Agenda Item
Report to: Lanarkshire Community Justice Authority Date of Meeting: 6 September 2013 Report by: C h ief Officer
I Subject: Chief Officer Update
1. Purpose of Report 1.1. The purpose of the report is to:-
+ Update Members on local and national developments relevant to the CJA
2. Recommendation(s) 2.1. The CJA is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
(I) that the report be noted 3. Discharged Prisoners - Welfare Changes 3.1. The Scottish Welfare Fund replaced the discretionary Social Fund from April 2013. In relation to Criminal Justice specifically there are three main ways in which offenders or ex offenders may come into contact with the fund.
0 Applying for a Community Care Grant to set up home in the community after a period in custody.
Applying for a Community Care Grant for support for a temporary release.
Applying for a Crisis Grant if they fall in to crisis following release.
3.2. The attached note provides more detail information about this change and Members will wish to note that the CJA has asked Partners to keep us informed about any implications resulting from the change especially in terms of affecting ex prisoners ability to resettle in the community and lead a law-abiding life.
4. Unit Costs of Delivering Criminal Justice Social Work Services 4.1. The Scottish Government intends to commission analysis of the unit costs of providing Criminal Justice Social Work Services across Scotland. The aim of the research is to improve knowledge about the costs of providing services, and how that varies across Scotland, as well as providing a basis for improved future estimates. The work is in two parts as follows;
4.2. Phase one of the work will estimate unit costs of delivering services using a “simple top down mythology”. This approach takes estimates of aggregated expenditure on delivering a particular service and divides that by the number of units of output (for example, it costs Elk to deliver 100 court reports therefore it costs €10 to deliver each report).
4.3. Phase two of the work will involve a “bottom-up approach”. Starting from a detailed understanding of the activities involved in delivering a unit of output and piecing together an estimate of what these activities costs (for example, if takes two hours of input from a particular member of staff, that element of the cost could be estimated based on that staff members hourly salary cost). This phase of the work will estimate the cost of delivering one particular service - The Community Payback Order.
4.4. The outcome of the analysis will be two reports that will be published by August 2014. These reports will be a maximum 50 pages long and will include an executive summary that meets the aims and objectives of the research. The attached document provides more detailed information about this exercise.
5. Employee Implications 5.1. The outcome of any redesign will have implications for literally 100 employees of both councils and their Partners.
6. Financial Implications 6.1. None known.
7. Other Implications 7.1. None known.
8. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements 8.1. No significant consultation was undertaken as part of this report.
8.2. The report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy therefore no equality impact assessment was carried out
Tony McNulty, Chief Officer Lanarkshire Comm unity J ustice Authority
List of Background Papers Discharged Prisoners - Welfare Changes Unit Costs of Delivering Criminal Justice Social Work Services
Contact for Further Information If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please contact:- Tony McNulty, Chief Officer Ext: 4234 (Tel: 01698 454234) E-mail: [email protected] BRIEFING NOTE FOR PRISONS AND YOUNG OFFENDER INSTITUTIONS
N.B. Prisoners with release dates after 1 April should apply to the Scottish Welfare Fund rather than the Social Fund.
This note provides some information about the new Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) that is being introduced from 1 April 2013, when the current discretionary Social Fund will stop.
The SWF is a national scheme run by local authorities, based on guidance from Scottish Ministers. You can find an outline of the scheme on the Scottish Government's website: www.scotland.qov.uk/Topics/People/welfarereform/sociaIfund/OUTLI NEOFSCOTTIS HWELFARE FU ND
Why would offenders apply to the Scottish Welfare Fund?
There are three main ways in which offenders or ex-offenders may come in to contact with the fund:
0 Applying for a Community Care Grant to set up home in the community after a period in custody.
Applying for a Community Care Grant for support for a temporary release.
0 Applying for a Crisis Grant if they fall in to crisis following release.
How, and where, can offenders apply for assistance from the Scottish Welfare Fund?
If applying for a Community Care Grant, offenders should apply to the Local Authority in which they intend to stay. This link gives the contact details for each Local Authority: http://sh45inta~opics/People/welfarereform/scottishwelfarefund/howtoap~l~tot hescottishwelfarefund
0 Application processes for Local Authorities vary. The Scottish Government will distribute generic application forms to prisons. These can be used to apply to any Scottish Local Authority - see Local Authority Contact Details below. Prisons may wish to build relationships with Local Authorities to which they commonly release.
0 There is no equivalent to the Scottish Welfare Fund in operation in England. Local Authorities are taking a variety of approaches to providing community
1 care and crisis support. In Wales, the successor to the Social Fund is called the Discretionary Assistance Fund.
When can offenders apply for a Community Care Grant?
