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Commissioning and Procurement Executive Committee - Tuesday, 15th July, 2025 9.30 am

July 15, 2025 View on council website
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Summary

The Nottingham City Council Commissioning and Procurement Executive Committee met on 15 July 2025, and approved a number of measures including participation in the D2N2 1 fostering and residential frameworks, call-off contracts for security guarding, a contract for fuel and lubricants, and a tender process for school staff absence insurance. The committee also delegated authority to the Corporate Director of Children's and Education Services to enter into Service Level Agreements with the Raleigh Education Trust and the Nexus Education Trust.

D2N2 Fostering and Residential Frameworks for Children in Care

The committee approved Nottingham City Council's participation in a new joint commissioning arrangement with D2N2 partners for fostering and residential placements for Children in Care (CiC). The new contracts, led by Derbyshire County Council, will replace the current D2N2 CiC Framework contract, which ends on 31 March 2026, and will commence on 1 April 2026 for potential total contract durations of up to eight years, with extensions.

The decision was made because Nottingham City Council has a sufficiency duty under the Children Act 1989 to ensure there are enough suitable homes for Children in Care, and internal residential children's home and fostering provision alone is not sufficient to meet the current needs. The new frameworks aim to deliver sufficient local, good quality and Best Value placements. Splitting into two frameworks, one for fostering and one for residential, allows for tailored terms and conditions that better reflect the distinct needs, market conditions and provider feedback in each sector.

The committee approved Nottingham City Council's participation in:

  • a new partnership agreement with D2N2 local authorities to support collaborative commissioning of independent fostering and residential children's home placements
  • the joint commissioning and procurement of an independent Fostering Framework (for a maximum period of 2+3+3 years), to be procured and awarded by Derbyshire County Council as lead authority for the D2N2 partnership
  • the joint commissioning and procurement of an independent Residential Children's Home Framework (for a maximum period of 2+2+2+2 years), to be procured and awarded by Derbyshire County as lead authority for the D2N2 partnership

The committee also approved a projected total budget of up to:

  • £84,874,044 for fostering placements called off from the Fostering Framework during the maximum eight-year contract term
  • £174,684,324 for residential children's homes placements called off from the Residential Children's Home Framework during the maximum eight-year contract term

It was noted that this does not represent a commitment to spend, and expenditure will be through Individual Placement Agreements approved through the Council's scheme of delegation in place at the time.

3rd Party Security Guarding

The committee approved entering into a call-off contract to cover the remaining term of the current framework (an 18-month period to cover demand up to September 2026) at a cost of £2.8m, until a new framework is in place. The call-off contract is for the provision of security staff on behalf of Corporate Landlord, Parking and external customers under the terms of the Council's Corporate Security Services Framework.

The decision was made because Nottingham City Council only has enough Security Guards to cover approximately 4,000 hours a month, with the current requirement being to cover 11,000 hours a month. This creates a risk to the council in recruiting to cover the increase in temporary demand on property assets that are currently vacant or due to be sold, then, once complete will no longer require security provision.

Councillor Corall Jenkins, Executive Member for Neighbourhoods, Waste and Equalities, in conjunction with Brian Bussey, Neighbourhood Safety Operations Manager, introduced and presented the report.

Supply of fuels and other lubricants

The committee approved a number of recommendations regarding the supply of fuels and other lubricants for the council's fleet.

The committee approved going out to 'Mini Competition' and awarding a contract to one provider via the Crown Commercial Services framework agreement for an initial two-year contract, with an option to extend by 1+1 years (total 2+1+1). They also approved spend of £8,000,000 for fuel and lubricant supply for the Council's vehicle and plant fleet, and delegated authority to the Head of Service for Fleet and SHEQ Services to sign and approve any contract extensions with the chosen supplier under the framework.

The committee noted that a briefing paper will be prepared to provide detailed information of the costs, sustainability and CO2 reductions in relation to transferring to using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).2

The committee also approved the transfer of the Housing Services fleet of vehicles to use the Councils fuel tanks, and stop using fuel cards, as the preferred option to acquire fuel. This decision was made because the Housing Services fleet of around 350 vehicles currently use fuel cards at petrol station forecourts for approximately 300,000 litres of fuel per annum, and this option is currently £0.05-£0.10 pence per litre higher, or between £15k-£30k, of savings than that of the bulk supply option to the Councils own fuel tanks.

