Purpose

To request authority to award a contract for Child Vision Screening Service following the Most Suitable Provider Process.

Decision

That the Corporate Director Service Reform and Strategy:

i)               Notes that the Child Vision Screening Service has been procured under the Most Suitable Provider Process in Regulation 10 of the Provider Selection Regime (PSR), having been notified to the market by the notice of intention to follow the Most Suitable Provider Process published on 20 August 2026.

ii)              Notes the key criteria under Regulation 5 of the PSR and the relative importance given to each, as published to the market and applied in the assessment.

iii)            Notes that the basic selection criteria under Regulation 19 and Schedule 16 to the PSR have been applied.

iv)            Approves the award of contract for the Child Vision Screening Service for a period of three (3) years, with the option to extend the contract on an annual basis for up to a further maximum period of 2 years, with a total contract value of £397,750, to Moorfield Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

v)             Notes that the contract may not be entered into until the standstill period of 8 working days under Regulation 12 of the PSR has passed, and that if written representations are received the matter will be reported back to the Corporate Director for Service Reform and Strategy before the contract is entered into.

Reasons for the decision

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning Child Vision Screening as part of the healthy child programme. Screening for reduced vision in children aged 4 to 5 years is primarily undertaken to detect children with amblyopia, a form of abnormal vision system development.

In Brent, approximately six thousand (6,000) children are eligible annual for the vision screening service. The previous provider delivered the service as part of the 0-19 healthy child programme, but following a review of that programme it was decided that this would no longer be commissioned.

Officers have followed the Most Suitable Provider Process and have assessed the identified providers against the key criteria in Regulation 5 of the PSR and the basic selection criteria in Regulation 19 of and Schedule 16 of the PSR. Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have been assessed as the most suitable provider, therefore officers recommend the award of contract to this provider.

Alternative options considered

Officers considered whether the service could be provided by the Council itself but concluded that it is best provided by an external provider due to the clinical nature of the service.

Regulation 6 of the PSR requires the Council to select one of five (5) provider selection processes, and officers satisfied themselves that the Most Suitable Provider was the most appropriate means of procuring the contract and that the identified provider is the most suitable provider.