Options and proposals for re-commissioning domestic abuse services. The current contract ends on 1 September 2018.

That the contract for Torbay Domestic Abuse Services be extended until 1 September 2019 to enable the service to be recommissioned and a revised service to be procured.

To enable the current Domestic Abuse Services to continue for a further 12 months.

There are no frameworks in place to allow for contracting this type of provision.  Devon re-procured its Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (DASV) service last year and Plymouth is yet to do so (but there may be an opportunity for co-commissioning with Plymouth) so there are no neighbouring opportunities that we can “piggy back” onto.

The other alternatives are to:

1)         De-commission the current service when the contract ends in September 2018.

2)         Re-procure service in it’s current format – which is not fit for purpose given the steer from Government and our own needs mapping work.

This decision will come into force and may be implemented on Friday, 2 March 2018 unless the call-in procedure is triggered (as set out in Standing Orders in relation to Overview and Scrutiny).

The current contract for Torbay Domestic Abuse Service comprises a range of services and accommodation for people experiencing domestic abuse.  Needs assessment, service mapping and stakeholder engagement undertaken over the last 12 to 18 months to inform future commissioning has identified that any new service needs to take a different approach including a focus on children and young people and preventing perpetration, as well as including people experiencing sexual violence.  Government guidance issued in 2017 also supports a different approach.

The current Contract ends on 1 September 2018 and cannot be extended without contract waiver approval.  A waiver request was approved on 20 February 2018 to allow for the contract to be extended up until 1 September 2019 and the Chief Financial Officer has confirmed that funding for this extension is within the Public Health base budget.

It has been proposed that a new Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (DASV) strategy becomes part of Torbay Council’s Policy Framework.  This is undergoing public consultation currently and is due to go to full Council for approval in April.  In order to radically redesign the approach to include sexual violence and address perpetration it is likely that commissioning proposals will differ from the current service design and may also require public consultation.  This means that procurement has been delayed pending approval of the DASV and to allow for a further public consultation.  The current contract needs to be extended to allow time for this to take place.