Date Date Staff and other resources issues clearance obtained (report author to complete) Date Date 30.7.

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1 DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO SUBJECT: Control sheet All of the following actions MUST be completed at each stage of the process and the signed and dated report MUST be passed to the Governance Service for publishing All reports 1. Governance Service receive draft report Andrew Charlwood Date Governance Service cleared draft report as being constitutionally appropriate 3. Finance clearance obtained (report author to complete) 4. Staff and other resources issues clearance obtained (report author to complete) 5. Strategic Procurement clearance obtained (report author to complete) 6. Legal clearance obtained from (report author to complete) 7. Policy & Partnerships clearance obtained (report author to complete) 8. Equalities & Diversity clearance obtained (report author to complete) 9. The above process has been checked and verified by Director, Head of Service or Deputy 10. Signed & dated report, scanned or hard copy received by Governance Service for publishing 11. Report published by Governance Service to website 12. Head of Service informed report is published John Murphy Date Name of Fin. officer Name of Resource officer Kerry-Anne Smith Lesley Meeks Name of SPO Lesley Meeks Name of Legal officer Phillipa Dieobi Date Name of P&P officer Julie Pal Name of officer Julie Pal Name Kate Kennally Date John Murphy Date John Murphy Date John Murphy Date Key decisions only: 13. Expiry of call-in period Date N/A 14. Report circulated for call-in purposes to Business Management OSC members & copied to Cabinet Members & Head of Service Date N/A

2 ACTION TAKEN UNDER DELEGATED POWERS BY OFFICER (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION) Subject Officer taking decision Authorisation for an approved list of educational advisers. Director of Adult Social Care & Health and Interim Director of Children s Service Date of decision 6 August 2012 Date decision comes into effect Summary Officer Contributors Status (public or exempt) Wards affected Enclosures Reason for exemption from callin (if appropriate) Key decision 6 August 2012 This report seeks approval to maintain an approved list of educational advisers for BPSI, some with earnings of a value of over 25,000. Richard Griggs Barnet Partnership for School Improvement Manager Public (with separate exempt report) Not applicable Appendix A - BPSI s Associate Adviser Induction Pack N/A No Contact for further information: Richard Griggs Barnet Partnership for School Improvement (BPSI) Manager Serial No. 1763

3 1. RELEVANT PREVIOUS DECISIONS 1.1 None 2. CORPORATE PRIORITIES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS 2.1 Providing effective professional development opportunities for headteachers supports the Corporate Plan 2011/12 priority of a successful London suburb and the Children and Young People Plan 2010/ /13 priority of enjoy and achieve. 3. RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES 3.1 Where contractual arrangements are not in place, there is an increased risk of inefficient service provision and possible legal proceedings in the event of dispute over the terms of the agreement or even cancellation. Therefore all approved advisers agree to BPSI s Framework Agreement and induction requirements (see appendix 1). 3.2 The advisory work conducted in schools is a well established part of BPSI s development provision. If this advisory work did not take place or was disrupted by any interference in headteachers professional judgements in making decisions about who conducted advisory work in their schools then the effectiveness of school improvement in Barnet could be compromised. 3.3 Furthermore, the reputation of BPSI and the Council could be severely affected. 4. EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY ISSUES 4.1 The provision of advisory work in schools supports the developmental needs of all staff in schools who actively pursue the equalities and diversity agenda in their schools. 4.2 As part of the procurement process due regard was given to our Public Sector Equality Duty (under section 149 of The Equality Act 2010). 5. USE OF RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS (Finance, Procurement, Performance & Value for Money, Staffing, IT, Property, Sustainability) Finance and Procurement 5.1 Barnet Partnership for School Improvement (BPSI) is a traded service provided to schools to support school improvement. Any school within the Borough can purchase membership of BPSI. Current membership of BPSI includes maintained schools as well as independent schools and a Free school. 5.2 BPSI is led by a steering group. The Steering Group of BPSI consists of 10 Headteachers (at least 2 from each Network to ensure as many phases and types of schools as possible are represented); Assistant Director, Schools and Learning; Learning Network Inspector; Manager of BPSI.

