CN250157 Speech, Language and Communication Needs Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service

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Kent County Council is seeking to commission a Speech, Language and Communication Needs – Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service, that supports children and young people in mainstream schools and across community settings, such as Family Hubs, during both term time and school holiday periods. The service will hold a key role in supporting those children and young people who are either in mainstream schools and those who for various reasons are not attending school regularly (e.g. such as those home educated, non/low-school attendance, living in Refuges, etc) and have Speech and Language needs. This will be referred to as place-based settings. This service will initially sit alongside the wider Community Services provided by the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) with an ambition for the services to be seamless provision to those accessing the Services. The Balanced System® Framework is a framework for commissioning Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) for children and young people. The aim is to use the framework to understand, plan and evaluate services to support children and young people with SLCN within place-based settings across Kent. The Framework has been developed in line with both national policy and legislation, as well as professional guidance for Speech and Language Therapists, to deliver integrated services for children and young people. Subject to acquiring approval, it is Kent County Council’s intention to commission a Speech, Language and Communication Needs – Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service, commencing 1 September 2025. The Council therefore wants to conduct market engagement to determine the most appropriate service model for this provision across Kent. Service delivery will be in partnership and working with the wider stakeholders, including, but not limited to NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB), 12 District and Borough Councils, Medway Council. As part of Kent County Council’s commitment to fairness, openness and transparency the Prior Information Notice (PIN) is issued solely for the purpose of conducting pre-procurement market testing with the following aims: To develop a suitable delivery model. To understand the market and readiness to deliver the DICE provision across Kent. To explore the most viable commissioning approach to deliver the provision. To explore whether recruitment and retention to the model is achievable. As part of this process a short questionnaire and workshops are available to interested providers, with two time slots available. To register an interest in this opportunity providers must submit an ‘Expression of Interest’ (EOI) through the Kent Business Portal and complete the associated ‘Speech, Language and Communication Needs – Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service: Market Engagement Questions’. By completing this questionnaire, providers will be able to provide their feedback and, if they wish to, select preferences for dates to attend market engagement workshops. Each workshop will cover the same questions. These workshops will be delivered via Microsoft Teams and will last for approximately 1.5 hours. They are scheduled on the following dates: Wednesday 22 January 2025– 10:00-11:30 Thursday 23 January 2025 – 10.00 – 11.30 When selecting a workshop slot, please state your first and second preference, if possible, and we will try our best to accommodate. If you are unable to attend the workshops and still wish to have an input, please ensure that you complete all sections of the questionnaire and submit this via the Kent Business Portal. Please note that feedback from questionnaires and the workshops will be shared with every provider who has expressed an interest. Please be aware that this PIN will close at 10 am on 21 January 2025 and all responses will need to be submitted via the Kent Business Portal by this time. Lot 1: The Speech, Language and Communication Needs–Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service will support children and young people in mainstream schools and across community settings, such as Family Hubs, during both term time and school holiday periods. The service will hold a key role in supporting those children and young people who are either in mainstream schools and those who for various reasons are not attending school regularly (e.g. such as those home educated, non/low-school attendance, living in Refuges, etc) and require support. This will be referred to as place-based settings. This service will initially sit alongside the wider Community Services provided by the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) with an ambition for the services to be seamless provision to those accessing the Services. The Balanced System® Framework is a framework for commissioning Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) for children and young people. The aim is to use the framework to understand, plan and evaluate services to support children and young people with SLCN within place-based settings across Kent. The Framework has been developed in line with both national policy and legislation, as well as professional guidance for Speech and Language Therapists, to deliver integrated services for children and young people. Subject to acquiring approval, it is Kent County Council’s intention to commission a Speech, Language and Communication Needs–Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service, also referred to as Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) from 1 September 2025. The Council intends on conducting market engagement to determine the most appropriate service model for this provision across Kent. As part of Kent County Council’s commitment to fairness, openness and transparency the Prior Information Notice (PIN) is issued solely for the purpose of conducting pre-procurement market testing with the following aims: • To develop a suitable delivery model. • To understand the market and readiness to deliver the DICE provision across Kent. • To explore the most viable commissioning approach to deliver the provision. • To explore whether recruitment and retention to the model is achievable.