0 Offenders can apply for a Community Care Grant up to eight weeks before their release date, and decisions may be made in principle, for example if an applicant is waiting to sign a tenancy. Prisoners with release dates after 1 April should apply to the Scottish Welfare Fund rather than the Social Fund.
Is there a qualifying period for a Community Care Grant?
0 Yes - the qualifying period for an offender to be considered for a Community Care Grant, is a minimum of three months served in civil custody.
Checking information
Local Authorities will be using secure email addresses to contact prisons to check information on applications from prisoners, for example release dates and time spent in custody. Discharge Grants, paid on release, will be disregarded when considering eligibility for an award.
Background information on the Scottish Welfare Fund
SWF guidance takes the previous Social Fund rules as the starting point, but has important differences and takes Scottish priorities into account. The SWF aims to take advantage of the opportunity to strengthen links to other local services. The intention is that a local provision will allow for a more joined up approach than was possible with national call centre provision. The full guidance is available at: www.Scotland .aov.uklToDics/Peor>le/weIfarereform/socialfund/ScottishWelfareFundq uid a nce
The objectives of the new scheme are to:
0 provide a safety net in a disaster or emergency, when there is an immediate threat to health or safety.
0 enable independent living or continued independent living, preventing the need for institutional care.
There are two types of grants in the SWF- Crisis Grants, and Community Care Grants.
A Crisis Grant aims to help people, typically on benefits, who are in crisis because of a disaster or an emergency.
A Community Care Grant aims to help people on benefits who may have to go into care unless they get some support to stay at home. Or, if they are leaving any form
2 of care, including a prison or young offenders institution, and need help to set-up their own home.
The SWF is a discretionary, cash-limited scheme that prioritises applications based on need. It provides grants that do not have to be repaid. It does not provide loans.
Local authorities have the discretion to provide support in different ways. Not all grants will be cash payments. They may provide vouchers, a fuel card, or furniture if they think that the best way to meet the need.
Scottish Government February 2013
3 Table 1
Details of the contact points for each local authority are given in the following table.
NAME WEB ADDRESS CONTACT APPLICATION TEL NO: ACCEPTED I VIA: Aberdeen City www.aberdeencitv.aov.uk 0800 I Face to face 030471 3 Phone Post Online Aberdeenshire www.aberdeenshire.aov.uklbenefits 08456 Face to face 080149 Phone Post Online Angus www.anaus.aov.uk/scottishwelfarefund 08452 Phone 777778 Post I Online Argyll & Bute www.aravll-bute.aov.uk/welfare-fund 01546 I Phone 605512 I Post I Online Clackmannanshire www.clacksweb.ora.uk 01259 I Face to face 450000 Phone
Online 01851 Face to face iEilean Siar 822642 Phone Online (coming I later) Dumfries & www.dumaal.aov.uk/scottishwelfarefund 0303333 I Phone Galloway 3007 Post Online www.dundeecitv.aov.uk/welfarereform 01382 Phone 431 Ia8 East Ayrshire www.east-avrshire.aov.uk 01 563 Post 576900 Phone I Online httD://www.eastdunbarton.aov.uk/welfarereform 0300 Face to face Dunbartonshire 1234150 Phone Post Online Edinburgh www.edinburah.aov.uk/scottishwelfarefund 0131 Face to face 5295299 Phone Post I Online East Lothian www.eastlothian.nov.uk/welfarereform 01620 I Face to face 827827 Phone I Post I Online kwww.eastrenfrewshire.aov.uklscottishwelfarefund 0141 I Phone
Falkirk www.falkirk.aov.uk 503603 Phone Online
4 Fife www.fife.g0V.uk 0300 Face to face 5550265 Online Glasgow www.alasaow.aov.uk - click “apply for it” 0141 Phone 2761 177 Post Online Highland Phone Post Online lnverclyde www.inverclyde.gov.u k 01475 Phone 7. 1 ..... 4444 Post Midlothian www.midlothian.aov.uk/scottishwelfarefund 01 31 Face to face 2705600 Phone Post
Moray www.morav.aov.uk/scottishwelfarefund 01 343 Face to face 563456 Phone Post
North Ayrshire wwwmorth-avrshire.aov.uklbenefitchanaes 01 294 Face to face 310001 Phone Post From MaylJune; online North Lanarkshire www.northlanarkshire.aov.uklbenefits 0300 Face to face 5550405 Phone Post Online Orkney www.0rknev.aov.uk 081 56 Face to face 88 7 35 3 5 Phone ext 21 16 Post Online Perth & Kinross www. Dkc.aov.u k 01738 Face to face 476900 Phone Post Online Renfrewshire www.renfrewshire.aov.uk/swf 0300 Phone 3000204 Post Online Scottish Borders www.scotborders.aov.uk 0300 Phone 1001 800 Shetland www.shetland.nov.uk 01 595 Face to face 744682 Phone Post Online South Ayrshire CG- 1230900 Face to face Phone Post Online CCG- Face to face Post Online available South Lanarkshire www.southlanarkshire.aov.uk 0303 Face to face [email protected] 1231 007 Phone Post 3nline
5 Stirling www.stirlinn.nov,uk/welfarereform 01786 Phone 44321 0 Post Online West www.west-dunbarton.aov.uklwelfarefund 01389 Face to face Dunbartonshire 737000 Phone Post Online West Lothian www.westlothian.aov.uk/welfarereform 01 506 Face to face 280000 Phone Online
Table 2 -Scottish Prison Service contact details.
