DD2683 Rebuild of Healthy Schools London and Healthy Early Years London websites

Healthy Place, Healthy Weight mission 
1.1.    The Mayor’s Health Inequalities Strategy (HIS) 2018-28 sets out an approach to tackling London’s health inequalities. An updated Implementation Plan for the Mayor’s HIS was published in December 2021. Integral to delivering this statutory strategy is action to address the social, economic and environmental factors that drive health inequalities – known as the wider determinants of health. 
1.2.    The current HIS sets out a 10-year vision to make London a healthier, fairer city, where no one’s health suffers because of who they are or where they live. The Mayor is acting on these root causes of health inequalities by including health in all his strategies and policy development, from housing to economic development to transport. The HIS has five themes: Healthy Children, Healthy Minds, Healthy Places, Healthy Communities and Healthy Living. 
1.3.    The Healthy Early Years London (HEYL) and Healthy Schools London (HSL) programmes primarily support the first of these themes. However, they act as a key mechanism for supporting all five themes in relation to child health specifically. 
1.4.    The Mayor of London’s HEYL programme was established in 2018. It is a key ambition of the HIS, and is targeted at London’s 13,000-plus childcare settings. It aims to set a new industry standard; and to tackle health inequalities across the city at the earliest opportunity in a child’s life.
1.5.    The Mayor of London’s HSL programme was established in 2013. It provides a framework for schools to address health and wellbeing issues; and supports London schools to create an environment and culture that helps their pupils be healthy. All schools across every borough are eligible to join the programme. To date, over 2,500 have signed up (representing 89 per cent of schools in London).
1.6.    In February 2023, the GLA appointed the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) as the delivery partner for both HEYL and HSL until March 2024 (MD2974). The NCB is working closely with the GLA to refresh and align the two programmes, supported by existing regional partnerships including the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities; and the Association of Directors of Public Health for London. The refresh has several aims, including better alignment between the two programmes to reflect the priorities of wider health partners and to embed Mayoral priority programmes (including water-only schools, and support for mental health and wellbeing). The programmes will be refreshed following a period of engagement, ensuring they meet the aims of the Mayor and regional partners.
1.7.    Working with the chosen delivery partner, the GLA aims to ensure the HEYL and HSL programmes are running as efficiently and effectively as possible.
1.8.    In December 2023, £336,000 was approved under cover of MD3197 to continue ongoing delivery of the programme; and implement an engagement strategy to ensure the programme meets the needs of local partners and London boroughs.
HSL and HEYL website maintenance
1.9.    Currently HSL and HEYL have two separate websites, which provide the main source of information for boroughs and schools/early years settings. To apply for awards for their schools and early years settings, borough leads use the websites to submit webforms, providing key information and evidence.
1.10.    In spring 2022, the GLA commissioned a rapid review of both programmes by the Health Education Partnership, which recommended a website redesign. This included simplifying the webpages, making them easier to navigate; and improving the way data is collected and analysed via the webform. 
1.11.    In April 2021, MD2974 approved £261,000 to manage future delivery of HEYL and HSL; and to build a new single web portal across 2022-24 (£163,000 in 2022-23 and £98,000 in 2023-24). This expenditure was used to understand functionality of the current website; and investigate how user experience can be improved. This work was completed in collaboration with the GLA digital team and supported the development of a brief to maintain the site in the short term. Long-term insight will be used to inform the rebuild of the websites. 
1.12.    This MD is seeking approval to spend £100k to procure Big Blue Door Ltd to undertake both the website rebuild and maintenance of the current site. The rebuild will include: 
•    interrogating requirements defined by the business; these are primarily expected to be around the areas relating to contact information, feedback, certification, awards and reporting 
•    aligning requirements with our current functionality where possible, to ensure efficiency and value for money 
•    building robust, accessible and secure website functionality to support the smooth running of both programmes 
•    ensuring each website acts as a valuable and reliable resource for borough leads 
•    working in partnership with the Digital team, and subject-matter experts, to deliver an intuitive digital product. 
1.13.    The contract with Big Blue Door Ltd was called off the GCloud13 framework agreement, which has been set up by Crown Commercial Services (CCS) and is accessible to the GLA. The call-off contract with Big Blue Door Ltd is broad in scope; and includes any development work required on any GLA products that are built in the same way as the planned HSL and HEYL websites. 
1.14.    This work is captured under the contract GLA Digital Estate Drupal Transformation and Continued Enhancement. The purpose of this contract is to advise on and develop both new Drupal products to bring into the live digital estate; and continually enhance/support Drupal products that are already part of the digital estate.
1.15.    In December 2023, expenditure of up to £31,555 was agreed (ADD2686) to support current HSL and HEYL websites. This funding includes external technical support and maintenance to improve functionality until the website rebuild is complete.
1.16.    Fixing the bugs and maintaining the current system will ensure borough leads, schools and early years settings can use the websites and progress through the awards until the website rebuild is complete. 
Summary of expenditure and activity
1.17.    2024-25 expenditure of £100,000 is being sought to cover the rebuild, testing and launch of the HSL and HEYL websites.
 

