Issue - meetings

Cllr Philip Robinson sought Cabinet approval to to reshape the management and delivery of Home to School and Adult Social Care transport service provision.

Having considered all of the information, Cabinet noted the report and

RESOLVED to:

1. approves without further competition, the award of a 3 year Call-Off Contract, under an ESPO Framework Agreement, to the preferred tenderer, namely EDGE Public Solutions Ltd, under which it shall supply such management services and resources as are necessary to deliver a three-year change programme within the council’s Home to School transport and Adult Social Care (ASC) transport service areas. The award shall be made in accordance with the direct contract award criteria under the ESPO Framework Agreement;

2. delegates authority to the Executive Director of Economy, Environment and Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Bus Transport, to:

a) conduct a competitive procurement process for a contract in respect of the supply of specialist software to support efficient route planning for Home to School transport and other services as appropriate and then to award such contract to the successful tenderer;

b) undertake a comprehensive market engagement programme with transport providers to inform a phased procurement of contracted Home to School and Adult Social Care transport provision; and

c) update relevant processes and Service Level Agreements between the restructured ITU and teams in the Children & Families and Adults directorates to support the new working practices with a view to ensuring effective service delivery in the long-term.

Cllr Philip Robinson sought Cabinet approval to reshape the management and delivery of Home to School and Adult Social Care transport service provision.

He outlined that in the previous year the budget had been £17m, with £16m of that for education transport. In March the County Councils Network outlined the challenges in this area. To help the Council manage the provision, a review of passenger transport was carried out and concluded that there was an opportunity to transform and modernise the service.

The council needed specialist support to implement a transformation programme that will enable the Council to deliver transport within budget in the coming years. The project would provide savings and cost avoidance via a number of workstreams.

The Cabinet Report outlined the request to gain approval for an external consultant (Edge Public Solutions) to come in and run a full 3-year project to reshape the management and delivery of home-to-school and adult social care transport.

The project provided an opportunity to shift to a greater performance focus, including the delivery of a number of key efficiency initiatives. It would provide bespoke travel solutions.

The total financial benefit of the entire project was forecast at £3.3m with an on-going sustainable net benefit of £2.5m. £1.57m investment would be required in the early stages of the project. This would be funded from the Corporate Transformation Budget.

Having considered all of the information, Cabinet noted the report and

RESOLVED to:

1. approves without further competition, the award of a 3 year Call-Off Contract, under an ESPO Framework Agreement, to the preferred tenderer, namely EDGE Public Solutions Ltd, under which it shall supply such management services and resources as are necessary to deliver a three-year change programme within the council’s Home to School transport and Adult Social Care (ASC) transport service areas. The award shall be made in accordance with the direct contract award criteria under the ESPO Framework Agreement;

2. delegates authority to the Executive Director of Economy, Environment and Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Bus Transport, to:

a) conduct a competitive procurement process for a contract in respect of the supply of specialist software to support efficient route planning for Home to School transport and other services as appropriate and then to award such contract to the successful tenderer;

b) undertake a comprehensive market engagement programme with transport providers to inform a phased procurement of contracted Home to School and Adult Social Care transport provision; and

c) update relevant processes and Service Level Agreements between the restructured ITU and teams in the Children & Families and Adults directorates to support the new working practices with a view to ensuring effective service delivery in the long-term.