Key information
Executive summary
The GLA commissions and funds a major programme of pan-London rough sleeping services and projects, including the No Second Night Out service. No Second Night Out is an assessment and reconnection service that aims to prevent new rough sleepers from sleeping out for a second night. The current contract with St Mungos comes to an end on 31 March 2017.
This paper seeks approval to re-procure the No Second Night Out service, from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2019 at an estimated cost of up to £7.36m, with the option to extend for a further two years.
Decision
That the Mayor:
• approves expenditure of up to £7.36m to procure a No Second Night Out service from 1 April 2017 and to 31 March 2019; and
• delegates authority to the Executive Director – Housing & Land, in consultation with the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development, to approve any extension of the contract to be procured for the service beyond the initial term for up to a further two years and related expenditure of up to a further £7.36m (in line with the budget approved in MD1532).
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1 The Mayor has committed to tackling the “scourge of homelessness” and in particular has noted that the rise in rough sleeping over recent years is a growing source of shame that we have a “moral imperative” to stop. In his manifesto he pledged to look at preventing rough sleeping and to develop a ‘No Nights Sleeping Rough’ initiative, a London-wide taskforce to oversee the implementation of the Mayor’s rough sleeping work and funding priorities. Extending and improving the No Second Night Out (NSNO) service will assist in this by providing a rapid response to those sleeping rough.
1.2 NSNO is an assessment and reconnection service. It provides new rough sleepers with a single service offer to prevent them from becoming entrenched rough sleepers. Between 1 April 2011 and 30 June 2016, 8,743 new rough sleepers were assisted by the service, 76 per cent of whom have not been seen sleeping rough in London since attending the service.
1.3 Funding of £33.8 million has been approved, under cover of MD1532, for a programme of pan-London rough sleeper services, including NSNO, to run for a period of up to four years – 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2020. This Mayoral decision also approved the re-procurement of a number of key services, which have now been commissioned and mobilised. However, as the NSNO service had only recently been combined with the No Living on the Streets (NLOS) service (approved by the Executive Director – Housing and Land under cover of DD1261), rather than re-procuring it at the same time as the other services, the contract for the new joint service was extended until March 2017. This was done in order to allow sufficient time to ascertain the effectiveness of the streamlined service before re-procuring.
1.4 Sufficient time has now passed to make this assessment. The streamlined service is working well and is continuing to reach its overarching key performance indicators (KPIs). Initially there was a drop in a number of new rough sleepers attending the service. However, robust contract monitoring and some operational changes have rectified this, so that numbers of new rough sleepers attending the service have now returned to previous levels and outcomes have improved.
1.5 The streamlined NSNO service currently comprises three assessment hubs plus two accommodation ‘staging posts’ (one for those with lower support needs, and one for those with higher support needs). Each hub currently has capacity for a maximum of 25 clients, and the staging posts accommodate up to 28 clients (lower support needs) and 19 clients (higher support needs). These maximum numbers are considered optimal, taking into account the resources available to the service, as well as risk and locality management.
1.6 NSNO has operated from a series of temporary premises and, therefore, a position of some uncertainty since it commenced. Also, finding premises has been extremely challenging and, as a result, none of the service’s buildings have been ideal, in terms of internal layout and size. The contract currently stipulates that the provider sources the premises and this will continue for this contract.
1.7 The GLA is currently seeking to fund permanent buildings for NSNO, through the Homelessness Change programme. Once buildings are secured, the NSNO service contract will no longer require all premises to be provided by the service provider. It is envisaged that this will increase the pool of providers able to bid for this contract. In the interim, for the proposed 2017-19 contract, the service provider will be expected to provide both the service and the premises.
1.8 It is intended that the requirements and terms of the 2017-19 contract will similar to those in the current contract, but with two key changes. First, the service provider will be required to provide the pan-London Severe Weather Emergency Provision (SWEP), with capacity for up to 80 clients. The SWEP is put in place by the GLA each winter to ensure that rough sleepers have access to emergency accommodation during extreme cold weather. Second, there will be a small element of payment by results, relating to clients’ length of stay at the hubs. The purpose will be to incentivise the provider to reduce the length of stay, which has increased somewhat recently. It is proposed that any savings from this contract change will be used to grant fund smaller organisations to deliver services for rough sleepers, to help enhance and grow the current small marketplace of providers in this area.
1.9 Given the high and increasing numbers of new rough sleepers in the capital, it is anticipated that there will be an ongoing need for NSNO for at least the next two years.
2.1 NSNO contributes to key performance indicators to ensure that:
• 90 per cent of new rough sleepers do not spend a second night out as a result of the GLA funded NSNO service
• 80 per cent of individuals exit rough sleeping as a result of GLA funded services (excluding the Social Impact Bond (SIB))
• 80 per cent of rough sleepers who are not new are prevented from returning to the streets as a result of GLA funded services.
3.1 Of those seen rough sleeping in 2015/16:
• 59 per cent were non-UK nationals
• 46 per cent had a mental health need
• 15 per cent were women
• most of those seen rough sleeping (58 per cent) were in the 26-45 age group
• ten per cent were under 26 years old
• 11 per cent were over 55
• four people were under 18.
5.1 This decision requests an approval to expend of up to £7.36m on No Second Night Out services, between 1 April 2017 and to 31 March 2019 (£3.68m per/year) with an option to extend the contract for up to two further years.
5.2 The proposed funds will be expended from Rough Sleeping Commissioning budget (MD1532), which has been allocated a four year indicative Budget of up-to £33.8m (£8.450m per/year) subject to approval on an annual basis as part of the GLA budget setting process.
5.3 The Programme Policy and Services team within Housing and Land directorate will be responsible for managing this programme and ensuring that all activities and associated expenditure complies with the Authority’s Financial Regulations, Contracts & Funding Code and Expenses and Benefits Framework.
5.4 Any changes to this proposal, including a continuation beyond the period stated above (or a request for additional funds), must be subject to further approval via the Authority’s decision-making process.
6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the statutory powers of the Authority to promote and/or to do anything which is facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the promotion of social development in Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:
(a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
(b) 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; and
(c) consult with appropriate bodies.
6.2 In taking the decisions requested of him, the Mayor 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 (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) 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 Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
6.3 Officers must ensure that the services required are procured by Transport for London Procurement and officers should liaise with Transport for London Procurement in this regard and ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place with and executed by proposed service providers before the commencement of the required services.
6.4 The Mayor may delegate the exercise by him of the powers of the GLA to the Executive Director – Housing & Land (as proposed) pursuant to section 38 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999.
DD1261
MD1532
Signed decision document
MD2031 Re-procurement of No Second Night Out (signed)
Supporting documents
DD1261 Broadway novations and streamlining NSNO and NLOS (signed) PDF.pdf
MD1532 Rough sleeping programme final 2016-20 (signed) PDF.pdf