The table below contains the contact details for the named person to whom the application forms for the Scottish Welfare Fund will be sent. Please advise if the information has changed.
Prison Contact details Aberdeen Duncan Edwards -head of offender outcomes - 01224238318 Lucy Davidson - employability/induction - 01224 238300 ext 8226 John Jenkins - employability/induction - 01224 238300 ext 8226
Addiewell Wendy Lawson HMP Addiewell Sodexo Justice Services 9 Station Road Addiewell West Lothian EH55 8QA [email protected] Barlinnie Jim Marshall -Jobcentreplus HMP Barlinnie 81 Lee Avenue Glasgow G33 2QX [email protected]
6 ~ Castle Huntly tolin McShannon HMP Open Estate - Castle Huntly LONGFORGAN Nr Dundee DD2 5HL Coli n .m cs ha nnon @sps.p n n.gov. uk /Cornton Vale Susanne Campbell Business Improvement Manager HMP Cornton Vale Cornton Road Stirling FK9 5NU [email protected] lain Cushen, Employability Manager, HMP Dumfries, Terregles Street, Dumfries, DG2 9AX. [email protected] Edinburgh Dorothy Fraser & lan Bailey H M Prison Edinburgh 33 Stenhouse Road Edinburgh EH11 3LN [email protected] k, [email protected],gov.uk Wattie Reekie Health and Wellbeing / Links Centre Manager HMP Glenochil TelOl259760471 ext 7272 Email [email protected] Greenock Gerry Campbell Gateside Greenock PPA16 9AH [email protected] Inverness Mark Holloway HM Prison Inverness Duffy Drive Inverness 7IV2 3HH [email protected] Kilmarnock Julie Madden & Katrina Hunter Housing Information and Advice Worker HMP Kilmarnock Mauchline Road Kilmarnock KA15AA [email protected] Low Moss James Durnion
7 HMP low moss Cross hill road Bishop Briggs G642QB Tel: 01417629583 [email protected];ov.uk Polmont Philip McGregor 8HM YOI Polmont Polmont Brightons FALKIRK FK2 OAB [email protected].&!ov.uk Perth Sheila Gordon HMP Perth 3 Edinburgh Road Perth PH2 8AT [email protected] [email protected] I Peterhead Lynn Thom Deputy Governor HMP Peterhead South Road Peterhead Aberdeenshire AB42 2W [email protected];ov.uk Stuart .CamubellZ@ sps.unn.aov.u k Andrew Wilson & Maureen Ritchie HM Prison Shotts Shotts La narksh i re ML7 4LE [email protected].~ov.uk [email protected]
8 social research UNIT COSTS OF DELIVERING CRIMINAL JUSTICE SOCIAL WORK SERVICES
Contents
1. Introduction 2. Background 3. Aims & Objectives 4. Research Design/ Methodology 5. Research Outputs 6. Ownership & Publication of 01tputs 7. Responsibilities of the Service Provider 8. Contract Management 9. Timetable 10. Access Arrangements 11. Contract Price 12. Contract Conditions 13. Criteria for the Evaluation of Tenders 14. Guidance for Submitting a Tender
Social Research
The Scottish Government
1 1 Introduction
1.1 The Scottish Government’s Justice Analytical Services, on behalf of the Scottish Government‘s Community Justice Division, wishes to commission analysis of the unit costs of providing criminal justice social work (CJSW) services across Scotland.
1.2 The aim of this research is to improve knowledge within the Scottish Government, Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) and Local Authorities (LAs) of the costs of providing CJSW services, and how that varies across Scotland, as well as considering whether and how future estimates could be improved.
2 Background
Policy context
2.1 Community Justice Division designs and develops policy, and delivers improvement, to reduce reoffendi ng . Reducing reoffending delivers positive outcomes, including safer communities, and has the potential to release savings from public sector budgets to support the Government’s Purpose.
