Agenda item

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Health

The Portfolio Holders for Health and Adult Social Care and Highways, Transport and Park presented the report on the award of a £1.589 million, three year grant from the Department of Transport (DfT) to test approaches to active travel behaviour change through social prescribing in communities who are most at risk from inactive lifestyles. The following points were discussed:

a)  The grant will be used to fund a range of travel options to encourage people to switch to active travel options such as cycling and walking and is targeted at areas which currently have the poorest health outcomes.

b)  Initiatives will include expanding the community bike library, offering access to active travel through local social prescribing pathways and funding bike mechanics and cycle repair courses. The programme will be delivered with community organisations and local providers and will support people to embed being active into their everyday lives.

c)  The programme supports the delivery of the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Resolved to:

(1)  accept the DfT’s revenue grant award of £1,588,785 payable in three instalments over the three financial years 2022/23 to 2024/25 as detailed in the offer letter in Appendix A to the report.

(2)  approve the allocations for the programme workstreams set out in Appendix B to the report for resources and projects to deliver an active travel social prescribing pilot programme, and to delegate approval of programme variations to the Director of Planning and Regeneration.

(3)  approve the procurement strategy detailed in Appendix C to the report including approval to tender the following contract opportunities, and to delegate approval of associated contract awards to the Corporate Director of Growth and City Development:

a)  to tender for a 3 year framework for local suppliers for community cycle training services up to £250,000

b)  to tender for a 3 year framework for local suppliers for community bike mechanics and training services up to £150,000

c)  to tender for a 3 year framework for local suppliers for walking services up to £140,000

d)  to appoint a suitable provider for call off of personalised travel planning support up to £60,000 via an existing framework (Midlands Highway Alliance PSP3 or ESPO Framework 645 Lot 5).

e)  to award up to £25,000 to a suitable consultant under ESPO framework 664 Lot 5 to support the next stage of community co-design to support project commissioning.

f)  to make a direct award up to £24,950 to Go Jauntly for a 2.5 year partnership package to commission an interactive walking app to support delivery of community walking projects.

g)  to extend the contract award to Sustainable Travel Collective (trading as Ridewise) by up to £22,000 for provision of next phase of Nottingham University Hospitals Active Hospital Walk and Talk Clinics, subject to a successful pilot phase.

(4)  approve tendering the frameworks for local suppliers for active travel behaviour change services set out in resolutions 3a, 3b, and 3c with additional value to allow provision for implementation of future active travel revenue programmes up to March 2026, should additional funding be secured through Capability & Ambition Fund and Active Travel Fund 4 or other external grant opportunities:

a)  community cycle training services up to an additional £450,000, as part of a framework under 3a up to a total combined value of £700,000

b)  community bike mechanics and training services up to an additional £250,000, as part of a framework under 3b up to a total combined value of £400,000

c)  walking services up to an additional £210,000, as part of a framework under 3c up to a total combined value of £350,000

Note this approval is only to let the frameworks up to these values. Any spend over and above the Active Travel Social Prescribing grant award set out in Appendix B to the report will need to secure separate approval as and when any additional active travel revenue grant awards are secured.

(5)  make awards to the programme partners to enable recruitment of staff resources to directly support programme delivery, to be paid in three annual instalments and to be managed through new service level agreements between the City Council and the delivery partners:

a)  Nottingham City GP Alliance up to a total of £200,000;

b)  Nottingham Community Volunteer Services up to a total of £85,000;

Proposed governance structure including above programme posts is set out in Appendix D to the report.

·  Reasons for Recommendations

Acceptance of the DfT’s revenue grant award of £1,588,785 will provide revenue funding until March 2025 to deliver inclusive walking and cycling support services to communities who are most at risk from inactive lifestyles. Walking and cycling is also beneficial for mental health and wellbeing which is the reason for up to 65% of social prescribing referrals in the city. The Active Travel Social Prescribing programme will form part of the Nottingham Place-based Partnership’s social prescribing workstream and support the Greenspace social prescribing programme by providing funding to commission a range of active travel support services where social prescribers can refer their clients.

·  Other Options Considered

To not accept the grant funding – option rejected because this provides three year’s revenue investment to fund activities that will contribute to the improvement of long term health outcomes for some of our most at-risk communities. The funding will extend the benefits of the Greenspace social prescribing programme and Nottingham will benefit from shared learning with other pilot areas.

To reconsider the proposed delivery programme – option rejected because the Feasibility Stage in spring 2022 engaged a wide range of local partners to develop the programme. This process demonstrated broad support for the proposed delivery package from local delivery partners and community representatives and the programme returning a “Good” Cost Benefit Ratio.

For the City Council to directly employ all the programme delivery posts – option rejected because there is an established social prescribing workforce. The five front facing delivery posts described in paragraph 1.9 and Appendix D of the report will be most effective if employed by our bid partners Nottingham City GP Alliance and Nottingham Community Volunteer Service. The overall programme management function will remain with the City Council. All staff costs are included in the funding package.