Research consultancy services

Tender description

Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (Herein after referred to as the ‘Council’), is acting as procurement lead for this project on behalf of the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) and invites tenders for the provision of research services to provide a critical assessment of the 6 regional approaches to identifying those most at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training (NEET) and their programmes of support to reduce that risk. Broadly the evaluation can be categorised into five areas of interest that are relevant for each operation and will form the basis of the evaluation. These five core areas of interest concern the management and implementation of the operations, the suitability and effectiveness of the assessment tools used to identify, monitor and assess reductions in a participants' risk of becoming NEET, the effectiveness of the delivery of the operation, the impact of the interventions for participants and the cross cutting themes. The aim of this appointment, is to provide a critical assessment of the six regional approaches to identifying those most at risk of becoming NEET and their programmes of support to reduce that risk. As part of this the evaluation should examine issues to do with the planning, implementation and management of the six regional operation teams, including the effectiveness of the operations and the early identification tools in identifying and monitoring those participants considered most at risk, and the suitability of the interventions offered to the needs of the participants. In addition to an assessment of the management and administration of the operations, the evaluation should also provide an assessment of the short and medium term outcomes of the operation and, if possible, the longer term impact of the operations for the participants and their employment or engagement within education. As part of this the evaluation should examine if there were any differences for demographic groups in achieving these outcomes and impacts.