Agenda item

Joint report of Interim Corporate Directors for Children and Education Services & Adult Social Care and Health

Charlotte Dodds, Commissioning Lead, introduced the report seeking approval for the joint commissioning between Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council of a Healthwatch Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Service.  She highlighted the following information:

a)  The new service will start on 1 April 2025 for a maximum of six years.

b)  The total value of the decision reflects the combined spend across City and County areas.  The City Council’s expenditure will be a maximum of £648,000 over the six years of the contract.  The service will be fully funded from the Local Reform and Community Voices Section 31 grant, which enables local authorities to meet their statutory duties relating to the Health and Social Care Act 2012 including ensuring that an effective local Healthwatch organisation is operating in their area.

c)  Prior to 2018 there were separate local Healthwatch organisations for the Nottingham City area and the Nottinghamshire County area.  Following a commissioning review they were merged into a single organisation with contracts aligned, with the intention of commissioning a joint service at the end of the existing contract period.  The jointly commissioned service will enable current efficiencies to continue.

d)  A public survey has been carried out in advance of the procurement to better understand levels of awareness, knowledge and experience of Healthwatch and the potential for improvement.  Learning from this will inform the service specification.

e)  There are no performance issues with the current contract.  It will be an open tender but there is quite a limited market.

Resolved to:

(1)  procure a joint Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Healthwatch service through an open tender process for a maximum 6 year contract, with an initial 3 year period of 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028, and a possible extension for a second 3 year period of 1 April 2028 to 31 March 2031;

(2)  approve Nottingham City Council budget expenditure of £108,000 per year (an overall maximum spend of £648,000 for a 6 year contract) and note Nottinghamshire County Council’s contribution of £198,000 per year (an overall spend of £1,188,000 for a 6 year contract) giving a combined spend for a 6 year contract of £1,836,000;

(3)  approve entering into a collaborative agreement with Nottinghamshire County Council from 1 April 2025 for the duration of the Healthwatch Nottingham and Nottinghamshire contract, which ends on 31 March 2028 or 31 March 2031 if extended, in consultation with the Director for Legal and Governance/ Head of Legal where sealing of a deed is necessary to give effect to the delegation;

(4)  delegate authority to the Interim Director of Adults, Health and Commissioning to approve the outcome of the procurement process and award the contract to the provider deemed most suitable to provide the service; and

(5)  delegate authority to the Head of Personalisation, Quality and Contracting to agree and sign the contract documentation relating to the service in consultation with the Director for Legal and Governance/ Head of Legal where sealing of a deed is necessary to give effect to the delegation.

Reasons for decision

f)  Delivery of a Healthwatch function is a statutory duty under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and failure to provide a service after the expiration of the current contract would mean that the Council would fail to meet its statutory duty and may leave it open to judicial review.  

g)  Delivery of a joint service with Nottinghamshire County Council will provide consistency of offer across the Integrated Care System footprint and enable the Council to continue to benefit from the efficiencies which have been achieved through sharing a single service provider with Nottinghamshire County Council. 

Other options considered

h)  Allowing the current contract to terminate on the end date of 31 March 2025 without completing a procurement exercise to secure a new service was rejected because the Council has a statutory duty to provide a local Healthwatch service.

i)  Procuring a local Healthwatch service for Nottingham City only was rejected because there would be a risk that the City and County would secure contracts with different organisations providing Healthwatch services.  This would mean that the current and future efficiencies of the joint approach would be lost, and this would not achieve best value and would likely see an increase in the cost of the service.