Guidance on personal and personal prejudicial interests is attached to these agenda pages.

No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.

Members of the public may, if the Board Member agrees, ask a question of the Board Member on any item for decision on this agenda (other than on the minutes).  The full text of any question must be notified to the Head of Law and Governance by no later than 9.30 am two clear working days before the meeting.  Questions by the public will be taken as read and, at the Board Member’s discretion, responded to either orally or in writing at the meeting.  No supplementary question or questioning will be permitted.

The total time permitted for this item will be 15 minutes.

None made.

City Councillors may, at the Board Member’s discretion, ask a question or address the Board Member on an item for decision on the agenda (other than on the minutes).  The full text of any question and the nature of any address must be notified to the Head of Law and Governance by no later than 9.30 am two clear working days before the meeting.  Questions by councillors will be taken as read and, at the Board Member’s discretion, responded to either orally or in writing at the meeting.  No supplementary question or questioning will be permitted.  If an address is made, the Board member will either respond or have regard to the points raised in reaching her or his decision.  If the address is by the Chair of a Scrutiny Committee or her or his nominee then the Board member will be required to say as part of their decision whether they accept the Scrutiny recommendations made.

None made.

This report provides an update on the savings made from the energy supply contract with the Local Authority South East Region buying consortia (abbreviated to LASER in the rest of this note) over the last two years.   The report recommends the Board member to:-

(1)    Grant project approval to use LASER for a further four years (2012 – 2016) to tender the Council’s energy requirements;

(2)    Approve the purchasing route set out in Section 6 of the report and to use LASER to enter into new energy contracts based on flexible purchasing using the ‘purchase in advance’ option.  This will enable the Council to manage the ongoing price/risk in a volatile energy market – this is in line with the recommendations of the professional energy buying consortia;

(3)    Note that the greenest available energy will be sourced whenever it is economically viable to do so;

(4)    Delegate to the Director, City Services to enter into the new replacement energy contracts identified by the process for which agreement is south in (1) and (2) above.

Resolved to:-

1)     Grant project approval to use LASER, the public sector specialist energy buying consortium for a further 4 years (2012-2016) to tender the Council’s energy requirements;

2)     Approve the energy purchasing route set out in section 6 of the report, and to use the LASER service to enter into new energy contracts based on Flexible Purchasing using the Purchase In Advance option.  This will enable the Council to manage the ongoing price/risk in a volatile energy market.  This is in line with the recommendations of the professional energy buying consortia;

3)     Support using the greenest available energy source whenever it is economically viable to do so;

4)     Delegate authority to the Executive Director City Services to enter into the new replacement energy contracts identified by the process as set out in resolutions 1, 2 and 3 above;

5)     Ask officers to bring the sites that are billed quarterly into the new service, as set out in paragraph 6.8 lf the report, as soon as possible;

6)     Note that the 25% reduction in the Council’s carbon footprint achieved over the last 3 years will result in reduced gas and electricity consumption resulting in cheaper bills than before the reduction; and

7)     Note that the Carbon reduction of 3-5% for future years will further decrease the energy consumption of the authority.

The Heads of Environmental Development and Business Improvement submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) concerning the procurement of gas and electricity supplies for the Council.

Resolved to:-

1)     Grant project approval to use LASER, the public sector specialist energy buying consortium for a further 4 years (2012-2016) to tender the Council’s energy requirements;

2)     Approve the energy purchasing route set out in section 6 of the report, and to use the LASER service to enter into new energy contracts based on Flexible Purchasing using the Purchase In Advance option.  This will enable the Council to manage the ongoing price/risk in a volatile energy market.  This is in line with the recommendations of the professional energy buying consortia;

3)     Support using the greenest available energy source whenever it is economically viable to do so;

4)     Delegate authority to the Executive Director City Services to enter into the new replacement energy contracts identified by the process as set out in resolutions 1, 2 and 3 above;

5)     Ask officers to bring the sites that are billed quarterly into the new service, as set out in paragraph 6.8 lf the report, as soon as possible;

6)     Note that the 25% reduction in the Council’s carbon footprint achieved over the last 3 years will result in reduced gas and electricity consumption resulting in cheaper bills than before the reduction; and

7)     Note that the Carbon reduction of 3-5% for future years will further decrease the energy consumption of the authority.