Purpose of funding
2.1.    The purpose is to commission Big Blue Door Ltd to rebuild the websites for HSL and HEYL. This will be implemented in conjunction with the GLA Children and Young Londoners team, and the appointed delivery partner. The rebuild will improve functionality and ensure a positive user experience.
Expected deliverables and outcomes
2.2.    The aim is to deliver two new websites that aim to support refreshed HEYL and HSL programmes by: 
•    acting as a vital resource to enable borough leads to engage with the refreshed programme content – by engaging, borough leads commit to moving through the award process, demonstrating action to improve the health and educational outcomes of children across London
•    aligning the HSL and HEYL websites to reflect the alignment of new content under the refresh, so that borough leads are supported in more easily promoting benefits of the programmes across early years settings and into schools; burden is also reduced where a borough lead previously supported both programmes, requiring different approaches
•    ensuring webpages are modernised and made more accessible by improving the websites’ robustness and reliability: borough leads and schools/early years settings can easily access information, including resources to support the expansion of HEYL and HSL to more schools and early years settings across London
•    ensuring maximum functionality to support essential reporting to inform policy teams and borough leads of the reach of the programmes; and inform future policy to support child health and reduce health inequalities
•    through reporting, provide updates on the progress of schools/early years settings through the awards so that good work can be celebrated and inform future learning to support others; sharing of best practice is vital in improving the impact of the programmes moving forward
•    introducing functionality improvements to reduce the administrative burden associated with manual reporting, which may act as a deterrent for boroughs wishing to engage by making engagement and reporting as easy as possible; more schools/early years settings are likely to join the programme and benefit from available support. 
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Mayor must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
3.2.    Child obesity is a huge challenge in London, where over 40 per cent of Year 6 children are overweight or obese. This can have profound impacts on the health and life chances of children. There is a strong relationship between deprivation and obesity. Supporting evidence from the National Child Measurement programme demonstrates that the effects of deprivation can be seen at ages 4-5 when children start school, and in year 6 when children are 10-11, and they widen with age. Significant differences in overweight and obesity in health outcomes, including weight, also exist between ethnic groups in London, some of which will be due to the confounding factor of deprivation. Due to the strong links between deprivation and overweight, Healthy Place Healthy Weight (HPHW) mission activities are prioritised in areas that fall in the bottom 30 per cent in the indices of multiple deprivation, and/or areas with particularly poor health-related outcomes. A principle of the mission is that communities should be central to its design, and work should promote community-centred and culturally competent best practice.
3.3.    This rebuild seeks to improve accessibility for both websites, resulting in an improved user experience. The rebuild will consider views of current users to ensure the expectations are met and existing barriers are minimalised. 
 

Key risks
4.1.    Key risks are detailed below:

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities 
4.2.    The proposed activities will contribute directly to the following strategies:
•    The HIS, which identifies the importance of support to parents in the early years, and the impact that quality early-years provision can have on a child’s development and school readiness.
•    The Skills for Londoners Strategy, which focuses on education and skills with the aim to ‘empower all Londoners to access the education and skills to participate in society and progress in education and work’. Without the right support to be healthy, children cannot learn and therefore are not afforded to fully access the benefits of the education system.
•    The Economic Development Strategy, which identifies the importance of early years and childcare, with access to high-quality early-years education and childcare providing a ‘world-class education – which gives every child the best start in life’.
•    The Mayor’s equality, diversity and inclusion Strategy, Inclusive London.
•    The Mental health and Wellbeing London recovery mission, which seeks to support Londoners where they live, work and play. 
4.3.    Activity directly contributes to the London recovery missions, particularly Good Work for All, Building Strong Communities and A Robust Safety Net.
4.4.    Tackling child obesity has been a long-term priority for the Mayor and is reflected in the HIS and the London Food Strategy; and in the development of the HPHW mission. In 2018 the Mayor established the London’s Child Obesity Taskforce (LCOT) to give every child in London the chance to grow up eating healthily, drinking plenty of water and being physically active. The LCOT has now transitioned into the Mayor’s Advisory Group on Child Healthy Weight. In this guise, it continues to provide expert advice to the Mayor on delivering against the LCOT’s ambitions.
4.5.    Reducing child obesity is one of the 10 areas of focus for pan-London collaboration for London’s health and social care partners. The work of the mission is included in the Every Child a Healthier Weight Delivery Plan, to which the Mayor is a signatory.
4.6.    There are no conflicts of interest to declare for any of the officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.
Impact assessments and consultations 
4.7.    Extensive consultation has taken place with both HSL and HEYL borough from April 2023. This insight has built on a review of the programmes content lead by the Health Education partnership. The future work plan will build on this past engagement. From November 2023 until March 2024, NCB and GLA are entering a period of engagement with key regional stakeholders and system partners to inform the refresh of HSL and HEYL programmes to align them with regional and local priorities. 
 

5.1.    Approval is being sought for the expenditure of £100,000, as detailed in the table below.

5.2.    This will be funded from the Early Years programme budget.
5.3.    Funding for future financial years is subject to the GLA’s annual budget setting process and is subject to change.
5.4.    Any contracts that commit the GLA to future financial years are subject to break clauses.
 

Power to undertake the requested decisions
6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Executive Director, Communities and Skills (the Director), concern the exercise of the Authority’s general powers and fall within the Authority’s statutory power to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of social development in Greater London. In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:
•    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
•    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom
•    consult with appropriate bodies.
6.2.    In taking the decisions requested, the Director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
Procurement
6.3    The decision, above, requests approval of up to £100,000 for the rebuilding of the HSL and HEYL websites. The work will be undertaken by Big Blue Door Ltd under its existing call-off contract with the GLA.
6.4    Section 9 of the Contracts and Funding Code (the Code) sets out several options for the procurement of services of more than £25,000 and up to £150,000. One of the options is to seek a call-off from a suitable framework. As set out in paragraph 1.13, above, officers have called off the services of Big Blue Door Ltd from a framework run by CCS. Furthermore, officers have explained that the framework is accessible to the GLA and that the scope of the call-off includes services relating to the rebuilding of the HSL and HEYL websites.
 

7.1.    The schedule for this project is detailed below: