Purpose

The young people’s substance misuse service is included in the Public Health Grant. The Her Majesty’s (HM) Government’s 2021 national drug strategy, From harm to hope, highlighted the need for investment in substance misuse services for children and young people, including the expansion of both prevention and treatment interventions .

In order to reduce the risk of a gap in service as a result of a late decision to decommission the integrated young people’s sexual health and substance misuse contract, the Council directly engaged the provider which had been delivering part of the service for a period of eight months. This interim arrangement reduced the risk to existing vulnerable young people in the service and gave time for a review of the service to align with the commissioning intentions for the wider Integrated Treatment Consortium contract.

The report seeks authorisation to extend the current contract from 1 December 2023 – 31 March 2024, whilst the Substance Misuse Commissioning Team continue to carry out a procurement exercise for a new substance misuse contract to launch from 1 April 2024.

Decision

1. To note the spend of £84,967.92 from 1 April 2023 – 30 November 2023 to cover staffing and activity costs relating to this period.
2. To approve the extension of the contract for young people’s substance misuse services from 1 December 2023 – 31 March 2024 with Change, Live, Grow for the sum of £42,482.67, which includes an increase in the contract sum of £19,450.59.
3. To note, £23,032.08 will come from the remaining allocated funds from the Public Health grant for 2023/24. The additional £19,450.59 is required to cover the total cost agreed for 1st December 2023 – 31st March 2024.