Agenda item

[An item to be taken in accordance with the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 with the consent of the relevant Scrutiny Committee Chair].

Report of the Director of Children and Young People's Futures (CS/22/99) on the commissioning for peninsula residential children's homes, with independent residential children's home providers asking for tender approval and arrangements for award of the contract, attached.

An Impact Assessment has also been prepared and is attached for the attention of Members at the meeting, as well as being available on the website at - Peninsula Residential Children’s Homes - Impact Assessment (devon.gov.uk)

RESOLVED

(a) that the Flexible Purchasing System (known as a Dynamic Purchasing

System (DPS) as a procurement approach for Independent Residential

Children’s Homes (IRCH), as outlined at paragraph 3.2.6 of the Report

(Option 6), be approved;

(b) that a tendering process be undertaken during summer 2022 with

Independent Residential Children’s Homes (IRCH), for the delivery of

residential children’s home services from February 2023;

(c) that the Chief Officer for Children's Services, in consultation with the

Cabinet Member for Children’s Services & Schools be given delegated

authority to agree non-material changes within the overarching strategy

detailed in section 4 of the Report (proposal); and

(d) that the Chief Officer for Children’s Services, in consultation with the

Cabinet Member for Children’s Services & Schools be given delegated

authority to approve contract award recommendations for Peninsula

Residential Children’s Home Services with IRCHs.

(An item taken in accordance with the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 with the consent of the relevant Scrutiny Committee Chair).

(Councillor Biederman attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Director of Children and Young People's Futures (CS/22/99) on the commissioning for peninsula residential children's homes, with independent residential children's home providers, seeking tender approval and arrangements for award of the contract.

The services would support children in care, in a safe, stable, and caring environment whilst also supporting the Council and Peninsula Partners with sufficiency of high-quality placements. The proposal had been developed by the Council acting as the lead on behalf of Peninsula Partners (Somerset County Council, Torbay Council and Plymouth City Council) and aimed to jointly and collaboratively commission services to benefit children and young people living across the Peninsula authorities.

The availability and provision of Independent Residential Children’s Homes supported the Council in delivering statutory duties and strategic priorities as outlined in Devon’s A Place Called Home is the Devon Sufficiency Strategy; duties as corporate parents for children and young people in care as outlined in Devon’s Corporate Parenting Strategy, and the vision and priorities for families and children and young people with SEND as outlined in Devon’s SEND strategy.

The current Independent Residential Children’s Homes (IRCH) contract provided children and young people in the Council’s care with the opportunity to live in a residential home environment equipped to support a broad range of needs, including emotional and behavioural issues, allowing them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

In developing the proposed commissioning and procurement arrangements, Peninsula Partners had considered several options and approaches to the market. The proposal was to tender for a multi provider framework agreement for a minimum period of 5 years, with the option to extend for up to a further 4 years in 2-year blocks. It was felt this option would increase sufficiency and quality, provide flexibility, and ensure value for money, alongside ultimately supporting children and young people to thrive in secure and stable residential children’s homes. The new arrangement focussed on the provision of 2 types of residential children’s home services for children and young people which were Standard Residential Placements and also Bespoke Partnership Working (Call-Off) Competition by Co-Design.

It was further proposed the tender would take the form of a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) in which there would be no guaranteed volumes of business as the value of spend would be driven by the demand for placements. If approved, new commissioning arrangements would begin on 1^st February 2023.

An options appraisal and analysis process had been undertaken by the Peninsula Commissioning and Procurement Partnership as part of re-commissioning activity, outlining 6 potential options, why each was preferred or not favoured and the reasoning for this.

Section 6 of the Report outlined the Consultations, Engagement and Representations which included virtual workshops, reviews with forum groups, surveys and individual meetings. The table in section 5.3      summarised the themes, ideas and feedback that emerged through the engagement events and had been used to shape and inform the commissioning and procurement approach.

The projected gross budgeted expenditure for the financial year 2022/2023 was £24,949,000.00 Budgeted expenditure allowed for a 2.5% inflationary increase for placements being made for children and young people. It was noted that this was not reflective of the current financial environment and there would be future challenges.

An Impact Assessment had been prepared and circulated with the agenda for Members at the meeting, as well as being available on the website at - Peninsula Residential Children’s Homes - Impact Assessment (devon.gov.uk).

Social impacts and mitigations within the impact assessment considered the impact of decisions on health and well-being of residential support staff and children and young people and how service specifications, contracting arrangements and service design supported protected characteristics. It also considered the potential positive impact of the recommendations on knowledge and skills of staff groups as well as job opportunities.

The matter having been debated and the options and/or alternatives and other relevant factors (e.g. financial, sustainability (including carbon impact), risk management, equality and legal considerations and Public Health impact) set out in the Director’s Report and/or referred to above having been considered:

it was MOVED by Councillor Leadbetter, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

RESOLVED

(a) that the Flexible Purchasing System (known as a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) as a procurement approach for Independent Residential Children’s Homes (IRCH), as outlined at paragraph 3.2.6 of the Report (Option 6), be approved;

(b) that a tendering process be undertaken during summer 2022 with Independent Residential Children’s Homes (IRCH), for the delivery of residential children’s home services from February 2023;

(c) that the Chief Officer for Children's Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services & Schools be given delegated authority to agree non-material changes within the overarching strategy detailed in section 4 of the Report (proposal); and

(d) that the Chief Officer for Children’s Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services & Schools be given delegated authority to approve contract award recommendations for Peninsula Residential Children’s Home Services with IRCHs.

(NB: The Impact Assessment referred to above can be viewed alongside Minutes of this meeting and is available on the Impact Assessment Webpages at Peninsula Residential Children’s Homes - Impact Assessment (devon.gov.uk).).