PPE Supply Implementation Project Board minutes: September 2022

Attendees and apologies

Scottish Government

• Alan Morrison (Chair) (AM)
• Graeme Cook (GC)
• Ruth Paterson (RP)
• Frances MacKay (FM)
• Danny Duffy (DD)
• Elaine Allan (EA)
• Marie Murray (Secretariat) (MM)

NHS NSS National Procurement

• Gordon Beattie (GB)
• Iain Main (IM)

Apologies

• Mike Healy (MH)
• Matt Thomas (MT)

Items and actions

Welcome and open the meeting

AM welcomed members to the meeting. There were no requests to add any extra items to the agenda

Minutes from 20 July 2022 and actions outstanding

Previous minutes were approved, and it was noted that all previous actions were complete

Updated inbound supply paper

Paper 1 - updated inbound supply paper

RP presented the applied changes to the inbound supply paper to the board. The board had an in-depth discussion regarding this paper and the interlinks with some of the other papers. The risks to the project regarding the cost of living crisis, inflation and the potential effects should there be insufficient sign up to the collaborative procurement process, were discussed. It was suggested that engaging with the Scottish Local Government Procurement Forum (SLGPF) would be a useful step in mitigating the latter risk.

Item seven on page five was discussed with a request being made for the project team to note that any level of buy in would have positive impact for stockpile rotation and that the pricing structure should be considered in this context. The new guidance on wearing masks in social care settings and the impact this is likely to have on orders was noted. It was agreed that a reliable comparison of costs for different scenarios was needed and there was discussion as to the possibilities around higher participation in the collaborative procurement and maintaining a sustainable supply lowering stockholding requirements.

Actions: 

• GC will provide the implementation project team with contact details for the SGLPF
• RP to send information on previous work on retained assets option to board members
• implementation project team to pursue cost analysis with best available information in order to inform discussion as to viable options

Finance and service delivery paper

DD gave an update on the progress of this paper. The potential use of PECOS was discussed and the ease of building on this platform was explained. There was also further discussion about the use of best available data.

Stockpile access

Paper 3 – stockpile access

FM gave the update on this paper and the pros and cons were discussed.

Action: Implementation project team to further consider how forward demand data can be refined for the benefit of the planned stockpile rotation paper

Essential public services

Paper 4 - essential public services paper

RP presented this updated paper to the board giving details of the updated recommendations. Rescheduling of the timeline for this work to allow prioritisation of the collaborative procurement given current stock levels, integration with stand up guidance work and communication with subsidy control colleagues were highlighted. The board agreed the recommendations.

Revised benefits realisation

Paper 5 – revised benefits realisation paper

Permission was sought to share this updated paper with the Stakeholder Reference Group at the end of the month.

The board had no concerns and are content with sharing. The board also agreed this document could be shared with SLGPF.

Risk discussion

It was noted that the risks in relation to manufacturing and ensuring sign up to collaborative procurement were covered at the start of the meeting and so no further discussion was needed during this segment. It was agreed that inflation should be added to the project risk register as a standalone risk.

Timeline amendments

The implementation project team agreed to re-evaluate the timeline for making recommendations to the Cabinet Secretary

Action: the revised timeline to be sent to the board prior to the next meeting by Ruth Paterson

 Date of next meeting

The next meeting of the PPE Implementation Project Board has been arranged for 10 October 2022.

Any other business

None.