Trustee and Governor Recruitment and Induction Support Programmes - CF

Tender description

The department's vision is to see robust and effective governance in every school and academy trust. As the first line of accountability, the department recognises that high quality, effective and ethical governance is key to success in our school system and for the future of children and young people. Schools and academies need governing boards that have a balance and diversity of knowledge, skills, and experience to enable them to be effective. Governors and trustees have a huge opportunity to make a positive impact, and we need even more people to come forward to invest in their local community and help shape young people's futures. The department is therefore seeking providers to deliver governor and trustee recruitment and matching services, combined with support for volunteers and the recruiting board throughout the recruitment process and into the early stages of the volunteer's term (induction support). Contracts will run for an initial period of two years from April 2022 to January 2024 with the provision to extend for a further one year period. Note: The contract will be awarded in January 2022, with an effective start date in April 2022. There will be two lots to deliver: 1. A national service to recruit and 1. match trustees to the boards of Single Academy Trusts (SATs) and to Trusts with multiple academies (MATs), along with a support service providing high-quality induction and expert guidance for all trustees recruited. 2. A national service to recruit governors to the boards of Local Authority maintained schools and academy Local Governing Bodies, along with a support service providing high-quality induction and expert guidance for all governors recruited. This procurement is subject to the ongoing 2021 Comprehensive Spending Review and the DfE reserves the right to not procure or procure one lot of the services outlined below following the culmination of this review. More information will be sent through the Invitation to Tender. This notice is for information only and is not a call for competition. The department reserves the right not to enter a formal procurement process and not award contracts. Accordingly, the Authority will not be liable for any bid cost, expenditure, work, or effort incurred by a provider in acting on the basis of this notice. All future information will be issued to potential providers via the DfE eTendering Portal. Providers can access this system at: https://education.app.jaggaer.com for details of how to register and the terms of free registration. Suppliers must be registered in order to participate in the ITT once launched. Additional information: Scope In funding governance recruitment and induction support services, the department's key priorities are to: - Provide a recruitment offer enabling state-funded educational institutions in England that provide education to pupils of compulsory school age, to have access to people with the commitment, skills, and knowledge to help secure effective governance. - Provide greater support and target resources to those governing boards in most need. - Help create diverse boards, made up of volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures. - Ensure those new to governance receive a high-quality onboarding service and ongoing induction support. - Promote the importance of governance and generate demand from schools and trusts for skilled board members, especially for those schools and trusts in most need. - Promote the importance of governance and generate support from employers of the benefits to their organisation of their employees being involved in school governance. To achieve our aim of helping governing boards to recruit and retain people with the right skills and from a range of backgrounds in order to govern well, it is expected that lead providers will as a minimum need to: - Identify and recruit suitable, high-calibre, skilled volunteers across all areas of England who have the commitment to serve on governing boards. They will need to prioritise supporting those governing boards most in need, or in areas of the country where educational standards and capacity to improve are weakest - Design and deliver a quality 'onboarding' service to help ensure that volunteers understand the roles and responsibilities of a governor/trustee, the time commitment required and what will be expected of them in their role in advance of their accepting a position on the board. This will help in recruiting committed volunteers who understand the challenges and expectations of the role from the start. - Work effectively with a range of stakeholders, including but not limited to DfE Regional Schools Commissioner teams, other appointing and nominating bodies such as foundations, dioceses, and local authorities to identify boards where additional support is most needed and to put forward those volunteers with the relevant and desirable skills, knowledge, and characteristics to support boards with the challenges they face. - Design and deliver high-quality induction guidance, resources, and training, which all new governors and trustees recruited through our funded recruitment services are able to access for the first 12 months of being in role. - Collect and report on specified management information data, undertake self-evaluation and build in continuous improvement and lessons learned throughout the contract lifetime to ensure that findings are fed into delivery on an ongoing basis. - Develop and agree a Memorandum of Understanding for how they will work effectively with other providers.