Decision details

Healthwatch Service - MAR22/CMDN/90

Decision Maker: Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Public Health

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: Yes

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Purpose:

The Cabinet Member:

1.    Approved the approach for a 5-year grant agreement with Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to deliver the statutory function and Partnership Boards for a total value of £2,803,903. This equates to £1,017,500 for Peterborough City Council.

2.    Approved the intention to jointly commission Healthwatch services through a grant agreement with Peterborough City Council as the Lead Authority and governed through a Delegation and Partnership Agreement.

 

Reasons for the decision:

The reason for this recommendation is that this is a statutory requirement as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Alternative options considered:

The following option was considered and rejected:

 

To do nothing. This option is rejected as the Council is obliged to commission Healthwatch in order to carry out its statutory duty as outlined in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. By doing nothing, Peterborough City Council would be in breach of its legal obligation.

 

A contract could have been considered rather than a Grant Agreement. However, given that a Grant Agreement had been used previously, commissioners reviewed the Grants to External Organisations Policy and determined that it still met the criteria, and this was also confirmed by the legal department. It has also been established that there are no suitable alternative bodies or providers within Peterborough who could carry out the required statutory functions.

 

Have separate grant agreements for Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council. However, it was felt that this was not necessary as it would lead to duplication of resources, and it was better value for money to commission the services jointly.

 

Interests and Nature of Interests Declared:

None.

Background Documents:

None.

Publication date: 01/04/2022

Date of decision: 31/03/2022

Effective from: 07/04/2022

Accompanying Documents: