Agenda item

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

To provide Cabinet with an update on the SEND Transport Transformation Plan to address the recommendations of the Cabinet meeting of 10th December 2019.

Clerk’s Note -Cllr Chandwani, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods re-joined the meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families introduced the report which set out the response to the resolutions made at the Cabinet meeting on 10 December 2019.

The Cabinet Member advised that, following listening to the views of parent’s and carers of children with disabilities, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and Councillors, the report was proposing not continuing with the procurement of a transformation partner for the SEND service. In addition, the required period for progressing the contract had expired and the report detailed this.

The Cabinet Member advised that, instead the Council would be supporting development of the SEND service through a change programme. This would be focused on improving the service to accommodate disabled children’s different needs. Steps had already been taken to include buddies on transport provision and the Council had enlisted an experienced external organisation for consulting with parents and carers on development of the service going forward. The Cabinet Member was absolutely clear that the best advice, on the service provision going forward, would be from parents and carers.

In response to questions from Councillor Palmer, it was noted that:

·         The Cabinet Member’s aim was working directly with parents and ensuring disabled children can get to school in a happy and contented way and encouraging parents to come forward and help shape the service.

·         The service was starting to meet with parents and carers, and exploring options to reach out to all stakeholders. Parents and carers had completed a survey in Feb 2020 which had provided a clear indication of issues experienced. In immediate response to the feedback, the application process for transport had been updated. Also the SEND policy, which had been compiled in 2018, would be looked at. There were reports being compiled on this and Cllr Palmer requested a copy.

·         It was acknowledged that co-production had many components to get right and assurance was given that focus would be ensuring all users of the service were reached. Activities would be taken forward with parents in an active collaborative way and the service would be listening to parents to help shape the service going forward.

·          The Cabinet Member was meeting with parents and carers this week and there was engagement and stakeholder group meeting planned for the 24th of June.

·         The procurement window for decision making on a transformation partner had now ended and to restart this would mean a much later decision at the end of the year. This was too late for meeting the forthcoming transport needs of families. Instead the service were focusing on providing reliable consistent transport for September.

·         Officer time spent on preparing for working with an external partner had not been specifically logged. However, the type of activities that were taken forward were business as usual tasks focused on co -production for transport provision. There would not be any value in undertaking an analysis on the resources undertaken on the procurement as to complete the task itself would have a resource implication.

RESOLVED

Not to proceed with the award of contract for the provision of SEND Transport Transformation Consultancy Services by an external improvement partner and that this procurement process be abandoned.

Reasons for decision

Due to the length of time since the tender was completed caused by the call in of the decision, the baseline for the award has significantly changed such that a further scoping review would be necessary to inform any future decision on contract award.

The report presented to Cabinet on 12^th November 2019 was based upon the recommendations detailed within a scoping review that was undertaken in April / May 2019. The findings of that review are now 12 months old, and the financial baseline has significantly changed.

The timeline to undertake a further scoping review and conduct a tendering exercise is such that a further recommendation to award could not realistically be submitted to Cabinet for decision before January 2021.

To ensure that the necessary resources are available to secure SEND Transport provision for the new school year commencing September 2020, the Council is already undertaking a procurement without the services of an improvement partner.

A delay in procurement would risk the availability of transport arrangements for children and young people for the first day of term. The delay would also fetter the ability of the Council to secure best value for money as a consequence of coming late to the market where prospective providers may have already secured contracts elsewhere.

The procurement exercise for the September 2020 term will necessitate a review of the exact routes that will be required, as a consequence of new cohorts of children becoming eligible for SEND Transport and young people who because of their age will no longer require school transport.

The procurement exercise and updated route mapping may change the supplier profile and associated transport costs, and as a consequence impact the financial baseline upon which prospective providers submit their tenders.

Overall the changes in the financial baseline and the circumstances relating the service is such that it is no longer in the public interest to proceed with the award.

Alternative options considered

Award of contract in line with the recommendation to Cabinet on 12 November 2019. This option was rejected because:

·      The tender has expired, and a new tender process would be required.

·         The procurement of SEND Transport routes has commenced, which will change the supplier profile and associated transport costs; and

·         A further scoping review would be required to re-baseline any prospective SEND transport tender award.

No other options are being considered.

Response to Due Diligence enquires in regard to the expected service improvements by the proposed transformation partner

The recommendation to award the contract to the nominated SEND Transport transformation partner within the Cabinet Report of 12^th November and subsequent response to Call-In presented to Cabinet on 10^th December, was based upon their proven experience in regard to SEND Transport, as evidenced within the Part B report.

The Part B report detailed eight local authorities where the proposed transformation partner had been commissioned to undertaken SEND Transport transformation, including a summary of savings identified at review and respective savings delivered. The report also provided further detail in regard to transformation outcomes at two London boroughs.

Following consideration of the report and recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, representations from the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny, Councillors, the deputation from Mrs Marta Garcia de la Vega and the responses by Officers and the Lead Cabinet Member to the issues raised, and on review of its original decision, Cabinet resolved that Officers make further due diligence enquiries in regard to the expected service improvements by the proposed transformation partner.

To address specific issues raised, Officers contacted a key Local Authority identified within the exempt session of the Cabinet meeting to request the necessary assurance but were informed that such assurance would not be publicly available until around June 2020.

As a consequence of this delay, it was agreed by the Director of Children’s Services that the re-procurement of all routes would be undertaken to ensure availability of transport at the start of the autumn term and avoid the difficulties faced in autumn 2019 when there was a shortage of available transport.

The outcome of the re-procurement of the routes, including a cost benefit and transport availability assessment cannot be undertaken until July 2020. The results of the assessment will provide supporting evidence for baseline reassessment of transport provision and the planned co-production of the SEND transport policy.

Options for SEND Transport Service Transformation

Subject to the Cabinet agreement to the recommendation not to proceed with the award of contract for the provision of SEND Transport Transformation Consultancy Services by an external improvement partner, then a SEND Transport plan will be developed to address the areas for improvement as identified in the scoping review of April/May 2019.

The SEND Transport plan will be consulted upon with all SEND parents and they will be part of the formulation of the final plan.

Recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee are subject to further development by Children’s Services and will be responded to Scrutiny at a future date.