2.2 To enable partners to reduce reoffending even more effectively, the Division is leading on the development of the second phase of the Reducing Reoffending Programme (RRPZ). This is one of five flagship change programmes in the Justice portfolio, and aims to make changes to the system so that services are available to support to support prolific offenders move away from a life of reoffending. There are six projects in the programme including one looking at funding arrangements for com mu n ity justice .
2.3 The Division also support the eight CJAs in the effective discharge of their statutory functions and provides funding for the provision of CJSW services. CJAs received around f97m of funding in 2012-13. This funding is allocated between CJAs through a formula based in part on previous workloads (two thirds) and in part on indicators of need (one third).
2.4 The funding is first allocated to particular budget headings at national level (e.g. Criminal Justice Social Work Reports, Drugs Treatment and Testing Orders, etc). This allocation remains relatively stable over time. The workloads part of the formula then allocates funds to CJAs on the basis of their share of work over the previous three years (e.g. the proportion of Drugs Treatment and Testing Orders they were responsible for). The needs part of the formula allocates the remaining one third of funds on the basis of the share each CJA has of young male unemployment and court work (measured as the number of individuals charged who receive either a custodial or community sentence or probation).
2.5 It is up to CJAs to determine how the funds should be allocated to their constituent Local Authorities (LAs). In some cases the shares are determined by the CJA applying the same formula the Scottish Government uses; in other cases allocations are based on a locally-determined formula.
2.6 LAs use the funding they receive from CJAs to fund services with approximately two thirds of funding allocated to criminal justice social work core 2 services and the remainder on a variety of other services such as employment support and secure accommodation (see Annex A for more details). They operate within a legislative framework which sets out what statutory activities they need to undertake: for example, the delivery of Community Payback Orders. However, for the 2012-13 financial year, the previous rules which prescribed that allocations must be spent against specific headings were removed, giving CJAs and LAs more flexibility to tailor their annual plans to local priorities.
2.7 A multi-agency project group met monthly between January and August 2012 to undertake a review of community justice funding’. The group made suggestions to improve the process for allocating funding for the 2013-14 financial year, but also some longer-term recommendations (see Annex B for more details). These included the following:
“The Scottish Government should consider how best the cost of delivering community justice services could be calculated more meaningfully so that future Spending Reviews could more strategically reflect the cost of delivery. ”
2.8 Audit Scotland made a similar suggestion in its report, Reducing Reoffending in Scotland:
‘WAS and councils should work together to improve their understanding of the unit costs of different types of criminal justice social work activity and how these relate to the quality of service delivered. This work should be used to inform decisions on how resources are used and where efficiency could be improved. ”
2.9 A further phase of the review of community justice funding is now being undertaken. The results of this research will be considered as part of that work and the project board which will oversee the review of community justice funding workstream will act as a steering group for this work.
Unit costing approaches
2.10 Unit costs refer to the cost of delivering a single unit of output as opposed to the aggregate cost of providing the total outputs of a service. There are two broad approaches to estimating the unit costs of providing services - top-down and bottom- up: The top-down approach takes estimates of aggregate expenditure on delivering a particular service and divides that by the number of units of output. The bottom-up approach starts from a detailed understanding of the activities involved in delivering a unit of output, and pieces together an estimate of what these activities cost (so, for example, if it takes 2 hours of input from a particular member of staff, that element of the cost could be estimated based on that staff member’s hourly salary cost). It is possible that bottom-up estimation of costs may require some use of top-down approaches - for example in allocation of shared overhead costs between different services.
’ Minutes of the meetings can be found at htt[,:ll\y~y~v.sc0tland.rro\~.uk/ropicsiJusticelpublic-sElf’et,/offender- 1 2.11 Each approach has its pros and cons. If the necessary data are available (aggregate expenditure to deliver a particular service and the number of units of output) the top-down approach is relatively straightfoward to undertake, though in some cases, it will not be immediately clear what the appropriate unit of output is (this would be true, for example, where a service has more than one output). A top- down approach also ensures that unit cost estimates are consistent with actual spend.
2.12 However, the necessary data are often not available, particularly in relation to aggregate expenditure. It may be, for example, that a number of services are delivered under a single budget heading with no estimates available of the actual spend on each. Even if the necessary figures are available, these may not have been calculated appropriately, or the methodology may not be transparent. In addition, the top-down approach does not provide any understanding of the reason for differences in expenditure between different services or areas. It is also important to recognise that a number of factors influence the estimate of unit costs through this approach. As highlighted in paragraph 2.3 overall budget allocations to CJAs are influenced by past workloads and unemployment rates. Within this fixed pot, the unit cost is decided by workloads (i.e. how many servicesldisposals are delivered) and CJNLA decisions on how to allocate funding between uses.
2.13 The bottom-up approach is more flexible as it does not rely on the availability of a single aggregate expenditure figure. Analysis of delivery of the service and other available information (e.g. hourly salary costs) will generally allow an estimate of the unit cost to be constructed. Another key benefit of the bottom-up approach is that encourages a focus on how services are delivered and facilitates understanding of the reasons for differences in estimates of unit costs.
2.14 However, constructing estimates may be resource-intensive, particularly if it would require comprehensive diary exercises to work out how much time staff dedicate to different activities. Also, it is not necessarily the case that unit cost estimates will be consistent with actual aggregate spend (the time required to deliver a service could be over or under-estimated, for example, leading to implied total costs greater or less than actual aggregate expenditure).
Relevant previous work
2.15 The report on Unit Costs in Criminal Justice at the link below provides useful contextual information. The report was funded by the Ministry of Justice, and published in February 2013.
http://www.pssru.ac.uk/proiect-pagedunit-costs-in-criminal-justice/
3 Aims & Objectives
3.1 The aim of this research is to improve knowledge within the Scottish Government, CJAs and LAs of the costs of providing CJSW services, and how that varies across Scotland, as well as providing a basis for improved future estimates. This work is in two parts, as follows.
Phase 1 - Topdown
4 3.2 This phase of the work will estimate unit costs of delivering CJSW services at LA and CJA level as well as investigating the suitability of the available data for this purpose. The aim is to answer the following research questions: 0 Using a simple top-down methodology, what are the estimated unit costs at LA and CJA level for the CJSW services they provide? How much do the costs differ between areas? 0 What methodology is used by LAs and CJAs to estimate their aggregate expenditure on each of these services? What are the implications for the appropriateness of using these figures in estimating unit costs, i.e. are the figures a robust basis on which to do so? 0 What methodologies are used by other organisations to estimate how much of their total expenditure is employed on different uses? Are there any best practice lessons for CJAs and LAs?
Phase 2 - Bottom-up
3.3 This phase of the work will estimate the costs of delivering one particular CJSW service - the Community Payback Order (CPO) - across LAs. When a court gives an offender a CPO, it will select one or more requirements to impose. The potential requirements are as follows: 0 unpaid work or other activity requirement 0 offender supervision requirement 0 compensation requirement 0 programme requirement 0 mental health treatment requirement 0 drug treatment requirement 0 alcohol treatment requirement 0 residence requirement 0 conduct requirement
3.4 The aim of this phase of the work is to answer the following research questions: 0 What is the unit cost of delivering the core CPO and each of the 9 different requirements in each of the LAs? 0 How do the costs differ between geographic areas, and what are the reasons for these differences? In particular, is cost related to the quality of the service provided?
4 Research Design/ Methodology
4.1 The key stages of the work are as follows.
Phase 1 - Top-down
Estimated unit costs
0 Investigating with LAs and CJAs an appropriate way of splitthg total expenditure on CJSW into different categories. The purpose of this is to facilitate calculation of the unit costs of different services in an appropriate way. It is important that all CJA expenditure is included within the calculations.
5 0 Investigating with LAs and CJAs what the appropriate unit of output is for each of these services, i.e. what should the aggregate expenditure figures be divided by to get a unit cost for each service. 0 Obtaining the necessary data from LAs and CJAs to allow calculation of unit costs for each of these services. It is unlikely that all necessary figures will be immediately available, and the contractor will have to work with LAs and CJAs to calculate unit costs from the data they are able to gather.
For this phase of the work, costs should be estimated for all LAs and CJAs. The work is likely to require workshops/interviews with CJAs/LAs to investigate the appropriate framework for estimating unit costs, followed by a questionnaire approach across all areas. If a workshop/interviews approach is proposed, it should cover a suitably representative range of areas.
Exploring the current methodology
0 Investigating with LAs and CJAs the approach they take to estimate their aggregate expenditure on each of these services. 0 Commenting on the appropriateness of using these figures in estimating unit costs, i.e. are the figures a robust basis on which to do so?
0 This phase of the work is likely to require a questionnaire approach across all areas and/or workshops/interviews with a sample of LAs and/or CJAs. If a workshop/interviews approach is proposed, it should cover a suitably representative range of areas.
