Question 1: What is the confirmed deadline for the bidding opportunity?

Response 1: The deadline for the bidding opportunity is 1600hrs on Monday 22^nd January 2024.

Family Support and Advocacy Network

Question 2: It says bidders are encouraged to explore options for… who are identified as eligible for support. Who identifies who is eligible for support? – what is the anticipated referral route?

Response 2: The eligibility criteria for the service is outlined under Elements of Service in the specification.

• To work with parents and guardians of children and young people, who are at risk of exploitation, criminality, or conflict.
• Resident of Bedfordshire
• To be accessible to parents and guardians via a variety of communication methods, proportionate to demand and need.

Beyond the criteria outlined, the service provider has scope to determine who would be eligible for support and the most appropriate referral routes. The rationale for the referral pathways decided upon would be detailed in the bid response.

Question 3: Within the docs it says it is an intelligence lead approach can they share the data, intelligence, or problem profile of this cohort?

Response 3: As outlined in criteria 1, Demonstrates evidence of how the proposal is intelligence led, the bid response should be completed using evidence, data, and anecdotal evidence as gathered or available to the organisation/ charity responding to the bid. Data, evidence, and information relating to the problem profile will not be shared by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Question 4: Can you confirm if involves just working with parents of children up to the age of 18?

Response 4: The bidding opportunity would be available to services to deliver as determined by their eligibility criteria. The specification has not detailed the age group for which the service would support, therefore there is scope for the opportunity to be available to parents/carers of children under the age of 18 and also parents/ carers of children aged 18-24 years old.

Question 5: Please confirm whether parents of young people aged 18-24 are excluded from this service?

Response 5: As above, the bidding opportunity would be available to services to deliver as determined by their eligibility criteria. The specification has not detailed the age group for which the service would support, therefore there is scope for the opportunity to be available to parents/carers of children under the age of 18 and also parents/ carers of children aged 18-24 years old.

Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Counselling Service

Question 6: Is this funding to support referrals from multiple sources or just Public Protection Unit (PPU)? The exec summary seems to suggest it’s just for PPU yet the elements of service section states referrals from multiple sources.

Response 6: The executive summary passage ‘From 2022/2023 to 2024/2025, the OPCC has committed to funding a domestic abuse counselling service for referrals received directly from Bedfordshire Police Public Protection Unit, therefore this service will have a focus on supporting those who choose not to report to Police’ advised that a service has already been commissioned to support victims referred by the PPU. There is a requirement for the organisation to deliver a counselling support service to those who have not reported their experience to the Police and therefore cannot be referred by the PPU.

Referral pathways such as but not limited to GPs, voluntary sector organisations and Bedfordshire Victim Care Services would be acceptable.

Question 7: The SV specification executive summary mentions a minimum of 8 sessions – is this for both counselling and emotional support?

Response 7: Yes, the minimum of 8 sessions relates to the service per client inclusive of both counselling and emotional support provision. The specification is for a counselling service, there is scope within the specification for the provider to deliver emotional support also.

Question 8: The executive summary for both DA and SV counselling mention that the service may need to adapt their delivery model to manage demand. Do you have a view of what this might look like?

Response 8: Management of demand may be required where demand is greater than capacity, to manage demand, a provider may be required to limit sessions/ client numbers to ensure a service provision is funded and available across the full grant period.

Question 9: For both DA and SV counselling, the elements of service state that it’s to support residents of Bedfordshire. Can you please clarify the implications of this for victims who relocate during therapy – e.g., move to a different refuge, are rehoused away from the perpetrator, or start university outside of Bedfordshire?

Response 9: As a criteria of funding made available to Bedfordshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, funding may only support those resident in Bedfordshire. If a person is to be located outside of Bedfordshire, support via this service would need to be terminated. In an instance where a person relocates back to Bedfordshire, they would be eligible to access support once again.