Purpose

Following the
conclusion of a competitive procurement process for one or more
contracts for the supply of Children & Family Centres that will
begin the new Family Hubs model across Gloucestershire and
following consultation with Councillor Stephen Davies, Cabinet
Member for Children’s Safeguarding and Early Years, in
accordance with the Cabinet decision on 23 February 2022:

Decision 1)
To award
contracts for the supply of Children & Family Centre services
that will allow the Council to award a contract to focus on
developing an agreed multi-agency vision and principles for Family
Hubs, starting with a focus on 0-11 with a view to incremental (age
and stage) transition that is aligned with the wider transformation
within children’s services and partner agencies to the
suppliers listed below:
Lot 2: Stroud District and Cotswolds (Family Action)
Lot 3: Cheltenham Borough and Tewkesbury District
(Aspire Foundation Trust)
Note: The
proposed contracts for Lots 2 & 3 shall be for an initial
period of 7 years and include an option to extend their terms for a
further period of not more than 2 years. The contracts will start
on 1st April 2024.

Decision 2) The Cabinet Member for Children’s
Safeguarding and Early Years to note and approve the:

a) Abandonment of the procurement process for Lot 1 (Gloucester
& Forest of Dean)
b) Approve the
tender of Lot 1: (Gloucester & Forest of Dean) to start
February 2024

Note: Following the completion of the re tender the proposed
contracts for Lot 1 shall be for an initial period of 6.7 years and
include an option to extend their terms for a further period of not
more than 2 years. The contracts will start on 1st September
2024.

Decision 3) The Cabinet Member for Children’s
Safeguarding and Early Years approves the variation of the contract
with Barnardos to extend its term for a further period of 6 months
(April – September 2024) to facilitate the re tender
described in Decision 2 above.
 

Decision

In coming to this decision, the Director of
Children’s Services gave due and full regard to the
requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty contained in
section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”) by
reference to the law itself and also the
relevant Equality Impact Assessment, which was prepared in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.
 
Having fully considered all the available
information, the Director of Children’s Services decided to
reject any alternative options and take the recommended
decision(s), for the reasons set out in the decision report
published on the Council website for this decision.