Appendix 1 – Policy for the Disposal of Minibuses
Perth and Kinross Council · 18 September 2024
Back to Finance and Resources Committee — 18 September 2024 and its agenda
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APPENDIX 1 Perth and Kinross Council Policy for the Disposal of Minibuses September 2024 DATE VERSION APPROVED BY 1 December 2023 1 P Taggart (Fleet Manager) 21 February 2024 2 P Taggart (Fleet Manager) 10 September 2024 3 (After Siag Meeting) P Taggart (Fleet Manager) 1. Introduction In accordance with the Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) Fleet and Mechanical Equipment (FaME) asset management plan assets Policy 2022, it was decided that a separate disposal policy to incorporate the disposal of Minibuses should be created. This policy outlines how assets which fall within the Minibus category should now be disposed of. 2. Scope A minibus is defined as: ‘A small vehicle that is capable of carrying multiple people between 9 and 16 passengers at any one time and requires maintenance, calibration and/or a safety & inspection test at no more than 13 weekly intervals’. 3. Aims and objectives of this policy To ensure that any minibus owned by PKC which are declared surplus or end of operational life within Council service and in a suitable roadworthy condition as decided by Fleet Services (FS), can be further used by relevant Community Groups (CG) within the PKC boundary area.
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4. Surplus Assets are identified as surplus in one of four ways: 1. As part of a replacement programme. An ongoing replacement programme is currently in place for all assets. 2. When they are unserviceable and beyond economical repair. Unserviceable fleet and mechanical equipment is deemed to be beyond economical repair by Fleet Management technical staff or categorised as a “write off” by the council’s insurers. This is when the decision is made by FS whether the vehicle should remain in active service by PKC staff or passed to a CG for further use. 3. When they are deemed not fit for purpose. A minibus can be declared not fit for purpose by FS technical staff, the budget holder, Corporate Health & Safety staff, relevant statutory bodies; Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Department for Transport (DfT) or through a combination of listed parties. 4. When their function is surplus to requirements. Assets which are surplus to requirements are identified by individual services budget holders or with minibuses, when PKC has decided that these may benefit CG in the PKC area. Once identified as surplus or redundant the asset will be assessed against other Council and Service needs prior to disposal. Requirements also to be considered include: • re-allocation to another PKC service area if the previous user finds the minibus is surplus to requirements for that service. • spare Pool use Assets declared surplus should be communicated to all relevant parties as noted in this policy. If a decision is made for a minibus to be disposed of, this should be passed to a CG in accordance with the approved minibus disposal policy. If a CG is to be “gifted” the vehicle, the undernoted process must be strictly adhered to, and all associated ownership passed from PKC to that CG once agreed. 5. Disposal Disposal includes any activity associated with the disposal and decommissioning of an asset identified within the main FaME asset management plan. All assets that are not re-used have a sell on value and should be taken through the processes detailed in the FaME Disposal Procedure. This means the asset would be disposed of at auction. As with an uneconomic to repair minibus, this would be
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disposed of at auction and not allocated to any CG due to its poor and unroadworthy condition. The following factors must be considered prior to the disposal of any minibus belonging to PKC: 1. Notice in writing of interest and intention to acquire a minibus is provided by community groups to PKC Community Services – a process and communication and engagement plan to be introduced to cover this. 2. Inspection report on condition of the minibus is made available to any interested community groups aligned with PKC. 3. Visual inspection of the minibus is arranged by PKC Fleet Services (FS) for interested community groups to check on the condition of the asset prior to disposal/ transfer. 4. An assessment of the community benefit and need for the minibus by a community group to be performed by PKC Community Services based on the criteria shown in Appendices 2, 3 and 5. Fleet Services will coordinate and be present at all community group minibus inspections – the arrangements for this will be made by FS. 6. Test drives will be available to community groups who have been successful in their bids following adjudication by PKC Community Services. 7. The minibus must be in a roadworthy condition with a minimum of 6 months to one year MOT in place – FS will manage this. 8. All future repairs, maintenance, servicing and MOTs would be required to be arranged by the new owner / community group. PKC would not undertake future work. 9. A verbal update on the minibus service history will be provided by FS. A service history print from KEY 2 will also be provided on request. 10.The established principle of “sold as seen” would in this new arrangement become “transfer as seen” in line with other Fleet and Mechanical Equipment asset disposals. 11.PKC will have no liability for any minibus “transferred as seen” in line with its current arrangement when disposing of all other Fleet and Mechanical Equipment assets. 12.PKC would not accept the return of a transferred minibus under any circumstance and there would be no recourse nor liability to PKC once the transfer has taken place.
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13.If there is competition by community groups to acquire a minibus, there would be an adjudication by PKC Community Services based on consideration of the parameters described in Appendix 2 below. 14.There would be no warranty in place when the asset is transferred to the interested community group in line with the process when a vehicle is sent to auction. 15.PKC reserves the right to refuse to transfer of any minibus if its condition is poor and not regarded as being roadworthy or if the vehicle is required for “pool use”. 16.FS will agree with Legal and Finance Services on the specific assets within this category that will be disposed of in this way. 6. Finance Monies from the sale of assets are normally applied to offset the cost of new asset purchases. This reduces the amount of money required to be borrowed to finance the future purchase of assets. However, this specific disposal process aligned with minibuses means that there will be no funds for the handing over of the minibus as they will be “gifted” to relevant CG’s that have been approved by SIAG. 7. Governance The disposal of surplus and redundant assets will be managed in accordance with the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 principle of securing Best Value. 8. Retention policies FaME disposal records must be retained on file for 7 years in line with Health and Safety instructions. The same will be in place for the minibus disposal policy. 9. Review Policy This Policy will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure that it reflects the changing needs of Perth & Kinross Council and its employees. The review process, although led by the Capital Investment & Asset Management Team, will include a wider consultation with Fleet Management.