Agenda item

To consider a report by the Commissioning and Evaluation Officer (Partnerships and Communities Team) (copy attached) which outlines the processes undertaken to commission services to support the Families First Programme in Denbighshire and to seek the Committee’s views on the processes and decisions recommended to date.

The Head of Business Planning and Performance (HBPP) presented a report (previously circulated) to provide the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee with detail of the tendering and award process for the commissioning of services to support the Families First Programme in Denbighshire and to update the Committee on the current position in relation to the commissioning of Families First Strategic Projects for the 2012-2014 financial period.

HBPP gave some background to the process.

In 2011/2012 funding was secured from Cymorth and the method for its distribution had been decided by the partners of Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnerships Programme Board (CYPSPPB) of which Denbighshire County Council was a lead partner.  The majority of the funds were given in small grants to groups, some of whom successfully utilised the money.  However, 2011/2012 was a transition year between the former Cymorth funding and the new Families First initiative and the projects who successfully bid for funding in 2011/2012 were made aware from the outset that the funding would cease at the end of March 2012.  Because of this, each organisation had been encouraged and assisted to develop an exit strategy to assist them to manage the changes ahead.  The Welsh Government had closely monitored where the funding had been allocated in previous years and the rules around the new Families First initiative were quite stringent and specific that monies allocated in future would have to be for the purpose of alleviating and combating child poverty and to support vulnerable families.  In the past it had been extremely difficult to monitor a larger number of organisations who had received funding and this had caused major problems.

As lead partner it was Denbighshire’s job to switch where funds had been spent over the last 5 years to new priorities.  This had been controversial and very difficult to do.  It meant some organisations could no longer bid for funding as they did not meet the criteria.  To qualify for Families First Programme funding bids had to demonstrate that they would support the delivery of Outcome 4 of the Local Service Board’s Single Integrated Plan, the BIG Plan, which was that “vulnerable families in Denbighshire are supported to live a life free from poverty, where they can be independent and flourish.”

The CYPSPPB had established a multi-agency Project Board to manage and commission bids for funding.  It had decided on the nine funding streams that would help deliver the above outcome.  The Board had also decided to use a tendering process for allocation of the funds. There was a clear criteria of what was being done and how the money was to be distributed.  Support and information was also given to potential providers to assist them with the tendering process.

A large number of tenders were received and at the end, out of 9 themes/strands, 7 were commissioned and in place by April 2012. 

Family Support and Disability service elements were unable to be commissioned at that time as the Panel was not convinced that the tenders received could deliver what was required.  Consequently, it was decided to go out to re-tender on the Family Support element to enable the scale of services  to be upgraded as this element would continue for another 3-4 years.  Funding was available for the upkeep of services until a new service was in place in September 2012.  This funding and the service level agreement in place with Denbighshire Homestart would assist with caseloads and working through the transition process.  Eligible clients would be moved into new services following the letting of the successful tender.  The whole process had been more complicated than originally planned but overall it meant improved value for money and improved services for clients.  The whole programme was planned to be in place by September, 2012.

With respect to the Disability element, as the funding was only available up to 2014, the Disability Panel had recently concluded that provision of 4 out of 6 of the original areas could be covered, therefore, the amount paid would be reduced to take into account the interim provision provided by Cyfle Barnardo’s Cymru.

In response to members’ questions officers advised that:-

Ø      They were working with the Partnerships and Communities Manager to see if the take up of free school meals, which would draw down a premium entitlement, could be improved and worked into the scheme.

Ø      With respect to the decision not to let the ‘Family Support’ tender to Homestart, which had been a huge disappointment to a number of councillors, £20,000 had been given to Homestart to carry on working for the first quarter and this had now been extended until the end of August to cover the summer period – the funding would be in place until the tender was let in order to assist with the transition and not to affect or disrupt the lives of the families in need of support.

Ø      The issue with Homestart was that it only dealt with children under 5 and even though it mainly operated using volunteers, its running costs were extremely high.  There was a need to work with a whole age range of children not just the under 5’s.  Homestart had submitted a tender for the work they currently carried out and not for services which were to be commissioned as per the tender specification.

Ø      It was emphasised that every organisation had been given more than one year’s notice for the changes.  The objective of seeking tenders was to improve the service.

Ø      Measurable outcomes had been devised for each of the contracts and these could be reported on to the Committee in future.  The HBPP agreed to attend a future Partnership Scrutiny Meeting in January 2013 to update the Committee.

Following a detailed discussion it was:-

RESOLVED that:-

(a)               subject to the above observations, the Committee supported the processes and decisions recommended by the Families First Project Board as endorsed at special meetings of the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership (CYPSP); and

(b)               the Head of Business Planning and Performance reports back to the Committee in January 2013 on the progress achieved in implementing and delivering the services commissioned and consequently outcome 4 of the BIG Plan.