4 5.3 When a school becomes a member of BPSI the school is allocated a number of BPSI advisory hours. The headteacher can use these hours to source advisory work in their school from BPSI s approved list of advisers. BPSI then pays the external adviser through the BPSI budget. 5.4 The route to becoming a BPSI adviser is explained on the BPSI website at: Performance and Value for Money 5.5 One of the intentions when BPSI was setup was that the Steering Group of headteachers was to be involved in the quality assurance process. The Steering Group decided that to become a BPSI adviser a person has to be endorsed by a headteacher who was a member of the partnership. 5.6 The BPSI Manager maintains a list of recommended advisers from headteachers and following successful completion of various requirements (public liability insurance, public indemnity insurance, Criminal Records Bureau check, HMRC Compliance check; data privacy notice etc.), the adviser is placed on the approved list available to be employed in schools for advisory work. 5.7 All advisers work is subject to a clear definition of learning / development outcomes that are agreed with the school. Impact statements are negotiated with the school in order to undertake an evaluation process post intervention. This data is monitored by the BPSI Manager and the Steering Group to maintain standards. Any concerns are followed up to ensure that learning takes place; relationships are maintained; and customer satisfaction rates remain high. 5.8 Advisers are paid based on a banded hourly rate which reflects the educational market. Staffing, IT and Property 5.9 The list of current BPSI freelance advisers is shown in the exempt report It is not anticipated that there will be any Staffing, IT or Property implications. Sustainability 5.11 It is planned that the approved list will be maintained for 5 years unless the DPR needs to be amended sooner. During this time new advisers will be added to the list based on the processes outlined above.

5 5.11 Framework agreements will be held by BPSI for all freelance advisers (see appendix 1). 6. LEGAL ISSUES 6.1 Under the European procurement rules, social, education and vocational services falls within Part B of Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 and in procuring such services, contracting authorities do not have to follow the full European procurement regime. 6.2 However, contracting authorities are under obligation to procure in line with the principles of equal treatment, fairness and transparency and paragraph 6 (and Table 6-1) of the Council s Contract Procedure Rules (CPR) also requires any contract of a value of 24,999 or less to be awarded following reasonable means of selection including budget authorisation and audit trail. 6.3 The route to becoming a BPSI Adviser (see 5.4) is explained on the BPSI website. 7. CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS 7.1 Council Constitution, Part 3, Responsibility for Functions paragraph 6.1 enables Chief Officers to take decisions without consultation with the Cabinet Member concerned where it is a decision authorised to be taken by the Chief Officer under the Contract Procedure Rules, it is in respect of operational matters within the Chief Officer s sphere of managerial and professional responsibility and is not significant in terms of budget or policy. 7.2 Council Constitution, Part 4, Contract Procedure Rules Table 5-1 sets out the authorisation and acceptance thresholds for new contracts. For contracts of between 25,000 and 74,999 the Director/Head of Service may authorise and accept the contract where tender/quotation is lowest or where tender/quotation represents value for money and is the best available option for the Council. 8. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 8.1 In April 2011 as part of the One Barnet initiative, a new traded service was established to drive school improvement within Barnet schools. Barnet Partnership for School Improvement (BPSI) is a traded service working within Schools and Learning. BPSI offers a training package to schools; advisory support within schools; and facilitates the exchange of good practice between schools. BPSI has a Steering Group which includes representative headteachers. The Steering Group work closely with their headteacher colleagues and are responsive to ongoing feedback. 8.2 A total of 92 schools chose to join the partnership for 2012/13 and bought the service via buy-back. 9. LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS 9.1 BPSI s Associate Adviser Induction Pack (see appendix 1).

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