Exploring best practice methodology
0 Looking at the approaches used by other organisations in estimating the unit costs of their services. Examples might include the estimation of unit costs of Probation Trusts unit costs by the UK Government’s National Offender Management Service, and analysis of unit costs in the health service by the Information Services Division of NHS Scotland. Relevant links are included below. http://www.iustice.aov.uk/downloads/statistics/prison-probation/~robation- workforce-stats/probation-trust-unit-costs-tables-ll-12.pdf httD://www.isdscotland.ora/Health-ToDics/Finance/Costs/ 0 Commenting on whether the approaches surveyed have any implications for best practice in CJAs and LAs, and recommending options for improving the accuracy of the figures.
0 This phase of the work is likely to require desk-based investigation of the approaches taken in other organisations and interviews to obtain more detail.
Phase 2 - Bottom-up
4.2 The following steps will need to be undertaken.
Develop a framework through which the unit costs of delivering CPO and its associated requirements can be estimated
6 This will require the contractors to develop a detailed understanding of how the CPO and its requirements are delivered, taking account both of direct and indirect costs. In relation to direct costs, the types of cost which will need to be considered are staff costs (the type of staff involved and their time input), any payments made for input from outwith LAs etc. Indirect costs such as buildings costs, administrative support and senior management support may not vary directly with output and are likely to be shared with other services. An appropriate way of estimating the indirect costs associated with the CPO and its requirements will have to be decided upon. A common framework for estimating costs should be developed, but this should be capable of taking account of differences between areas (e.g. differences in staff time input, hourly salary costs, indirect costs).
This phase of the work is likely to require a questionnaire approach across all areas and workshops/interviews with a sample of LAs. The workshop/ interviews approach should cover a suitably representative range of areas (taking into consideration any potential drivers of differences in delivery such as urban vs rural geography, volumes of services delivered etc).
Collection of the necessary data from LAs
As above, while a common framework should be used, the calculation of costs should take account of differences between areas. It is unlikely that the necessary figures will be immediately available, and the contractor will have to work with LAs to collect the necessary data.
This is likely to require a questionnaire approach across all areas accompanied by significant follow-up work with LAs to fill in gaps. It is possible that it will ultimately not be possible to collect the necessary data to construct unit costs for every area. If so, figures should be constructed drawing on data from other areas.
How do costs differ and what are the reasons for the differences
0 This will require comparison of the estimated unit costs between areas and analysis/further investigation of the reasons for these differences, i.e. are they down to differing delivery (e.g. differing staff time input), differences in underlying costs (e.g. staff salaries or building costs), or other factors. 0 The extent to which differences are due to differences in the quality of delivery should be considered.
This will require desk-based work, perhaps supplemented by additional investigation with LAs.
4.3 Within the framework highlighted above, tenderers are free to suggest the methods that they feel would be most effective in achieving these goals. Tenderers should outline the rationale for their stated approach including consideration of cost implications and possible limitations and how these will be addressed. Please provide details of any potential problems of weaknesses with your proposed approach and how you would seek to address them.
7 5 Research Outputs
5.1 Key outputs will be two final reports of a maximum 50 pages, including an executive summary, that meets the aims and objectives of the research as outlined in Section 3 of this specification. Four-page Research Summaries will also be required. The contractor should submit one electronic version (compatible with Word 2010 format) of both the report and research summary by the dates specified.
5.2 All written reports must be prepared in a clear, accessible and concise manner, be submitted in a publishable standard and in the Scottish Government’s Social Research house-style. Details of the required style are available on the following website: www.scotland.clov.uk/Topics/Research/Research/SR/CG
5.3 One or more drafts of reports are likely to be required before final drafts are agreed, and tenderers should allow for this in the timetable and costs they propose. The contractor will also be required to present their findings to the Project Board.
6 Ownership & Publication of Outputs
6.1 The ownership of the research material including the final report and any data produced as a result of the research lies with the Scottish Ministers. The research will be published as part of the Scottish Government’s Social Research Findings series, the date and format of which will be determined by the Scottish Government.
7 Responsibilities of the Service Provider
7.1 The contractor will be responsible for the design, fieldwork, data analysis and preparation of the final report to a standard agreed with the Scottish Government. It is the responsibility of the contractor to ensure that the proposed methodology does not contravene the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. Your tender should state:
1. Which (if any) professional codes of practice you will follow. 2. How you will address any ethical issues that are identified in the specification. 3. What other ethical issues you think are relevant, and how you would address them.
7.2 In assessing ethical issues, you may wish to refer to the ethical sensitivity checklist which all Scottish Government researchers complete on the inception of new research projects. A copy of the checklist can be accessed via (http://www.scotland.aov. uk/Topics/Research/About/Social-Research/Guidance-for- Contractors/Ethical-Checklist.
7.3 Academic institutions are asked to clearly state what impact, if any, any required clearance of their own ethics committees would have on the time scale for the evaluation.
