Issue - meetings

Councillor Vanier considered the report which sought approval pursuant to Contract Standing Order (CSO) 7.04(a) for Haringey Council to lead on a joint procurement activity for a range of statutory Advocacy Services on behalf of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey.

Councillor Vanier noted that the services to be commissioned under the joint procurement were: Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA); Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA); Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Relevant Person’s Paid Representatives; Care Act Advocacy and Children’s Advocacy.

RESOLVED

The Lead Cabinet Member approved the request pursuant to CSO 7.04(a) for the Council to lead on a joint procurement activity for the statutory advocacy services listed in 1.1 above on behalf of itself, the London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough of Enfield.  

Reasons for decision

Local authorities have a statutory obligation to provide IMHA, IMCA, Care Act Advocacy and Advocacy for looked after and vulnerable children in line with provisions with the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Mental Health Act 2007, the Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014.

Haringey’s contracts for all of the above services expire on 31^st March 2018.  It is therefore necessary to tender these services in order to put in place a new contract to avoid any break in services.  

Haringey’s services for IMCA and IMHA are provided as part of a multi-borough contract led by Enfield Council, which also provides for Barnet Council. This contract was extended until 31^st March 2018 to align with the respective end-dates of Haringey and Enfield’s care act advocacy and children’s advocacy contracts.

All boroughs have agreed that the most expedient and cost-effective means of re-commissioning these services is to procure these services jointly for the three boroughs, and as a result to benefit from economies of scale that come about with larger contracts.

Haringey is proposing to lead the procurement as both Barnet and Enfield have taken a lead role on previous procurements for these services.  The intention is to seek a provider, or a consortium arrangement with a lead provider, to deliver all forms of advocacy across the three boroughs.

It is proposed for a contract to be awarded for 3 years with the option to extend for 2 further periods of 12 months each.

Alternative Options Considered

The alternative options considered and rejected are:

For Haringey to commission advocacy services independently:

·         This is deemed not to be viable because Haringey would not benefit from economies of scale associated with a cross-borough arrangement

·         This would also potentially increase the overall costs of these services because travel costs to Haringey would increase. This is because much of the accommodation-based provision that Haringey uses, and subsequently needs to send advocates to see clients in, is in Barnet and Enfield.

Do nothing – this is not an option as this service is a statutory requirement.