Service Reviews

The Department for Communities and Local Government (Communities & Local Government, formerly the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) issued a prescribed format for the review and accreditation of Supporting People provider organisations, and a target to for all SP contracted services to be reviewed inside three years. This first round of reviews was completed in March 2006 and the results of those provider reviews can be viewed via this web page. Our reviews are categorised by sector groups which include Older people Services, Mental health services, Learning difficulty services, Young people services, Homelessness services, Domestic violence services, Offenders services, Physical & Sensory disability services and Drug & Alcohol services.

During the first year of the review programme emphasis was given to prove the strategic contribution of the service to the Supporting People agenda, and developing the service position within the Quality Assessment Framework. In the coming year, the emphasis will be on improving scores within the Quality Assessment Framework, Value for Money and a move towards issuing steady state contracts. 

The Bath & North East Somerset SP Team has recently received information from CLG relating to next year’s Grant Conditions for Excellent and Non-excellent authorities.  From April 2007 SP programmes will be rated according to the overall star rating of the Administering Authority.  On the basis of Bath & North East Somerset’s three star rating, the SP programme is considered to be ‘Excellent’. 

Grant Conditions for the local programme will therefore be less onerous and there will be greater flexibility in how the programme is administered.  For example, there will be no requirement to routinely monitor provider performance and quality (service reviews) or to consult with users, though we will continue to do both in order to continually improve the quality of services.