Issue - meetings

Appendices A and B to the report (pages 77 – 133) are exempt documents.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services introduced the Barking and Dagenham Trading Partnership (BDTP) Business Plan for 2019-2022 and the Barking and Dagenham School Improvement Partnership (BDSIP) Business Plan for 2019/20.

The Cabinet Member reminded colleagues that the formation of Council-owned companies was a key aspect of the Council’s growth-led transformation programme.  The BDTP and BDSIP, alongside Be First, B&D Reside and B&D Energy, were key elements of that programme and it was noted that the Council’s approach to commercialisation had been officially recognised with the award of “Entrepreneurial Council of the Year” at the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards 2019 on 13 March 2019.

The Business Plans included information on the activities of the companies to date and showed that both were ahead of their respective projected financial targets for 2018/19.  Performance levels were also very positive, with 93% of the Borough’s schools choosing to participate in the BDSIP while the BDTP had kept 99% of appointments on time, completed 97% of repairs during the first visit and had an overall satisfaction rate of 97.5%. 

The Cabinet Member referred to the detailed proposals and financial arrangements for 2019/20 within the Business Plan documents (which were in the exempt section of the agenda due to their commercially confidential nature) and confirmed that the Council’s Shareholder Panel had scrutinised the assumptions and proposals within the Plans in detail. 

One aspect of the BDTP Business Plan related to its future plans following the recent acquisition of Londoneast-uk Limited (LEUK), as part of the long-term objective of growing its trading activity through securing new business, and the associated land acquisition that formed part of the arrangements agreed by the Cabinet under Minute 57 (13 November 2018).  The Cabinet Member was very pleased to announce that BDTP had recently reached an ‘in principle’ agreement with University College London (UCL) for the sale of part of the LEUK land to UCL to facilitate the development of a world class research facility, which would further boost the regeneration of the area and bring significant benefits to the local economy.

It was also noted that the Be First Business Plan 2019-2024 would be presented to the Cabinet at its May meeting.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the Barking and Dagenham Trading Partnership Business Plan for 2019/20 – 2021/22, as set out at Appendix A to the report;

(ii)  Agree to the Barking and Dagenham Trading Partnership entering into any procurement related agreement or commitment required to enable the delivery of the Business Plan, subject to:

(a)  compliance with relevant procurement law;

(b)  compliance with its own scheme of delegation;

(c)  compliance with state aid rules; and

(d)  any other relevant approvals by the Council which may be relevant or required for the specific project.

(iii)  Endorse the Barking and Dagenham School Improvement Partnership Business Plan 2019/20, as set out at Appendix B to the report.