Council and councillors

To receive Report No.196/2022 from the Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1.    APPROVED the procurement model and award criteria for Adult and Community Learning.

2.    AUTHORISED the Strategic Director Children and Families, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Education and Children’s Services, to award the contract(s) resulting from this procurement in line with the Award Criteria.

Report No.196/2022 was introduced by Councillor David Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Education and Children's Services.

The report set out the process and proposed award criteria for the procurement of a sub-contractor to deliver the adult education skills provision.

As a result of internal and external influences, including changes to subcontracting rules, the Council’s current provider (Inspire Education Group) could no longer offer the same level of provision as originally planned.

The new sub-contracting partner would need to establish and deliver a high quality, inclusive learning and skills offer for the County, which considered the requirements of rural locations and training requirements.

Councillor Wilby also went on to explain the contract value would be set at up to £99,000 per year, potentially totalling £495,000 over its lifetime. Since the previous report to Cabinet, a new sub-contracting standard had been introduced by the ESFA. This required every subcontract over £100,000 to be externally audited before being granted a three-year subcontracting licence. As the service was already extensively audited, the Council decided the most efficient and effective approach for the Council would be to retain £20,000 of our £119,000 funding allocation and deliver this in-house.

The Leader welcomed this paper and highlighted that a lot of work had been done across the county looking at key data and the importance of education and highlighted that lifelong learning was important to improve social mobility.

It was proposed by Councillor D Wilby that the recommendations of report No. 196/2022 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)    APPROVED the procurement model and award criteria for Adult and Community Learning.

AUTHORISED the Strategic Director Children and Families, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Education and Children’s Services, to award the contract(s) resulting from this procurement in line with the Award Criteria.