Agenda item

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Board received a report which updated Governors on the actions taken by the City Surveyor’s Department in collaboration with officers from the School to ensure that cleaning services met the required standard and were commensurate to the scope of the contract specification.

The City Surveyor informed Governors that they had been working with the Town Clerk’s Department to provide updates to the Board and the Chairman had spoken with the Chairman of Policy and Resources on the matter.

Since the last meeting of the Board, MITIE had now performed a deep clean of the School and had temporarily seconded a supervisor from another site. The City Surveyor advised a reasonable standard would be maintained going forward, and legal advice had been sought.

The Chairman remarked that the City’s cleaning contract was broader than the School and felt the issues experienced had been due to supervisory problems, which had now been resolved and were being monitored closely. The Second Master informed Governors that standards of cleanliness at the School had increased and cleaning staff absences had decreased. The Deputy Town Clerk had also conducted a site visit and provided feedback.

A Governor commented that MITIE’s contract was due for renewal in a year’s time and this was why cleaning standards had improved. The City Surveyor replied that MITIE held contracts with other City organisations, which had not experienced any significant issues. The City Surveyor was now very attuned to monitoring the contract and re-tendering would be agreed and assessed with the School.

Governors queried if in-house cleaning was possible, and the City Surveyor advised that in the past, this had not been deemed the most efficient. The City had also taken action to reduce the number of contracts it held with external providers. Governors stated in future, matters such as this should be investigated as soon as possible and assured beyond monitoring standards and indicators.