Procuring services for Children and Young People

Newham has strong partnerships with a wide range of statutory, business, community and voluntary sector organisations. Contracts or grants have been agreed with over 200 groups in 2005/6.

The voluntary and community sector is vibrant and has a clear preventative function. This was achieved through a prolonged period of support and nurturing to help the sector understand the new approach to commissioning followed by a formal selection process to select the best providers.
 
Commissioning arrangements have evolved over a period of time from the development of single agency commissioning to joint commissioning. This is reflected in the current commissioning structure, which is jointly funded by the Primary Care Trust(PCT). The PCT and children's services jointly fund the Integrated Commissioning Team with joint management arrangements and pooling of budgets.

The staff budget is £320,000. Alongside strategic commissioners, service managers implement a range of strategies. The training needs in recent years include commissioning tools and processes with schools and health.

Outcomes

The project has already seen the following outcomes and outputs:

• Created a level playing field
  
  
• A new relationship is evolving with the voluntary and community sector
  
  
• A shift in the balance of provision to prevention
  Efficiencies of £3 million achieved and a further £2 million projected
  
  
• Savings of £350,000 in transaction costs

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