Decision

Salford City Council - Record of Decision (Cabinet)

I Paul Dennett, City Mayor, in exercise of the powers contained within the City Council Constitution do hereby approve: The Skyline Partnership agreement

The Reasons are:

This collaborative agreement with 10 GM local authorities will improve outcomes for our cared for children. The Partnership Agreement builds on the Memorandum of Understanding. It will be entered into between the ten local authorities, GMCA and NHS GM, and will govern the relationship of the parties, roles and responsibilities, and the sharing of liabilities. In particular the Agreement:

·         includes the collaboration principles the parties are committed to (taken from the MoU that has already been signed);

·         sets out governance arrangements for the project, including terms of reference for the Skyline Strategy Group;

·         details arrangements regarding the Skyline Homes, such as GMCA’s commitment to acquire the homes and lease them to the Care Providers, and GMCA’s right to charge rent and the principles on which rent will be calculated (i.e. to enable GMCA to recover its investment over an agreed period);

·         states GMCA’s commitment to pay Mobilisation Costs to the Care Provider as required;

·         sets out the role of GMCA and other parties in managing the procurement process for Care Providers;

·         establishes principles regarding management of the Care Provider Agreements, including key decisions (e.g. termination) that the contracting party will need to bring to the partner authorities for approval;

·         establishes the level of contribution that each local authority needs to make to any occupancy guarantee payment that becomes due to a Care Provider (as per the agreement in the MoU) noting that this will be regularly reviewed;

·         reflects the principle that the local authorities will share costs and underwrite any losses incurred by GMCA as a result of its investment in the Skyline homes.

Options considered and rejected were:

Not joining the partnership agreement.

Assessment of Risk: Medium

The source of funding is:

External Placements budget

Legal Advice obtained:

In so far as legal structure and principle there is no legal impediment to Skyline being set up, however, assurance needs to be given through the Executive Director of Children’s Service that the objectives of Skyline are consistent with and aligned with Salford City Council’s corporate priorities so far as Children’s Services are concerned.

Subject to receipt of updated due diligence on the financial modelling and the business case, similarly Salford City Council’s finance team must be assured that the level of risk associated with underwriting Skyline is outweighed by the tangible financial benefits proposed in the business case.

Financial Advice obtained:

There has been a significant increase in cost pressures, for placements of children and young people and whilst the numbers of children in care are similar year on year, the complexity of needs for some children have increased and therefore the types of placements which can support those children has become increasingly specialised and costly. Together with a market which cannot always meet the presenting need of children and young people, prices have risen above inflation in recent years

GMCA is acquiring properties to be used for Project Skyline and is leading the procurement for the care providers. A partnership agreement and memorandum of understanding will set out how the costs and liabilities will be shared between partners authorities. It is intended that the costs of this programme for Salford will be contained within the Children’s Services External Residential budget.

Procurement Advice obtained:

The collaborative agreement is not subject to procurement legislation, however it is noted that benefits of increased collaborative commissioning was addressed in the National Procurement Strategy for Local Government in England 2022.

The report clearly sets out the procurement roles and responsibilities, and outlines the use of a compliant procurement which is inline with the requirements of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 under which the procurement is being managed.

HR Advice obtained:

N/A

Climate Change Advice obtained:

N/A

The following documents have been used to assist the decision process:

N/A

Contact Officer:  Debbie Blackburn – Director Public Health Nursing & Wellbeing.

Telephone number: 0161 778 0246

The appropriate scrutiny to call-in the decision is the Children’s Scrutiny Panel.               

Signed:    Paul Dennett                            Dated:              03.09.24                           .

                        City Mayor

For Democratic Services use only

This decision was published on  03.09.24                                           

This decision will come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 10.09.24                                                   unless it is called-in in accordance with the Decision Making Process Rules.