Provision of a Regional Advocacy Service

The Council intends to directly award a contract to the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) for an interim period for the provision of independent advocacy services for children and young people who are looked after, including the Active Offer of Advocacy, issue-based advocacy support, an Independent Visiting Service for children and young people in residential care, Families First child and young people advocacy and Parent Advocacy for Families First and Children’s Services. NYAS is the current provider of this Gwent regional service, originally awarded following a competitive procurement process. Local authorities in Wales have a statutory duty to provide independent professional advocacy services for children and young people and the service provider must be registered with Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW). Across the Gwent region, these services are commissioned collaboratively to ensure consistency, resilience, and quality of provision. The Council is postponing a compliant, competitive procurement process while discussion with Welsh Government and other local authorities in Wales considers the establishment of a National Advocacy Framework for Wales in respect of an advocacy service for children and young people. The existing toolkit for the commissioning of the service required updating in order to support a new procurement process at this time. Proceeding to market without this updated framework would present significant risks in relation to service continuity, financial sustainability, governance, and procurement compliance. A direct award to NYAS is therefore considered necessary on a temporary basis to ensure continuity of this essential statutory service while the discussion in respect of a national framework and supporting documentation are finalised. The proposed contract term is 12 months with an option to extend for a further 12 months, commencing on 1 July 2026. The Council shall adhere to a voluntary 8 working day standstill period from the date of publication of a UK6 Notice The Council intends to procure this service through a future competitive process and will update the market in due course of the route to market. This may be undertaken on a Gwent regional basis or as part of a wider national arrangement, subject to decisions made by other Welsh local authorities and Welsh Government support. Future supplier engagement shall take place with the market to keep all interested parties informed of the forthcoming procurement route.