Youth education services

Tender description

Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is retendering education provision in the 4 Young Offenders Institutions (YOIs) in England which are operated by the Youth Custody Service (YCS) — HMYOI Cookham Wood, HMYOI Feltham, HMYOI Werrington and HMYOI Wetherby. These YOIs accommodate 15-18 year old boys. The MOJ wants to develop and deliver a new approach to education provision within the YOIs which would see services more closely aligned with the diverse needs and interests of young people enabling the positive outcomes associated with successful release, reintegration and desistence from offending. We are keen to explore the potential for different types of providers, including those not involved in this provision previously such as mainstream schools, alternative providers and special schools, to deliver some, or all of these services. The procurement approach and model will be developed and informed by the market engagement events due to be held in May 2019. The purpose of this engagement is to secure wider market involvement in development of the scope of the education provision in YOIs, and to assess the level of appetite from different education providers in the delivery of such provision, as well as test with the market the potential delivery and procurement models. We are developing proposals for the above and would like to consult with the market on the different options. Open events have been scheduled as detailed below, please be sure to book your place using the Eventbrite links provided by 26.4.2019 at the latest: Tuesday 7.5.2019 – London https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/yoi-education-retender-project-market-wide-event-south-tickets-56801692391 Tuesday 14th May 2019 – Askham Grange https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/yoi-education-retender-project-market-wide-event-north-tickets-57092310638 We would be grateful if you would provide in-depth feedback prior to the event by completing this survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Q9JXLWJ by Tuesday 23.4.2019 at the latest. If you wish to get further information about the current estate and the options considered in advance, please contact Education-Retender-Project@justice.gov.uk. Current YOI capacity: Establishment, location, current commissioned capacity, maximum operational capacity-estimated annual cost (exc VAT) for current commissioned capacity. Cookham Wood-Kent-168-184: 2 400 000 GBP Feltham-London-168-224: 2 800 000 GBP Werrington-Staffordshire-120-152: 2 000 000 GBP. Wetherby-West Yorkshire-304 (including separate provision for young people with acute mental health needs)-304: 4 300 000 GBP. *Note — average occupation on sites is between 70 %-80 % with occasional spikes. Wetherby generally tends to get lower figures, with higher levels at the other establishments. Currently education provision in YOIs includes 3 main elements: — 27 hours per week classroom based education and vocational opportunities, — up to 15 hours of Outreach provision is also provided separately for those young people who are hard to engage or need to be kept apart for their own or others’ safety, — in HMYOI Wetherby and Feltham there are also separate Enhanced Support Units (ESUs) for young people with particularly complex needs, where 15 hours of provision is provided. This provision may extend in time to the other 2 YOIs. This provision is delivered for 52 weeks of the year, except for statutory bank holidays. 3 hours of physical education is also provided each week, but delivered directly by the Youth Custody Service. Education providers may also deliver some interventions, enrichment and resettlement activities, enabling young people to reintegrate back into the outside world. Some of this provision may take place in the evenings and/or weekends. Background: Charlie Taylor, the current chair of the Youth Justice Board (YJB) identified, in his 2016 independent review of the youth justice system, that education needs to be central to the response to youth offending and that education in custody should resemble as closely as possible the kind of education young people of similar age would get in schools. Ministers have said that: Each child’s learning should be tailored to their individual needs, enabling the positive outcomes associated with successful release, reintegration and desistence from offending. Establishments should be able to provide a flexible curriculum within the hours available for education provision. Learning should be flexible in its use of space, time and resources to provide the best possible opportunities for young people. There will be recognition of the value of a balance of classroom-based learning, learning activity in less formal routes, vocational pathways, enrichment activity, sport, and behaviour management interventions. The procurement route will be determined by the level of interest in the provision of these services from the different types of potential providers.