Decision details

Date of Decision:

10 October 2019

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Anne Marie Lubanski

Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Authority delegated by Council on 25 July 2018 to Strategic Directors to establish sub-schemes of delegation for the discharge of executive and non-executive functions of the Council following the amendment to Appendix 9 of the Constitution – Responsibility for Functions.

Brief Description of Decision:

This decision is to direct award for a period of up to two years (1 October 2019 – 30 September 2021) Domestic Abuse Services – BMER Outreach provision to Rotherham Rise.

Reasons for the Decision:

The Council is committed to providing services for people who are victims/survivors of domestic abuse. A key component of the offer is the provision of outreach and floating support for individuals/families who have experienced and are at risk of further domestic violence occurring. To ensure inclusivity and equitable access to services there is a need for specific services to support individuals/families with a Black, Minority Ethnic or Refugee (BMER) background.

The current provision provides an effective offer for people at low/medium levels of risk of domestic violence and supports people from Rotherham to stay in their homes. However, there is a need to re-design the service model and test new ways of working. The aim would be to deliver a more seamless offer through improvement of the preventative element and better alignment with the services for high risk cases. This aim would be facilitated through a co-production approach with active involvement from BMER communities.

True co-production with a wide range of stakeholders takes considerable amount of time to facilitate. The outputs from co-production activity will inform a revised service specification. The intention is to go to market during the exemption period with a revised specification that has been suitably tested.

Details of alternative options considered and rejected:

The BMER outreach and floating support could be tendered against the existing service specification. This would not however align to the strategic aims of the Rotherham Community Safety Partnership for domestic abuse services to move to a single integrated delivery model. Following the conclusion of the co-production activity and a revised service specification being issued, the service would require re-procurement causing potential disruption to service users. Immediate procurement would also not enable new ways of working to be tested before a formal process.

Conflicts of interest declared by any Executive Member consulted by the decision maker which relates to the decision:

None

Dispensations Granted:

(If any)

None

Reports or parts of reports considered

Exemption Form ERF000120-19