8 Contract Management
8 8.1 The contract will be managed by [Michael O’NeilVMairi Longmuir] who will be responsible for the day-to-day liaison with the contractor and for agreeing final versions of all research tools and outputs (telephone 0131 244 2344 or [email protected]).
8.2 The research will be overseen by the project board which oversees the funding workstream of phase 2 of the Reducing Reoffending. This group is chaired by the X in the Scottish Government, and comprises representatives of [Glasgow Community Safety Services, ADSW, CJAs, COSLA, Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector Forum in addition to other Scottish Government representatives - TBC].
8.3 The project board will provide comments on the draft final report [involvement at other stages?]. The contractors will be expected to attend and present the findings to this steering group, provisionally scheduled for [xxx].
9 Timetable
9.1 It is anticipated that the study will be completed within around 9 months, commencing in November 2013. The contractor must be in a position to begin the project by that date.
9.2 A detailed research schedule will be agreed with the contractor, which will form part of the contract. The indicative timetable is as follows:
+ Tenders submitted Early November 2013 + Contractor appointed Mid- November 20 13 + Inception meeting Late November 2013 + Initial fieldwork December 2013 + Inception report December 2013 + Phase 1 report February 2014 + Main fieldwork February - April 2014 + Analysis March - June 2014 + Reporting: draft final report July 2014 + Reporting: presentation of findings July 2014 + Reporting: final August 2014
10 Access Arrangements
10.1 Scottish Government officials wlll contact all LAs and CJAs prior to the research to give them some advance warning. [A list of contacts in each of the LAs and CJAs will also be provided by the Scottish Government]. Following this it will be the contractor’s responsibility to contact the LAs and CJAs.
11 Contract Price
11.I A budget of up to €
9 Tenderers liable for VAT on government-funded research projects should indicate this in their proposal. Full economic costs must be made.
12 Contract Conditions
12.1 The contract awarded will be governed by the standard contract conditions covering Scottish Government social research awards (enter reference number of latest version), a copy of which is attached.
12.2 Tenderers should outline potential risks to the successful completion of the project within timescale and budget. These risks may be organisational or specific to the project. Tenderers should describe the risks, state what the likelihood is of their occurrence, describe what steps they will take to reduce that likelihood, and describe what measures they will take if the risks materialise. Risks described should include fire or flood. We would expect risk assessment to be fuller for high value or complex projects.
12.3 All information submitted in tenders to the Scottish Government (including the identity of tenderers) may need to be disclosed and/or published by the Scottish Government under the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002.
12.4 If you consider that any of the information included in your tender is commercially confidential, you should only show that information in an Annex to the tender, indicating clearly that you consider it commercially confidential, and explaining (in broad terms) what harm might result from disclosure and/or publication of it and for how long you consider that it will remain commercially confidential. You should be aware that receipt by the Scottish Government of any material marked “confidential” or equivalent should not be taken to mean that the Scottish Government accepts any duty of confidentiality by virtue of that marking; even where you have indicated that you consider some information you have provided to be commercially confidential we may be required to disclose and/or publish it; in such cases the Scottish Government will first consult you before disclosing and/or publishing the information.
12.5 If you consider none of the information in your tender to be commercially confidential, please make a statement to that effect.
13 Criteria for the Evaluation of Tenders
13.1 Tenders will be assessed for their value-for-money and on the following criteria (proportional weight in brackets): 0 Demonstration of understanding of the research brief and proposed methodology (35); 0 Demonstration of understanding of the policy area (20) 0 Capability, knowledge and experience of the research staff, including relative inputs from senior staff and management arrangements; (20) 0 Risk management; (15) Quality control mechanisms and assessment of research ethics (10)
13.2 Tenderers should be aware that if a tender is judged unsatisfactory on any of the criteria listed above, it may be ruled out of further consideration.
