Agenda item

To receive a report on the Veolia contract including the impact and improvements following the round reorganisation.

Contributors:

Veolia

Andrew Reidy, General Manager

Lucy Murphy, Senior Contract Manager

Pascal Hauret, Managing Director – Municipal

Buckinghamshire Council

Cllr Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Climate Change & Environment

Richard Barker, Corporate Director for Communities

Martin Dickman, Service Director for Neighbourhood Services

Simon Anthony, Head of South Waste & Street Scene Services

The Chairman welcomed Councillor G Williams, Cabinet Member for Climate Change & Environment, Councillor J Jordan, Deputy Cabinet Member for Environment, representatives from Veolia and council officers to the meeting. The Cabinet Member introduced the report to the Select Committee and highlighted the key points. In the north of Buckinghamshire, the waste collection service is provided through an in-house service whereas in the south, the legacy Wycombe, Chiltern & South Bucks areas, the waste collection service was contracted to Veolia. In the contract, the target was for a maximum of 60 missed bins per 100,000. As part of the agreed contractual terms, Veolia had introduced a comprehensive reorganisation of the collection rounds with a view of improving service quality for residents and securing efficiencies. At the peak of the collection issues, around 600 out of 100,000 bins were reported as missed collections. This amounted to between 3,000 – 4,000 collections being missed per week. An external audit report would soon be published which would be presented to the Council’s Risk Management Group, and the Cabinet Member advised that the Select Committee may also want to consider it.

The Chairman invited comments from the Veolia representatives. Andrew Reidy, General Manager, apologised to all residents and Members for the disruption caused and acknowledged the importance of rectification as soon as possible.

During the Select Committee discussion, the following points were noted:-

·       Multiple Members reiterated how their residents had been negatively affected by the contract performance with examples given across different wards in the south of Buckinghamshire. Members also advised Veolia that a significant percentage of their current casework related to the ongoing waste collection issues including the Leader and the Cabinet Member. The Corporate Director asked Members to follow up with him after the meeting on cases where the service had not replied to reports of repeated missed collections. 

·       Despite some residents having lost confidence in the system, the Cabinet Member encouraged households to continue reporting missed collections online. Reports normally had to be submitted within 24 hours but had been extended to 48 hours; 15% of reports were currently within this extended 24 – 48-hour period.

·       Data issues had been identified with examples including bins not registered at some households, collections being marked as completed when they were not and households missing from the new rounds.

·       After a difficult start, Veolia had successfully delivered a round reorganisation in a local authority in the south of the country which was now one of the best performers. It was expected that the south’s new round would eventually outperform the preceding one.

·       The Council remained focused in working with Veolia to improve service delivery. The Cabinet Member advised that financial penalties were being explored and that the maximum the Council could claim was 5% of the contract value.

·       The contract with Veolia was in place for ten years and had a five-year break clause. The contract contained definitions of a service breakdown, which were outlined in the report, and had not been reached during the peak of the poor performance. Veolia advised that although significant work had been put into the round reorganisation, a level of disruption for 8-12 weeks was always expected, and it was acknowledged that Veolia’s anticipated scale of the disruption had not been correct.

·       As well as the round reorganisation, other factors that contributed to the poor performance were:

o   A lack of experienced cover for staff due to sickness absence and annual leave during the summer.

o   Route learning being lost.

o   Some issues with the reporting system which, in some cases, led to duplicate reports.

o   Reports of missed collections being marked as complete when they were still outstanding which further frustrated residents.

·       As part of the recovery plan, Veolia had increased crew resource, implemented additional ‘catch up crews’, and deployed weekend workers at their own cost. The extra resources were costing Veolia around £125,000 per month.

·       Members sought assurance that Veolia were supporting their staff and crews during the round reorganisation. It was reported that crews had been engaged on their wellbeing and that catering vehicles had been arranged to show appreciation for their efforts. Veolia recognised the importance of drivers by offering recruitment and retention packages. Conversely, reported instances of poor behaviour from crews were investigated with Veolia following internal disciplinary processes.

·       A Member suggested a system whereby residents could ‘opt-out’ of a collection that week if their recycling bin did not need emptying that week.

·       One Member was mindful that the increased amount of customer contact due to missed collections in the south would impact all Buckinghamshire residents due to increased waiting times and lead times to resolve other service queries and issues.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their comments and civil discussion on an important service that impacted all residents in Buckinghamshire. The Chairman also thanked representatives from Veolia for attending to answer questions and would welcome their attendance at a future meeting.