Highland Council review of provision of domestic abuse services
Several Highland Council contracts are currently under review including the provision of domestic abuse services. The Highland Council is a member of a shared procurement service which leads on commissioning across Highland, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils. As part of this exercise, we are looking to maximise public value for our expenditure and have taken advice from our shared procurement service in relation the contracts we currently have with the four Woman’s Aid groups that operate in Highland.
The lead officer responsible for undertaking this review attended a seminar last year specifically in relation to SWA and COSLA ‘Good practice in commissioning guidance’. The drafting of the specification for domestic abuse services will reflect these best practice principles and continues to be developed with feedback from the Highland Violence Against Women Partnership, the four local Women’s Aid Groups and Women’s Aid Scotland. This engagement also includes the voice and testimony of service users.
As we develop our approach to consultation, we plan to issue a Prior Information Notice (PIN) to test the market to see if there are potential service providers who could demonstrate a lead provider model which would cover all domestic abuse victims across all of Highland. This will enable us to reach out to wider partners to better understand the needs of our communities. This notification will help us determine whether a lead provider model is viable and will ensure that all potential providers can engage with us as we seek to deliver improved domestic abuse services across Highland.
We recognise and acknowledge the concerns that have been raised by the Women’s Aid groups and will continue to take cognisance of their views and those of other stakeholders as we develop our model. No final decision has been taken on the future funding and service delivery model and the process of review outlined is very much in the ‘consultation’ stage. We hope that we can continue to work with stakeholders as we draft the specification and PIN and consult more widely before considering our next steps in any tender process. We will continue to support the current funding model during this process.