(2)

the expressions of interest are approved, rejected or amended by the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Cooperatives and Community Development;  where the expression of interest has a particular impact on a specific ward, then the ward councillors should also be consulted;

(3)

the expression of interest should include the following additional requests for information -

(a)

explain how a local (city based) workforce would be maintained  and guaranteed;

(b)

identify what are the positive impacts to be brought to the local economy;

(c)

state where the contract would be managed from;

(d)

how would the bid ensure compliance with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012;

(e)

explain how it would support the council’s corporate plan and vision for the city;

(4)

the maximum response time for responding to expressions of interest will be 30 days from the end of February/August;

(5)

in setting the time for the commencement of the procurement exercise, the council follows its current procurement rules which are appropriate for the particular expression of interest;

(6)

that the policy and process is reviewed after 12 months.