Councillor Halden, presented the report on behalf of Councillor Sue Little. The report outlined the end of an Eastern Region contract which had been procured years ago to enable the Council to better meet the needs of Thurrock’s children and young people. The new proposed contract would cost £10.3 million per year and cover a six year period across placement groups of:

• External Independent Foster Care Agencies (IFAs)
• Children’s residential placements
• Post 16 supported accommodation

Thurrock would be able to grow its own network to enable social workers to check on children in a more logistic way which would allow for a more holistic network.

The Leader acknowledged that Councillor Sue Little had put in a tremendous amount of work into the plan and congratulated her on it. He agreed that the proposed contract was the right way forward which was not about the money but instead about the outcomes. It was a significant amount of money and being able to commission everything locally was the right idea.

RESOLVED:

1)    That Members agreed to the proposal to simplify and improve the commissioning of placement provision, in particular to withdraw from the current Eastern Regional contract when it ended in December 2018.

2)    That Members approved officers proceeding to tender for placements for children looked after for: Independent Foster Care Agencies, residential accommodation, supported accommodation and family assessment placements.

3)    That Members seeked approval for delegated authority for the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in conjunction with the Portfolio Holder for Children’s and Adult Social Care to:

·         Award contracts following completion of the tender process

·         Should demand increase,  approval will be sought from the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in conjunction with the Director of Finance and the Portfolio Holder for Children’s and Adult Social Care.

4)    That, due to the nature of the services being purchased, Members agreed  the recommendation that the Corporate Director of Children’s Services is  not required to competitively tender contracts for children’s placements where:

·         The placement cannot be made on the contract to be awarded under this exercise;

·         The purchase is required in order that the Council may meet its statutory obligations and;

·         the application of the Contract Procedure Rules contained within the Thurrock Council Constitution would prevent the statutory discharge of those statutory obligations.

Reason for decision - as stated in the report.

This decision is subject to call in.