Issue - meetings

[Report of the Director of Children’s Services. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Children and Families.]

This report seeks authorisation for a direct contract award without prior publication of an advertisement to TBAP Trust (TBAP)  for the delivery of Haringey’s Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) for one academic year.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families introduced this report which sought authorisation for a direct one year contract award without prior publication of an advertisement to TBAP Trust (TBAP) for the delivery of Haringey’s Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) for one academic year.

The Cabinet Member advised that this proposal sits within the context of an on-going strategic review of Alternative Provision, in its widest sense, and a real drive to transform the outcomes for children and young people who had been excluded or were at risk of exclusion from school.

The Cabinet Member highlighted this extensive and strategic review was due to report by the end of this calendar year. It would provide recommendations for alternative commissioning arrangements for children and young people who need to access alternative provision. These would be brought to Cabinet in due course. In the meantime ensuring a one year contract for this academic year would enable the Council to meet its statutory duties in relation to children and young people who were in need of alternative provision, whilst doing the necessary parallel planning for the new arrangements to be introduced from September 2020.

In response to questions from Councillor Tucker, Councillor Connor and Councillor Ibrahim, the following information was provided:

• The Cabinet Member noted it was the intention of the on-going strategic review of Alternative Provision that this return inhouse. The preference from the review was that Alternative Provision would be provided in an entirely different way by the Council itself.
• With regard to TBAP Trust and its financial situation, the Cabinet Member confirmed that Officers had been requested to ensure a Plan B be established, should this company be unable to fulfil the terms of the contract.
• The Cabinet Member noted the length of the contract was for one year, which would allow for the completion of the strategic review of Alternative Provision.
• Regarding due diligence, Officers confirmed they had been working with the Department for Education (DfE) and the Trust to ensure that the Alternative Provision was provided to the standard it expected. Discussions were ongoing across the Council with its Finance and Legal teams to ensure contingency measures were in place, should they be required.
• Regarding the central government’s contribution towards The High Needs Block, the Cabinet Member informed this was expected to be around £4m. In discussing the deficit of Haringey’s High Needs Block, it was noted this was not unique to the Council and many other local authorities operated this with a deficit. The Council was continuing to campaign for more money from central government.
• Regarding how the success of the contract would be measured, Officers noted it would be measured against the educational performance of those attending the PRU. The Council would also look at how productive the PRU was in promoting reintegration for children into mainstream settings.
• The Cabinet Member noted discussions had been held between herself and the Monitoring Officer regarding the safeguards in place, should TBAP Trust’s financial position worsen and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46