Decision details

The service which Gemini House provides is essential to ensuring, wherever possible and appropriate, children with disabilities remain at home by supporting both the children and parents at the edge of care. It also performs an integral function for those children with disabilities which are looked after, as it provides relief and support which has a stabilising effect on placements.
Rochdale Council currently purchase overnight short breaks for some of their disabled children from Gemini House in Oldham – this is currently a spot purchase arrangement, however, originally this was funded on a 50-50 basis between the two authorities.
Rochdale Commissioning have made partners including Oldham aware that they will be inviting Short Breaks providers to apply to become a part of the Flexible Procurement System Framework (FPS). Tenders will be submitted for consideration via the Chest

RESOLVED - That:
To complete the application to become a member of the Flexible Procurement System which will allow Rochdale to continue to procure beds from Gemini House. Completing this process will allow Oldham to commence offering services and bid for contracts with the following GM authorities; Tameside, Trafford, Stockport and Rochdale. The Startwell Commissioning Team will work collaboratively with the Short Breaks Service to complete this work.
As part of the application to be added to the FPS, we will work closely with the service area and finance colleagues to review the figures to ensure costs are realistic and reflect all associated costs of support and provision.

Option 1 - To complete the application to become a member of the Flexible Procurement System which will allow Rochdale to continue to procure beds from Gemini House. Completing this process will allow Oldham to commence offering services and bid for contracts with the following GM authorities; Tameside, Trafford, Stockport and Rochdale. The Startwell Commissioning Team will work collaboratively with the Short Breaks Service to complete this work.
Option 2 - To not complete the registration process and end the current procurement arrangements between Rochdale Council and Gemini House. This could have financial implications for Oldham and support issues for Rochdale. It is likely Rochdale and any other potential LAs who are part of the FPS will be unable to ‘purchase’ provision at Gemini House if they are not an approved provider. This could have financial implications for the provision
Option 3 - N/A

Option 2.

N/A