Agenda item

Report of the Director of Adults, Health and Communities.  To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Wellbeing.

The Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Social Care introduced the report which sought approval for the award of a contract for the Provision of the Integrated Lifestyle Change programme, for a period of four (4) years, commencing from 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2028, at a maximum annual cost of £539,975, with an option to extend for a further period, or periods, of up to a total of four (4) years at a maximum total cost of £4,319,800 including the proposed extension period

The Cabinet Member advised that there was a minor error in the report at paragraphs 3.1 and 10.3.5, which made reference to taking the decision as a Cabinet Member Signing.  This decision has been published on the Forward Plan as a Cabinet decision.

The paragraphs were amended to read:

Recommendation  -

3.1 – Pursuant to CSO 9.07(1)(d), Cabinet grants approval to award a contract for the Provision of the Integrated Lifestyle Change programme to the successful tenderer (identified in Appendix 1 - Part B (exempt information) of this report).

3.2 - The contract shall run for a period of four (4) years, commencing from 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2028, at a maximum annual cost of £539,975, with an option to extend for a further period, or periods, of up to a total of four (4) years at a maximum total cost of £4,319,800 including the proposed extension period

Legal comments

10.3.4. The award is a Key Decision and can be approved by Cabinet in accordance with CSO 9.07.1 (d) (contracts valued at £500,000 or more).

10.3.5. The Head of Legal and Governance (Monitoring Officer) confirms that there are no legal reasons preventing Cabinet from approving the recommendations in this report.

RESOLVED

1.            Pursuant to CSO 9.07(1)(d), Cabinet grants approval to award a contract for the Provision of the Integrated Lifestyle Change programme to the successful tenderer (identified in Appendix 1 - Part B (exempt information) of this report).

2.            The contract shall run for a period of four (4) years, commencing from 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2028, at a maximum annual cost of £539,975, with an option to extend for a further period, or periods, of up to a total of four (4) years at a maximum total cost of £4,319,800 including the proposed extension period

Reasons for decision

It is a mandatory requirement that key elements of this service are commissioned from the Public Health Grant. There is a clearly identified need within Haringey for these services to improve health outcomes for local people, including tackling health inequalities that exist in particular groups and local areas. The programme contributes to the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) which is associated to preventable risk factors such as smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, excess alcohol consumption and low level of NHS health check uptake and hence people live with undetected conditions such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The programme also includes an extensive, specialist smoking cessation service for pregnant women. (Further detail on the programme is provided in paragraphs 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5). Therefore, the decision ensures that the council's money is spent on the things that are needed most and vital to the council and residents.

The decision to award a contract to the successful tenderer is also based on the conclusion of a competitive procurement process and is made according to the outcome of the Most Economically Advantageous Tender.

The recommended bidder has local knowledge and links to community groups along with experience on engagement and lifestyle improvement services and can work with residents to help them stay healthy and prevent illness, reducing the need for hospital services and improving management of chronic conditions.

The recommended bidder submitted a strong tender that clearly demonstrates expertise and commitment to providing the appropriate and relevant care and support to local residents. Furthermore, they demonstrated that they are investing more in social value - provide training and employment opportunities for local people and reduce carbon emissions and waste as well as supporting local community initiatives.

Furthermore, the decision proposed contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions, energy usage and responds to climate change adaptation (the risks and impacts in a changing climate) as indicated in section 9 of this report.

Alternative options considered

Do Nothing - The Council could choose to no longer commission this service. It has been concluded that not providing these prevention services would be damaging to residents, especially those from economically disadvantaged groups. The service includes an extensive, specialist programme including smoking cessation for pregnant women as well as reaching residents living in the most deprived areas of the borough, whose lifestyle behaviour’s is an important factor in their increased risk of developing a range of long-term conditions including cardiovascular disease which is the second top cause of mortality after cancer in Haringey. Furthermore, the service includes the National Health Service (NHS) Health Check programme, which is a mandated service, so helps to identify risk factors for chronic diseases earlier which otherwise remains undiagnosed. 

The Council could deliver the service in house – the Public Health team undertook an independent review to select an appropriate service delivery model with consideration to bring the service in house or re-tender it. The review has found that the programme would have a significant impact on the Council’s ability to achieve good service levels and value for money if delivered in house. For example, the public health review shows that the estimated financial costs of completely insourcing the service is £1.2million per annum, exceeding current expenditure by £734,246 (140%) which is mainly linked to staff costs. The projected financial staff costs exceed the current budgetary allocation for the service by £547,000 per annum.  This suggests that retendering can give the council with management space to focus on core departmental priorities and free up resources that can be deployed more effectively. Furthermore, retendering the service leverages greater scale and efficiencies from the market, where suppliers within that market are operating at scale who can draw on innovative new approaches and expertise which may not be available in the Council. The options were discussed with Commercial Board in December 2022 and agreed to go out to tender.

Extend existing contracts – Extension periods available within the existing contracts have been exhausted.