Decision details

Proposed decision: 

Deputy Leader to approve a new trading construct for education supplies with all revenue, stock and contracts vesting with Kent Holdco (CES Holdings Ltd).

Reason for the decision:

Material change to the trading construct for education supplies managed by Kent County Trading (KCT) on behalf of Kent County Council (KCC). 

Background:

KCT struggles to compete with private sector operators that are not bound by the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCRs).

A simple trading construct can be implemented that allows a company owned by Kent Holdco to procure separately from KCC. This construct has been developed based on legal advice from relevant experts, with assurances of legal compliance.

This procurement flexibility will allow KCT to work directly with overseas manufacturers, cut out European distributors, and improve profit margins.

Options (other options considered but discarded):

Continue as currently.

How the proposed decision supports the Interim Strategic Plan:

The interim strategic plan includes the reset of Kent County Council’s Trading Companies. This is an important part of that reset.

As Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, I agree to:

approve a new trading construct for education supplies with all revenue, stock, and contracts vesting with Kent Holdco (CES Holdings Limited) rather than KCC;

require this to be implemented via the relevant HoldCo corporate governance arrangements for commercial and operational decision-making, including normal compliance with standard regulatory and legislative requirements for contracting and associated due diligence; and

Delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer to take relevant actions, including but not limited to, entering in contracts and other legal agreements as necessary to implement this decision.