Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults and the Corporate Director for Strategy and Resources

Steve Oakley, Head of Contracting and Procurement, introduced the report detailing a new contract and purchasing mechanism for independent fostering and residential services for children in care.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve to procure a framework for the provision of independent fostering in partnership with the D2N2 councils, with procurement carried out by Nottinghamshire County Council;

(2)  approve to procure a framework for the provision of independent children’s homes in partnership with the D2N2 councils, with procurement carried out by Nottinghamshire County Council;

(3)  delegate authority to the Director of Children’s Integrated Services to approve the outcome of the tenders (in partnership with the D2N2 councils) and award contracts to secure best value, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Early Intervention & Early Years;

(4)  delegate authority to the Head of Contracting and Procurement to sign contracts arising from the tender process once the tender outcome is agreed;

(5)  delegate authority to the Head of Contracting and Procurement to sign any inter Local Authority partnership agreement that may be required to set out the legally binding relationship and inter-dependencies  between Nottingham City, Derby City, Derbyshire County and Nottinghamshire County Councils;

(6)  approve the maximum expenditure from the Children’s Placement Service budget in line with the predicted amount noted under total value of decision, which is based on 2018/19 prices.

Reasons for decision

The EMRCF expires in January 2020 and a new arrangement will be required, as Nottingham City Council has a statutory duty to provide appropriate placements for children in care.

The D2N2 councils all experience the same shortages of both fostering and residential placements that meet the specific needs of some of our most vulnerable children and young people, and whilst the EMRCF has provided a mechanism to purchase a high volume of placements, it has not developed the regional market in line with the emerging needs of our children and young people.

NCC Children’s Placement Service, and those in the other D2N2 councils wish to engage with the market in a more collaborative way, asking for more flexible and bespoke solutions to meet the needs of our more complex children and young people.

Operating frameworks over the smaller, sub-regional geography will allow us to develop the market over time, running subsequent procurement exercises to contract with providers to deliver against specific needs. These frameworks will allow us to work more closely with those providers that are ready to align their business development plans with meeting the needs of D2N2 children in care. This could represent a significant change in the way we work with the external market for fostering and residential care, and could prove a much more effective way to meet the needs of our most complex children and young people.

By operating our frameworks within the D2N2 footprint we aim to place an ever increasing  proportion of our children and young people in ‘local’ fostering and residential placements (in this context local is accepted as being within 20 miles of Nottingham city centre). Over time we will work towards our aim of placing all Nottingham City children in care within the D2N2 footprint, unless specific care plans require a young person to take a placement outside of that area.

Other options considered

Nottingham City Council could commission fostering and residential placements as a single council either via framework contracts or spot-contracting but this would reduce the influence we have over sufficiency, quality and price.