Shane Staley, Fleet Manager, presented the report and stated that despite the ongoing electrification of Nottingham City Council's fleet, other fuels are still essential for running the remaining 70% of the fleet, including refuse collection vehicles, sweepers and minibuses. He also noted that up to approximately 800k litres of fuel are currently required annually, via Council fuel tanks, for consumption of diesel of the Council fleet, and that the availability of capital funds and grant funding to replace the fleet is restricted, meaning the Council are unable to electrify the rest of the fleet and meet carbon neutral targets for 2028 at this time.

School staff absence insurance

The committee approved undertaking a tender process for a provider of School Absence Insurance on a three-year contract, and to continue requesting a rebate from the successful provider against the policies taken out by the schools. They also delegated authority to the Director for Education Services to award the contract to the successful bidder and to notify schools of the provider to be used if required.

The decision was made because Nottingham City Council is looking to establish a provider of staff absence insurance to its schools and academies, in total a maximum of 102 learning establishments. The key end users will be schools, academies, pupil referral units, and learning centres. The most cost-effective method of procuring this type of cover for schools is where the Education Hub (Service Delivery) team, based in the Education Department, lets and procures a contract on behalf of the school. This gives the opportunity of economies of scale for the school by being part of a large tender process, with beneficial prices such an exercise brings that may not be available if schools were to tender individually.

Michelle Gabbitas, Contract Compliance and VfM Officer, presented the report.

Raleigh Education Trust (Unity Academy) - Service Level Agreement

The committee delegated authority to the Corporate Director of Children's and Education Services to enter into a Service Level Agreement with the Raleigh Education (Multi Academy) Trust in relation to the Unity Academy (Alternative Provision) School. They also noted the Dedicated Schools Grant school place (core) and top-up (high needs block) funding allocations of the Unity Academy school for 2025/26.

The report sets out proposals for the Education Division to sign a service level agreement (SLA) with Raleigh Education Trust in respect of Unity Academy. The purpose of the SLA is to set out how the Education Division will work with Unity Academy on the provision of education for children who have been permanently excluded from school. This is an arrangement that has been in place since 2017, but the previous SLA has lapsed.

Jennifer Hardy, Interim Head of Access to Learning, introduced and presented the report.

Nexus Education Trust (Hope Academy) - Service Level Agreement

The committee delegated authority to the Corporate Director of Children's and Education Services to enter into a Service Level Agreement with the Nexus (Multi Academy) Trust in relation to the Hope Academy (Alternative Provision) School upon its academisation (from 1 September 2025), and to note the Dedicated Schools Grant school place (core) and top-up (high needs block) funding allocations of the Hope Academy for 2025/26.

The report sets out proposals for the Education Division to sign a service level agreement (SLA) with Nexus Education Trust in relation to Hope Academy (formerly Hospital Home Education Learning Centre (HHELC)). The purpose of the SLA is to set out how the Education Division will work with Hope Academy on the provision of education for children who require support from the hospital school.

In December 2024, HHELC applied to the Department for Education to become an academy and join Nexus Multi Academy Trust. The conversion date for HHELC is 1 September 2025 and they will become Hope Academy, so this is a new SLA following their conversion to an academy.

Jennifer Hardy, Interim Head of Access to Learning, introduced and presented the report.


  1. D2N2 is the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) that covers Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, and Nottinghamshire. Local Enterprise Partnerships are voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses set up to help determine local economic priorities and lead economic growth and job creation within the local area. 

  2. Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is a renewable diesel alternative made from vegetable oils, animal fats, or waste oils. It can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional diesel. 

Attendees

Andrew Spice
Sarah Nardone
Mark Leavesley
Profile image for Councillor Cheryl Barnard
Councillor Cheryl Barnard  Labour •  Bulwell Forest
Profile image for Councillor Jay Hayes
Councillor Jay Hayes  Labour •  Bestwood
Profile image for Councillor Corall Jenkins
Councillor Corall Jenkins  Labour •  St Anns
Profile image for Councillor Ethan Radford
Councillor Ethan Radford  Labour •  Bulwell
Lynne Dowdican
Sharon Kemp
Margaret Lee
Tony McArdle
Stuart Fair
Profile image for Councillor Helen Kalsi
Councillor Helen Kalsi  Labour •  Bilborough

Topics

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