Catering

This paper requests approval to award the Catering Service Provider contract to Elior UK for a contract period of three years plus potential extension of two years.

The DMPC is asked to:
1. Approve the decision to outsource the Catering Services to Elior UK. As part of this outsourcing, the London Living Wage (LLW) will continue to be paid to all catering staff working on MPS sites.
2. To note the contract will introduce innovative food concepts, site promotions, concept days, loyalty schemes and an overall concept refresh of food sold at MPS catering establishments. The contract requires at least 80% of food to be prepared using fresh ingredients. Menu choices will encourage healthy eating to support the wellbeing of MPS officers and staff.
3. To note the outsourcing provides the opportunity for greater efficiencies through the development of new delivery methods, the ability to utilise the service provider’s expertise and large resource base.
4. Approve additional funding of £443k from the Major Change Fund to complete this proposal.
5. Approve the creation of the Catering Services Intelligent Client Function (ICF) at an annual cost of £250k to be funded from gross savings related to the Catering Services provider contract.
6. Approve the cash flow in the Operational Support Services revenue budget 2017/18 of £171k required to transition the change to be funded from the Revenue Reserves which will then be repaid in 2018/19.
7. Approve the associated redundancy costs of up to a maximum of £2.67m to be funded from the Redundancy Reserve. The MPS is working with Elior UK to minimise the number of redundancies by aiming to redeploy staff to other facilities within Elior UK.

1. Introduction and background

1.1 The project to outsource the catering services is part of the rationalisation of back office functions, supporting the One Met Model and the Police and Crime Plan.

1.2 Where possible the MPS will collaborate with other functional bodies and the GLA on procurement to deliver improved value for money. However in this instance, MPS service requirements suggested the need for a bespoke arrangement.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The proposal will provide a number of quantitative and qualitative benefits. Including improving officer and staff productivity through reduced queuing times, through the introduction of new technology and payment systems such as electronic point of sales and cashless payment terminals.

2.2. The proposal will have the ability to mobilise additional resources from within the wider organisation of Elior UK, which will have improve efficiencies in service delivery. The new catering service will encourage staff to view the catering service as a valued staff benefit, which creates a social hub for staff.

2.3. Further details are discussed in the Part 2.

3. Financial Comments

3.1 The MPS subsidy of £2.5m for Staff Feeding Services was removed from the baseline budget in 2016/17, resulting in a nil revenue budget. Over the Medium Term Financial Plan this equates to £7.5m.

3.1. Further details are provided in the Part 2.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. There are no legal implications arising from this report.

5. Equality Comments

5.1. As part of this proposal there will be a headcount reduction of 69 catering staff, to enable the financial operating model to be implemented. The profile of the catering staff varies considerably from the rest of the MPS with much higher levels of Black Minority Ethnic persons, women and with around a third of the workforce aged 50 plus.

5.2. This has Equality Impact Assessment implications and the MPS is working closely with the proposed catering service provider to address this. The aim is to minimise the number of redundancies by redeploying those staff at risk within other areas of the service provider’s organisation.

6. Background/supporting papers

6.1. None.