The Public Health and Community Safety Cabinet Panel met to discuss the award of the contract for the provision of public health nursing services. Following a presentation and discussion of the part one report, the panel moved to a closed session to discuss the commercially sensitive part two report. Upon returning to the public session, the panel voted to recommend to the cabinet that the contract be awarded to the selected provider outlined in the part two recommendation.

Public Health Nursing Contract

The panel voted to recommend to the cabinet that it award the public health nursing contract to the selected provider as outlined in the part two recommendation.

Aideen Dunn, Associate Director in Public Health, presented the part one report, which provided an overview of the planned changes to the public health nursing contract and the procurement process. She explained that public health nursing is a county-wide service that includes health visiting and school nursing, covering pregnancy up to age 19, and up to 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The service is a prescribed function of the public health grant¹, meaning the council is expected to commission it. The current contract is in its extension period and will end on 31 March 2026, with the new contract going live on 1 April 2026.

Ms Dunn noted that a transformation programme of the public health nursing service was undertaken in 2024 to modernise the service, ensure it was affordable, meet the changing needs of the local population, and align with national policy and best practice. Key changes to the specification include:

• Ensuring mandated health checks and health visiting are delivered face-to-face, aligning with national policy.
• Introducing a school readiness check in the health visiting service.
• Resetting the role of public health nursing with regards to safeguarding.
• Introducing an additional offer within school nursing, where all children identified as missing from education or electively home-educated receive an annual health needs assessment.

Ms Dunn stated that an open competitive tender was in the best interest of residents and the council. The tender evaluation panel included members from the University of Hearts, Children's Services, the Integrated Care Board, Education Center and Inclusion, and the public health team.

During the discussion, Councillor John Hale, Chairman of the Audit Committee, asked if Ms Dunn was satisfied with the number of bidders received and whether inquiries were made as to why some organisations did not bid. Ms Dunn responded that there were many potential bidders identified through the transformation programme, and all organisations were aware of the retendering of the service. She added that the council was happy with the submissions received.

Councillor Beth Kelly raised the importance of safeguarding and asked for more information on the redesign of the public health nursing system in that regard. She also inquired whether the provision for monitoring nursing mothers during and after pregnancy was sufficient. Ms Dunn explained that a review of the council's involvement in safeguarding as a system partner was undertaken, and it was identified that there were a number of statutory responsibilities that do not sit with public health nursing as a statutory duty. She stated that the focus was on ensuring that the council was not undertaking work that was not its responsibility, but that it continued to contribute as a key partner. Ms Dunn added that the council has maintained all of its contacts as face-to-face and has a tiered service based on need. She also noted that a mental health and well-being screening for both parents has been implemented in the mandated checks.

Councillor David Herring, Deputy Leader, Reform Group, asked if the service provides for the assessment of an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Ms Dunn responded that they are not the lead organisation on an EHCP, but they may be one of the key partners that would feed into it. Mr Herring then gave feedback that any provider needs to be assessed on their approach to doing an assessment, and that they should not approach it all with one view because it doesn't fit. Ms Dunn said that she would take that on board as the council mobilises the new contract.

Councillor Allison Wren, Deputy Executive Member for Public Health and Community Safety, asked about population modelling and whether the tenderers considered the current reduction in the number of school children and the expected COVID bump. Ms Dunn responded that population modelling is always an estimate, and the council used existing birth rates to capture the COVID bump. She added that the service covers 0 to 25, so modelling the needs for health visiting also models the future needs of school nursing as that cohort ages through the service.

Councillor Ben Crystall asked how the offer of health needs assessments for those who are home-educated compares with those offered by other authorities. Ms Dunn responded that she didn't identify any other area that was doing this through the transformation programme. She added that the need for this was identified through a collaborative piece that public health was doing with colleagues in children's services and with education, as well as working with the independent scrutineer for the Harpitude Safeguarding Children's Partnership.

Following the discussion, the panel moved to a closed session to discuss the part two report, which contained commercially sensitive information. Upon returning to the public session, the panel voted to recommend to cabinet that the contract be awarded to the selected provider outlined in the part two recommendation.

Previous Meeting Minutes

The panel agreed the minutes of the Public Health & Community Safety Cabinet Panel meeting held on 8 July 2025.