Agenda item

Mrs A D Allen declared an interest in this item as a Trustee of North West Kent Age Concern.

Ms E Hanson, Head of Commissioning, Community Services, was in attendance for this item.

1.            Ms Hanson introduced the report and explained that the provider to whom it was proposed to award the contract had been the only bidder and was currently negotiating with the County Council about unit price and volume. It was hoped that these negotiations would soon be successfully concluded.  It was important to fix a fair price for the customer and secure terms which were favourable to the County Council.  Ms Hanson clarified the type of meals which would be provided by the contract; frozen meals which would be reheated in a van on the way to the customer’s home.  This was an essential service for those customers for whom no other options were available, eg those who could not use a microwave. Ms Hanson responded to comments and questions from Members, as follows:-

a)    the length of contract was part of the current negotiations.  The provider favoured a longer contract of three or five years but a decision on length would be made once calculations around unit price had been completed;

b)    although the County Council had not had the opportunity to make a comparison and choice between several bidders, it was emphasised that the range of catering options and products available in the market meant that customers would not miss out on having some choice of product, supplier and price;

c)    one Member said he had visited the bidder’s factory and been impressed with the production process;

d)    in some areas of Kent there was already much competition among providers, including local supermarkets, to deliver to residents, eg those in sheltered housing developments, and the need for another meals contract in those areas was questioned. Ms Hanson confirmed that micro-provision was more advanced in East Kent than in West and reminded Members that the contract currently under discussion aimed to help those customers for whom other options were not suitable. Mr Lobban added that some customers needed to have hot meals delivered for a limited period of time, eg after returning home from hospital, and the service able to be offered to this group of customers was a small but important part of a hot meals service. The unit price being negotiated was more cost-effective than paying a carer to visit a customer to prepare a hot meal; and

e)    it was suggested that day centres currently offering a hot meals service could extend their service further afield, but another speaker added that some such concerns would be unable to compete on volume and price as they operated as charities.

2.            RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, to:

a)    award the Kent community hot meals delivery contract, to commence on 1 October 2015, to the preferred bidder identified in the exempt appendix, once the negotiations  described are successfully concluded; and

b)    agree that the Corporate Director of Social Care, Health and Wellbeing, or other suitable delegated officer, undertake the necessary actions to implement this decision,

be endorsed.