AGENDA ITEM 12
BOROUGH OF POOLE
CABINET
25th July 2006
REPORT ON POOLE’S DRUG ACTION TEAM FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE DRUG
ACTION TEAM PARTNERSHIP
FORWARD PLAN:
1.
PURPOSE OR REPORT
1.1
To report to Cabinet the progress made by the Drug Action Team in delivering
treatment services and also to inform Cabinet of a breach of the Council’s
Contract Standing Orders in relation to the letting of Poole Drug Action Team’s
contracts and the actions taken to prevent a recurrence.
2.
DECISIONS REQUIRED
2.1
2.2
2.3
3.
That Cabinet
Note the breach of Standing Orders as presented in the report
Endorse the actions to ensure future compliance with the Council’s Standing
Orders as set out in Section 5.
Note the success of the Drug Action Team in increasing the range and quality of
treatment services for people who misuse drugs.
BACKGROUND
3.1
The Poole Drug Action Team (DAT) was established in 2000 in line with
Government requirements that relevant statutory agencies (local authorities,
probation, health & police services) create “pooled” budgets to commission
services to provide drug misuse treatment and prevention services in their local
area.
3.2
The Government’s aim was to create effective and comprehensive drug misuse
services in each area. At national level, the National Treatment Agency (N.T.A)
was established as a separate Trust within the NHS Service to oversee the
funding and delivery of the Government’s treatment strategy. Local Drug Action
Teams are directly performance managed by the N.T.A for expenditure,
commissioning plans, performance and quality. They are also accountable to the
Home Office for targets relating to offenders who misuse drugs.
3.3
In each local authority area, local agencies were required to:i)
Appoint a Drug Action Team co-ordinator and appropriate other staff to
develop effective commissioning and contracting of drug services on behalf of
all partner agencies.
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ii) To set up a Joint Commissioning Group of senior officers from Probation,
Primary Care Trust and Social Services to make the decisions in relation to
the detail of the Treatment Plan and services to be commissioned.
iii) To establish a Drug Action Team partnership at Governance level to ensure
that the strategy to reduce the harm caused by drugs in a community is
owned and delivered by all partners and integrated into wider partnership
work, such as reducing health inequalities, crime and anti-social behaviour.
3.4
In 2000, the Borough of Poole appointed a Drug Action Team on behalf of
Poole’s DAT partnership. Line management of the Drug Action Team Coordinator was allocated to the Policy Director (Social Services) who also chaired
the Drug Action Team partnership meetings. The Joint Commissioning Group
was chaired by a Director of Poole Primary Care Trust.
3.5
Since 2000, Poole’s Drug Action Team has had significant success in increasing
the numbers of adults in drug misuse treatment with a rise from 109 in 2002/3 to
485 in 2005/6. It has also increased the range and quality of services available
and is judged by the National Treatment Agency to be performing effectively.
3.6
The total pooled budget managed by the Poole Drug Action Team in 2006/7 is in
the order of £1,000,000.
ISSUE RE COMPLIANCE WITH BOROUGH OF POOLE’S STANDING
ORDERS
4.
4.1
In March 2006, a particular request for payment of a contractor by the Drug
Action Team showed that the processes required for tendering of contracts by the
Borough of Poole’s Standing Orders had not been followed. Internal Audit
investigated the situation alongside management action instigated by the
Strategic Director ( Social Services).
4.2
These investigations revealed that since its inception in 2000, the Drug Action
Team staff had not understood that they should apply both the Borough of
Poole’s Standing Orders and the guidance provided on contracting for services
by the National Treatment Agency. The team’s focus had been on using NTA
Guidance to improve the quality and range of local services. This had led to a
situation where in the letting of 23 contracts to a total value of £897,358 since
2000, there had been non-compliance with processes required by the Standing
Orders of the Borough of Poole.
4.3
Specifically, the Drug Action Team has not applied the Borough’s Standing
Orders in relation to tendering processes which are that in relation to contracts of
the value of £10,000 to £24,999 three quotations from potential providers should
be sought and for contracts of a value over £25,000 full tendering exercises
should be conducted unless there are clear reasons for exemption from this
process.
4.4
Standing Orders in relation to tendering are in place in order to ensure that
potential providers have equity of access to compete for contracts; to enable the
Borough to ensure best value in contracts and to aid transparent probity. Given
the specialist nature of the services being commissioned by the DAT, there is not
a local market for the provision of most large volume services. There are a small
number of competent local voluntary and independent sector providers who are
the sole providers in their respective service areas. These organisations provide
services for both Poole and neighbouring authorities. Further the N.T.A. has
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encouraged DATs to invest in and strengthen such competent local voluntary
sector sole provider organisations as a means to secure and increase the supply
and quality of drug treatment services. The NTA has also encouraged DATs to
work across local authority boundaries to share knowledge of good quality
providers and secure and sustain local specialist services.
