Decision details

Salford City Council – Record of Decision

I, Paul Dennett, City Mayor, in exercise of the powers contained within the Council Constitution do hereby approve:

·      the award of the Contract forTargeted Support to Help Salford Young People Engage in Appropriate and Compliant Education, Employment and Training Provisionas detailed in the table below:

The Reasons are:

Following a fair and transparent open tender process, Career Connect, have successfully met due diligence and the overall response across quality, price and social value has demonstrated that they are able to provide a robust Targeted Support Service for young people within Salford.

Options considered and rejected were:

In-sourcing delivery of the Targeted Support Service for young people was considered and rejected for a number of reasons. This including the available timescales, the potential for increased costs, putting in place relevant quality assurance frameworks within a limited timeframe, DfE statutory duties/ skills and knowledge required and the need for staff to have specialist Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) qualifications.   On this basis a competitive open tender exercise was deemed to be the best option for delivering a quality service for young people in Salford.

Assessment of Risk:

As this service provides statutory functions on behalf of the local authority back to DfE we need to ensure the service commences on 1^st January 2024, otherwise we will be unable to provide statutory data returns.  Also, we need to ensure young people have the service in place to provide continuity of support beyond the current contract which ends on December 31^st 2023.

As year one (15 months) has additional grant funding through GMCA under UKSPF, we will need to provide additional returns to meet grant funding agreements.

The source of funding is: City Council revenue budget (Childrens and Skills and Work – Place) and UKSPF funding (NEET support element): Contract Total of £1,747,000.

Legal Advice obtained: Yes – supplied by The Shared Legal Service (Tony Hatton).

Financial Advice obtained: Yes – supplied by Luba Velychko Accountant, Place Directorate.

Procurement Advice obtained: Yes – supplied by The Corporate Procurement Team.

HR Advice obtained: Not Applicable.

Climate Change Implications obtained: Yes – supplied in consultation with Mike Hemingway, Environment Policy Team, Tel. 0161 793 3209.

The following documents have been used to assist the decision process:

·      Approval to go out to competition for a Targeted Support Service to help Salford young people engage in appropriate and compliant education, employment and training provision – Report to Procurement Board on 14^th June 2023.

Contact Officers:

Sarah Scanlan – Head of Raising Participation (Skills and Work)

Telephone number: 0161 778 0461/07508057595

Alison Burnett – Head of Skills and Work. Telephone number: 0161 793 2535

This matter is also subject to consideration by the Lead Member for Skills & Work, Business and Workforce and the Lead Member for Children and Young People’s Services.

The Lead Members have been consulted and are supportive of the proposed contract.

The appropriate Scrutiny Committee to call-in the decision is Childrens.

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE ONLY

*           This decision was published on 13^th September 2023

*           This decision will come in force at 4.00 p.m 20^th September 2023 unless it is called-in in accordance with the Decision-Making Process Rules.