Glasgow City Council invites tender bids to be part of a flexible framework agreement to provide embedded mental health and wellbeing support services to schools across Glasgow and East Renfrewshire.

For clarity, the scope of services to be provided under this Flexible Framework Agreement fall within the definition of a “social and other specific” service under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Notwithstanding the term framework agreement this procurement is utilising the flexibility provided for within Section 7 of the Regulations in particular Regulation 76. This ITT details the procedure being utilised by the Council for this procurement.

Glasgow City Council Education Services have a requirement to provide high quality mental health and wellbeing supports for all learners across the city. We work with a wide range of organisations and suppliers to provide a range of services that are delivered in our schools and communities. The aims and principles of this offer are: -

To provide, in partnership with local and national government;-

- access to mental health and wellbeing support through schools, enabling locally provided support for children and young people towards promoting mental health and wellbeing;

- high quality and effective evidence-based interventions and training as part of a range of supports available locally to children and young people;

- staff who are suitably qualified and experienced in working with children and young people and working to an agreed standard across the city;

- access to mental health / wellbeing workers through primary, secondary, and additional supported learning (ASL) schools, ensuring consistently high-quality services locally, for pupils aged 5 and over.

Glasgow City Council Education Services are looking for a range of services that specifically offer support that are provided either within the school or the local community that the school is based in. We are referring to the term “embedded support” as this reflects the requirement for workers to be linked to the school so that they are part of the learning community. This would cover staff who are based in the school for part of the week, who deliver support in the school outside normal school hours or during school holidays or staff who work with children and young people in the wider community but are linked specifically to the school e.g. sport, outdoor activities, outdoor learning.

The service(s) should deliver interventions including:

- Family Support linked to schools, working with parents / carers to help support their children. Linked to this there may be Professional Learning and Development Training delivered through schools, linked to Mental Health, promoting resilience and wellbeing for staff working with children and young people

- Advice, Support and Therapeutic Services to Children and Young People (Evidenced based interventions but not including One to One Counselling). Linked to this there may be Professional Learning and Development Training delivered through schools, linked to Mental Health, promoting resilience and wellbeing for staff working with children and young people

- Creative Engagement with children and young people. Linked to this there may be Professional Learning and Development Training delivered through schools, linked to Mental Health, promoting resilience and wellbeing for staff working with children and young people

- Sport / Physical Activity / Outdoor Education

- Mentoring / Youth Work for young people including External Tutors / Additional Support. Linked to this there may be Professional Learning and Development Training delivered through schools, linked to Mental Health, promoting resilience and wellbeing for staff working with children and young people

- Group Work for children and young people focussing on promoting positive mental health, resilience, and wellbeing

Organisations are invited to bid for one or more of these services either within localities or across the city. Successful bidders would be included in a contract framework that would allow schools to purchase services for extended periods of time based on the funding they have available. There are significant advantages for all parties in having an extended contract agreement.

This framework only covers services that involve staff working in schools with children, young people, parents/carers, or education staff. This does include online resources, Apps or digital platforms.

Please refer to the Invitation to Tender document for further information.