Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1.         Following consideration of the available options, the results of the procurement process, and commercially sensitive information provided in the Part 2 report later in the agenda, approval be given for the Council to enter into a Partnership Agreement for the South Central Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) Framework for the provision of Foster Care placements for the period 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2021.

2.         Approval be given to award subsequent call off contracts to providers named on the Framework.

3.         That delegated approval be given to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Children and Families Wellbeing, to award new framework agreements and subsequent call off contracts during the life of the framework.

Reasons for Decisions:

The existing Framework will expire on 31 March 2017. In 2016 a total of 14 local authorities came together with Southampton City Council as the lead authority and a full tender process, compliant with the European Public Procurement Regulations and Procurement Standing Order has been carried out. 

A decision is needed regarding whether or not Surrey County Council continues to be named as a purchaser on the new Framework.

If the Council does not participate in a Framework, it will only be able to spot purchase IFA provision or enter into Block Contracts from 1 April 2017 which potentially places the Council in breach of current procurement law (Public Contract Regulations 2015).

The forecasted spend for foster care placements with IFAs for 2016/17 is approximately £11.5m. A decision to spot purchase could see an increase in the weekly placement cost conservatively estimated at 5% (significantly more for emergency placements) and additional Council staff may need to be recruited to undertake the increase in workload associated with negotiating individual contracts and monitoring the performance of a large number of providers. 

There is the potential for further reducing or avoiding costs under the new arrangements, through the use of Lot 4 (Alternative to Residential) placements and block contracts, as outlined in the Part 2 report.

[The decision on this item may be called in by either the Council Overview Board or the Social Care Services Scrutiny Board]

In the absence of the Cabinet Member for Children and Families Wellbeing, the Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement presented this report to Cabinet.

She said that in Surrey, the Council believed that for most children and young people the best place to live was with their family of origin and where necessary parents and/or the extended family would be supported to provide an environment in which their child can grow and thrive.  Unfortunately, in some circumstances the safest and most appropriate option was for the child to be taken into care.  

From 2015, the Surrey Corporate Parenting Board Strategy prioritised work on developing ‘Placement Choice and Stability’ to ensure that the requirements of the Council’s Sufficiency Duty are met. Wherever appropriate, looked after children are placed with local foster carers.  However, sometimes in-house placements cannot be used due to matching considerations, the particular and often complex needs of the child, the carers’ circumstances or limited availability of carers.  In these circumstances a placement with an Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) is considered. Out of the 895 looked after children in Surrey, 648 are currently placed in foster care provision. 433 were placed with in-house carers, and 215 were placed with IFAs (as at 31 January 2017).

The Cabinet Member made Members aware that the ongoing management of the South Central Framework would be led by Bournemouth Borough Council and would be funded from each partner local authority – Surrey’s contribution would be approximately £20,000 per annum. Also, she said that the detailed financial information was in a part 2 report, to be considered later in the agenda.

The Cabinet Associate for Children, Schools and Families Wellbeing referred to the four options considered as part of the completion of the Strategic Procurement Plan:

·         Option 1 – do nothing

·         Option 2 – take an active role in the retender process of the South Central IFA Framework

·         Option 3 - more block contracts instead of a framework

·         Option 4 – Surrey to tender for their own framework

She said that after carefully considering all options, it had been agreed to recommend to Cabinet, option 2, which she also considered was the best value for money option.

At a time of rising demand for Surrey County Council services, together with the upward trend of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children being looked after in Surrey (the third highest in the country), Cabinet Members strongly supported this report and endorsed the recommendations.

RESOLVED:

1.         Following consideration of the available options, the results of the procurement process, and commercially sensitive information provided in the Part 2 report later in the agenda, approval be given for the Council to enter into a Partnership Agreement for the South Central Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) Framework for the provision of Foster Care placements for the period 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2021.

2.         Approval be given to award subsequent call off contracts to providers named on the Framework.

3.         That delegated approval be given to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Children and Families Wellbeing, to award new framework agreements and subsequent call off contracts during the life of the framework.

Reasons for Decisions:

The existing Framework will expire on 31 March 2017. In 2016 a total of 14 local authorities came together with Southampton City Council as the lead authority and a full tender process, compliant with the European Public Procurement Regulations and Procurement Standing Order has been carried out. 

A decision is needed regarding whether or not Surrey County Council continues to be named as a purchaser on the new Framework.

If the Council does not participate in a Framework, it will only be able to spot purchase IFA provision or enter into Block Contracts from 1 April 2017 which potentially places the Council in breach of current procurement law (Public Contract Regulations 2015).

The forecasted spend for foster care placements with IFAs for 2016/17 is approximately £11.5m. A decision to spot purchase could see an increase in the weekly placement cost conservatively estimated at 5% (significantly more for emergency placements) and additional Council staff may need to be recruited to undertake the increase in workload associated with negotiating individual contracts and monitoring the performance of a large number of providers. 

There is the potential for further reducing or avoiding costs under the new arrangements, through the use of Lot 4 (Alternative to Residential) placements and block contracts, as outlined in the Part 2 report.