Purpose

The Cabinet Member: 
 
1.    
Approved Peterborough City Council awarding a contract to
Liquidlogic Ltd for the provision of its Education IT
System from 1st September 2024 for a period of 5 years (with the
option to extend for a further 2 years).  The
estimated value of the total 7-year contract period is
approximately £1,047,605 (CPI included, VAT is not
included).
 
2.    
Delegated authority to the Service Director - Education to decide
whether to invoke the extension period for the contract following
the initial contract term and in accordance with the contract
provisions.?

Reasons for the decision

PCC currently use different systems and processes to meet their
statutory obligations for Education, including Capita One, Access
Group Synergy and NCC Wizard. The move to Liquidlogic
would put the child record in a single system across the Education
service, reducing the risks around data being in more than one
place.  In addition, the database is shared with the
Children’s Social Care system, improving the opportunities to
have a single view of the child. 
 
The proposed solution offers advanced technical solutions
including two-way digital engagement for schools/providers,
professionals and parents. 
 

Alternative options considered

Do nothing:  this would leave the Education services using
existing systems, with the limitations described above.  This
option has been rejected because: 
 
·        
The opportunity to have a single view of the child would be missed
and the potential for reducing administrative burdens 
·        
An integrated single new system can improve safeguarding through
appropriate information sharing 
·        
A new system will remove data duplication and reduce the risk of
data protection incidents 
·        
The current contract cannot be extended indefinitely 
·        
The current system is not cloud-based, incurring significant
additional server-associated costs. 
·        
The net savings from introducing the new system are already built
into the MTFS from 24/25 and this saving would be at risk if the
new system is not implemented.  These savings are based solely
on the software itself and do not include the other benefits that
will be achieved by the introduction of the new system.