Education and training services

Tender description

Lancashire County Council (LCC) is considering the procurement of a service which is intended to provide English for Speaker of Other Languages (ESOL) for adult refugees (aged 19 or over) arriving in Lancashire (including Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen) as part of the Syrian Resettlement Programme and the Vulnerable Children Resettlement Scheme for two years after arrival in the United Kingdom. Lancashire's Local Authorities have agreed to resettle up to 575 refugees under the Syrian Resettlement Programme (SRP) and the Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme (VCRS) between 2016 and 2020. It is the intention that Lancashire County Council will coordinate these programme on behalf of all Local Authorities in Lancashire. The intended objectives of the service are to: — Undertake an assessment with each learner of their English language capability to determine appropriate support arrangements through provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL); — To ensure that resettled refugees are accessing ESOL provision within one month of arrival and for 2 years after arrival; — Provide ESOL classes to learners; — Coordinate or liaise with other organisations in each locality (e.g. third sector groups providing ‘conversational classes’) who provide English language services; — Provide advice and guidance to learners to enable them to maximise all learning opportunities in the community. The intention is for the contract notice for this procurement to be advertised May 2017 via LCC's i-supplier portal; it is likely that this process will be undertaken as an expedited process and therefore the opportunity may be advertised for 15 days.