1.Do you currently have your own “In House” Service, preferred suppliers list or master vendor contract in place for your Supervised Contact Service for children in care?
Devon County Council operate an in house service for supervised contact
2. If you have a contract in place, when will this be due for renewal and what is your process for announcing, advertising and applying for this opportunity?
Following our response to question 1, this question is not applicable.
3. If you have your own “In House” Service, do you ever spot purchase to support this service and would the service ever be put out for tender?
We do not spot purchase
4. Do you have any intention to review the existing provisions in place for your Supervised Contact Service?
We would undertake a review of all services that we provider and purchase on a regular basis to ensure that this continues to meet the need of children and families who require services.
5. What is the council’s annual spend and forecasted spend on outsourced agencies for supervised contact for 2018 – 2019 and 2019 – 2020?
Following our response to question 1 above, we do not hold a forecasted spend or budget reports on outsourced suppliers. On exception, where the child is placed at distance say with a relative or where it is Court directed in another area and separate contact arrangements have to be made. This information is not held centrally and could only be held by an individual review of all case files. We can confirm that, at the end of the 2018/19 financial year, 750 children were being Looked After by Devon County Council. A 15 minute review of each of these files would take in excess of 187 hours. This is in excess of the appropriate limit of 18 hours and this further information is therefore exempt from disclosure pursuant to s.12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
6. What is the name and contact details for the procurement and placement officer who is responsible for this service?
Following our responses above confirming that this is not a contracted service, we do not hold this information.