Issue - meetings

The AD of Commissioning & Programmes set out the  reasons for consideration of the report  which was seeking approval   to proceed to open tender for the Council to continue to commission School Improvement and Governor Services. This was to ensure statutory and strategic functions can be delivered and to ensure compliance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and the Council’s Contract Standing Order policy.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families was  also being asked to approve the budget of up to £3,686,107 for a total of 8 years under a 4 plus 2 plus 2 years contractual agreement, commencing from 1^st April 2025 until 31^st March 2033.

In response to questions from the Cabinet Member, the following information was noted:

-      This was an open tender process and the Council was undertaking this procurement in its  capacity as a supervising authority for the provision as set out in paragraph 7.5.1 .

-      This  decision did not affect the operation of the HEP(Haringey Education  Partnership which was established as a School’s Company and had a wide remit and reach.

-      The Council would look to commission a provider to work on these strategic and  statutory functions, aiming to also have a strong  interface with traded  services being commissioned by schools.

-      After this meeting and call in period, a briefing  report on this decision would go forward to the Schools Forum on the 16^th of July in accordance with  schools finance  guidance as the decision involved  allocation of the central school services funding block. Following this Schools Forum meeting, the  Council would go out to open tender for these services and  bring forward a report later in the year to Cabinet on  the award of the contract.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families,

RESOLVED

1.    To approve the proposal to proceed to open tender for the Council to continue to commission School Improvement and Governor Services to ensure statutory and strategic functions can be delivered and to ensure compliance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and the Council’s Contract Standing Order policy.

2.    To approve the budget of up to £3,686,107 for a total of 8 years under a 4 plus 2 plus 2 years contractual agreement, commencing from 1^st April 2025 until 31^st March 2033 in accordance with the budget breakdown in section 7.8 of this report.

Reasons for decision

To be complaint with regulation, HEP would need to secure a minimum of 80% from Haringey Council and Haringey Schools. This would meet Public Contract Regulations 2015, specifically Regulation 12 to be exempt from competition criteria.  

However, it has been identified that over recent years HEP has expanded its offer and area of operations to encompass schools beyond the Haringey Local Authority area. Whilst this has ensured that the organisation has achieved financial sustainability and was able to retain its non-profit making status which has benefitted the LA and Schools through a diverse and comprehensive offer.

However, the expansion of HEP’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6