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Salford City Council - Record of Decision (Cabinet)
 
I Paul
Dennett, City Mayor, in exercise of the powers contained within the
City Council Constitution do
hereby approve: The Skyline Partnership agreement
The Reasons are:
This
collaborative agreement with 10 GM local authorities will improve
outcomes for our cared for children. The Partnership Agreement
builds on the Memorandum of Understanding. It will be entered into
between the ten local authorities, GMCA and NHS GM, and will govern
the relationship of the parties, roles and responsibilities, and
the sharing of liabilities.  In particular the
Agreement:

·        
includes the collaboration principles the parties
are committed to (taken from the MoU that has already been
signed);

·        
sets out governance arrangements for the project,
including terms of reference for the Skyline Strategy
Group;

·        
details arrangements regarding the Skyline Homes,
such as GMCA’s commitment to acquire the homes and lease them
to the Care Providers, and GMCA’s right to charge rent and
the principles on which rent will be calculated (i.e. to enable
GMCA to recover its investment over an agreed period);

·        
states GMCA’s commitment to pay Mobilisation
Costs to the Care Provider as required;

·        
sets out the role of GMCA and other parties in
managing the procurement process for Care Providers;

·        
establishes principles regarding management of the
Care Provider Agreements, including key decisions (e.g.
termination) that the contracting party will need to bring to the
partner authorities for approval;

·        
establishes the level of contribution that each
local authority needs to make to any occupancy guarantee payment
that becomes due to a Care Provider (as per the agreement in the
MoU) noting that this will be regularly reviewed;

·        
reflects the principle that the local authorities
will share costs and underwrite any losses incurred by GMCA as a
result of its investment in the Skyline homes.
 
Options considered and rejected were:
Not
joining the partnership agreement.
 
Assessment of Risk:
Medium
 
 
The source of funding is:
External Placements budget
Legal Advice obtained:
In so
far as legal structure and principle there is no legal impediment
to Skyline being set up, however, assurance needs to be given
through the Executive Director of Children’s Service that the
objectives of Skyline are consistent with and aligned with Salford
City Council’s corporate priorities so far as
Children’s Services are concerned.
Subject to receipt of updated due diligence on the financial
modelling and the business case, similarly Salford City
Council’s finance team must be assured that the level of risk
associated with underwriting Skyline is outweighed by the tangible
financial benefits proposed in the business case.
Financial Advice obtained:
There
has been a significant increase in cost pressures, for placements
of children and young people and whilst the numbers of children in
care are similar year on year, the complexity of needs for some
children have increased and therefore the types of placements which
can support those children has become increasingly specialised and
costly. Together with a market which cannot always meet the
presenting need of children and young people, prices have risen
above inflation in recent years
 
GMCA is acquiring properties to
be used for Project Skyline and is leading the procurement for the
care providers.  A partnership agreement and memorandum of
understanding will set out how the costs and liabilities will be
shared between partners authorities. It is intended that the costs
of this programme for Salford will be contained within the
Children’s Services External Residential budget.
Procurement Advice obtained:
The
collaborative agreement is not subject to procurement legislation,
however it is noted that benefits of increased collaborative
commissioning was addressed in the National Procurement Strategy
for Local Government in England 2022.
The
report clearly sets out the procurement roles and responsibilities,
and outlines the use of a compliant procurement which is
inline with the requirements of the
Public Contract Regulations 2015 under which the procurement is
being managed.
HR Advice obtained:
N/A
Climate Change Advice obtained:
N/A
 
 
The following
documents have been used to assist the decision
process:
N/A
Contact Officer:  Debbie Blackburn – Director Public
Health Nursing & Wellbeing.
Telephone number: 0161 778
0246
 
The
appropriate scrutiny to call-in the decision is the
Children’s Scrutiny Panel.               

 

 

Signed:
   Paul
Dennett                         
  Dated:              03.09.24                          
.
                       
City Mayor
 

For
Democratic Services use only

 

This decision was
published on  03.09.24                                           

This decision will
come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 10.09.24                   
                              
unless it is called-in in
accordance with the Decision Making Process Rules.