Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration presented a report regarding the East London Women’s Project (ELWP) which had operated since 2014 in the London Borough of Newham and accommodated previously homeless women with complex needs.

The Cabinet Member stated that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) had awarded the ELWP a grant of £597,000 to continue the existing provision and provide a more enhanced level of service on the basis that it would continue to operate from the same premises and be delivered by the incumbent provider, St. Mungo’s.  It was noted that St. Mungo’s had developed considerable expertise in working with the client group and there were no other providers operating within the sub-region who currently delivered such a specific service.

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Social Housing, having also been involved in discussions around the grant, assured colleagues that as St. Mungo’s was the only provider, there was a robust framework in place to provide quality assurance and continuous high standards of service.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Waive the Council’s Contract Rules and, on behalf of the East London Housing Partnership, approve the direct award of the East London Women’s Project contract to St. Mungo’s in accordance with the strategy set out in the report, effective from 1 January 2019 until 31 March 2020; and

(ii)  Authorise the Director of Law and Governance, or an authorised delegate on their behalf, to execute all the legal agreements, contracts and other documents on behalf of the Council.