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RESOLVED:
 
1 
To agree to award 10 contracts for youth provision that
are delivered through centre based (locality), outreach,
peripatetic or detached youth work arrangements. Each contract will
run for a period of 3 years from 1st November 2024 with an option
to extend for 2 years in yearly increments. The maximum budget for
the services over five (5) years will be £2,864,836
(breakdown of the costs per individual contract is provided under
whole life costings).

 
2 
To delegate the authority to the Group Director of
Children and Education services to award the contract for the
delivery of Culturally Specific Orthodox Jewish Youth Services
(previously Lot 5. The contract will run for a period of 3 years
from 1st November 2024 with an option to extend for 2 years in
yearly increments. The maximum budget for this service will be
£584,649.
 
5. 
Reason(s) For Decision / Options Appraisal
 
5.1  This report provides
the Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee with the outcome
of the procurement to award 10 individual contracts (9 providers)
offering a range of youth work programmes for children and young
people aged 10-19, and up to 25 for young people with special
educational needs or disabilities (SEND), that meets the
Mayor’s priorities for young people and Statutory duties
under Section 507B of the Education and Inspections Act.
 
5.2  This procurement
will continue the hybrid service delivery model for youth services
following the end of contracts under the Connecting Young Hackney
Framework -  the previous vehicle used
to provide a range of universal youth work programmes for children
and young people aged 6-19 (and up to 25 for young people with
SEND). Following the approval of the contract awards, officers will
proceed with the Implementation of the new contracts to commence
operation by 1st November 2024.
 
5.3  The existing
contracts for the provision of services under the Connecting Young
Hackney Framework have been extended until up to 31st October
2024.  This has allowed the Council the
opportunity to re-commission the services in order to allow for a
range of youth work delivery mechanisms via centre based
(locality), mobile and outreach/ detached youth programmes. This
re-commission addressed key locations in the borough with
identified needs in relation to incidents of youth crime and ASB,
and/ or a higher incidence of young people not in education,
training or employment. The procurement has sought providers that
are able to evidence engagement with key communities, and meet the
needs of young people with Special Educational Needs and
Disabilities who are less able to access open access provision.
 
5.4  The Council expects
the provision secured through this procurement to have an early
help ethos and commitment to increase the accessibility for
children, young people and families to a range of prevention
focused support services. Aligning with the neighbourhoods approach
of the Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and the development of Children
and Family Hubs, it will focus on neighbourhoods where there is not
an existing Young Hackney Youth Hub. It is expected that the
accessibility of early help and prevention services will be
improved and services able to work more effectively together to
meet the holistic needs of families in Hackney. Providers will be
required to work collaboratively with the Council as part of the
range of early help provision and expected to identify and signpost
children, young people and families to and from Children’s
Services.
 
Alternative Options
(Considered and Rejected)
 
5.5  Please see below for
a summary of the alternative options previously considered and
rejected at the business case stage of this procurement.
 
 

Do Nothing

Advantages

Disadvantages

 

None

1.This is not a viable
option.There is a statutory duty to
secure educational, recreational and leisure time activities, and
sufficient facilities for such activities (Section 507B of the
Education and Inspections Act), this includes the current suite of
externally commissioned Universal Youth provision.
 

 

Advantages

Disadvantages

Manage and deliver the
services in house.
(see also Exempt
Appendix 2 of the Business Case Report for more information)
 

1.Would allow maximum
control for the Council.
 
2. In line with the
Council’s ambition to insource services where practical and
appropriate.

1. Fails to make use
of the particular capacity and expertise available from the local
voluntary and community sector in Hackney.
 
2. Lost opportunity to
benefit from the innovation and responsiveness of established local
providers.
 
3. Fails to maximise
the potential for added social value that could be achieved through
a competitive procurement process.
 
4. The Council does
not have the physical assets (youth club buildings, youth bus)
required to deliver this type of youth provision and would
therefore require additional time and budget to establish these
under this option.
 
5. Would require more
capacity for management oversight of the day to day delivery of the
service in addition to the extra operational staff that would be
required.
 

 

Advantages

Disadvantages

Secure all the
functions via a
Framework or Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)

1.Flexibility to award
further contracts during the delivery period as required.
 
2.Under a DPS
additional providers could be added during the contract period

Additional call-offs
are unlikely to be required once the initial round of contracts has
been awarded.
 
Participating in a
framework is an administrative burden for providers and there is no
guarantee of a contract for providers who have completed the
vetting process to join the framework.
 
Call offs would always
involve mini competitive tenders which are labour intensive for
commissioners.
 
4. There is a risk
that small/ medium local providers could be excluded because they
lack the capacity for regular bidding processes.
 

 

Advantages

Disadvantages

One Contract with a
single supplier
 

 
1.Potential to achieve
economies of scale
 
2.Minimises contract
management and reporting requirements  
 

organisations.
 
Fails to make use of
the diverse experience and expertise of existing local providers,
or to meet the needs of Hackney’s diverse communities.
 
Likely to result in an
overall loss of capacity from the local community and voluntary
sector organisations currently active in this area.
 

 
5.6  For the reasons
outlined in the table above, the insourcing of the service is
unlikely to be a possibility during the delivery of the contracts
to be awarded in this report. However, commissioners will continue
to monitor the situation and insourcing will be considered as part
of any future commissioning plans.