Purpose

• Under the previous Government Lincolnshire was selected as one of the 75 local authorities to benefit from the Department for Education (DfE) and Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) funded Start for Life and Family Hubs Programme. The current Government has recently announced the continuation and expansion of the programme through the Best Start Family Hubs Programme from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2029.
• The Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life Strategy sets out the Government’s commitment to improve child development and increase the good level of development (GLD) of all children by 2028. There is a strong emphasis on the interdependencies with start for life and speech and language support for children in their early years.
• The Early Talk Boost training is noted within the menu of programmes listed by the DfE that can be funded through the Best Start Family Hubs programme.
• Speech and Language UK holds the exclusive rights and licence for the Early Talk Boost training and Early Talk Boost internal tutor ‘train the trainer’ and associated resources.
• Market research has shown that although there are other speech and language training programmes available, they are either not pre-approved by the DfE for Best Start Family Hubs, do not cover the 3-4 year age range, or do not offer the option of ‘train the trainer’ required by Lincolnshire for future sustainability and longer-term cost effectiveness.
• Supports the Council to meet the wider requirements of the Best Start Family Hubs programme.

Decision

That the Executive Director of Children’s Services approves an exception to the Council’s Contract and Procurement Procedure Rules (CPPRs) to enter into a direct contractual arrangement with Speech and Language UK for Early Talk Boost training and Early Talk Boost internal tutor ‘train the trainer’ training and associated resources from 1st May 2026 to 31st March 2029. The overall maximum value of the contractual arrangement to 31st March 2029 will be £15,975 (excluding VAT) or £19,170 (including VAT).

Alternative options considered

Do nothing. The Council has identified the need to train staff in Early Talk Boost training including the train the trainer training, as part of the Best Start Family Hubs programme. Early Talk Boost is one of the identified evidence-based programmes currently pre-approved by the DfE. To do nothing could result in the Council failing to fully meet its requirements as part of this programme, in particular the Home Learning Environment workstream.
Undertake a Request for Quotation (RFQ) process seeking at least three written quotations. Market research has shown that there are no other suppliers who can offer the Early Talk Boost training and internal tutor ‘train the trainer’ training and associated resources and although there are similar programmes on the market, they do not meet the Council’s requirements nor do they match the requirements under the Home Learning Environment workstream with the Best Start Family Hubs programme. Therefore, an RFQ is unlikely to result in a different outcome. This will require officer time to complete
and given that it is unlikely to result in a different outcome this is not a recommended option.