Issue - meetings

1. That Cabinet agrees, in principle, the proposals set out in this report for the transfer of the Council’s Building Control Services to Hertfordshire Building Control Ltd.
2. That further work is carried out by Officers to complete the technical, contractual and administrative arrangements for the transfer of the Council’s Building Control Services to Hertfordshire Building Control Ltd.
3. That, once the due diligence and work outlined in recommendation 2 above is completed, the final proposals are referred to Cabinet and  Council with the recommendation to transfer of the Council’s Building Control Services to Hertfordshire Building Control Ltd.

Decision

1. That Cabinet agrees, in principle, the proposals set out in this report for the transfer of the Council’s Building Control Services to Hertfordshire Building Control Ltd.
2. That further work is carried out by Officers to complete the technical, contractual and administrative arrangements for the transfer of the Council’s Building Control Services to Hertfordshire Building Control Ltd.
3. That, once the due diligence and work outlined in recommendation 2 above is completed, the final proposals are referred to Cabinet and  Council with the recommendation to transfer of the Council’s Building Control Services to Hertfordshire Building Control Ltd.

Corporate objectives

The report supports the corporate objectives of:

A clean, safe and enjoyable environment – a sustainable and well-functioning Building Control service in the long term will continue to ensure that new buildings are constructed to safe standards in compliance with the national Building Regulations, and that an effective service to deal with the public safety issues of dangerous structures as they arise can continue to be provided and delivered effectively

Delivering an efficient and modern Council – The proposals aim to provide a resilient Building Control service in the public interest and offer the best available value for money to the local tax payer.

Monitoring Officer:  

Hertfordshire Building Control Ltd has been set up as a “Teckal” company under regulation 12 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, which means that it can benefit from contracts for works, services or supply from its controlling Contracting Authority (or Authorities) without having to go through a competitive tender process,

In order to qualify as a Teckal company the following circumstances must exist:

•          The Contracting Authority/ies must exercise a control which is similar to that which it exercises over its/their own departments – this means it/they must exercise a decisive influence over both strategic objectives and significant decisions of the controlled company either itself or through another subsidiary; and

•          More than 80% of the activities of the company must be carried out in the performance of tasks entrusted to it by the controlling Contracting Authority/ies.

Therefore as long at the above circumstances continue to exist then Dacorum can lawfully join this company and this will be checked and approved  at the next stage of due diligence.

The existing governance structure, liability and indemnity provisions will also need to be carefully scrutinised before the final decision to join is confirmed.

Deputy S.151 Officer

Advice

Full discussion in part 2 minutes.