Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Public Health seeking authority to accept the Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery Grant and allocate it accordingly. The report indicated that in February 2022, the Office of Health Inequalities and Disparities (OHID) Department of Health and Social Care announced additional supplemental drugs funding which all Local Authorities were eligible to receive through a Section 31 Grant to support the delivery of the December 2021 national drug strategy. In April, Sefton Council received notification of the 3 years funding from 2022/23 to 2024/25 subject to the submission of a OHID approved plan. The Sefton high level plan and 2022/23 detailed plan has now been approved.  Detailed plans outlining the interventions for 2023/24 and 2024/25 will be required to be submitted for approval before the start of each of those years.

Sefton Council will receive this enhanced funding for 3yrs starting from 2022/23. See allocation table below:

* Indicative Figures

Decision Made:

That:

Reasons for the Decision:

The Supplemental Substance Misuse Treatment and Recovery Grant should be used by LAs to directly address the aims of the treatment and recovery section of the drug strategy. The additional funding should deliver:

·                New high-quality treatment places, including:

Ø  New places for opiate and crack users,

Ø  a treatment place for every offender with an addiction

Ø  New treatment places for non-opiate users and alcohol users

Ø  More young people in treatment

·       More people in long-term recovery from substance dependence

·       More medical, mental health and other professionals within the drug treatment system

·       Additional drug and alcohol and criminal justice workers

·       Sufficient commissioning and co-ordinator capacity in every local authority

The expectation is that each local area will deliver against the above aims and meet national reporting and monitoring requirements. In order to achieve these outcomes, it is necessary to transfer funds to thecurrent providers of Substance Use: Assessment, Treatment and Recovery Services and Young People and Families Substance Use Service.

The local intention is to expand the treatment provision within the existing services to improve access by creating more treatment places and improving quality by reducing caseloads; enhance recovery activities and improve the skill mix within the existing workforce.

The allocation is to support a range of Treatment, Assessment and Recovery interventions for the local substance use population via the local services.  Many of the potential beneficiaries have an already established relationship with these services.

The service providers have well established Treatment, Assessment and Recovery pathways in place across the system and are best placed to successfully deliver the interventions.

Process

The Contract Procedure Rules (CPR) requires authorisation by the Cabinet to allocate £772,068 to the current provider of Substance Use: Assessment, Treatment and Recovery Services, Change, Grow, Live, (CGL) of the £1,002,318 received in year 1 (2022/23) and £110,250 in year 1 (2022/23) to the current provider of Young People and Family Substance Use Service, We Are with You (WAwY) and also funding for subsequent years (amount yet to be determined), for delivery of the OHID approved plans.

It should be noted that should the amount of funding to be transferred for Yr.2 & Yr.3 not meet with the requirements stated below a subsequent report will be submitted for approval.

There is provision for this allocation via a contract variation using Regulation 72 of the Public Contract Regulations which states:

“Contracts and framework agreements may be modified without a new procurement procedure in accordance with this Part in any of the following cases:

(c)where all of the following conditions are fulfilled: —

(i)the need for modification has been brought about by circumstances which a diligent contracting authority could not have foreseen;

(ii)the modification does not alter the overall nature of the contract;

(iii)any increase in price does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract or framework agreement.

The Grant funding could not have been envisaged when the Council originally procured these services that were advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and the Find a Tender Service (FTS) respectively. The 3-year funding opportunity was only announced in Q4 of 2021/22. Both contracts had been procured and awarded prior to Q4 of 2021/22.

The allocation is to support a range of Treatment, Assessment and Recovery interventions for the local substance use population aligned to the current local services offer. 

The additional grant funding does not exceed 50% of the original contract annual value and remains within the original advertised scope of the contract.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The only other option would be to procure other providers to deliver against the additional funding and this has been rejected due to economic and operational reasons. To commission other substance use services to meet the aims of the Grant would be a duplication of existing service provision, duplication of some costs and any economies of scale will be lost.