Agenda item
Authority to award the residential and respite care contract for people with learning disabilities
This report requests authority to award a contract as required by Contract Standing Order No. 88. This report summarises the process undertaken in tendering the contract for the provision of residential and respite care services for people with learning disabilities and, following the completion of the evaluation of the tenders, recommends to whom the contract should be awarded.
Appendices 3-5 of this report are not for publication.
Decision:
(i) that approval be given to the award of the contract for the provision of residential and respite care services for people with learning disabilities for a period of 3 years commencing on 1 February 2010 with an option to extend the contract for a further two-year period to The Camden Society subject to resolution of pensions arrangements and to subsequent endorsement of arrangements by the General Purposes Committee;
(ii) that the Director of Housing and Community Care be authorised, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Corporate Resources and the Borough Solicitor to resolve pensions arrangements;
(iii) that approval be given to the grant of short term rent free leases in respect of Melrose House, the three properties at Tudor Gardens and the property at Willesden Lane to The Camden Society in accordance upon the terms of the Contract for the reason set out in paragraph 7.10 of the report from the Director of Housing and Community Care.
Minutes:
The Director of Housing and Community Care, Martin Cheeseman, introduced his report which requested authority to award the residential and respite care contract for people with learning disabilities following a tendering exercise. In response to the deputations received earlier in the meeting from Sharon Iles, on behalf of residents and carers of Melrose House, and George Fraser (Unison and the GMB union). Martin Cheeseman advised that the contract provided that all residents who transferred would continue to have their needs met in a similar way as at present. There was provision in the contract for individuals to move to supported living. However, this could only be done through an agreed assessment process. The existing residents had been in residential care for a long time and therefore he considered it very doubtful that they would be able to change to supported housing. Commissioning would ensure the correct level of service. Additionally, existing staff would be transferred so this should further provide continuity of care. It had been agreed at the outset that a comparison would be made with the in-house service and the current position was the result of an extensive private finance initiative commenced in 2001.
During the course of agreement on building design discussions had taken place on the need to balance the needs of existing residents against the need to make provision for an incremental move to supportive living as vacancies occur. While the current staff who he felt provided a good service in a run-down building, Martin Cheeseman stated that the appointment of an external provider would buy in additional staff and expertise to the meet the new challenges. The recommended tenderer, The Camden Society, a not-for-profit organisation, were responsible for a number of homes in other boroughs as well as other services for people with a learning disability. and who were well regarded. The organisation had experience of employing transferred staff and would be able to better provide training and relief support. In response to the enquiry over pension, the Director acknowledged the Unions’ concerns and advised that any variations in the pension provisions would need to be referred to the General Purposes Committee for agreement.
In response to questions from Councillor Detre (Lead Member, Regeneration and Economic Development) the Director advised that the costs of risk sharing would be same whether the service was provided by The Camden Society or in-house. There was no requirement for the tender to be OJEU compliant but the principles of transparency and fairness would still apply. Councillor John (Leader of the Opposition) referred to the discontent at the proposals she felt was expressed by a number of sectors including service users, carers, staff, voluntary sector and the trade unions the net result of which was an adverse effect on staff morale. Too many changes were being introduced simultaneously and she felt that the situation could have been better managed, giving staff confidence in the future. Martin Cheeseman replied that Councillor John was making reference to a much wider process of change relating to Learning Disability services and much had been a learning process and a period of unprecedented change. The Council was no longer able to be an efficient provider of adult services and The Camden Society had a greater expertise in training and developing staff. He assured that the TUPE and pensions rights of individual staff would not be affected.
Councillor Blackman (Lead Member, Resources) contributed that Melrose House had been in a poor condition for a very long time and it was good news that the residents and staff would get new accommodation. He emphasised that residents would be at their most vulnerable during the transfer and sought guarantees on how long they would be able to the same carers and also assurances over staff conditions of service post transfer. Martin Cheeseman responded that the expectation was for TUPE to last as long contracts were in place however, this did not rule out the possibility of future changes in circumstances. The staff ratio was set by the Care Quality Commission.
The Executive also had before them an appendix to the report which was not for publication as it contained the following category of exempt information as specified in Schedule 12 of the Local Government (Access to Information Act) 1972:
Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).
RESOLVED:-
(i) that approval be given to the award of the contract for the provision of residential and respite care services for people with learning disabilities for a period of three years commencing on 1 February 2010 with an option to extend the contract for a further two-year period to The Camden Society subject to resolution of pensions arrangements and to subsequent endorsement of arrangements by the General Purposes Committee;
(ii) that the Director of Housing and Community Care be authorised, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Corporate Resources and the Borough Solicitor to resolve pensions arrangements;
(iii) that approval be given to the grant of short term rent free leases in respect of Melrose House, the three properties at Tudor Gardens and the property at Willesden Lane to The Camden Society in accordance upon the terms of the Contract for the reason set out in paragraph 7.10 of the report from the Director of Housing and Community Care.
Supporting documents:
- H&CC L&Dis tender 5-1, item 8. PDF 152 KB
- H&CC L&Dis tender v5 App 1 - Evaluation Matrix, item 8. PDF 60 KB
- H&CC L&Dis tender v5 App 2 - Financial Evals, item 8. PDF 60 KB
- Restricted enclosure View the reasons why document 8./4 is restricted
- Restricted enclosure View the reasons why document 8./5 is restricted
- Restricted enclosure View the reasons why document 8./6 is restricted