10 14 Guidance for Submitting a Tender
14.1 The following information should be included in a response:
Name of the tenderer(s), status in the company/institution, and name of person for further contact (if different); A brief statement detailing an understanding and interpretation of the purpose, specific objectives and scope of the project; Details of the proposed methodology and timescale, including dates for the completion of discrete stages of the work as detailed in the specification. Curricula vitae of all staff involved, including details of their role, their particular expertise and time input in person days (including, where applicable, staff not yet appointed) and associated management arrangements for the project; Details of previous research experience relevant to the current application, both within and outwith the Scottish Government; Contact details for two people who have agreed to be approached to supply references in relation to this work (to be taken up depending on the nature of the competition). A clear statement of the tender price and costs under the following subheadings for each stage of the project: 0 Research / management staff costs
0 Equipment and materials Reimbursement of research participants Travelling expenses directly related to the project (including any costs forattendance at meetings) Overheads 0 Any other costs 0 VAT if applicable 0 Total
costs Stage1 Stage2 Stage 3 Allstages etc Staff EauiDment + materials Travel Reimbursement of participants Overheads Other (specify) VAT I TOTAL
+ Day rates for each member of the project team. + Details and costs of any work to be sub-contracted, including information on whether the same sub-contractor has been used previously. + Any information you consider commercially confidential you should include in a separate Annex, explaining what harm might result from its I1 disclosure and for how long you consider that it will remain commercially confidential. If you consider none of the information in your tender to be commercially confidential, please make a statement to that effect. + A statement of the ethical issues that are expected to arise in conducting the work and a statement of how these will be addressed. + Details of approach to quality assurance (including adherence to timescales and the quality of key outputs) and any relevant procedures/ accreditation; + A risk assessment for the project should be presented in a table similar to the one below, detailing potential risks, likelihood, measures to reduce their likelihood and plans to deal with risks that do materialise.
Issue Likelihood of Risk Mitigating Recovery Plan (low, medium or Action@) high)
14.2 In exceptional circumstances where hard copy tenders are submitted, the tender document should be signed by the principal researcher(s) and countersigned by a partner of the market research company/ consultancy or by the Head of Department of an academic institution, as appropriate.
14.3 Responses should be based on the information given in the Specification and upon the professional knowledge and expertise of the contractor. Clarification of specific points can, however, be sought by e-mail from Mairi Longmuir ([email protected]). Anonymised questions and our subsequent response will be forwarded, for information, to all contractors involved in the tendering process.
14.4 It may be necessary to invite shortlisted contractors to give a short presentation of their proposal before a decision is made. If required, these will take place on [mid-Sep].
14.5 You should contact the project manager as soon as possible to inform them whether or not you intend to submit a tender. Tender documents should be submitted via e-tendering.
Tenders must arrive by [12pm on X November 20131
12 ANNEX A: Non-core funding lines
At present there are two tranches of CJA funding: approximately 70% is distributed according to a formula based on relative need and workload, and known as “core grants”. The rest, described as “non-core grants”, includes monies that are not distributed on a consistent enough basis to include them in the formula.
The lines currently funded by non-core grants are:
Centrally-initiated non-core Non-central Iy initiated non-core
218 Centre Domestic Violence Arrest Referral Employment Services Caledonian Programme Fergus Project Constructs Intensive Probation CSOGP Mediation & Reparation Delivery of National Training Pathway Link Centre Programme Programme Delivery Team Drug Courts Racially Motivated Offending DTTO Pilot for Lower Tariff Offenders Substance Related Abuse Fast Track Community Service Pilot Supported Accommodation Fiscal Work Order Pilots Young Offenders MAPPAs Islands Turnaround Project SA0 First Instant Pilots Venture Trust Structured Deferred Sentence Pilot Youth Court Women Offenders
13 ANNEX B: The funding review group’s recommendations
The group recommends that the following changes be made to take effect from the 2013-14 financial year: . At the point of allocation S.27 grant funding should no longer be split into “core” and “non core”. Instead, the monies should be disbursed as a single allocation. . The funding formula used to determine CJAs’ allocations should be updated to reflect the introduction of Community Payback Orders in 2011 (replacing the previous community orders: Probation Orders, Supervised Attendance Orders and Community Service Order, which are measured in the existing formula). See below for a longer term recommendation on changes to the formula. . The Scottish Government should no longer prescribe that the money that forms CJAs’ S.27 allocations must be spent against specific budget headings, and it should remove all of its virement requirements. This would give CJAs the flexibility to tailor their annual plans more meaningfully to local priorities. . This greater budgetary flexibility should be underpinned by strengthened accountability and partnership working. (See below for a longer term recommendation on performance management.) . The Scottish Government and COSLA should jointly write to a wide range of community justice partners to explain the shift in community justice funding.
In addition, the group recommends that the Scottish Government and partners should work towards implementing the following longer-term aspirations: . The Scottish Government should explore with the Scottish Prison Service options for more strategically aligning community justice and prison-based resources.
The Government should examine in more detail the formula for determining s.27 funding (that is, Community Justice Authorities’ funding) with a view to making sure that the allocation methodology is consistent and fit for purpose. The indicators for the formula should be re-examined, and if neccesary a new or amended formula should be constructed with amended need and/or workload measures, if that is deemed appropriate. . The Performance Management project of Phase Two of the Reducing Reoffending Programme should feed into the creation of outcomes and performance indicators for CJAs and other partners. . The Scottish Government should consider how the cost of delivering community justice services could be calculated more meaningfully, so that future Spending Reviews could more strategically reflect the cost of delivery.
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