4.5
In reviewing the contracts let by the DAT, the correct course of action under the
Borough’s Standing Orders would have been for £750,000 (of a total of
£897,358) worth of contracts to obtain formal approval for exemption from the
tendering requirements on the basis of the limited number of potential
contractors. There was no local market in these particular areas and best value
was to be obtained by contracting with providers already commissioned by
neighbouring DATs.
4.6
It should be noted that every service which is commissioned by the Drug Action
Team has a clear contract which specifies the outcomes to be achieved, costs of
service and quality. These contracts are subject to robust monitoring and are
delivering both good outcomes for service users and value for money as is
evidenced by the National Treatment Agency’s assessments of the Poole DAT’s
performance. The Internal Audit investigation confirmed that non-compliance
with the Borough’s Standing Orders was due to a lack of understanding of their
applicability and there was no evidence that staff were not acting in good faith in
contracting for and developing treatment services for people who misuse drugs.
ACTIONS TAKEN TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH THE BOROUGH’S
STANDING ORDERS IN THE FUTURE.
5.
5.1
The Strategic Director (Social Services) has initiated management action in
consultation with partners in relation to the issues identified in Section 4 above
and Internal Audit has further made recommendations on the basis of their
investigation. The key actions taken are set out in 5.2 to 5.6.
5.2
Line Management of Drug Action Team
i)
A review of the line management arrangements for the DAT had been
initiated in early 2006 and the Portfolio Holder Community Support had
expressed a strong view that the management of the DAT would be
strengthened by location within a Service Unit. The re-configuration of Adult
Social Services Units being implemented in 2006 enables the Poole Addiction
Community Team to be moved to the new Adult Social Care and Well-Being
Unit. The Adult Social Services Commissioning Unit has therefore ceased to
be a major service provider for the DAT and had also strengthened its
commissioning and contracting functions. The line management of the DAT
was therefore moved to the Adult Social Services Commissioning Unit on 1st
May 2006.
ii) The Drug Action Team co-ordinator is now managed by the Principal Officer
Commissioning and Finance who has specialist expertise in contract letting
and management.
5.3
Joint Commissioning Group (JCG)
i)
Up until March 2006, the voting members of the Joint Commissioning Group
had approved the Treatment Plan for the DAT which clearly sets out the
services funded by pooled budget monies. However, the J.C.G had not been
asked to agree to the specific contracts being let as a result of Treatment
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Plan decisions. In future, the DAT staff will make formal recommendations to
the Joint Commissioning Group on the letting and re-letting of all DAT
contracts. Recommendation reports will set out clearly how the Borough of
Poole Standing Order requirements have been met in the process of contract
tendering and negotiation as well as outcome, best value and quality
information.
ii) The Head of Adult Social Services (Commissioning) has from 1 May 2006
joined the J.C.G as a voting member alongside a Director of Poole Primary
Care Trust and a Probation representative. This will ensure that line
management accountability for the DAT is fully integrated into the J.C.G
partnership decision – making.
5.4
Ensuring DAT Employees Understand Borough of Poole Standing Order
Requirements and are applying both the Borough’s Constitution and N.T.A
Guidance in full
i)
5.5
The Head of Adult Social Services (Commissioning) and Principal Officer
(Finance and Commissioning) are conducting a full training and development
needs analysis with DAT staff to ensure they are equipped through training
and supervision to apply Standing Orders and N.T.A guidance and clear
written expectations of future compliance with Standing Orders have been
agreed by the Strategic Director (Social Services) and relevant staff.
Management of the Drug Action Team’s contracts
i) Of the eight current contracts in place where Standing Orders have not been
applied, six expire on March 31 2007 and processes to re-let these contracts,
which comply with the Borough’s Standing Orders, will be completed by
March 2007. Two contracts expire in March 2008 and these are with the two
major local voluntary sector providers for community services for adults and
for young people where services are shared across Poole, Bournemouth and
East Dorset. In this circumstance, a decision has been taken to continue with
the current contracts until their expiry date and undertake work required to
make formal decisions on the issue of tendering in 2007/8.
5.6
Pooled And Partnership Budgets
i)
Over recent years, Government has encouraged the development of pooled
and partnership budgets across statutory agencies, often with the
requirement to develop complex inter-agency governance arrangements as in
illustrated by the Drug Action Team. Internal Audit has recommended and
Management Team has agreed with the recommendation, that Financial
Services should issue guidance to all relevant managers reminding them that
when the Borough is the “host” or “banker” organisation for such a partnership
and pooled arrangements, Borough of Poole’s Standing Orders must apply.
Jan Thurgood
Strategic Director, Social Services
Relevant Background Papers: Borough of Poole Standing Orders
National Treatment Agency Guidance
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