Decision details

(i)  Delegate authority to the Director of Quality and Integration, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing, the Cabinet Member for Aspiration, Schools and Lifelong Learning, and the Cabinet Member for Homes and Culture, to proceed with procurement of City-wide Play and Youth provision to better meet future play and youth requirements.  This should include authority to make short term grant awards to bridge any gaps in funding that might otherwise undermine transition to the implementation of the new services during the 2019-20 financial year. 

(ii)  Delegate authority to the Director of Quality and Integration following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing,the Cabinet Member for Aspiration, Schools and Lifelong Learning, and the Cabinet Member for Homes and Culture, to proceed with a direct award to the current trustees of Weston Adventure Playground to secure the ongoing maintenance of the building and facilities at the site to a high standard, conditional upon the continuing availability of the facilities as a venue and platform for a range of accessible, affordable play and youth activities.

The recommended approach will create an approach to the commissioning of play and youth provision in the City that would be replicable and expandable in future, both in relation to Council and Clinical Commissioning Group funding for such activities, but also in relation to establishing effective commissioning arrangements that would support effective early use of any additional collaborative City-Wide funding, such as through initiatives such as the Child Friendly Southampton Fund, as and when such developments come on stream. It also addresses the Council’s wider policy objective of shifting the commissioning of longer standing community needs from dependence on council grant funding to an approach which can be better linked to City priorities for play and youth as these may change over time. 

Commissioning such services via the procurement route suggested would also provide better potential for contractual accountability for both service delivery, and for stimulating a collaborative community and voluntary sector for children, young people and families as a whole. The proposed approach would complement the recently approved approach to the future procurement of Community Development relating to the wider vibrancy of the community and voluntary sector, including better alignment with volunteering, external funding opportunities, links to wider community development and additional investment to directly build capacity that contributes to emotional wellbeing and mental health outcomes in children and young people.

The proposed approach takes full advantage of the City’s integrated commissioning arrangements to achieve best value for both the Council and Health Services jointly commission something more far reaching in relation to children, young people and families around play and youth than either could afford to create on their own. 

Continuation of the SCC Grants programme for the commissioning of community and voluntary sector provision was considered.  This option has been rejected on the basis that it would not have been consistent with the strategic direction of travel away from grants for funding community and voluntary sector services which meet established long term community needs.

Using the end of the grants programme to decommission existing grant funded play and youth activity, and offer the funding saved towards corporate savings requirements was considered. This option has been rejected on the basis that it would further reduce an already small provision for children and families in the City and be detrimental to partnerships that have been built up with the community and voluntary sector to develop their role as providers. The corporate grants review was based on trust that the purpose of the review was not to cut funding for commissioning from the community and voluntary sector, but to maximise value from it. Taking savings from this pot would not only break faith with those assurances, but would also severely impact on the development of this market and hold back much needed play and youth provision for children and young people in the City.