This Officer Key Decision meeting considered the awarding of a contract for school support services to Newham Partnership Working Limited.

School Support Services Contract Award - Newham Partnership Working Limited (Public reports pack 06th-Sep-2024 Officer Key Decision)

The Corporate Director of Children and Young People, Laura Eden, was asked to approve a direct award of the school support services contract to Newham Partnership Working (NPW) for an initial period of 12 months, with the option to extend for a further 12 months for the total amount of £544,000.

The report explained that this was permissible because

NPW has confirmed that over 80% of its work is provided to its controlling members, that these members manage NPW, and that there is no private capital participation. Additionally, NPW meets the 'horizontal exemption' criteria under Regulation 12(7) of the PCR, commonly known as the ‘Hamburg’ exemption, which has also been confirmed.

The report explained that The Council has a statutory duty to provide school support services to Local Authority (LA) maintained schools, and that NPW is

a company limited by guarantee, owned by member schools and the Council. It was incorporated in 2011 and originally established under what is now known as Regulation 12 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. In January 2013, the Council transferred parts of its schools' traded services to NPW.

The report goes on to say that this transfer was requested by Newham schools, and that the contract would cover a range of services including School HR services, Governor Services, and ICT Support for data exchange.

It was proposed that, under the new contract, governor services would no longer be provided by NPW, but would instead be delivered by the Council directly.

The report argues that this is preferable because these services can more effectively be delivered by Council officers without any adverse impact on service provision to schools, and in particular that servicing Schools Forum can be more effectively by Council officers as financial expertise on schools funding sits within the council.

The report notes that, although other options were considered, NPW was the preferred supplier. It explains that, while other providers were found, they would not be able to provide all of the services required. It explains that awarding contracts to multiple providers would be fragmented and challenging to contract manage and for schools to access integrated support.

The report concludes by saying that [f]uture arrangements will explore the possibility of incorporating a competitive tender process in subsequent years.