Decision

RESOLVED:

1  To agree to award 10 contracts for youth provision that are delivered through centre based (locality), outreach, peripatetic or detached youth work arrangements. Each contract will run for a period of 3 years from 1st November 2024 with an option to extend for 2 years in yearly increments. The maximum budget for the services over five (5) years will be £2,864,836 (breakdown of the costs per individual contract is provided under whole life costings).

2  To delegate the authority to the Group Director of Children and Education services to award the contract for the delivery of Culturally Specific Orthodox Jewish Youth Services (previously Lot 5. The contract will run for a period of 3 years from 1st November 2024 with an option to extend for 2 years in yearly increments. The maximum budget for this service will be £584,649.

1. Reason(s) For Decision / Options Appraisal
2. 1  This report provides the Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee with the outcome of the procurement to award 10 individual contracts (9 providers) offering a range of youth work programmes for children and young people aged 10-19, and up to 25 for young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), that meets the Mayor’s priorities for young people and Statutory duties under Section 507B of the Education and Inspections Act.
3. 2  This procurement will continue the hybrid service delivery model for youth services following the end of contracts under the Connecting Young Hackney Framework -  the previous vehicle used to provide a range of universal youth work programmes for children and young people aged 6-19 (and up to 25 for young people with SEND). Following the approval of the contract awards, officers will proceed with the Implementation of the new contracts to commence operation by 1st November 2024.
4. 3  The existing contracts for the provision of services under the Connecting Young Hackney Framework have been extended until up to 31st October 2024.  This has allowed the Council the opportunity to re-commission the services in order to allow for a range of youth work delivery mechanisms via centre based (locality), mobile and outreach/ detached youth programmes. This re-commission addressed key locations in the borough with identified needs in relation to incidents of youth crime and ASB, and/ or a higher incidence of young people not in education, training or employment. The procurement has sought providers that are able to evidence engagement with key communities, and meet the needs of young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities who are less able to access open access provision.
5. 4  The Council expects the provision secured through this procurement to have an early help ethos and commitment to increase the accessibility for children, young people and families to a range of prevention focused support services. Aligning with the neighbourhoods approach of the Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and the development of Children and Family Hubs, it will focus on neighbourhoods where there is not an existing Young Hackney Youth Hub. It is expected that the accessibility of early help and prevention services will be improved and services able to work more effectively together to meet the holistic needs of families in Hackney. Providers will be required to work collaboratively with the Council as part of the range of early help provision and expected to identify and signpost children, young people and families to and from Children’s Services.

Alternative Options (Considered and Rejected)

1. 5  Please see below for a summary of the alternative options previously considered and rejected at the business case stage of this procurement.

Do Nothing

Advantages

Disadvantages

None

1. This is not a viable option.There is a statutory duty to secure educational, recreational and leisure time activities, and sufficient facilities for such activities (Section 507B of the Education and Inspections Act), this includes the current suite of externally commissioned Universal Youth provision.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Manage and deliver the services in house.

(see also Exempt Appendix 2 of the Business Case Report for more information)

1. Would allow maximum control for the Council.
2. In line with the Council’s ambition to insource services where practical and appropriate.
3. Fails to make use of the particular capacity and expertise available from the local voluntary and community sector in Hackney.
4. Lost opportunity to benefit from the innovation and responsiveness of established local providers.
5. Fails to maximise the potential for added social value that could be achieved through a competitive procurement process.
6. The Council does not have the physical assets (youth club buildings, youth bus) required to deliver this type of youth provision and would therefore require additional time and budget to establish these under this option.
7. Would require more capacity for management oversight of the day to day delivery of the service in addition to the extra operational staff that would be required.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Secure all the

functions via a Framework or Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)

1. Flexibility to award further contracts during the delivery period as required.
2. Under a DPS additional providers could be added during the contract period

Additional call-offs are unlikely to be required once the initial round of contracts has been awarded.

Participating in a framework is an administrative burden for providers and there is no guarantee of a contract for providers who have completed the vetting process to join the framework.

Call offs would always involve mini competitive tenders which are labour intensive for commissioners.

1. There is a risk that small/ medium local providers could be excluded because they lack the capacity for regular bidding processes.

Advantages

Disadvantages

One Contract with a single supplier

1. Potential to achieve economies of scale
2. Minimises contract management and reporting requirements  

organisations.

Fails to make use of the diverse experience and expertise of existing local providers, or to meet the needs of Hackney’s diverse communities.

Likely to result in an overall loss of capacity from the local community and voluntary sector organisations currently active in this area.

1. 6  For the reasons outlined in the table above, the insourcing of the service is unlikely to be a possibility during the delivery of the contracts to be awarded in this report. However, commissioners will continue to monitor the situation and insourcing will be considered as part of any future commissioning plans.