Report of Director of Public Health

Councillor Williams, Portfolio Holder for Adults and Health, and Bobby Lowen, Commissioning Lead, presented the report, including a supplement to the agenda which included financial and legal comments, which sought approval for the delivery, under Nottingham’s Changing Futures programme, of activity to assist people experiencing severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD). The approval would allow for the wider delivery of operational activity under the programme from July 2022 (following Nottingham’s successful bid for funding through the national Changing Futures programme) to build on the initial mobilisation approved in September 2021, which is now being implemented.

Resolved

(1)  to approve the use of:

(a)  Changing Futures funding up to a maximum value of £2,170,868 to procure a range of services and activities, as detailed in appendix 1, to assist people experiencing severe and multiple disadvantage;

(b)  a competitive tender process to select provider(s) to deliver the services and activities detailed in appendix 1;

(2)  to delegate authority to the Director of Commissioning and Procurement to award contract(s) for the delivery of services to successful organisations following the tender process.

Reasons for recommendations

(1)  The approval of the recommendations will allow for the delivery of the substantial part of Nottingham’s Changing Futures programme from July 2022 to the end of March 2024 in line with Nottingham’s successful application for funding through the national Changing Futures programme.

(2)  A start date of the 1st July 2022 has been timed to allow for the transition to activity delivered under Changing Futures at the close of the existing Opportunity Nottingham programme on 30th June 2022.

(3)  The wider implementation of the programme will put in place a range of operational activity (see Appendix 1) designed to help improve the lives of people in the city who experience SMD in line with the delivery plan developed in partnership and approved by the National Changing Futures Team (see Appendix 2). SMD is defined under the Changing Futures programme as applying to people experiencing three or more of the following: homelessness, substance misuse, mental health issues, domestic violence, and interaction with the criminal justice system.

(4)  The operational delivery of the programme is expected to realise the significant benefit of improving the lives of vulnerable people, and the avoidance of serious negative outcomes (e.g. in relation to health, homelessness, offending, etc) and the associated demand and costs of reactive interventions (e.g. emergency homelessness responses, hospital attendances, etc) across the public sector.

(5)  The delivery of the programme is also expected to develop the foundations to enhance partnership efforts across the public and voluntary and community sector to improve the overall response to help people who experience SMD. The programme also aims to establish partnership planning in the longer term use of mainstream resources to help people experiencing SMD (e.g. through joined up planning, funding and delivery of services) on a sustainable basis beyond the end of the programme in March 2024. 1.6 Approval is sought to procure the main delivery service through a competitive tender to select the most suitable provider to meet the requirements of the service and to secure best value from resources available to deliver the programme.

Other options considered

(1)  Not to continue roll out of the Changing Futures programme. This option was rejected on the basis that not to deliver the programme would lose the opportunity to deliver significant expected benefits through the direct operational delivery of activity, as well as the platform for strengthening the overall system response to assist people who experience SMD.

(2)  To not procure services by means of a competitive tender. This option has been rejected on the basis that procurement through a competitive tender is necessary to identify the most suitable provider to deliver the service and to ensure compliance with procurement law.