Agenda item

Report of Corporate Director for Children and Adults and Strategic Director for Early Intervention

Katy Ball, Head of Early Intervention and Market Development, and Holly Macer, Lead Contract Officer, presented the report to the Sub-Committee, highlighting the following points:

(a)  Nottingham City Council’s Children in Care Placements and Sufficiency Strategy was agreed in March 2014, signalling the drive to further increase the number of children placed within 20 miles of the City, and continuing to improve outcomes and value for money.

(b)  There are approximately 55 children in external residential provision at the moment, with a plan for blocking 20 places. The spaces will not be fixed in one place, but flexible to enable choice in meeting needs. Data going back to 2008 shows a consistent number of residential placements of between 50 and 60.

(c)  The plan will make savings and focus on high quality. The advantage for the providers is that there will be guaranteed business.

(d)  In line with Nottingham City Council’s Procurement Strategy, local providers will be used if possible.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  undertake a procurement process to commission a block contract of 20 children’s residential care placements, with two external providers, within a 20 mile radius of the City Centre;

(2)  agree a maximum annual spend on the contract (as detailed in exempt appendix 3), from the existing External Placement budget;

(3)  grant delegated authority to the Strategic Director for Early Intervention to agree the outcome of the tender and award the contract, and to delegate authority to the Head of Quality and Efficiency to sign the contracts arising from the tender process once the tender outcome is agreed;

(4)  note the options for collaborative tendering with Nottinghamshire County Council are being explored.

Reasons for Decision

(1)  The recommended block contract will address current market challenges by ensuring increased local capacity and greater choice for the City’s children and young people. It will also enable the Local Authority to significantly reduce the current spend on residential care placements.

(2)  All local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure sufficient accommodation for its Looked After children and young people.

(3)  The proposed block contract aims to address current gaps and weaknesses in the placement market, which are preventing the Strategy’s aims from being achieved. Weaknesses include insufficient availability of local placement provision and continued local authority financial pressures, which require innovative solutions to ensure that the City sufficiently and efficiently meets demand. Planned regional commissioning developments will further impact upon the local placement market (e.g. neighbouring local authorities planned block contracting arrangements).

(4)  The procurement process to commission a block contract of 20 local children’s residential care placements will ensure compliance with the Council’s Financial Regulations and Contract Procedure Rules. The proposal will meet the Council’s aims to ensure value for money, quality and variety of services and will support the modernisation agenda.

Other Options Considered

(1)  Continue to spot purchase residential care provision under the current commissioning arrangements. This would deny the local authority the opportunity to make a significant financial saving and enable an increased number of children and young people to be placed locally. For this reason, this option was rejected.

(2)  Increase internal provision. This would incur a greater cost than external provision delivered via a block contract. The capacity required could not be developed within the timescales required. Further risks are involved in internal provision, including absorbing the costs of vacancies and being committed to specific locations. Block contracting will provide better value for money. For these reasons, this option was rejected.