Scrutiny review recommendations

Our Scrutiny Team have now completed their review and recommendations on how the feel we can improve the service. The below table shows their recommendations and the progress made so far. This will be updated regularly so keep checking in to see how we're getting on.

Recommendation Progress Update
Longhurst Group determines as to whether future contracts should be performance or frequency based.
Complete

The new contract confirms the frequency and performance level that’s expected of the new contractors.

The new contract will provide two visits per month between March and October and one a month between November and February.
Best parts of contracts to be used to formulate a model contract for all Longhurst Group regions.
Complete

The new contracts take into account what worked well from previous contracts and customer feedback on the service.

The new contract is far more expansive than any previous service provision and also adopts new environmental processes.
Task frequencies between regional contracts should be aligned.
Complete
 This has been brought in line in the new contracts and now the same service provision and specification is offered across all regions and tenures.
Consideration to be given to incorporating financial penalties into contracts.
Complete
 Each month the contractor will be required to provide an application for payment. This is backed up by evidence of attendance and what work has been completed. The application will be reviewed by the Estates Team. Once reviewed and approved, the invoice will be submitted. If a site isn’t attended to then payment won’t be made.
Additional monitoring facilities required.
Complete
 The Estates Team will have access to a live portal so we can see photographic evidence of the work completed. The contractors’ supervisors and members of the Estates Team will also complete audits both jointly and independently, which will be recorded.
Provide an up to date database of grounds maintenance plots and measurements. Determine procedures for updating this as changes occur and affect variations to the contract.
Complete
 Site maps are stored centrally. They’re continually reviewed and updated by the Estates Team following site inspections and visits.
Active customer involvement be given to the procurement process and awarding of future grounds maintenance contracts.
Complete
 The procurement exercise has now been completed and customers have been involved in various ways including using Scrutiny Team recommendations, surveying customers to feed into the specification, creating a customer Evaluation Panel to score bidding contractors and attend the interview stage. More information on this can be found here.