Agenda item

The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education submits a report to provide the Children, Young People and Education Scrutiny Commission with an update on the provision of taxi journeys for Vulnerable people and the implementation/procurement of a new Framework.

The Strategic Director for Social Care and Education submitted a report to provide the Children, Young People and Education Scrutiny Commission with an update on the provision of taxi journeys for Vulnerable people and the implementation/procurement of a new Framework.

The Head of Commission, Adult Social Care noted the following:

·         The purpose of the intended new framework was to both improve quality by implementing a more robust quality assurance process and to seek to bring a level of management/consistency of journey costs.

·         There are two work streams in place, one to reduce the reliance on taxi’s and the other to re-procure a new framework.

·         A previous procurement exercise took place which involved engagement with the existing and new taxi companies prior to the contracts being awarded.  However, post award the majority refused to accept the journeys due to price. 

·         The service had learnt from the ‘failure’ of the previous procurement exercise and was now seeking to introduce a Dynamic Purchasing System and engagement with all relevant partners, especially the taxi providers themselves was in process to deliver a revised framework that would provide a cost effective taxi service that is safe for all users.

·         The procurement exercise would manage to bring consistency to journey rates and ensure a robust quality assurance process. It would also set out to operators that if a fixed rate was used again, there would be no room for negotiation once the tender was advertised.

·         Options to enhance the rate for carrying people with more complex needs as part of the journey would be explored.

·         Increased work with members throughout the consultation and procurement exercises would take place.

Following Members comments the below responses were provided:

·         The presenting Officer agreed to share further detail of the new framework with the Member of Commission that requested it.

·         In terms of the timescale, the service was working towards releasing the opportunity to the market at the end of summer 2021 and was currently engaging with operators. This would give lead in time for contracts to be in place for April 2022, current arrangements had been extended until this date to provide continuity.

·         The service was also looking into various options in relation to reducing the use of taxi’s including some of the below:

o   Allocating personal transport budget for families i.e. parents/ carers, so they could transport the children themselves in own vehicles/ leasing cars etc.

o   Travelling Independently – travel training offer was being looked at.

o   Central pick-up points and greater use of in-house transport (using taxi’s as a latter resort rather than a primary).

·         The presenting Officer expressed the importance of quality service standards, in this regard, the service had built into the process a number of opportunities to ensure this. At first point of submission a minimum of quality requirements and evidence from operators would be requested and checked, this would also be followed up. Once the contract was live a dedicated team would be overseeing and operating a contract management framework approach which would require regular checks to ensure quality standards were maintained. In addition, there would be an opportunity for people to raise any concerns, which could be investigated further if necessary.

AGREED:

1.    To note the position of the report.

2.    That further updates be provided to the Commission in a future meeting once the travel policy has been developed.